Science
Newsom's office announces new California environmental campaign at Climate Week NYC
Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office will announce a new campaign Monday at Climate Week NYC to encourage 1 million Californians to take everyday actions to help combat climate change.
“Every day, Californians are taking small actions that collectively are helping us create a better world for our kids and grandkids,” Newsom said in a prepared statement. “The Climate Action Counts campaign will empower Californians to be a part of something big and impactful.”
The campaign encourages Californians to pledge that they will take “everyday actions” to fight global warming, such as composting, taking public transit instead of driving and planting trees or native plants. Details can be found at the new Climate Action Counts website.
Officials were scheduled to unveil the campaign as a kickoff to several California-focused events at Climate Week NYC. The gathering, which is held every year in New York, is intended to bring together climate leaders from government, industry and activism to seek and promote solutions to global warming.
The climate pledge is intended to help motivate Californians to live more sustainable lives, reduce their reliance on planet-warming fossil fuels and combat the feeling of anxiety and helplessness that can come with climate change.
The campaign builds upon the California Climate Action Corps, a volunteer program aimed at addressing climate change, which the governor’s office announced at Climate Week NYC four years ago. Since then, the program has grown to 400 members and has become a model for other states and the White House’s American Climate Corps.
“We’ve already engaged tens of thousands of volunteers,” said Josh Fryday, chief service officer with the governor’s office. “What we’re hoping to do now is to supercharge our efforts to mobilize Californians by engaging 1 million people to take these simple, everyday actions that add up to real impact.”
In order for California to reach its ambitious climate goals, large swaths of the population must drastically reduce their emissions by transitioning to electric vehicles and replacing natural gas heating in their homes, said Christopher Jones, a carbon footprint researcher and director of the CoolClimate Network at UC Berkeley.
The pledge itself likely won’t make much of a dent in emissions, Jones said, but with state policies already effectively eliminating the use of fossil fuels in the coming decades, Climate Action Counts could help warm up Californians to climate action and needed lifestyle changes.
“The reality is, the big actions are not on this list,” he said. But the pledge can get Californians to realize “this is who we are — Californians are cool. Californians care about the environment. Californians identify as leaders in this area.”
The campaign focuses not only on lowering emissions but also on reducing waste and pollution, and encouraging people to connect with nature and their communities.
However, experts say convincing individuals to take up new habits through communication and pledges alone can be a challenge.
Based on research, “it’s very clear that stronger incentives are going to work better than simply communicating,” said Seth Wynes, a professor at the University of Waterloo in Canada who studies the impact of individual actions on the climate. “People are not going to just give up their car and bike to work if it’s extremely dangerous to bike.”
This is not the first time officials have called on Californians to change their habits. In 2008, the state launched a campaign encouraging Californians to upgrade the energy efficiency of their homes and conserve electricity. While the campaign may have moved the needle, it fell short of its initial goals.
During the 2012-16 drought, the state aimed to curb water use habits with public messaging, water use restrictions and incentives to increase water efficiency. While per-capita water use increased when restrictions were lifted, it has remained lower than pre-drought levels — an indication that many Californians had permanently changed their habits.
The governor’s office also plans to work with local partners to reach Californians in their own communities, which experts say can boost the effectiveness of campaigns like these.
“Together, we can create collective impact,” said Fryday, “and our partners, by organizing people on campuses and in the workplace and in their cities, are going to demonstrate that we can do this.”
The announcement of a California campaign at Climate Week NYC is in keeping with the gathering’s ethos. Organizers ask participants to come ready to share a problem or vulnerability they need help addressing, and they put some pressure on attending organizations and governments to announce new goals and efforts.
“It’s always a competition, too. … We instigate it all the time,” said Angela Barranco, the executive director for North America at Climate Group, the charity organizing the event. “There’s a pressure to show up with something actually delivered, and I think we have to keep that pressure going.”
Climate Week started in 2009 as a series of smaller panel discussions, aimed at encouraging global leaders at the nearby United Nations General Assembly to talk about climate issues.
Since then, the focus has shifted from talking about the problem to inspiring action. California has taken on a leading role in those efforts, and now represents North America as a co-chair for a group of governments committed to reaching net zero emissions by 2050.
“California shows up and really puts resources behind much of the ambition they have,” Barranco said. “So they’ve become experts at the table — for not just the United States.”
Our universe might be chock-full of cosmic wonder, but you can observe only a fraction of astronomical phenomena with the naked eye. Meteor showers, natural fireworks that streak brightly across the night sky, are one of them.
The latest observable meteor shower will be the Lyrids, which has been active since April 14 and is forecast to continue through April 30. The shower reaches its peak April 21 to 22, or Tuesday night into Wednesday morning.
According to NASA, the Lyrids are one of the oldest known meteor showers, and have been enjoyed by stargazers for nearly 3,000 years. Their bright, speedy streaks are caused by the dusty debris from a comet named Thatcher. They appear to spring from the constellation Lyra, which right now can be seen in the eastern sky at night in the Northern Hemisphere.
The moon will be about 27 percent full tonight, appearing as a thick crescent in the sky, according to the American Meteor Society.
To get a hint at when to best watch for the Lyrids, you can use this tool, which relies on data from the Global Meteor Network. It shows fireball activity levels in real time.
And while you gaze at the heavens, keep an eye out for other stray meteors streaking across the night sky. Skywatchers are reporting that the amount of fireballs is double what is usually seen by this point in the year.
Where meteor showers come from
There is a chance you might see a meteor on any given night, but you are most likely to catch one during a shower. Meteor showers are caused by Earth passing through the rubble trailing a comet or asteroid as it swings around the sun. This debris, which can be as small as a grain of sand, leaves behind a glowing stream of light as it burns up in Earth’s atmosphere.
Meteor showers occur around the same time every year and can last for days or weeks. But there is only a small window when each shower is at its peak, which happens when Earth reaches the densest part of the cosmic debris. The peak is the best time to look for a shower. From our point of view on Earth, the meteors will appear to come from the same point in the sky.
The Perseid meteor shower, for example, peaks in mid-August from the constellation Perseus. The Geminids, which occur every December, radiate from the constellation Gemini.
How to watch a meteor shower
Michelle Nichols, the director of public observing at the Adler Planetarium in Chicago, recommends forgoing the use of telescopes or binoculars while watching a meteor shower.
“You just need your eyes and, ideally, a dark sky,” she said.
That’s because meteors can shoot across large swaths of the sky, so observing equipment can limit your field of view.
Some showers are strong enough to produce up to 100 streaks an hour, according to the American Meteor Society, though you probably won’t see that many.
“Almost everybody is under a light-polluted sky,” Ms. Nichols said. “You may think you’re under a dark sky, but in reality, even in a small town, you can have bright lights nearby.”
Planetariums, local astronomy clubs or even maps like this one can help you figure out where to go to escape excessive light. The best conditions for catching a meteor shower are a clear sky with no moon or cloud cover, sometime between midnight and sunrise. (Moonlight affects visibility in the same way as light pollution, washing out fainter sources of light in the sky.) Make sure to give your eyes at least 30 minutes to adjust to seeing in the dark.
Ms. Nichols also recommends wearing layers, even during the summer. “You’re going to be sitting there for quite a while, watching,” she said. “It’s going to get chilly, even in August.”
Bring a cup of cocoa or tea for even more warmth. Then lie back, scan the sky and enjoy the show.
Where weather is least likely to affect your view
Storm systems sweep across the country in early spring, and some will be obscuring skies tonight. But there will still be plenty of areas with clear skies, particularly in parts of the central United States.
“The best spot is going to be in the Upper Midwest,” said Rich Bann, a meteorologist with the Weather Prediction Center.
Minnesota, Wisconsin and Iowa will offer especially good sky-viewing weather and a beach on the Great Lakes could be a nice spot to look up at the stars.
But don’t expect to view the show from Chicago, as Illinois could see some thunderstorms. The weather will be better in the Northern and Central Plains, particularly the eastern Dakotas.
High, wispy clouds are expected over the Ohio and Tennessee Valleys and into parts of the Mid-Atlantic. But, Mr. Bann said, “you may be able to see some shooting stars through thin clouds.”
Clouds will be draped across much of the Southeast and the Northeast, though there could be some clearing in Florida, Georgia, the Carolinas and Virginia. Remember, the meteors could be visible all night long. If you look outside and see clouds, try again later.
Catching the spectacle will be challenging across much of the West, particularly from Washington into Northern California, where a storm system is bringing rain and snow. That system will move east overnight.
There are likely to be some pockets of clear skies at times across southern Nevada, northwest Arizona and southwest Utah, Mr. Bann said.
Amy Graff contributed reporting.
WASHINGTON — Amid growing national security concerns, the FBI said Tuesday that it has launched a broad investigation in the deaths or disappearances of at least 10 scientists and staff connected to highly sensitive research, including four from the Los Angeles area.
“The FBI is spearheading the effort to look for connections into the missing and deceased scientists. We are working with the Department of Energy, Department of War, and with our state and state and local law enforcement partners to find answers,” the agency said in a statement.
The FBI’s announcement comes after the House Oversight Committee announced that it would investigate reports of the disappearance and deaths of the scientists, sending letters seeking information from the agencies involved in the federal inquiry as well as NASA, which owns the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in La Cañada Flintridge, where three of the missing or dead scientists worked.
“If the reports are accurate, these deaths and disappearances may represent a grave threat to U.S. national security and to U.S. personnel with access to scientific secrets,” Reps. James Comer (R-Ky.), chairman of the committee, and Eric Burlison (R-Mo.) wrote in the letters.
President Trump told reporters last week that he had been briefed on the missing and dead scientists, which he described as “pretty serious stuff.” He said at the time that he expected answers on whether the deaths were connected “in the next week and a half.”
Michael David Hicks, who studied comets and asteroids at JPL, was the first of the scientists who disappeared or died. He died on July 30, 2023, at the age of 59. No cause of death was disclosed.
A year later, JPL physicist Frank Maiwald died at 61, with no cause of death disclosed.
Two other Los Angeles scientists are part of the string of deaths and disappearances.
On June 22, 2025, Monica Jacinto Reza, a materials scientist at JPL, disappeared while on a hike near Mt. Waterman in the San Gabriel Mountains.
On Feb. 16, Caltech astrophysicist Carl Grillmair was fatally shot on the porch of his Llano home. The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s department arrested Freddy Snyder, 29, in connection with the shooting. Snyder had been arrested in December on suspicion of trespassing on Grillmair’s property.
Snyder has been charged with murder.
There is no evidence at this point that the deaths and disappearances, which occurred over a span of four years, are connected.
A spokesperson for NASA, which owns JPL, said in a statement on X that the agency is “coordinating and cooperating with the relevant agencies in relation to the missing scientists.
“At this time, nothing related to NASA indicates a national security threat,” agency spokesperson Bethany Stevens wrote. “The agency is committed to transparency and will provide more information as able.”
Representatives from Caltech, which manages JPL, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The sun had barely risen over the Pacific Ocean when a small motorboat carrying a team of Indigenous artisans and Mexican biologists dropped anchor in a rocky cove near Bahías de Huatulco.
Mauro Habacuc Avendaño Luis, one of the craftsmen, was the first to wade to shore. With an agility belying his age, he struck out over the boulders exposed by low tide. Crouching on a slippery ledge pounded by surf, he reached inside a crevice between two rocks. There, lodged among the urchins, was a snail with a knobby gray shell the size of a walnut. The sight might not dazzle tourists who travel here to see humpback whales, but for Mr. Avendaño, 85, these drab little mollusks represent a way of life.
Marine snails in the genus Plicopurpura are sacred to the Mixtec people of Pinotepa de Don Luis, a small town in southwestern Oaxaca. Men like Mr. Avendaño have been sustainably “milking” them for radiant purple dye for at least 1,500 years. The color suffuses Mixtec textiles and spiritual beliefs. Called tixinda, it symbolizes fertility and death, as well as mythic ties between lunar cycles, women and the sea.
The future of these traditions — and the fate of the snails — are uncertain. The mollusks are subject to intense poaching pressure despite federal protections intended to protect them. Fishermen break them (and the other mollusks they eat) open and sell the meat to local restaurants. Tourists who comb the beaches pluck snails off the rocks and toss them aside.
A severe earthquake in 2020 thrust formerly submerged parts of their habitat above sea level, fatally tossing other mollusks in the snail’s food web to the air, and making once inaccessible places more available to poachers.
Decades ago, dense clusters of snails the size of doorknobs were easy to find, according to Mr. Avendaño. “Full of snails,” he said, sweeping a calloused, violet-stained hand across the coves. Now, most of the snails he finds are small, just over an inch, and yield only a few milliliters of dye.
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