Grand Challenges

Climate change is leaving native plants behind

A manzanita specimen from 1936 housed at the University and Jepson Herbaria at the University of California, Berkeley.

John Upton/Climate Central

Jon Christensen of the UCLA Institute of the Environment and Sustainability and the department of History warns that native plants are struggling to keep up with changes around them as pollution from fuel burning and deforestation continues to warm the planet.

Source: Climate change is leaving native plants behind Climate Central, 8 Feb. 2016

Additional coverage about Jon Christenson’s work studying native plants reacting to climate change:

Ecosystems pulling apart as some plants shift habitats, possibly adapting to climate change UCLA Newsroom, 8 Feb. 2016

Sustainable LA

UCLA expertise out at Porter Ranch

Residents in Porter Ranch have been smelling natural gas since at least October 2015.

Gene Blevins/Special to the Los Angeles Daily News

While health officials and Southern California Gas Co. executives have maintained that Porter Ranch residents’ symptoms were the effects of smelling odorants, experts like UCLA’s Professor and Chair Department of Environmental Health Sciences of the Fielding School of Public Health, Michael Jerrett, are raising other possibilities. Jerrett has been frequently on hand to lend his expertise and a critical eye to the recent gas leaks.

Source: What caused nosebleeds in Porter Ranch? New questions emerge Los Angeles Daily News, 8 Feb. 2016

Additional coverage about Michael Jerrett’s response to the Porter Ranch gas leak:

Families Near The Huge Gas Leak Wonder: Is Home A Safe Place To Be? NPR, 10 Feb. 2016

Porter Ranch gas leak: How officials are testing the air KPCC, 3 Feb. 2016

California gas company promises action to capture some of leaking methane The Guardian, 11 Jan. 2016

Porter Ranch: Long term health risks of gas leak unknown KPCC, 3 Oct. 2015

Sustainable LA

Free parking is expensive

Try finding a spot.

Craig Warga/ Bloomberg

Donald Shoup of the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs’ Urban Planning department weighs in on the benefits of increasing parking rates in metropolitan areas.

How to boost L.A.’s sinking transit ridership

ALS passengers wait to board at the Expo Line Culver City Station.

Los Angeles Times

Ethan Elkind, who is jointly appointed at UCLA School of Law and UC Berkeley School of Law, discusses L.A.’s sinking transit ridership and proposes solutions for a more comprehensive, convienient, and equitable transportation system.

Billions spent, but fewer people are using public transportation in Southern California

Metro plans to spend more than $12 billion over the next 10 years to build two new rail lines and three extensions, the largest capital investment of any transit agency in the country.

Al Seib / Los Angeles Times

In a recent LA Times article concerning LA Metro bus ridership, Brian Taylor of the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs’ department of Urban Planning underscores the importance of investing in the bus routes which carry the most riders.

Happenings