The Brief

The climate crisis is so huge and overwhelming, it can be paralyzing to many of us. We all want to know that one thing that will really make the difference.

But guess what? There’s an app for that. There's of course no silver bullet to addressing the climate crisis, but a new app, Dashboard.Earth, aims to help users shake out of climate paralysis, take meaningful climate actions — and get rewarded for it.

The app, which launched publicly about six months ago and is currently in beta, gamifies climate action and education, and was curated specifically for L.A.

“I think at the end of the day, everybody wants to try and figure out what they can do on an individual level to make an impact either locally in their community or on the global scale,” said Kelly Shannon McNeill, associate director at the water conservation non-profit advocacy group Los Angeles Waterkeeper, which partnered with the developers to help design the app. “The goal for Dashboard.Earth is serving up bite-sized, really accessible, step-by-step actions that almost anybody could take regardless if they're a renter, a homeowner, etc.”

At this point, the app has three main actions — composting, electronics recycling and saving on energy. There are also plenty of actions like water conservation, tree planting and energy saving that point to rebates from, for example, the L.A. Department of Water and Power. The more actions you take, the more “sprouts” you gather — people with the most sprouts are more likely to win a weekly prize, such as a gift card to a local vegan restaurant or other rewards in partnership with local businesses. It also shows how people near you are taking similar actions to foster community.

A screenshot of the dashboard.earth app.

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“Climate is a really big problem, and to solve a big problem, we each need to start where we are with what we have. And for each of us, that means our own lives, our own homes, within our own families,” said Lauren Turk, director of strategic partnerships at Dashboard.Earth. “We've done the work of identifying the key actions that really matter in L.A. so that people can get started where they are with what they have.”

The financial incentives are also mostly tied to local utilities, such as LADWP and the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California. There’s also a calculator for incentives linked to the federal Inflation Reduction Act.

And not everything is just on the app — once you sign up for the app’s newsletter, you can join in-person climate action events too.

Turk said Dashboard.Earth is not complete and they are continuing to change the product based on user feedback. For example, they’re working to potentially develop pathways around “greening” your commute and eating a more plant-based diet. They aim to expand the app statewide by the end of the year, with curated pathways for communities across California.

A screenshot of the dashboard.earth app.

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Of course a single app won’t save the world — there are no silver bullets when it comes to addressing human-caused climate change — but for the smartphone-centric society we now live in, apps can be an effective tool to help people engage with meaningful climate action at an individual level. It can even be something of a gateway to starting to participate in broader, more systemic action.

And the reality is, to make a dent on climate, both individual and systemic action is needed — and individuals do have power to tip the scales towards broader social change — just 25% of a community’s population is needed to tip the scales to change social norms, according to 2018 research from the University of Pennsylvania.

How the app was developed

There are a lot of climate apps out there, but this one is unique in its hyperlocal focus — and financial incentives — and close work with local organizations, said Turk.

The app’s actions were developed over several years in partnership with local nonprofits that work on climate resilience, such as Accelerate Resilience Los Angeles and TreePeople, as well as LA Waterkeeper, Promesa Boyle Heights and Resilient Palisades, who helped develop the water conservation and bill savings paths. Homeboy Industries is a partner on the new electronics recycling path.

Over several years, pilots were run to identify what got people to engage. LA Waterkeeper led the water conservation pilot case studies with Promesa Boyle Heights and Resilient Palisades. That pilot revealed both the opportunities and limits to the app — most of the engagement came from the affluent Pacific Palisades, where they focused on water-saving rebates for actions such as transitioning lawns to drought-tolerant landscapes. In Boyle Heights, the messaging was more about indoor water conservation and bill savings, but engagement remained low.

Drought-tolerant native wildflowers.

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“The adoption in every community has not been equal and that's something that we're proactively working with Dashboard.Earth on to figure out how we can make this more accessible for everyone,” said McNeill.

One big issue on the water conservation side, she said, is that most financial incentives available are rebates, rather than direct install programs, so lower income folks can be left out since it may not be financially feasible to wait to receive a rebate after purchasing, for example, a low-flow toilet or faucet. And there’s the digital divide, so an app can’t replace grassroots in-person organizing.

Another issue is that renters don’t always have the power to take those bigger actions, such as transforming grassy lawns. McNeill said in that case, the app can be a helpful education tool. Her family rents a house, and she said she’s used the app to educate her landlord.

“I have not been successful at encouraging them to take advantage of the amazing rebates that we have for lawn transformation, but my small act of rebellion is I have just turned off the sprinklers, so we're at least not wasting water, especially during the winter,” she said with a chuckle.

While all the actions may not work for everyone, the main ones — separating food waste, recycling electronics, and taking action on energy efficiency — are things most anyone can do.

How the app helped one Angeleno take action

Separating food waste from the trash is one of the primary actions on the app, and most users are doing it for the first time, said Turk. Keeping food waste out of landfills is essential to lowering the super planet-heating gas methane — decomposing food waste in landfills is largely why they’re California’s third largest source of methane. (Learn more about L.A.’s composting effort here).

Walter Avelar said he had no idea keeping food waste out of the trash was such a powerful climate action until the company he’s a general manager for partnered with Dashboard.Earth to improve their sustainability efforts. Now, the Granada Hills resident and his family are experts at separating their food waste.

He’s also asked his team and managers at work to download the app and work to compost themselves they share pictures when they do to motivate each other, he said. And he’s considering speaking with the elementary school down his street to see if they compost, and asked his daughters to ask their high school about taking action on food waste.

A photo of some of Walter Avelar's family's food waste. They're all now experts at separating their food waste from the trash.

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“The reason no one’s doing it is because no one’s educated,” Avelar said. “I did not even know California had a law for you to start doing that. It's just talking about it, encouraging it, and you have to lead by example as well.”

There’s research that supports that when a neighbor takes an action, the trend catches on — for example, a 2020 study found that for every 100 Southland homes that converted their lawns to drought-tolerant landscapes using a rebate from the Metropolitan Water District, an additional 132 nearby homes were inspired to convert their own grass as well.

The app provides an alert about how many other people in his neighborhood are participating in separating food waste from the trash. Avelar said he just wishes the impact calculator — which currently uses an average calculated through the Environmental Protection Agency’s waste reduction model — was more specific to the amount of food waste he’s actually separating. Turk said the team is working on developing a more pound-for-pound translation so users can know exactly how much they’re diverting from the landfill.

Much of L.A.'s food waste will end up at Recology, a composting facility just outside Bakersfield.

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Avelar said he’s always cared about the environment, but hadn’t ever had the time or knowledge to take action, until he got on the app.

“I work a lot, but it’s about making a commitment to yourself, to my family, and just being educated,” Avelar said. “There's so much food that we throw away and I did not know that it creates gasses and it affects animals, it affects us, it affects everyone. And if we don't stop, I mean, I can't even imagine what's going to happen in 50, 60 years, or even when my girls have kids.”

Even his mother-in-law, who’s visiting from Panama, is fully on board now, Avelar said.

“Now, I come home after work and there's already a bag [with the separated food waste],” Avelar said. “It’s amazing. And all we did was talk about it. So I'm sure she's going to be taking it back to Panama.”

This story first appeared on The LA Local.

On most weekday afternoons at the Expo Park/USC Metro station outside the University of Southern California, the platform feels like an extension of campus life. People are usually bunched up in pairs or groups. Many wear USC crewneck sweatshirts and talk about campus life as they straddle the edges between downtown Los Angeles and the classroom. What they aren’t talking about are their cars or debating the pros and cons of taking an Uber versus a Waymo. 

“Ubering is expensive every time I’m going somewhere, it’s at least gonna be $30,” Jaiden Torres told The LA Local. Torres is a third-year student at Hofstra University doing a semester in Los Angeles. 

He said a car is the last thing on his mind as he navigates the city. “That’s money that I could be spending on other things. So I try to opt out to take the train.”

For many young Angelenos, the Los Angeles Metro isn’t a last resort. It’s how they move through the city. They’re embracing transit even as the system evolves and works to rebuild ridership and public trust.

More than 500,000 students, including community college students, across L.A. County now ride Metro through its GoPass program, with nearly 60 million student boardings since 2021. Metro says its overall ridership has also continued to recover since the pandemic, reaching more than 82% of pre-pandemic levels in January 2025 and extending a run of more than two years of growth.

In a statement, Metro attributed that increase in ridership to improvements in service, safety and a return of public confidence in the system. 

For Josh Figueroa, a first-year urban planning major at the USC, transit is both a classroom topic and a daily necessity. Originally from Riverside, he moved to L.A. this year without a car and now relies on Metro to get around.

“In terms of getting where I need to go, the Metro is very reliable,” he told The LA Local. “And, because I’m a student, it’s free.”

And it’s not just USC students. Since 2016, Metro has offered a U-Pass partnership that allows students to get unlimited or discounted rides with their TAP cards. The program went from one major university in 2017 to nearly two dozen schools in 2025. 

Jacob Wasserman is a research program manager at UCLA’s Institute of Transportation Studies. He told The LA Local that by offering passes, schools are helping create a culture of students using the Metro.  

“At UCLA, every undergrad and grad student gets a pass. It makes the transit agency money because [schools] buy it for everybody, and the people who do use it get a ton of value. It’s effectively free,” he said. 

For students juggling tuition, rent and groceries, the savings matter.

“I’m definitely more inclined to take the Metro than an Uber because of finances,” Figueroa said. “It’s way cheaper to take the Metro.”

Figueroa also feels more a part of L.A. when riding. “I feel more in connection with a community or in connection with a city when I’m taking the resources and the transportation that they provide,” he said. 

But there are drawbacks. 

On most weekday afternoons at the Expo Park/USC Metro station outside the University of Southern California, the platform feels like an extension of campus life. People are usually bunched up in pairs or groups. Many wear USC crewneck sweatshirts and talk about campus life as they straddle the edges between downtown Los Angeles and the classroom. What they aren’t talking about are their cars or debating the pros and cons of taking an Uber versus a Waymo.

Trains vs cars

L.A.’s landscape is built around cars and freeways, with many Metro stops located in inconvenient places. “It’s hard to fit a transit system into land use that’s built around the car, because you may have to walk that last mile, and if there isn’t just much around, it can be unsafe,” Wasserman said. 

Figueroa has personally experienced this. “A lot of places I want to go, like a food spot somewhere, I’d need to drive because the Metro stops are in inconvenient places. If I get off at a Metro stop, I might have to walk 30 minutes to an hour,” he said. 

But that may change. New Metro expansions are working to connect the city more efficiently.

Metro’s “28 by 28” initiative aims to complete 28 major public rail transportation projects before the 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games, including rail extensions, new light-rail segments and rapid bus transit lines. 

Nine projects have been completed so far, including the A Line (formerly the Gold Line) Foothill Extension to Pomona. “[The A Line] is great for connecting college students out there,” Wasserman said. 

He added that these projects are meant to serve everyday riders. “The difference that we’re seeing for the 28 Olympics is that a lot of these projects, even the bus projects, are designed to be Olympic supporting, but also legacy projects beyond that,” Wasserman said. 

Wasserman hopes Metro’s expansion will help keep Angelenos connected across the city and is optimistic about its future.

“We’re really ambitiously expanding our rail system,” he said. “If it can work in L.A., it can work anywhere in the U.S.”

But another major issue affecting ridership is around safety. 

Commuter safety concerns

Figueroa noted that Metro stations with the fewest riders feel less safe.

“In urban places that don’t have a lot of people, there’s this idea of having less eyes on the street. When you have less eyes and less people watching, people tend to feel unsafe because they feel alone. It’s very prevalent on the Metro,” Figueroa said.

Torres noted the difference between the buses and trains in L.A. 

“I feel a lot safer on the train than on the bus. On trains, if it feels unsafe, I can move to the next car. But on the bus you’re kind of stuck,” he said. 

Transit agencies are paying attention to these concerns. Wasserman conducted a research project into the L.A. Metro Transit Ambassador Pilot Program, which provides a visible, customer-focused presence at stations and on vehicles. 

“I think the ambassador program is working well. They’re just like extra eyes, so you’re not in an empty station,” Wasserman said. “They are also doing more serious stuff. They carry Narcan and address overdoses.” 

Figueroa has noticed the changes. “I definitely feel safer. I don’t feel like I’m in danger or threatened,” he said. 

The UCLA report concluded that Metro was “wise to consider, pilot, and now make permanent” the ambassador program. 

The continuous improvements are also shaping how young people view the city itself. “I feel like [by taking the train] I’m getting to observe the working class or day-to-day people of L.A.,” Torres said.

Most Orange County residents favor offering undocumented residents a pathway to legal status rather than blanket deportation, according to a new poll from the University of California, Irvine School of Social Ecology. But that’s not true for a majority of Republicans (54%), who favor deportation, the poll found.

Jon Gould, dean of the School of Social Ecology, said the poll demonstrates the stark difference in public opinion on immigration between Republicans on one side, and Democrats and independents on the other.

“ Majorities are very much in favor of immigration, paths to legal citizenship, and are hesitant to use the enforcement power too strongly," Gould said of the poll results. “It’s surprising in a purple county that we’re seeing both a strong majority one way, and a cleavage where one of the political parties [Republican] is off by itself compared to independents and Democrats.”

Orange County is considered “purple” because the county’s 2 million voters are nearly evenly split, with one-third each registered as Republican or Democrat, and another third registered as No Party Preference or with a smaller political party.

There was agreement across political parties on some issues, Gold said. The majority of respondents agreed that violent criminals should automatically be deported, and that immigrants who are U.S. veterans should never be deported.

UC Irvine School of Social Ecology polled 1,200 Orange County adults on immigration issues in March 2026.

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Gould also said the poll of some 1,200 adults demonstrates the nuanced opinions that most residents have on the subject of immigration. For example, a majority of all respondents (61%) support limiting immigration from countries the government deems dangerous or unstable.

Results of the UC Irvine poll on immigration show agreement across party lines on some nuanced questions.

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Some other key takeaways:

• While 62% of respondents said they disapproved of President Donald Trump’s handling of immigration issues, a smaller margin, 55%, disapproved of his handling of the U.S.-Mexico border.
• A majority said immigration fills essential low-wage jobs (76%) and enhances civic life (67%). A plurality also said immigration strains public services (48%).
• Only small percentages of all respondents said they supported automatic deportation for immigrants convicted of non-violent crimes (23%), unemployed immigrants (16%), recent arrivals (11%), and non-English speakers (10%). 
• On the question of ICE, 73% of Republicans said they supported the agency’s actions, whereas 67% of Democrats and 40% of independents said the agency should be abolished.

Implications for the upcoming elections and immigration reform

Trump’s aggressive immigration enforcement has taken a heavy toll in Orange County. Some families have lost breadwinners to deportation, while others have sought to limit their exposure by quitting jobs and staying indoors. Spending in the county decreased by about one-quarter of a percent immediately after enforcement ramped up last year, according to a separate UC Irvine study. That led to a $4.5 million decline in sales tax over an eight-week period, the study found.

Students protest ICE on Jan. 27, 2026 in front of Anaheim City Hall.

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A growing number of cities, plus the county itself, have set aside funds to support immigrant residents with basic needs and legal services.

This support reflects what Gould called a “sea change” in public opinion since 1994, when two-thirds of Orange County voters cast ballots in favor of excluding undocumented immigrants from public education and other public services. That ballot initiative, Proposition 187, was ultimately found to be unconstitutional and never went into effect.

Gould said the majority of respondents’ positive views on immigration in the recent poll shows how much the county has changed. It’s also a reflection of the vast demographic shifts that have occurred in the county in recent decades as a result of immigration and refugee arrivals from countries like Vietnam.

Nearly 40% of residents polled said both of their parents were born in another country; 82% of Asians polled said both parents were born in another country.

Slightly more than one-third of respondents said they personally knew someone who is undocumented.

Gould thinks the results of the polling bode well for the prospects for immigration reform — despite decades of failure in Washington to strike a deal between Republicans and Democrats. The shift in public opinion might not lead to change in policy yet, Gould said, “but politicians generally follow where the wind’s blowing.”

 “At a time where we're being led to believe that immigration pits people against one another, it's intractable, these battles will go on forever," he said. "I actually think what we're seeing in the data here is that there is a supermajority support for a number of policies on immigration. There is actually potentially a solution here.”

This story first appeared on The LA Local.

Jacque Langston was driving down Manchester Boulevard in Inglewood when he came face-to-face with an odd sight: sea creatures floating across one of the city’s new, spiraling digital billboards. 

“Why am I looking at jellyfish? That has nothing to do with me,” said Langston, an Inglewood native. For Langston, the video billboards that have come to dominate stretches of Inglewood’s major roads are a square peg in a round hole.

“The city has never been touched like that,” Langston said. “Now you’ve got a mini-Vegas.” 

A digital billboard is seen on La Cienega Blvd. at Florence Ave. in Inglewood on April 18, 2026, in Los Angeles.

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Video billboards have proliferated in Inglewood in recent years, targeting the influx of people driving into the city for concerts and sporting events at SoFi Stadium, the Intuit Dome and the Kia Forum. 

Last summer, though, they became a flashpoint for a series of lawsuits that revealed fractures in the once-close relationship between the city and its major entertainment venues. The various parties are now fighting over lucrative advertising territory as major international sporting events approach.

That legal drama — reported last week by The LA Local — also threatens to undo the contract that underpins SoFi Stadium’s financial relationship with the city. 

Langston and other Inglewood residents might get a chance to weigh in on the billboards in November’s election, due to a proposed ballot initiative that would bar most advertisements on public streets. But that ballot initiative itself has now prompted its own potentially costly legal fight involving the city, which receives a steadily increasing stream of revenue from billboard companies, and people with ties to the billionaire-owned stadiums.

Meanwhile, the bright LED video screens have divided local opinion. 

Vanessa Cowan, an Inglewood resident, said the gleaming screens are a sign of progress in the city. “I like them,” she said. “It has a different look.” 

A person walks past a digital billboard on Prairie Avenue in Inglewood on April 18, in Los Angeles.

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Khnum Alexander, owner of Swank Men’s Fashion on Manchester, called the billboards “monstrosities” and said advertising on the screens is too expensive for small businesses like his. He also questioned the new, twisting screens that billboard company WOW Media has recently begun to install in groups of three across the city.

“Do we really need more?” he asked. 

Down the street from Alexander’s menswear store, EZ Will Driving School owner Will McDaniel felt differently.

“I’m all for it,” McDaniel said. “People are afraid of change. Change to them feels awkward.” 

If city leaders have their way, the Billboard Blight Elimination and Neighborhood Preservation Initiative won’t make it to voters this fall.

“What is packaged as an initiative by and for Inglewood residents appears to be a product of avaricious puppeteering by a billionaire developer,” lawyers retained by the city wrote in a March 4 court complaint filed in an attempt to block the initiative. 

That developer, the city’s lawyers contend, was SoFi Stadium owner Stan Kroenke. Attorneys later amended the complaint to include Intuit Dome owner Steve Ballmer.

“Voter suppression”

In February, Inglewood resident Shannon Roberts filed to circulate a petition to prohibit commercial billboards on public streets, sidewalks and medians. The petition, a step towards getting the billboard initiative on the ballot in November, also seeks to prohibit business arrangements for the city to profit from billboard deals. 

“Public spaces belong to people, not billboard companies,” Roberts wrote, adding advertising should instead prioritize public safety messaging, such as emergency alerts, not advertising for profit.

“Inglewood should not be for sale to billboard companies for decades at a time — especially when such arrangements permanently alter the character of our beautiful city and erase the legacy of those who fought to preserve our neighborhoods,” Roberts wrote.

Roberts did not respond to a request for comment. When The LA Local reached out to her lawyer, a veteran campaign spokesperson responded.  

John Shallman has been a consultant in Southern California politics for decades and formerly worked for the Clippers when they moved to the Intuit Dome. 

He is now working with Roberts to get the anti-billboard initiative on the ballot; their website and campaign are called Inglewood Not for Sale.

He said he’s never seen a city sue one of its residents over an idea they’re attempting to put before voters.

“It’s voter suppression,” Shallman told The LA Local. “You can run a campaign against it, but trying to stop it from getting in front of citizens at all, that’s a big red flag. We’re all about voter empowerment. They’re the public’s streets, parks and medians. They control how they’re used and how they’re sold.”

Inglewood Mayor James Butts did not return a request for comment. The city’s lawyers argued in court filings that the initiative shouldn’t be allowed to go before voters because it would unconstitutionally restrict speech, lay out illegal zoning guidelines and hurt the city’s contract with WOW Media, the company that controls many of Inglewood’s billboards. 

Shallman believes that the Inglewood City Council cut a bad deal in April 2025 with WOW Media when the city approved a 20-year contract, which can be extended for decades. “It’s sort of biblical in its length of time,” he said. “The city decided that the profit of one company is far more important than the residents who will have to live with these billboards.”

The campaign has already collected several thousand signatures, Shallman said. 

Shallman dismissed the city’s accusations that the coalition he works with does not authentically represent Inglewood’s residents. Though Roberts’ name is on the initiative, the filing fee was paid for by Gerard McCallum II, a longtime associate of Hollywood Park.

Shallman said the initiative is raising money from all sorts of supporters, including those tied to the Rams and Clippers professional sports teams.

“You’re talking about an insignificant sum of money that pales in comparison to the hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars that will be spent to sue this Inglewood resident,” Shallman said of the filing fee.

Inglewood’s November election could be packed

WOW Media is opposing the billboard initiative through its own campaign, Inglewood Residents for Stadium Accountability. 

CEO Scott Krantz wrote in a statement to The LA Local that the billboard initiative, which does not include stadium billboards, would deprive the city of up to $2 billion in revenue over 40 years.

“The stadiums share none of their advertising revenue with Inglewood residents. We trust the people of Inglewood to see the stadium owner billionaire’s scam for exactly what it is,” Krantz wrote.

Krantz and Inglewood Residents for Stadium Accountability are also backing a pair of initiatives that could have a big impact on stadiums’ bottom line: The initiatives seek to remove admissions tax caps for large venues and limit how much some parking lots can charge during major events. 

Longtime Mayor Butts is also up for reelection in November, as are Councilmembers Gloria Gray and Alex Padilla and a few school board members. 

Wherever the votes land, Inglewood’s rapid transformation doesn’t appear to be slowing down. 

“Times are changing around here,” said Rick Todd, who sat at a table on Manchester Boulevard on Thursday, selling jugs of soursop tea. Up the street, a video billboard flicked between an Inglewood police recruitment poster and an ad for “The Devil Wears Prada 2.” “This goes along with it.”