It Could Happen Here - California’s Post Recall Future Part 1

Episode Date: September 13, 2021

In a few days voters will decide whether or not to Recall California Governor Gavin Newsom. In this episode we take a closer look at the recall process and how ongoing droughts will impact the State. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

You should probably keep your lights on for Nocturnal Tales from the Shadowbride. Join me, Danny Trejo, and step into the flames of fright. An anthology podcast of modern-day horror stories inspired by the most terrifying legends and lore of Latin America. Listen to Nocturnal on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Curious about queer sexuality, cruising, and expanding your horizons?

Hit play on the sex-positive and deeply entertaining podcast Sniffy's Cruising Confessions. Join hosts Gabe Gonzalez and Chris Patterson Rosso as they explore queer sex, cruising, relationships, and culture in the new iHeart podcast,

Sniffy's Cruising Confessions. Sniffy's Cruising Confessions will broaden minds and help you pursue your true goals. You can listen to Sniffy's Cruising Confessions, sponsored by Gilead, now on the iHeartRadio app

or wherever you get your podcasts. New episodes every Thursday. Hi, I'm Ed Zitron, host of the Better Offline podcast, and we're kicking off our second season digging into tech's elite and how they've turned Silicon Valley into a playground for billionaires. From the chaotic world of generative AI to the destruction of Google search, Better Offline is your unvarnished and at times unhinged look at the underbelly of tech brought to you by

an industry veteran with nothing to lose. Listen to Better Offline on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, wherever else you get your podcasts from. Welcome to Gracias Come Again, a podcast by Honey German, where we get real and dive straight into todo lo actual y viral. We're talking musica, los premios, el chisme, and all things trending in my cultura. I'm bringing you all the latest happening in our entertainment world and some fun and impactful interviews with your favorite Latin artists, comedians, actors, and influencers. Each week, we get deep and raw life stories, combos on the issues that matter to us, and it's all packed with gems, fun, straight-up comedia,

and that's a song that only Nuestra Gente can sprinkle. Listen to Gracias Come Again on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. You crack open a Dr. Pepper. You know it'll only make you more thirsty in the long run, but you need some liquid in your mouth and you're saving your remaining 15 gallons for a quick shower. The U-Haul is finally almost packed up. You may be able to make it down to San Francisco in time. Living in Redwood Valley has been nice the last few years.

It's a beautiful place, but in August of 2022, the drought became too much. Late last year, California's new far-right governor lifted all water restrictions on farmers. This sparked a new statewide race to use what water was available before it ran out. Lake Mendocino was already low at the beginning of the year, and for the first time in your memory, it is now completely empty. San Francisco isn't doing great either, but it's much better off than where you live. The Russian River watershed relies almost entirely on rainfall and is isolated from state and federal aqueducts. After the governor lifted water restrictions, new almond and pot

farms started sucking up groundwater, and by the end of the summer, they'd started pumping from the river to feed their thirsty crops. By mid-July, your town implemented a 25-gallon limit per person per day. That's about as much water as you go through during a five-minute shower. The first thing you sacrificed was your garden, then you stopped flushing after you peed. These tweaks added up, though, and without water, the lifestyle you'd loved just stopped being possible. Your brother in San Francisco offered to let you move in with him. You weren't a fan of the big city, but at least you'd be able to shower again. And so you find yourself sipping an empty soda can and loading up your last few boxes into the U-Haul.

You give your brother a quick call, saying you're all packed up and about to head out. He sounds worried and mentions something about his school letting new teachers go due to budget cuts. You can't really afford to think about that now. You just need to leave. Since you're all sweaty from loading the U-Haul the last few days, you decide to hop into the shower one last time. You knew it wouldn't last long, but you still seemed surprised when the water turned off after what felt like only two minutes. you still seemed surprised when the water turned off after what felt like only two minutes. You quickly dry off and grab some clean clothes from your backpack and throw your damp towel into the passenger seat of the truck. You say goodbye to your home of 10 years and to your old succulent plants and begin the three-hour drive down to San Francisco. Water scarcity is a problem you're

probably already familiar with, especially if you live in the Southwest. California has dealt with particularly brutal droughts over the last 20 years, and the Golden State's water problems could be about to get much, much worse. Because in just a few days, California might find itself helmed by a far-right governor with a near-religious hatred of water conservation. Electoral politics are not generally a big focus on this show, but what's going on in the state of California could have serious implications for many people, including those outside the West Coast. The ongoing recall campaign against Governor Gavin Newsom started out in June of 2020 with Republican politicians and activists unhappy

with Newsom's handling of the pandemic. Newsom's opposition to President Trump's crackdown on undocumented immigrants also played a role. This is actually the fifth recall attempt against Newsom since he took office in 2019, but it's the first one to gain traction. It's fueled in part by Newsom's own hypocrisy and hubris. On November 6, 2020, the recall effort gained court approval for a signature gathering extension. And later that night, Governor Newsom went to a birthday party for a Sacramento lobbyist and friend at French Laundry, a pricey Napa Valley restaurant. Soon after, photos surfaced of Newsom mingling maskless at the packed restaurant. He faced heavy criticism and apologized, but the damage was done. Republicans latched onto this as an opportunity to finally push the recall effort through. The recall petition, which had only 55,588 signatures on the day of the dinner,

had nearly half a million a month after the November 6th incident. California's recall process is probably the least democratic one in the United States. Gathering signatures to authorize a recall election is a pretty standard thing, but California has among the lowest signature requirements in states that allow for the recall of an official. Most states require that the recall campaign must gather signatures equal to 25% of the votes cast in the last election. California requires just 12% for executive officials. The LA Times notes, That might have been a high bar in 1911 when the population was scattered across the 770-mile length of the state, but is it too low in 2021 when petitions for ballot

measures are gathered en masse by paid staff in parking lots? And that's not the only questionable aspect of California's recall process. On recall election day, voters will face two questions on the ballot. First, yes or no on whether to recall Governor Gavin Newsom from office. Second, and this one is technically optional, if so, who among the 46 candidates do you want to take his place? The first question is decided by a simple majority, just like other ballot measures. But when it comes to the second question, the percentage requirements change. The replacement candidate doesn't need more than 50% to win. So if more than 50% of the voters say yes on the recall question, Governor Newsom must step down, even if he has more overall support than any other individual challenger on the ballot.

The replacement question is determined by who gets the most votes among the challengers on the ballot, which Newsom cannot be on. So 49.9% of the voters can back Mr. Newsom, and he can still lose to someone who is supported by only, say, 20% of the electorate, or even a smaller fraction. For other California elections, including special elections triggered by the death or resignation of an official, a candidate cannot win without the support of a majority of voters. If a candidate doesn't win over 50% outright, then the top two compete in a runoff election.

Not the case for California's recall process. Organizers of the recall campaign submitted 2.1 million signatures by the March 17th filing deadline. 1,719,900 signatures were ultimately determined to have been valid, which was enough to trigger the recall. The deadline for casting your vote is September 14th. If the recall succeeds, the new governor would be in office for the remainder of Mr. Newsom's term through January 2nd, 2023. And that leaves a lot of time for executive fuckery, especially considering the new frontrunner. Welcome, I'm Danny Thrill. Won't you join me at the fire and dare enter

Nocturnum, Tales from the Shadows, presented by iHeart and Sonora. An anthology of modern-day horror stories inspired by the legends of Latin America. From ghastly encounters with shapeshifters to bone-chilling brushes with supernatural creatures. I know you. Take a trip and experience the horrors that have haunted Latin America since the beginning of time.

Experience the horrors that have haunted Latin America since the beginning of time. Listen to Nocturnal Tales from the Shadows as part of my Cultura podcast network, available on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hi, I'm Ed Zitron, host of the Better Offline podcast, and we're kicking off our second season digging into how tech's elite has turned Silicon Valley into a playground for billionaires. From the chaotic world of generative AI to the destruction of Google search,

Better Offline is your unvarnished and at times unhinged look at the underbelly of tech from an industry veteran with nothing to lose. This season, I'm going to be joined by everyone from Nobel-winning economists to leading journalists in the field, and I'll be digging into why the products you love keep getting worse and naming and shaming those responsible. Don't get me wrong, though. I love technology. I just hate the people in charge and want them to get back to building things that actually do things to help real people. I swear to God things can change if we're loud enough.

So join me every week to understand what's happening in the tech industry and what could be done to make things better. Listen to Better Offline on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever else you get your podcasts. Check out betteroffline.com. On Thanksgiving Day 1999, a five-year-old boy floated alone in the ocean. He had lost his mother trying to reach Florida from Cuba. He looked like a little angel. I mean, he looked so fresh.

And his name, Elian Gonzalez, will make headlines everywhere. Elian Gonzalez. Elian. Elian. Elian. Elian. Elian. Elian Gonzalez.

Elian Gonzalez. Elian. Elian. Elian. Elian. Elian. Elian Gonzalez. At the heart of the story is a young boy and the question of who he belongs with. His father in Cuba.

Mr. Gonzalez wanted to go home and he wanted to take his son with him. Or his relatives in Miami. Imagine that your mother died trying to get you to freedom. At the heart of it all is still this painful family separation. Something that as a Cuban, I know all too well. Listen to Ches Piz, the Elian Gonzalez story, as part of the My Cultura podcast network, available on the iHeartRadio app,

Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I found out I was related to the guy that I was dating. I don't feel emotions correctly. I am talking to a felon right now, and I cannot decide if I like him or not. Those were some callers from my call-in podcast, Therapy Gecko. It's a show where I take real phone calls from anonymous strangers all over the world as a fake gecko therapist and try to dig into their brains and learn a little bit about their lives. I know that's a weird concept, but I promise it's pretty

interesting if you give it a shot. Matter of fact, here's a few more examples of the kinds of calls we get on this show. I live with my boyfriend and I found his piss jar in our apartment. I collect my roommate's toenails and fingernails. I have very overbearing parents. Even at the age of 29, they won't let me move out of their house. So if you want an excuse to get out of your own head and see what's going on in someone else's head,

search for Therapy Gecko on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. It's the one with the green guy on it. Far-right radio talk show host and frequent Fox guest Larry Elder has emerged as the likely candidate to replace Newsom in the event the recall goes through. Elder, who is 69, jumped into the race relatively late in the game, during mid-July. At that time, it was more of a toss-up between Republican candidates Kevin Falconer, a former San Diego mayor, and businessman John Cox, who lost badly to Newsom in the 2018

gubernatorial election. Assemblyman Kevin Kiley and former athlete and media personality Caitlin Jenner polled less well. But as Larry Elder entered the race, he almost immediately became the frontrunner in polls and raised lots of money from small donors. In the three weeks after he announced his campaign, he raised nearly $4.5 million, according to fundraising disclosures. That's more than every other Republican challenger, sans multimillionaire businessman John Cox, who's largely funding his own campaign. Elder has been a central figurehead of the right-wing radio talk show scene since the 90s, but has always been hesitant to run for public office, deeming the state of California ungovernable due to its liberal supermajority. But after talking

with his friend and mentor, Dennis Prager, of the neo-fascist propaganda outlet PragerU, he figured it might be worth a shot and has expressed desire to use the emergency powers of the governor to push the state rightwards. Elder was born in Los Angeles but moved to Cleveland to attend law school and opened his own firm in 1980. Elder's career began as a bit of an accident. He'd been invited on a Cleveland station as a guest. He did so well on air that, when the regular host went on vacation the following week, the program director asked Elder to fill in. Soon enough, Elder had his own weekly time slot on the Cleveland station. In the early 90s, a guest host from Los Angeles, Dennis Prager, visited Cleveland. Elder quickly impressed Prager with his on-air wit and talent, coupled with the uniqueness of a black man openly

expressing extreme conservative views. Prager persuaded his home station, KABC in Los Angeles, to give Elder a shot. Quoting the LA Times, Elder returned to his hometown in 1994, two years after the civil unrest following the acquittal of the officers who beat Rodney King, and in the midst of the O.J. Simpson murder case, the program director at rival KFI, David G. Hall, felt KABC made a creative move bringing on this guy from South Central who swung the other way on race. Almost from the beginning, the self-proclaimed sage from South Central whipped up a furor. He mixed soundbites from Representative Maxine Waters with a recording of a barking dog. He said blacks exaggerate the significance of racism while women did the same

in regards to sexism. For nearly four years, Elder has slapped many members of his own race in the face on radio, belittling them as whiners or losers, holding himself up as a model of African-American excellence. He's become a darling of white listeners who seem to almost gush when they telephone him on KABC talk radio. They are astonished to find a black man who not only isn't going to chastise them, but who also often agreed with them, a black man who declared that race was no longer a significant factor in American society. Elder also doesn't believe that racial profiling exists. This is despite telling the Times editorial board that police pulled him over

between 75 and 100 times the first year he had his driver's license. Elder's regressive, provocative content angered many Angelenos, and black citizens of California led a boycott of advertisers on the show. It worked, and by the late 90s, the show had begun losing millions in ad revenue. But thanks to syndication, changing networks, podcasts, and TV appearances, Elder has been able to remain a central figure of the right-wing content sphere. He most recently starred in a video series for far-right propaganda organization and literal cult, The Epoch Times. According to Elder's

campaign, the central recall issues he is focusing on are rampant crime, rising homelessness, out of control costs of living, water shortages, disastrous wildfires, rolling brownouts, and repressive COVID restrictions. For this show, we'll be focusing on the last three as they relate to the rapidly shifting and hostile climate. For the past 30 years, Elder has been a classic conservative climate denier. He had a whole section of his website devoted to debunking the Gore Bull warming myth. Like, Al Gore bullshit warming myth. Yeah, it's a bad pun. In a CNN interview prior to the 2008 election, Elder called global warming a false myth while disparaging and making fun of both John McCain and George W. Bush

for discussing global warming as a serious issue. However, more recently, Elder has shifted his rhetoric around the climate. In an interview last month, he expressed belief that some warming is taking place, but by using old soft denialist talking points. Climate is always changing. Of course the climate's changing. The question is, what do we do about it? Do we deal with the effects of it, or do we force feed a renewables-based economy down the throats of people, jacking up the price of energy, a disproportionate pain for poor people? But of course there's climate change, and the climate is getting warmer, and maybe about a degree or so in the last several years, and it will likely continue. He adds, what I don't believe in is climate change alarmism. He also said that

he was not sure whether climate change is making wildfires worse. Quote, fires have gotten worse because the failure of this governor to engage in sensible fire suppression. Elder also blames California's rising housing costs on environmental extremists that jack up the cost of housing so that developers have to wait and wait and get sued over and over again so that finally when the home is built, it's way more expensive than otherwise it would be without these environmental rules and regulations. Despite the slight backpedaling on climate for better media optics, his potential policies on the topic are just as horrendous as one might assume.

In a recent video news conference, Elder declared that he would end the war on oil and gas and the attack on the logging industry while also reducing regulation on fracking and stopping California's growing efforts to expand wind and solar power, which he calls not very efficient. Elder did not mention climate change during his news conference. Welcome, I'm Danny Thrill. Won't you join me at the fire and dare enter? Nocturnum, Tales from the Shadows, presented by iHeart and Sonorum. An anthology of modern day horror stories inspired by the legends of Latin America. From ghastly encounters with shapeshifters

to bone-chilling brushes with supernatural creatures. I know you. Take a trip and experience the horrors that have haunted Latin America since the beginning of time. Listen to Nocturnal Tales from the Shadows as part of my Cultura podcast network, available on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Hi, I'm Ed Zitron, host of the Better Offline podcast, and we're kicking off our second

season digging into how Tex Elite has turned Silicon Valley into a playground for billionaires. From the chaotic world of generative AI to the destruction of Google search, Better Offline is your unvarnished and at times unhinged look at the underbelly of tech from an industry veteran with nothing to lose. This season, I'm going to be joined by everyone from Nobel winning economists to leading journalists in the field, and I'll be digging into why the products you love keep getting worse and naming and shaming those responsible. Don't get me wrong, though. I love technology. I just hate the people in charge and want them to get back to building things that actually do things to help real people.

I swear to God things can change if we're loud enough, so join me every week to understand what's happening in the tech industry and what could be done to make things better. Listen to Better Offline on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever else you get your podcasts. Check out betteroffline.com. On Thanksgiving Day, 1999, a five-year-old boy floated alone in the ocean. He had lost his mother trying to reach Florida from Cuba.

He looked like a little angel. I mean, he looked so fresh. And his name, Elian Gonzalez, will make headlines everywhere. Elian Gonzalez. Elian Gonzalez. Elian. Elian. Elian Gonzalez. At the heart of the story is a young boy and the question of who he belongs with.

His father in Cuba. Mr. Gonzales wanted to go home and he wanted to take his son with him. Or his relatives in Miami. Imagine that your mother died trying to get you to freedom. At the heart of it all is still this painful family separation. Something that as a Cuban, I know all too well. Listen to Chess Peace, the Elian Gonzalez story, as part of the My Cultura podcast network, available on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

I found out I was related to the guy that I was dating. I don't feel emotions correctly. I am talking to a felon right now, and I cannot decide if I like him or not. Those were some callers from my call-in podcast, Therapy Gecko. It's a show where I take real phone calls from anonymous strangers all over the world as a fake gecko therapist and try to dig into their brains and learn a little bit about their lives. I know that's a weird concept, but I promise it's pretty interesting if you give it a shot. Matter of fact, here's a few more examples of the kinds of calls we get on this show. I live with my boyfriend and I found his piss jar in our apartment.

I collect my roommate's toenails and fingernails. I have very overbearing parents. Even at the age of 29, they won't let me move out of their house. So if you want an excuse to get out of your own head and see what's going on in someone else's head, search for Therapy Gecko on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. It's the one with the green guy on it. It's the one with the green guy on it. Water scarcity will be an increasingly severe concern for California in the coming years.

Drought is already a major political talking point among voters and politicians, and it creates another rift between city folk and rural farmers. Farmers are having a harder time growing crops and feel threatened by water rationing. They're frustrated by the thought that the Democrats running cities will always prioritize pumping extra water into population-dense areas. Meanwhile, people in cities are concerned they will be forced to cut back on personal water use as almond farmers suck up tons of water to feed their droops. Just building more dams and water catchment systems or aquifers may seem like a solution, and if done properly, some of those things might help, but they can't make up for a lack of rainfall and snowmelt. Relying on river water has its own

problems. Pulling too much from freshwater that flows through rivers allows for extra saltwater to intrude from the bay and ocean. Salinity in the water negatively impacts local ecosystems and dirties what is supposed to be a freshwater source. Drought is simultaneously pushing migratory fish species like Chinook salmon and steelhead trout closer to to be a freshwater source. Drought is simultaneously pushing migratory fish species like Chinook salmon and steelhead trout closer to the brink of extinction. Large numbers of fish are dying off because the rivers they rely on as spawning habitats

are too warm or too low. Anxiety around water, droughts, and crops is among the issues driving some people to vote yes on the recall. A poll conducted last July by the Public Policy Institute of California found that residents cited drought and water supply as their top environmental concern, with about 25% calling it their chief concern, which makes it poll well

above the related problems of wildfires, air pollution, and climate change. Republican politicians have been using anxiety around drought to drum up support for the recall by blaming the current situation on Newsom. The original recall petition against Newsom from early in 2020 warned that the governor, quote, seeks to impose additional burdens on our state, including rationing our water use. Last April, Governor Newsom did declare a drought emergency in two northwest California counties. The order allowed state officials to restrict the amount of water diverted from the Russian River and authorized the relocation of fish stranded in drying puddles. The local county government asked residents to use no more than 50 gallons per day per person.

But Newsom himself hasn't mandated water rationing for individual consumers, though he has asked Californians to voluntarily cut consumption by 15 percent and has suggested that statewide restrictions could be on the table if conditions worsen heading into the fall. he has asked Californians to voluntarily cut consumption by 15% and has suggested that statewide restrictions could be on the table if conditions worsen heading into the fall. Newsom and the Department of Water Resources as a whole do have ideas in mind for tackling this issue. Last year, Newsom authorized an $11 billion water infrastructure project, building a single 30-mile tunnel under the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta.

The project, which has been discussed for years, is being pushed forward in hopes that it will protect the Delta's existing wetland ecosystem and supply enough fresh, clean water to be diverted south for the rest of the state. But the tunnel concept has faced opposition both locally and from conservation-minded folks. Some residents in the Delta region see it as just a water grab to meet the demands of Southern California and the agriculture industry, while the needs of those up north are being ignored. Ecologically focused critics say it could still increase salinity in the Delta and result in notable harm for the ecosystem.

Newsom has more recently discussed other action and legislation to help mitigate the continued drought. Quoting the San Francisco Chronicle, drought. Quoting the San Francisco Chronicle, in July, the governor signed a state budget that includes $5.1 billion over four years for new water infrastructure and drought preparation projects, including money to repair delivery canals, help farmers irrigate crops more efficiently, and start water recycling projects. Still, Newsom's recent actions have done little to quell anger among many farmers who say the state's failure to plan for another major drought just a few years after it exited the last one has put them on the brink of ruin. Ernest Buddy Mendez, a lifelong farmer in Fresno County and Republican County supervisor, said he was forced to let hundreds of acres where

he used to grow cotton and wheat dry up this year after his allotment of river water was slashed to zero. He's relying on groundwater pumped from wells to keep his grove of almond trees alive. Mendez said he hasn't decided whom to support as a replacement candidate in the recall, just that he will vote, hell yeah, to remove Newsom. Let's face it, Newsom, dam is a four-letter word, Mendez said. We haven't done anything in 20 years about building storage. California already does have one of the most extensive dam systems in the country, with nearly 1,500 reservoirs.

Building new on-river dams would cost billions of dollars, if such efforts even survive legal challenges, which are all but guaranteed amid the struggle to save endangered fish species. There are not many areas left that would make sense or be sustainable to build a new, large reservoir. One other, more cost-effective solution could be to store more water collected during wet years in underground aquifers. One of the solutions to this problem is the same as the solution to a number of other climate-related problems, which is that we simply have to cut the amount of resources we're consuming, whether that means reducing our energy use or cutting down on wasteful water use. You can only build so many dams. The trend of California farmers growing thirstier crops has

made an existing problem much worse. Today, the state produces three times as many acres of almonds as it did 25 years ago. With California most likely entering a third straight year of disappointing rainfall and snowmelt, anxiety around drought and increased severity of water restrictions won't get any better. And if the La Nina weather pattern hits the West Coast as it's poised to, that would mean the western U.S. will have a drier and hotter winter than average. Last August, water regulators made an unprecedented move to begin cracking down on water use in the sprawling Sacramento River and San Joaquin River watersheds, ordering 4,500 farmers, water districts, and other landowners, including the city of San Francisco, to stop drawing

water from the basins of the river, or face penalties of up to $10,000 a day. The city has enough water in its reservoirs to meet demand for at least a couple of years, and stored water is not affected by the state restrictions. Water agencies also can seek an exemption from curtailments if human health or safety are compromised. This does hit rural areas and agriculture the hardest because most cities have alternative supplies and stored water to tap into. Looking to attract voters, Larry Elder and other Republican challengers to Newsom have made it a recurring point to say that farmers should not have to endure such cuts. But they don't really give any prospective solutions to prevent rationing when water levels at reservoirs, lakes, and wells are all plummeting. Larry Elder said drought is not inevitable and said he supports building

more reservoirs and dams to store runoff, but he has also voiced support for permitting desalinization projects. Desalinization devastates ocean life, costs much more than other alternatives, and uses tons of energy. Also, soon it will be made obsolete by increasing focus on water recycling. Explaining desalinization quickly, ocean water is collected and run through pipes to remove the largest solids and then pumped through reverse osmosis filters to remove salt, while fish and other creatures die upon being sucked in

or just from the force of the water flow. In a report studying a desalinization plant in the early 2000s, it was found that on average over a five-year period, 19.4 billion larvae were caught up at intakes and about 2.7 million fish, along with marine mammals and sea turtles, were killed by intake equipment. For every gallon of drinking water, desalinization leaves another gallon of salty brine behind.

The plants then just mix that with two parts ocean water before pumping it back into the ocean. These measures can negatively impact the environment for this generation and generations to come. This type of resource extractive thinking reflects how we got into the problem in the first place. Battling over water allotments will only get us so far when dealing with lackluster rainfall. What can help is permaculture programs to help farmers learn ways to irrigate more effectively and cultivate healthier soils that retain water. Moving away from water-heavy crops like almonds and towards more sustainable and moisture-efficient crops must also be done if we want to stave off the worst effects.

Putting Larry Elder in office won't make it rain, but it will put the state at least another year further behind on taking the kind of action necessary to ensure California remains habitable. It Could Happen Here is a production of Cool zone media for more podcasts from cool zone media visit our website coolzonemedia.com or check us out on the iheart radio app apple podcasts or wherever you listen to podcasts you can find sources for it could happen here updated monthly at coolzonemedia.com sources thanks for listening You should probably keep your lights on for Nocturnal Tales from the

Shadow of Black. Join me, Danny Trejo, and step into the flames of Rife, an anthology podcast of modern-day horror stories inspired by the most terrifying legends and lore of Latin America.

Listen to Nocturnal on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Curious about queer sexuality, cruising, and expanding your horizons? Hit play on the sex-positive and deeply entertaining podcast Sniffy's Cruising Confessions. Join hosts Gabe Gonzalez and Chris Patterson Rosso as they explore queer sex, cruising, relationships, and culture in the new iHeart podcast, Sniffy's Cruising Confessions. Sniffy's Cruising Confessions will broaden minds and help you pursue your true goals. You can listen to Sniffy's Cruising Confessions, sponsored by Gilead,

now on the iHeartRadio app or wherever you get your podcasts. New episodes every Thursday. Welcome to Gracias Come Again, a podcast by Honey German, where we get real and dive straight into todo lo actual y viral. We're talking música, los premios, el chisme, and all things trending in my cultura. I'm bringing you all the latest happening in our entertainment world and some fun and impactful interviews with your favorite Latin artists, comedians, actors, and influencers.

Each week, we get deep and raw life stories, combos on the issues that matter to us, and it's all packed with gems, fun, straight-up comedia, and that's a song that only nuestra gente can sprinkle. Listen to Gracias Come Again on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hi, I'm Ed Zitron, host of the Better Offline podcast, and we're kicking off our second season digging into tech's elite

and how they've turned Silicon Valley into a playground for billionaires. From the chaotic world of generative AI to the destruction of Google search, Better Offline is your unvarnished and at times unhinged look at the underbelly of tech brought to you by an industry veteran with nothing to lose. Listen to Better Offline on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, wherever else you get your podcasts from.