I had a drive around Bel Air once out of curiosity when I was passing through, I thought it would be flat open wide streets, somehow I got that impression from watching Fresh Prince years ago, but it's actually all these windy hilly streets with guards and mansions hidden behind greenery/hedges.
I suppose Jeff Bezos and Zuckerberg are in California, and other tech giants, that are symbols of the excesses of capitalism. Zuckerberg, in something of an irony when we consider Facebook privacy issues, bought a house then bought each of the houses to the 4 sides of that house and ordered smaller houses built just to make sure no-one could see into his property. Oh the irony!
I must have passed through the San Fernando valley you mention driving from LA to Yosemite, and seen it from the side of the freeway, but we didn't stop. We spoke Spanish to people all around.
I did have an idea that California would be a cool place to live. Driving around in Lyfts and watching people with those Apple wireless headbuds (more people that seem to be talking to themselves in the street) it feels kind of ahead of the curve not just technologically but also ethically with the more vegan options and your electricity being greener.
But actually I was surprised that California isn't really green at all. LA's public transport is pretty weak, and in the rest of the state you rarely see a bus. Electric cars are so few I didn't quite manage to rent one. There is no true understanding or practice of sustainable values among the people. Some of the hotels we stayed in had throwaway polystyrene and practice at the breakfast. At least you have the option there to live ethically if you want, but most people usually don't just like any place.
But when you factor in the cost of housing we wouldn't live there unless someone offered a huge salary because I wouldn't want to take a big step back in our standard of living.
Well California is a big state. In fact economically it's technically the 11th wealthiest *country* in the world, which is why some people have suggested just removing ourselves from the United States. In theory that sounds wonderful, it reality it would probably be violent.
So. Here are some good eco things about California:
- plastic bag ban at major stores and companies (they can suggest but not enforce to small business)
- tons of innovation towards renewable energy
- plentiful organic, vegetarian and vegan options
- trains that run up and down the state from city to city
- hybrid or electric powered buses in most major cities
- automatic recycling and compost collection with garbage in many parts of California
L.A. is kind of a bipolar place. I had a really profound love-hate relationship with Los Angeles, and I still miss it sometimes. L.A. actually has improved its public transportation dramatically, adding subway and train lines, and setting up chargers for electric cars in the downtown area. I remember taking a photo of the very first electric car charger I saw publicly at Wilshire and Western a couple of years ago. L.A. battles with its wealthy, they're a bunch of NIMBYs who shoot down a lot of projects planned for public transportation and the homeless. However, rooftop gardening and urban community gardening is a thing in Los Angeles, and many of the homeless support themselves by recycling. In Reseda, a suburb of L.A., a vegan school exists for troubled teens who nurture rescued animals and grow some of their own food at the school as therapy. As you noticed, vegan restaurants, clothing and other options are everywhere. Huge clean-up projects and laws in the past 40 years have drastically improved air quality and coastal ocean quality. I used to volunteer for a program that teaches elementary school children from all over LA Unified school district (including the horrible neighborhoods) an outdoor hiking experience where they get basic local ecology and basic environmental science. Right now the Liberty Canyon Wildlife Corridor project is underway to build a land-bridge for wildlife like mountain lions to protect them from the freeways. Did you go to Griffith Park? It's a genuine urban wilderness, over 4000 acres.
So I think your impressions might be limited to what you may have saw in the Hollywood area or in the time period you visited. But yes it's bipolar, its imperfect, I had to leave because the very city that nurtures all of this progress is also a city filled with corporate greed, styrofoam packaged take-out, steak houses, overpriced theme parks, increasingly expensive housing and fast food. L.A. is kind of unique in its influence on American culture, L.A. shaped a lot of what people hate about the United States back in the 50s and 60s, with all of the freeways and cars, and shopping malls, and hamburger stands and snooty rich people. It's a balance between the history of L.A. and its future, and the history of L.A. is haunting. I believe the place is haunted. There are ghosts there so attached to their life on earth that they won't let go of that city. No matter whether you believe this is my crazy fantasy or a possibility, logically we're dealing with one of the world's largest cities that has a reputation for being extremely liberal but also extremely greedy and capitalist.
I like where I live now. We're pretty green here. We don't have some of the perks of L.A. we've only got the one completely vegetarian restaurant and a vegan food truck, but most of our restaurants have vegan options and we have a very eco-minded town thanks to the university I attend and their environmental science programs, and the fact that Redwood Summer happened just north of here 25 years ago. In fact corporations are outlawed in certain zones in my town, there's like this one ugly bit over by the saw mills, and the city just put a halt to any new development that wasn't local or small business.