Jeanie Ward-Waller was fired last year from her executive level position at Caltrans after she spoke out against a freeway widening near Sacramento. KPBS spoke with her about her firing and the state's pathway to net zero emissions.
Last summer, Jeanie Ward-Waller began speaking up to her superiors at Caltrans about the planned expansion of Interstate 80 outside Sacramento. She suspected the agency was being dishonest about the project's true impacts on things like air pollution and climate change — something that Caltrans denies.Ward-Waller was the opening speaker at last week's California Bicycle Summit, which took place in San Diego.
California has a goal of net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2045. That's about 20 years away. What needs to change in our daily lives, in our infrastructure, in how we organize our economy, in order for us to achieve that goal? It is pretty complicated. The solutions are many — are varied. They include things like building more affordable housing in existing communities so people can live close to where they work, live in neighborhoods where there's already infrastructure, things like sidewalks, public transit. The more we build new communities farther away, the more we're working against those goals.
The environmental costs of our car culture, our car infrastructure, I think are pretty clear. Cars and trucks are the greatest source of greenhouse gas emissions. They're big sources of air pollution that has public health impacts. But I think if you talk to most Californians, they would say issues like the economy and inflation are higher priorities for them. They're more top of mind, as opposed to a less tangible threat like climate change.
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