Governor Brown signs climate deal with China, Los Angeles Fire Department to use airborne drones, if Big Sur's Highway 1 should be repaired once more.
China warms up to California on fight against climate change
On Tuesday, Governor Brown met with the Chinese President Xi Jing-Ping in Beijing.
Just as President Trump plans to pull out of the Paris Accord, Governor Brown is stepping in to fill the void.
The biggest economy in the U.S. and the second biggest GDP in the world signed an agreement to work together on reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
What does this mean for green tech going forward?
Host A Martinez sits down with Matthew Kahn, professor of environmental economics at University of Southern California and co-author of the book Blue Skies over Beijing: Economic Growth and the Environment in China.
Interview Highlights
Green Products from China
Governor Brown has successfully signaled to China that California and other progressive states are going to continue to demand green products that China might supply. With President Trump dropping out of the Paris Accord, there might have been uncertainty in China in terms of their paths forward. But Governor Brown has confirmed the demand will still be there.
Cap-and-trade
California has launched the "cap-and-trade" program to reduce its greenhouse gas emission. China, with its air pollution problems, has been very interested California's efforts to show green economy can be good economic policies as well as good environmental moves.
California's Signal to the White House
The progressive states will continue with the climate change mitigation. Trump will only be our president for three to seven more years. I think there's an expectation in this country that we will be more active in addressing the climate change challenge. If California and China can make green products cheaper and more high quality, the people of Texas will buy them. Brown's effort is making future presidents more likely to abide by future Paris Accords.
Drones may soon be joining the LA Fire Department
There are some new firefighters coming to town. They're tiny and they fly. Yes, drones could soon be joining the L.A. Fire Department.
On Tuesday, the city's Board of Fire Commissioners approved the use of UAVs or Unmanned Aerial Vehicles. And we had a burning question for L.A. Fire Chief Ralph Terrazas: Why drones?
"The main reason is to increase firefighter safety. And some good examples might be, a long duration structure fire. By long duration I mean 30 minutes or longer. We could put up a UAV in the air and then have the image transmitted down to the command post, down in the street. The incident commander can then determine whether or not we should deploy firefighters to ventilate the roof. That's a good example of how they would enhance firefighter safety."
Other fire departments like New York's and Austin's have already implemented UAVs into their fire program. The Los Angeles Department has been in touch with these departments while molding their program and has elected to take a conservative approach. As a result, they're requiring pilot's licenses for those maneuvering the UAV's. "As we speak, we have 17 LAFD firefighters who are qualified to operate UAV's," Chief Terrazas told A Martinez.
The drones LAFD is looking to use aren't your standard run of the mill UAVs. They're looking at three different models which will range in sizes and abilities. "The simplest model, you could purchase it in store," said Chief Terrazas, "The more complex ones are bigger, they can carry equipment, they can do different things."
But don't think any hobbyist could come in and fly their drone for these missions. The department is planning on distinguishing their UAVs with clear identifiers and painting them "LAFD red."
One of the main concerns when it comes to drones in the hands of government agencies is privacy. It's something the department wanted to be proactive in addressing.
"We obtained ACLU literature about their concerns over privacy. That's the main obstacle and we developed our policy to address those concerns. The main reason we're doing this is to enhance firefighter safety during emergencies. This provides us real-time situational awareness to make good tactical decisions. The purpose is not surveillance and we're very careful about anything, about any purpose that may be perceived as surveillance."
As outlined in the report commissioned by Chief Terrazas and presented to the L.A. Fire Commissioners on Tuesday, the purpose for these UAVs is for training and structural fires, a point the Fire Chief really drove home. But what about all that data the UAVs will record? Will it be used or dumped?
"If we go to a fire and we film from the sky some good footage that we think will be valuable in future training sessions, we're going to keep it and we're going to use it as training material. However, if there's footage that has no value beyond what I just stated, we're going to look at what a policy would be to destroy it. We don't want to be a permanent storage facility for this type of footage."
Now that the board has given the drones a green light, the next steps include presenting the report to the Public Safety Committee, the City Council and then securing permits with the FAA (Federal Aviation Administration.) They're intending to be operational within 60 days.
To hear more about the LAFD's drone plans, click the blue play button above.
Sports Roundup: the local teen baseball star who could make huge waves in the MLB
Next week Major League Baseball teams across the country will vie for the future of their organizations when they participate in this year's MLB Draft.
One of the players that's already drawn a lot of attention is Hunter Greene, a senior from Notre Dame High in Sherman Oaks. Many expect that he'll be the first or second overall pick.
Here's a clip of Greene in action.
He's good a hitter and also a great pitcher but when kids become pros they usually do one or the other. Greene is so talented that there is talk of him doing both!
That's just one of the things we're talking about today with Take Two contributors Andy and Brian Kamenetzky.
The PCH keeps crumbling in Big Sur. Why fix it?
Driving the Pacific Coast Highway near Big Sur means you'll have one of the most incredible views in California.
But you can't really do it right now.
Recent storms sent one bridge crumbling into the canyon below, and a landslide to bury another part of the route under 80 feet of dirt and rock.
Both will take at least months for Caltrans to repair and replace.
So why do it?
Lisa Krieger, science writer for the Mercury News, has been asking the same thing.
The road's been closed at least 60 times for weather-related repairs in its history.
"Even before it was christened in 1935, there was a slide," she says, "and then back in 1941, you can hear the local officials questioning, 'Is this really such a good idea?'"
It was originally built for the local and rural population to get around.
"And that was an era when there was a whole lot of interest in big works projects, so the road went ahead," says Krieger.
The terrain, however, makes it both vulnerable to weather events and difficult to repair.
But it's become a notable tourist attraction for the state.
"Build it, and they will come. And that's what happened," she says. "This is road that we have and we really love."
And the local economy is hurting with this section of the PCH out of commission.
All of the businesses in Big Sur are losing an estimated $300,000 per day in revenue, according to the local Chamber of Commerce.
Krieger believes, however, that the public's love for the PCH will outweigh most cost concerns.
"People really love it too much," she says. "It'll be one of these beautiful ongoing headaches that we're committed to, for better or worse."