Colleen Hagerty
Colleen Hagerty is a multimedia journalist based in Los Angeles with bylines on BBC News, Vox, and Business Insider, among others. Her work reflects how global communities are reckoning with our changing climate, social dynamics, technologies, and politics. You can follow her work on Twitter.
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In recent years, harmful events like heat waves in California have been called "climate disasters," but the underlying causes are more complex. Some experts worry that the focus on climate disregards policy that makes communities more vulnerable to disasters in the first place.
As Democrats' hopes dwindle for passing the Build Back Better social spending bill, California officials weigh in on next steps for the infrastructure bill signed into law last month.
Youth climate activists have criticized the COP26 pact for being "vague" and failing to limit warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius compared to pre-industrial levels. For one activist, the disappointment with negotiations at the global level inspired him to focus his work more locally in Southern California.
Within just a few years, a new generation of activists has handily utilized digital tools to create a global coalition. The question now is whether that translates into policy change.