California Governor Gavin Newsom On Wednesday announced a new to preserve and protect 30% of the state’s lands and also its nearshore waters. He called it “30 by 30,” meaning the state will preserve 30% of it’s land by 2030.
“We cannot forget about our lands, our working lands. We cannot forget about our deserts, our mountains, our coast.”
“It’s an audacious goal and it’s an achievable goal.”
Newsom said the collective goal was “future-proofing California.” He also said the executive order would not hurt builders.
“To build on California’s legacy of open space” and “stewardship” of the economy.
Newsom signed an executive order directing the state’s Natural Resources Agency to draw up a plan by Feb. 1, 2022 to achieve the goal in a way that protects the state’s economy and agriculture industry, while also expanding and restoring biodiversity — the vast variety of animals and plants — that live in areas as varied as Bay Area tidepools to arid deserts of Southern California to mountain forests of the Sierra.
He said he hopes these actions will have impact across the country and across the world.
This comes on the heels of, last week, Newsom issuing an executive order mandating that all new passenger vehicles sold in the state be zero-emission by 2035.
The governor said bluntly, “CA is phasing out the internal combustion engine. By 2035 every new car sold in CA will be an emission free vehicle.”
.@CAgovernor Newsom directs CARB to develop regulations to achieve 100% #EV car sales in CA by 2035, transition to #ZEV short-haul trucks by 2035 & ZEV heavy-duty vehicles by 2045
➡ https://t.co/s3Mu8JXtWD pic.twitter.com/RYkV1nPFaX
— CARB (@AirResources) September 23, 2020
Newsom also issued a number of other environment-related executive orders, including banning toxic chemicals in makeup.
You can watch the governor’s speech below.