West LA Times

A diverse group of scientists has reviewed the state of sustainability in California in this week’s special issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Led by UCLA professor Glen MacDonald and San Diego State University professor Janet Franklin, researchers connected issues such as the affordable housing crisis and increased wildfire damage. They aim to apply solutions globally for California, the U.S. state with the largest population, largest economy, and third-largest landmass.

“We have to adapt because climate change is happening now — and it’s only going to get worse,” said MacDonald, a climate scientist and professor of geography with the UCLA Institute of the Environment and Sustainability. “But you cannot tell people there’s nothing they can do about it because that’s not true. This is about hope. We want people to know there’s very serious thought on solutions and mitigations, but we have to start working on them now.”

Among the proposed solutions are centering environmental justice, incorporating Indigenous leadership in government policies, adding greenery to urban areas to reduce heat risks, expanding marshlands for coastal protection, and increasing urban density to mitigate wildfire risks.

The authors drew connections between existing sustainability challenges and encroaching climate change challenges. The lack of affordable housing in urban cores forces people into wild areas, increasing wildfire risks from human-caused ignitions while bringing housing closer to danger zones.

“We have to increase urban density so we are not putting so many people at risk in housing developments in the wildland-urban interface zone,” MacDonald said.

While researchers expect climate change to cause increased wildfires in Northern California and the Sierra Nevada, that is not uniformly true across all regions. “There’s no one-size-fits-all fire landscape in California,” Franklin said. “Our models predicted an increase in fire in Southern California, but not so much directly because of climate change, actually more driven by human influence through urban growth.”

California's large Indigenous population and diversity were noted by researchers who included academic authors from these communities to ensure their perspectives were represented.

“Sustainability is fundamental to equality, and it has to be tackled by taking advantage of the diversity of the state of California,” MacDonald said. “We cannot have solutions that work for people in Beverly Hills but do not work for farm laborers working in the Central Valley.”

Manuel Pastor from USC emphasized incorporating environmental justice into climate policies as both a moral imperative and practical necessity. “Our study reveals that policies rooted in equity are more resilient and effective in combating climate change — and critical to building political coalitions that can save our planet,” Pastor said.

A paper led by UCLA public health professor Michael Jerrett explored public health challenges related to wildfire smoke, heat islands, flash floods, noting high death rates associated with these issues.

Although California is among the least greenhouse-gas-intensive states nationally, global emissions necessitate a global response. “California is trying to be a leader in mitigation and decreasing greenhouse gases, but it cannot do it alone," MacDonald said. "We have to focus on adaptation until we get to a point where we can meaningfully mitigate greenhouse gas emissions."