California's approach to fighting so-called climate change seems to be death by a thousand inconveniences, with precious little to show for it. As Los Angeles faces another round of devastating fires, it's worth examining what Californians sacrificed in the name of environmental protection – and what those sacrifices have actually achieved.
Let's start with the daily irritations that have become part of life in California. Want a straw with your drink? You'll have to specifically request one, and when you do get it, it's likely a paper version that begins dissolving before you're halfway through your beverage.
Need a shopping bag? That'll be ten cents, please – a fee that doesn't even go toward environmental efforts but straight to the grocery store's pocket. It's nothing more than a punitive measure for the crime of needing a bag, designed to make shoppers feel guilty while padding retailers' bottom lines.
The list of inconveniences grows longer by the year.
Drive-thru restaurants now require you to specifically request condiments, adding another step to what's supposed to be a convenient service. These policies pile up, creating friction in everyday life while failing to address the larger environmental challenges facing the Golden State.
Of course the prison part is a joke …. for now. The rest is real.
— Chef Andrew Gruel (@ChefGruel) October 28, 2021
But these annoyances are just the beginning. Speaking of punitive measures, there's SB1, the massive $50 billion gas tax increase that was sold to voters as essential for road repairs (::cough, transit, cough::)
This law continually raises gas taxes through automatic increases, driving prices even higher with each passing year. It's yet another example of residents paying more while getting less, all while being lectured about their carbon footprint.
The state's approach to energy policy perfectly exemplifies this disconnect between environmental theater and economic reality. Despite sitting on vast oil reserves – including those beneath Beverly Hills – California chooses to regulate its petroleum industry into near-paralysis.
The result? Residents pay about $1.50 per gallon in government costs for their gas before even accounting for the recent Low Carbon Fuel Standard increase. Soon, the taxes and fees on a gallon of California gas may exceed the entire per-gallon price in some other states.
This regulatory burden doesn't just hit at the pump. "Greening" the electricity supply has driven California's electricity rates nearly four times faster than the national average over the past decade. Pacific Gas & Electric's residential rates are now double the national average, with predictable results: by the end of 2023, California households owed a staggering $2.1 billion in unpaid utility bills – more than four times the amount in 2019.
California's sweeping mandates extend far beyond minor inconveniences. The state plans to phase out the sale of new gas-powered vehicles by 2035, pushing residents toward electric vehicles. While this move aims to reduce emissions, it raises serious questions about affordability, infrastructure readiness, and the reliability of the state's power grid – a grid that already struggles with regular blackouts and flex alerts.
While wealthy Californians enjoy generous EV subsidies, working-class residents who can't afford electric vehicles are stuck paying higher fuel prices that help fund those very subsidies. It's a regressive wealth transfer masked as environmental policy.
And what good are all these electric vehicles when they're powered by a grid that can barely keep the lights on during peak demand?
But, the assault on affordability continues unabated. California is now set to ban the sale of diesel RVs, effectively eliminating another practical, affordable option for living and travel in the state. For many citizens, RVs represent a vital housing alternative in a state already grappling with an affordability crisis.
Rather than acknowledging how environmental policies are contributing to California's nation-leading poverty rates, the political class continues to pile on restrictions that disproportionately burden working-class residents.If Sacramento is willing to sacrifice affordability and mobility on the altar of environmental policy, they should at least have the courage to admit it.
These policies represent a brand of environmental theater that prioritizes visible consumer inconvenience over effective action. Each new regulation seems designed to make residents feel like they're making a difference while failing to address the root causes of its environmental challenges.
Are you guys telling me paying ten cents for a shopping bag and watching a paper straw dissolve into my drink didn't save Los Angeles from natural disaster?
— BrutalBrittany💕 (@BrutalBrittany2) January 11, 2025
I'll be damned.
It's as if the state government believes that the path to environmental salvation is paved with dissolved paper straws and reusable shopping bags.
READ MORE:
The BBC Makes Some Perfectly Ridiculous Suggestions for Climate Lifestyle Changes - No, Thanks
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The next time you're sipping through a rapidly deteriorating paper straw or juggling groceries because you forgot your reusable bags again, remember that these daily hassles haven't prevented a single wildfire or protected a single community from natural disaster.
Perhaps it's time for California to stop focusing on performative environmentalism and start pursuing policies that might actually make a difference in protecting communities from real environmental threats.
