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A new study from the National Institute for Environmental Health

March 1, 2019 by Elizabeth Duran

A new study from the National Institute for Environmental Health and Welfare (NIEH), the state's largest public health agency, found that while California has some of the highest mortality in the country, the state ranks about 40th among the nation's largest states with low mortality rates.

In addition to the fires, the fires also are an indication of how climate change might be impacting the state's economy. According to the NIEH, in the first year of 2016, California fell by more than $4 billion from what it had been in 2000. The state's state budget has been reduced nearly 90 percent since 2001, and the state is now estimated to have $18 billion in non-government debt that is owed to individuals.

The fact that the state's economy doesn't grow at all—which is exactly what the fires are referring to—is part of the problem. "In a recession, there is only such a low level of demand for jobs as we need to find new ways to make ends meet and get our kids out of debt," said Stephen F. Moore, an epidemiologist at the U.S. Geological Survey and co-editor of the 2008 NIEH study. "If you go to your local grocery store, you've got a lot of things that you're not used to."

But the problem, of course, remains that California's economy still depends heavily on fossil fuels, like coal. The state pays about $1.3 billion a year in federal subsidies, but the state's population is only 10 percent of the nation's, and most of those subsidies are for coal. And that doesn't mean California has the resources to invest in renewable energy.

Many of its residents have already begun to move toward electric cars, which are not only cheaper, but are also much more energy efficient, and are more energy efficient than gasoline. And there are plenty of new opportunities for people to get started in the energy industry. In the state of California, for instance, a new utility-scale solar project is expected to open in 2017, and a group of state lawmakers is currently working on an ambitious plan to turn all renewable energy into power by 2020. If the current government shutdown can be resolved, then the energy industry will have to step up to the plate, too.

"We are a little late to the game, but we are a little early to the game," said Roger L. D'Amore, a senior fellow at the Council on American-Islamic Relations.

As for the environmental crisis