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Policy responses to the challenges associated with environmental change, including more frequent and severe climatic events, have interlinked environmental and social impacts. Less attention has been afforded to the latter, and specifically to the question of not just whether but how such responses create or entrench inequality. This paper examines policy responses to drought events in California, United States, and the Western Cape Province, South Africa, in terms of their effects on inequality, revealed in relationships to water access networks. We use concepts of water justice and hydraulic citizenship to evaluate how and why these policy responses reproduced water injustices in the two settings. We focus particularly on two mechanisms linking responses to widened inequalities: values‐reinforcement and strategic communication. Using interviews, policy documents, and media reports, we employ process tracing methods to illustrate these mechanisms through which drought policy impacts hydraulic citizenship experiences, manifesting water injustice. We contribute to emerging examinations of environmental policy responses and maladaptation by demonstrating how concepts of hydraulic citizenship and an emphasis on mechanisms can help us better understand and identify experiences of water injustice. We note policy implications and areas for future research, highlighting droughts as consequential policy sites for advancing social and environmental justice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pesticides are critical for protecting agricultural crops, but the off-site transport of these materials via spray drift and runoff poses risks to surface waters and aquatic life. California's Central Coast region is a major agricultural hub in the United States characterized by year-round production and intensive use of pesticides and other chemical inputs. As a result, the quality of many waterbodies in the region has been degraded. A recent regulatory program enacted by the Central Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board set new pesticide limits for waterways and imposed enhanced enforcement mechanisms to help ensure that water quality targets are met by specific dates. This regulatory program, however, does not mandate specific changes to pest management programs. In this study, we evaluate the economic, environmental, and pest management impacts of adopting two alternative pest management programs with reduced risks to surface water: 1) replacing currently used insecticide active ingredients (AIs) that pose the greatest risk to surface water with lower-risk alternatives and 2) converting conventional arthropod pest management programs to organic ones. We utilize pesticide use and toxicity data from California's Department of Pesticide Regulation to develop our baseline and two alternative scenarios. We focus on three crop groups (cole crops, lettuce and strawberry) due to their economic importance to the Central Coast and use of high-risk AIs. For Scenario 1, we estimate that implementing the alternative program in the years 2017–2019 would have reduced annual net returns on average by $90.26 – $190.54/ha, depending on the crop. Increased material costs accounted for the greatest share of this effect (71.9%–95.6%). In contrast, Scenario 2 would have reduced annual net returns on average by $5,628.12 – $18,708.28/ha during the study period, with yield loss accounting for the greatest share (92.8–97.9%). Both alternative programs would have reduced the associated toxic units by at least 98.1% compared to the baseline scenario. Our analysis provides important guidance for policymakers and agricultural producers looking to achieve environmental protection goals while minimizing economic impacts. • Agricultural pesticide use in California has degraded surface water quality. • New regulations will require growers to adopt more sustainable practices. • We analyze impacts of two lower-risk pest management programs in three crops. • Both program scenarios reduce toxic unit contributions by over 98% versus baseline. • In contrast, the economic impact differs greatly between scenarios. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the relationship between the early adoption of new technologies, the probability of firm survival, and environmental regulations through a case study of dry cleaners in the South Coast Basin of California (SC Basin). Most dry cleaners use machines that use the toxic chemical perchloroethylene (PERC) to clean garments. PERC vapors are emitted into the ambient air during the dry cleaning process and can cause cancer in people who live and work nearby. In 2002, the South Coast Air Quality Management District (AQMD) required all dry cleaners in the region to purchase a costly alternative machine that used a non-toxic cleaning solvent by the year 2020. Using bivariate and multivariate analysis, we found that the timing of the early adoption of non-PERC machines among dry cleaners was optimal, ceteris paribus, and adopting early did not have a negative effect on the probability of surviving. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 2014 the California Environmental Protection Agency (CalEPA) released CalEnviroScreen 2.0, developed to identify communities facing "multiple burdens of pollution and socioeconomic disadvantage" (CalEnviroScreen FAQs, 2016). Contemporaneously, California was suffering a severe drought. CalEPA implemented emergency water cutbacks such that community allowances ranged from approximately 70%–430% of the U.S. average for water consumption. Decades of research find that racial and ethnic minorities face greater environmental burdens than others. Did the CalEPA cutbacks disproportionately affect already burdened communities or those with higher percentages of minorities? Using geographic information systems and spatial regression analysis, we find that the water cutbacks did not, ceteris paribus, further stress already burdened communities, but communities with a more significant percentage of Hispanics are estimated to receive lower water allowances even controlling for poverty. This research broadens the areas in which we can look for environmental (in)justice beyond standard dis/amenities, and implies that even intra‐organizational policy goals of reducing environmental justice burdens may not be enough. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article offers information on the climate policies in California and New York. It mentions the role played by politicians in the two states why their policies were considered as stronger in the U.S. along with the usefulness of the process and structural theories in the policy adoption of the two states. It discusses certain structural advantages and constraints that contributes to development of strong climate policies in California and New York. It highlights the similarities of the climate policies of the states and the reason why California's policy was stronger compared with New York's.

Stormwater is a complex political and geographical problem. It is at once bound to land-use decisions, tied to geographical features such as lakes and rivers, and capable of flowing across different political boundaries and jurisdictions. In this paper, I empirically focus on how disparate understandings of stormwater are forged through different institutional arrangements and the ways multiple actors interact across scales of governance in Los Angeles. The results indicate four discourses influence decisions on urban stormwater management and are articulated through different forms of knowledge and power in environmental governance. The discourses diverge over contrasting perspectives on infrastructural interventions, the role of economic approaches, and the need for new institutions and rules. I suggest that disagreement may not deter integration and collaboration across different scales of governance, but without addressing conflict over key discursive claims about how stormwater governance should proceed, broadly accepted outcomes may remain elusive. With current trends in environmental governance moving towards hybrid forms that bring together groups that transcend traditional organizational structures, this paper reveals how more sustainable outcomes are being devised through current configurations of knowledge and power. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article highlights California's tri-partite statutory structure aimed at the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions and global warming, linking air quality, transportation, and sustainable land use through regional and local planning. It examines laws to prevent global warming and greenhouse gas emissions by linking air quality, transportation, and sustainable land use1 through regional and local planning.

Fully-automated driverless vehicles will likely drastically change the way people and goods are transported, implicating land use and transportation. They would not only provide a convenient means of transportation to many, but also become an effective tool to reduce transportation-related greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, which account for a large portion of the total emissions in many jurisdictions throughout the world. To encourage the use of fully-automated driverless vehicles as such a tool, this article proposes several legal mechanisms that should be adopted in California. Although these legal mechanisms have been developed based primarily on existing California laws, countries and jurisdictions throughout the globe that wish to efficiently minimise transportation-related emissions should consider adopting these legal mechanisms because they can readily be adopted in various jurisdictions including those currently lacking a legal framework similar to California's. This article proposes these legalmechanisms primarily by examining existing California laws intended to reduce the transportation-sector emissions, including the California GlobalWarming Solutions Act of 2006, or Assembly Bill 32, and the Sustainable Communities and Climate Protection Act of 2008, or Senate Bill 375, and the potential impacts that driverless vehicles would have on GHG emissions based on expert opinions and literature review. The legal mechanisms proposed in this article would serve as foundations on which a more comprehensive scheme of GHG emissions reduction measures related to fully-automated driverless vehicles can be developed as driverless vehicle technology further develops. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

BACKGROUND: Both public health, and the health of the natural environment, are affected by policy decisions made across portfolios as diverse as finance, planning, transport, housing, education, and agriculture. A response to the interdependent character of public health has been the "health in all policies" (HiAP) approach. OBJECTIVES: With reference to parallels between health and environment, this paper argues that lessons from HiAP are useful for creating a new integrated environmental management approach termed "environment in all polices" (EiAP). DISCUSSION: This paper covers the theoretical foundations of HiAP, which is based on an understanding that health is strongly socially determined. The paper then highlights how lessons learned from HiAP's implementation in Finland, California, and South Australia might be applied to EiAP. It is too early to learn from evaluations of HiAP, but it is apparent that there is no single tool kit for its application. The properties that are likely to be necessary for an effective EiAP approach include a jurisdiction-specific approach, ongoing and strong leadership from a central agency, independent analysis, and a champion. We then apply these properties to Victoria (Australia) to demonstrate how EiAP might work. CONCLUSIONS: We encourage further exploration of the feasibility of EiAP as an approach that could make explicit the sometimes surprising environmental implications of a whole range of strategic policies. CITATION: Browne GR, Rutherfurd ID. 2017. The case for "environment in all policies": lessons from the "health in all policies" approach in public health. Environ Health Perspect 125:149-154; http://dx.doi.org/10.1289/EHP294 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Restoration ecology struggles to mitigate human‐caused ecological damage. Non‐native species are a particular challenge. This article describes two restoration attempts following introduced species in California and then makes a radical culling proposal. Environmental regulations, legal protections, and restoration projects are necessary to preserve ecosystem services, but such policies are often unpopular. Restorers often struggle when public opinion opposes evidence‐based practice, and this occurs particularly when the interventions involve killing mammals. Therefore, restoration efforts may benefit from more attention to how individuals perceive the acceptability of environmental policies and how to communicate policy options effectively for individuals to make informed decisions. Restoration ecology can follow the recent shift of medicine away from imperatives and toward informed patient choice. Restoration projects may benefit from recent advances in psychology and communication that help individuals make policy decisions that align with their personal values. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Traditional energy and demand savings metrics for distributed energy resources (DER) do not accurately describe the value of DERs to meet future energy needs, minimize grid investments, maintain reliability, and reduce greenhouse gasses. This problem is exacerbated in an increasingly renewable grid in which DER impact varies significantly with time and location. Moreover, different DERs are also valued using disparate metrics; this fragmented DER valuation and procurement creates process and economic inefficiencies. A new path forward is the Total System Benefits metric (TSB); the TSB aggregates all electric system benefits, and relevant environmental externalities that accrue to DERs. The TSB is the only metric that comprehensively values DER's to meet future electric system needs and environmental policy goals. This common metric will enable electricity planners, regulators, utilities, and implementers to best deploy and track DER to meet electric grid and environmental policy needs. This paper explains why the TSB is the right metric to value all DER, data requirements to develop the TSB, how to express DER in terms of the TSB, and lessons learned so far from California's implementation of the TSB. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The emergence of new environmental policy instruments (NEPIs) has launched a debate about the continued relevance of traditional regulatory approaches. Previous research examining the relationship of regulations and NEPIs has shown that regulations can compel engagement with voluntary approaches. In this paper, we demonstrate that the linkages between regulation and voluntary approaches need not be coercive. Through a study of sediment pollution in northern California, we show that regulatory processes have facilitated learning and motivated landowners to undertake voluntary actions. We suggest three elements that are fundamental to the success of this process: (a) the voluntary action must benefit the landowner, (b) resources must be available to reduce the implementation burden, and (c) the regulatory process must involve open and respectful communication between the landowner and the regulator. While not a panacea, this process of regulatory spillover offers a promising pathway for extending the reach of existing regulations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the importance of urban forests. Topics discussed include ecological, economic, social, and aesthetic benefits from California's investment in urban forests; California's Global Warming Solutions Act; impact of climate change on urban ecosystems; laws under which municipalities manage urban forests; and the role of urban forests in carbon-sequestration.

Potential impacts of low energy homes were reviewed to identify research needs for indoor environmental quality in California's building energy-efficiency programs. California and several nations are planning to implement low-energy or low-carbon requirements for new and existing homes. These homes will be well-insulated, airtight, high-performance buildings, but they will have a narrower margin of safety for control of pollutant sources, moisture, and ventilation. California has a growing fraction of vulnerable persons, such as the elderly and asthmatics. Indoor environmental quality problems will be impacted by climate change, urban densification, and transit-oriented development. Building technology trends expected to affect indoor environmental quality for better or worse include increased use of insulation, thermal mass, fault-detection and diagnostics systems, integrated design, and commissioning. Several studies of low-energy homes have documented problems, such as overheating, poor maintenance of air filters and ventilation systems, and excess noise. Current indoor environmental quality problems requiring further research include attached space infiltration; effective range hood operation; ventilations system commissioning; and builder, operator, and occupant training. An expert panel and stakeholders helped develop a prioritized list of research needs for various determinants of indoor environmental quality. The major drivers and research gaps were related to human behavior, pollutant sources, and integrated design. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Although California's carbon market is generally seen as a model climate policy, recent reforms now credit utilities for shifting legacy coal contracts to their unregulated neighbors, a practice that causes leakage. To the extent the market relies on leakage to generate compliance on paper, it is producing the false appearance of emissions reductions through an accounting scheme that does not reflect real climate benefits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We study how government green procurement policies influence private-sector demand for similar products. Specifically, we measure the impact of municipal policies requiring governments to construct green buildings on private-sector adoption of the US Green Building Council׳s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) standard. Using matching methods, panel data, and instrumental variables, we find that government procurement rules produce spillover effects that stimulate both private-sector adoption of the LEED standard and investments in green building expertise by local suppliers. These findings suggest that government procurement policies can accelerate the diffusion of new environmental standards that require coordinated complementary investments by various types of private adopter. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article shares reflections about the climate change program of California. Topics discussed include the state's goal to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions under the 2006 Global Warming Solutions Act, the state's launch of a market-based cap-and-trade program, and the view that the federal government should follow California's model in terms of its climate change policy.

In this paper, we ask how the written composition of public policies structure an environmental governance system. We answer this question using semi-automated text analyses of 22 state-level policies governing oil and gas development in California between 2007 and 2017. The findings portray an environmental governance system that is both partitioned and connected into different focal areas (called "targeted action situations") through certain actors, issues, and rules. We conclude with substantive insights about California's oil and gas governance system, as well as theoretical and methodological contributions for analyzing the composition of public policy to advance knowledge about hybrid governance. • A coercive or regulatory form of governing system can appear responsive to signals in its environment. • Policy-making venues produce policies that connect actors in the broader governance system via targeted action situations. • Interdependent action situations are connected in multiple ways. • The actors, issues, and rules in a governance system tend to partition or connect the system. • The institutional grammar can be adapted to study public policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Agency and state grant funding should be disseminated in ways so it will result in better management of household hazardous waste (HHW) and environmental sustainability. Since location seems to matter in HHW collection activities, it is important to consider pro-environmental spatial spillovers that occur, based on agency actions and waste collection behavior taking place in other locations. These may influence HHW-related practices in close-by regions. Using a county-level spatio-temporal dataset that consists of economic, demographic, and HHW data in California from 2004 to 2015, we evaluate the impact of HHW grants on HHW collection activities while considering pro-environmental spillovers. We employ a research design that controls for confounding factors across the North, Central and South Regions, and over time. The research models assess causal relationships using a random effects panel data model with instrumental variables to estimate the grants' influences, while considering spatial effects and unobservable bias. Several findings were obtained: (1) HHW grants had positive effects on waste collection in a consistent way across multiple models that we tested; (2) positive spatial spillover effects occurred for HHW collection activities due to the pro-environmental activities of nearby counties. This research contributes to the growing body of research on geospatial policy analytics, ways to establish the basis for causal inference, and the use of robustness checks to develop a deeper understanding of how to make waste management grant programs more effective in the regions where they are implemented. • Locations should be considered when assessing the effects of environmental-related policies. • Grants had positive effects on household hazardous waste (HHW) collection output. • Positive spatial spillover effects occurred for HHW collection activities in California. • Ignoring spatial spillovers may result in over-estimation of the grant effects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article reports on the announcement of California Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr. at the United Nations Environment Programme and the Climate and Clean Air Coalition meeting in 2015 on the state's reduction of short-lived climate pollutants to reduce methane and hydrofluorocarbons emissions.