The Brief

When I think of how Hollywood largely depicts the climate crisis, I think of apocalypse movies like Mad Max or The Day After Tomorrow.

Those types of narratives are necessary to show the gravity of the situation we’re in, but there’s way more to the climate story than the do-or-die situations we mostly see in the media — and Hollywood needs to reflect that, said Hollywood Climate Summit cofounder Heather Fipps.

“We are seeing a world depicted on screen that is either divorced from reality and not showing climate change happening, or it is showing us a future that is not the future that we want,” Fipps said.

The 5th annual Hollywood Climate Summit, which began Tuesday afternoon, aims to inspire diversity and nuance in climate storytelling. The four-day conference brings together filmmakers, actors, activists, journalists, climate experts and more to discuss how Hollywood can reflect the impact of the climate crisis in our everyday lives, as well as help us imagine a better future.

“We're getting people really excited about the unique opportunity that Hollywood has to be a force for envisioning a new future and giving us different stories that we can tell ourselves about the moment that we're in,” Fipps said.

The summit will feature speakers such as Bill Nye, Jane Fonda and U.S. Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm, as well as local activists like Nalleli Cobo, who grew up near an oil drilling site in south L.A and advocated successfully with other community members to get it shut down. Her activism with her community was instrumental in getting the city to begin to phase out neighborhood oil drilling altogether.

Fipps said it’s stories like that that are missing from the mainstream Hollywood narrative.

The films, TV shows, and other media we consume has a huge influence on our culture, attitudes, and actions. But when it comes to how the climate crisis is depicted by Hollywood, too often stories are only of doom, or they ignore the realities of human-caused climate change.

Jane Fonda attends the 2023 Hollywood Climate Summit at Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. The actress and activist will also be attending this year's conference.

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Alberto E. Rodriguez

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“We see a lot of futures and stories that are depicted with more technology, more isolation, more depleted resources. And I think we want to see an abundance mentality of what is possible if we were to embrace a regenerative, cyclical economy,” Fipps said. “And so how are we seeing communities work together rather than individuals? How are we seeing stories of people coming together and advancing shared values as opposed to fighting?”

Fipps said there’s still lots of drama, humanity, comedy and tragedy in stories like that.

“For me personally, I grew up in Big Bear Lake, and I get really emotional thinking about the stakes of my favorite childhood forest, the forest that I was married in, burned down in a historic wildfire,” Fipps said. “That's a stake to me, and that is a part of my real story that could be the backdrop of something.”

She added that Quinta Brunson’s TV show Abbott Elementary is a great example of weaving the realities of the climate crisis into everyday life in a comedic way.

Abbott Elementary creator and star Quinta Brunson at the 2023 Hollywood Climate Summit.

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Lex Ryan

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“The second episode of the last season of Abbott, it starts with, ‘look how hot it is — we don't even have the infrastructure in this school to support how hot it is outside,’” said Brunson at last year’s Hollywood Climate Summit. “It's [Principal] Ava who says, ‘why is it January and hotter than the devil's booty hole?’ So my mom has a nice chuckle, but then goes, ‘why is it February or January and hotter than the devil's booty hole? Let me look that up.’ I know it seems so stupid, but I think that's really necessary for people who otherwise would not really be interested in looking into the climate.”

The summit started Tuesday afternoon and runs through Friday at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in Beverly Hills.

Jose Rodriguez wasn’t trying to be the first person in Altadena to finish a new home after suffering a loss in the Eaton Fire.

But thanks to his decades of construction experience — and fast work by his crew — Rodriguez has earned that distinction. Earlier this week, a county inspector congratulated him on receiving Los Angeles County’s first certificate of occupancy on a property impacted by the January fire.

Speaking with a reporter in Spanish, Rodriguez said he wasn’t expecting this kind of attention.

“It feels strange because I’m not used to this,” he said. “I feel good. I feel happy because everything is finished."

‘An important milestone’

The completed home is a backyard accessory dwelling unit for his adult son, David Rodriguez. (Disclosure: David works on LAist’s community engagement team). The younger Rodriguez previously lived in a unit attached to the family’s garage.

The property’s main home survived the fire, but the garage and the attached studio apartment burned down.

The office of L.A. County Supervisor Kathryn Barger, who represents Altadena, celebrated the completion of the Rodriguez family’s new ADU in a written statement to LAist.

“This is another tangible reminder that Altadena’s recovery is moving forward,” the statement read. “Knowing a fully permitted ADU has transformed what was once a garage into a safe, permanent place to call home feels good and is an important milestone. This is what steady, determined progress looks like."

A team effort

David Rodriguez said the two-bedroom ADU, with its brand new bathroom and kitchen (complete with dishwasher), is an upgrade from his previous space.

“Both of my parents have worked very hard to just move it along,” he said. “It also wouldn't be possible without the people who were working here as well … the plumber and the electricians and the workers who were putting up everything.”

Rodriguez said he has strong childhood memories of watching his father, a retired carpenter, getting ready for work before the sun came up.

“He would leave super early in the morning, like at 4 or 5 a.m.,” he said, adding that the experience was hard-earned but came in handy during the family’s fire recovery process.

“He has that knowledge,” the son said.

The scene immediately after David Rodriguez’s home was destroyed in the Eaton Fire.

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LAist

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Getting ready to rebuild

Jose Rodriguez said the process moved quickly because he knew the building process inside and out. He knew how to get plans drawn up, how to apply for building permits, how to assemble a construction crew and how to pass county inspections.

Switching to English, he recalled the moment he got his building permits.

“I have everything ready. I have other people coming to help me,” he said. “I have my list. I have everything.”

Construction took a little over three months. His wife, Sandra, pitched in too. She cooked hot meals for the construction workers on site.

After living in a string of hotels and short-term rentals, the family moved back into their main house about a month ago. Sandra Rodriguez said she looks forward to seeing their son finally return to his own space.

She observed his reactions throughout the construction process.

“Every time when we came here to the back, I saw his face, smiling,” she said. “As a mom, I can feel he's very happy with this new place.”

The kitchen in David Rodriguez’s new accessory dwelling unit comes with a dishwasher and new cabinetry.

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David Wagner

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LAist

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Recovery is slow but visible

David Rodriguez said this feels like a hopeful moment, not just for his family but for an entire community slowly recovering from profound loss. He’s encouraged when he sees framing for other ADUs starting to go up on nearby lots.

“We all lost a lot,” he said. “I think we're all still very much grieving as a community. And I really hope that we can all just continue to rebuild.”

So far, L.A. County’s Department of Public Works has issued 829 building permits in unincorporated areas affected by the Eaton Fire. Nearly 6,750 housing units were destroyed in the fire.

Facing a $303 million deficit next fiscal year, L.A. County officials propose cutting roughly a third of homelessness programs and services.

The plan, which is not yet finalized, would gut prevention, outreach and supportive services to maintain temporary shelter beds and absorb rate increases previously covered by other funding sources.

The new county Department of Homeless Services and Housing is asking for feedback from the public on the plan through the first week of December.

Proposed cuts

The draft spending plan, presented during a virtual town hall on Thursday, proposes eliminating or significantly reducing funding across multiple areas next budget year, beginning in July.

" This is to prioritize funding beds and housing,” said Sarah Mahin, the new department’s director. “And these are very difficult decisions about how to prioritize our limited resources."

The proposal includes:

• Closing down 20 of 30 existing Pathway Home program sites (more than 700 beds).
• Slashing county street outreach staff by half. 
• Eliminating funding for the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority’s housing navigation program.
• Eliminating all county homelessness prevention funding, which includes case management.
• Eliminating $12 million for programs that provide legal and employment services. 
• Eliminating funding for all four of the county’s existing Safe Parking sites. 
• Reducing funding for DPSS’ benefits advocacy by half — $5 million
• Eliminating  $10 million in direct funding to Glendale, Long Beach and Pasadena.

Why the cuts?

County officials say there's a large projected deficit in funding for homeless services next year.

The shortfall stems from three main factors.

Measure A, the county's sales tax for homeless services, has generated less revenue than anticipated as consumer spending declines.

Additionally, several sources of temporary federal and state funding have expired or are expiring, according to county officials.

Lastly, the rates the county has to pay service providers to operate shelter beds has gone up. The county is proposing to spend 46% more (an additional $86 million) to operate about 6,000 “interim housing,” or shelter beds, next year.

Officials said that new spending would not add any beds, but would maintain existing beds, at increased costs.

Community concerns

The county has been conducting community engagement sessions since July, working with the consulting firm Changewell to gather input.

During the virtual town hall Thursday, frontline workers and advocates raised alarm about the human impact of the cuts. Mahin acknowledged the concern, saying it's why the department wants the Board of Supervisors to approve the plan in January to allow adequate time to “ramp down programs.”

Mahin said the county is trying to be proactive by releasing the draft plan well before the budget deadline and soliciting extensive public comment. She said the plan also attempts to coordinate with the Los Angeles County Affordable Housing Solutions Agency, which administers separate funding for homelessness prevention and affordable housing.

Next steps 

The new county department is soliciting public comment on its website until Dec. 5. Officials will then draft a revised spending plan and present it to the L.A. County Board of Supervisors in January.

The proposed funding changes would take effect in the budget year beginning July 1.

L.A. County residents could soon be getting more transparency about payouts to county executives after LAist revealed a secretive $2 million settlement with the county’s CEO.

Citing LAist’s coverage, Supervisor Lindsey Horvath is proposing to require the county to publicly post details of all future settlements with county executives. It’s scheduled for approval by the full Board of Supervisors on Dec. 2.

What Horvath says

Horvath’s motion says the settlement with CEO Fesia Davenport “was only disclosed in response” to LAist’s public records request, and that otherwise “it is not at all clear how the public generally would have any idea that a settlement was reached.”

The county supervisors “can do more to make the public aware of how the Board conducts business and how public funds are being spent,” she added.

The backstory

Last month, LAist brought to light that the county had quietly paid a $2 million settlement in August to Davenport. The settlement had been kept under wraps from the public and county workers.

The settlement was in response to her claims that the supervisors harmed her reputation and caused her distress by putting a measure before voters — which was approved — that will create an elected county executive position. It’s among multiple reforms to restructure county government under last year’s voter-approved proposition, known as Measure G.

What Horvarth is proposing

Among other things, her motion would order county officials to report back in 60 days “on pathways to improve transparency for settlements with County executives” — including creating a public online dashboard showing “as much settlement-related information” as allowed by law.

That would include details like the executive’s name, the dollar amount and when it was approved.

Multiple executive payouts

Davenport was one of several county executives who’ve gotten sizable settlement payouts over the past few years.

Her predecessor as county CEO, Sachi Hamai, was paid $1.5 million, plus full-time private security funded by taxpayers over her claims that she faced “brutal” harassment by the then-sheriff.

Four additional county executives received payouts, according to Davenport’s claims that led to her settlement.