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Except for the skeletons of demolished buildings or the occasional new construction site, the Pacific Palisadesthe wealthy, elevated coastal enclave of Los Angeles that was consumed by wildfires in Januaryremains mostly blank. Much of the wreckage, rubble, soil, and plant life has been scrapped and removed by the Army Corp of Engineers. Trees are among the few elements of the area that remain as they were, remnants of the communitys long obsession with them, including famous residents like Abbot Kinney and Will Rogers. In a landscape now devoid of landmarks, such survivors (roughly 75% of street trees made it through the fire) tell a story and connect residents to the past. [Photo: David Swanson/Getty Images] I would fill up every water bottle I had and drive an hour back to the Palisades and water the jacaranda trees in my yard, said Vicki Warren, board secretary of the Palisades Forestry Committee, of her effort to care for the grand, purple-flowered trees in her yard. People are doing things like that, because its such a healing thing to take care of a living thing near your home. From top: Pacific Palisades, California, in 2016 and 2025 [Photos: Julia Beverly/Getty Images, Josh Edelson/AFP/Getty Images] For many Palisades residents, the landscape has also become a flashpoint around larger questions of rebuilding and resiliency. In community meetings, many residents have pushed back against proposals to mandate more fire-resilient yards. Theyre especially opposed to a concept called Zone Zero, which would mandate creating an ember-resistant, noncombustible barrier around homes that would require clearing out a large number of plants and trees (including, in some cases, those trees that survived the blaze). Supported by state fire officials and the insurance industry, Zone Zero is a concept being embraced by the California Board of Forestry and Fire Protection, which has sped up the process of drafting a Zone Zero regulation for high-fire-risk areas. Governor Gavin Newsom signed a declaration in February seeking to expedite the process and create rules by the end of the year. [Photo: David Card/Palisades Forestry Committee] Regulatory tension The battle over rebuilding and replanting to mimic pre-fire designs has become a growing issue in the Pacific Palisades, Altadena, and other high-risk areas in Los Angeles County. Some residents who became accustomed to dense foliage, lush yards, and the privacy that such plantings bestowed, fear efforts to regulate landscaping to the degree the government is proposing. In a statement last month, Traci Park, the L.A. city councilmember whose district includes the Palisades, characterized the one-size-fits-all regulations as overly burdensome and built on incomplete science applied without local input or context. And its not just an issue for areas impacted by the January 2025 wildfires. Roughly 17% of the states buildings and large parts of L.A. would be impacted by pending statewide regulations and a recent update of fire-hazard maps. With the insurance industry supporting the idea and wildfire risk only growing, these regulations could very well spread to other states (Kauai County in Hawaii, and Boulder, Colorado, passed such rules earlier this year.) [Photo: David Card/Palisades Forestry Committee] The Zone Zero idea comes from research about the causes of fires in the state, and efforts to create a more defensible wildland-urban interface, the area where most wildfires start and spread. Since wildfires tend to spread to homes due to flying embers and ignited plants and trees, the Zone Zero approach seeks to remove fire hazards and potential sources of ignitin near a residence. Recent research showed that both hardening homes and enacting Zone Zero would cut the number of impacted structures during a wildfire in half. The vegetation is also very, very critical, because all vegetation will burn under enough duration and heat, said Kimiko Barrett, lead wildfire researcher for Headwaters Economics, a nonprofit research group focused on community development. I think where it becomes challenging is when you’re talking about large trees. And you know, some types of trees are going to be more tolerant to fire than others, and that’s where it starts to get a little bit nebulous. [Photo: David Card/Palisades Forestry Committee] More Security or Moonscapes? Tony Andersen, Executive Officer with the Board of Forestry & Fire Protection, says it’s a select few vocal homeowners are pushing back against these regulations. To him, its clear the status quo isnt working, and these evolving guidelines, arrived at through years of research and community feedback, can be an important tool in the toolbox to prevent fire damage. There is a lot of science out there that is supporting this, guiding it, directing it, and serving as sort of a framework from what we’re working from, he says. Research suggests applying Zone Zero to high fire-hazard areas of LA county would require changes around 400,00 structures, and opponents argue these shifts could have significant impacts on shade, wildlife habitat, biodiversity, and urban heat islands (and cooling costs). The citys Community Forestry Advisory Committee released a report saying these Zone Zero recommendations would have a $13,000 impact on every household, on average. A September 18 meeting by the Board of Forestry in Pasadena to obtain feedback over proposed Zone Zero regulations received a fairly negative response from homeowners. Theyre talking about destroying our urban canopy, hundreds of acres of trees for uncertain benefits, said Cyndi Hubach, a member of L.A.s Community Forest Advisory Committee. Many residents in the Palisades and other areas in high-fire zones that would be impacted by the rules have pushed back, citing the cost, ecological impact, and the uncertainty some researchers have about Zone Zero recommendations. Theyre angry that rules calling for reduced shrubs, hedges, and bushes; tightly trimmed trees; and empty spaces, especially in tighter urban lots, would turn their once-green backyards into what some have called unrecognizable moonscapes. Some opponents argue the rules dont make distinctions around types of treessome have more oil and are more flammable. Another argument is around whether or not well-watered vegetation could be a good way to prevent ignition (and of course, how that could be checked or monitored). Warren, of the Palisades Forestry Committee, said theres a number of researchers who argue that well-watered plants and trees can protect homes and block embers, and disputes the idea that the science around this issue is settled. Palisades resident Tracey Price, who owns the landscaping company American Growers, said that the hedges on her property stopped embers and flames from burning her home, and she believes these proposed regulations would be overkill, as properly maintained trees and plants can save structures. Enforcing Zone Zero? Lets start with ALL city/county/state/federal buildings first, every library and post office, she wrote in a public comment about the regulations. Report back to us in a year with costs and utility bill increases for more air conditioning due to lack of shade. More blackouts because of our already strained power grid. Zone Zero removes life-saving protection.” [Photo: David Card/Palisades Forestry Committee] A Cultural Shift in Landscaping California adopted a bill, SB 3074, in 2020 mandating the state create Zone Zero recommendations, but the governors push to get them finalized this year has created more anxiety around the rollout. In addition, the Insurance Institute for Business & Home Safety (IBHS), an insurance-industry backed nonprofit that researches building codes and safety and resilience standards, has enthusiastically supported the idea, which has led some opponents to claim its an effort by the industry to cut its losses. The renewed focus on these issues comes as homeowners, who have endured months of back-and-forths with insurance firms to get their payments, planning with architects, and soil remediation and clearance, are likely set to start applying en masse for building permits. This may set up a scenario where home owners start building and planning for their new home, only to later learn theres new regulations around landscaping. This may have significant consequences, says Jennifer Gray Thompson, founder and CEO of advocacy group After the Fire USA. Non-Zone Zero compliant lawns might set homeowners up for higher insurance premiums, or trouble getting insured. But ripping out established landscaping could cost tens of thousands of dollars (she recalled residents rebuilding in Paradise, site of a deadly 2018 Camp Fire, spending up to $100,000 on landscaping that eventually got ripped out). I get it, like that’s what we’re used to doing, Thompson says of reluctance to rethink landscaping. We were also at one point used to going and using an outhouse and not having a bathroom in the house ever, and that it was totally disgusting to people that you would ever moveyour toilet into the house. And so, due to typhoid and cholera we had to make a cultural and generational shift. Megafires are a public health crisis like anything else, and require a similar shift. [Photo: David Card/Palisades Forestry Committee] Growth Patterns Homeowners have varied visions of how they want to rebuild as they plot their returns to the Palisades, including submitting plans that include a fixed vision for landscaping. Its expected that more and more homeowners will start submitting in upcoming months, and uncertainty around final Zone Zero rules may cause some to plow ahead with their own ideas, or ignore the regulations completely. Some designers are factoring this in. The organizers behind Case Study Adapt, a design competition to create new more resilient homes for the neighborhood, are deliberately designing homes and lots to provide barriers between plants and buildings, incorporate more water features, and utilize more native landscaping. Organizations like Fire Safe Marin, a Bay Area organization promoting fire safe landscaping, offer tips on reworking yards to be more fire safe. Thompson believes that in the new era of megafires, its a matter of when, not if, Zone Zero and other such resiliency regulations become more widely adopted. But what happens in the Palisades might be a pivot point; the combination of wealth, celebrity, and clout in the area gives the community plenty of firepower to push back against these rules. Alternatively, adopting themand using creating eye-catching landscapes with these rules in mindcould accelerate what Thompson sees as a vital shift. The final iteration of these rules will be closely watched by both sides (draft language is already available). Opponents hope that any new rules come with more flexibility for preservation of certain trees, and more municipal control. Lots of L.A.s urban tree canopy exists in the Palisades and hilly areas on the east side of town, both high fire severity zones, and arborists hope to preserve any and all urban trees they can.Theres also live questions about enforcement. Will CalFire and local fire inspectors really be checking how trees are trimmed and watered on a regular basis? And perhaps more important to insurability and survivability, following Zone Zero requires a full community effort. If a handful of residents on a block do not create these defensible zones, Barrett says, they not only put their homes at risk, they do the same for other homes, and increase the insurance risks of others. This megafire era requires not just design shifts but more community collaboration to become resilient. As neighborhoods return, and react, to whats becoming a more risky, fire-prone era, solidarity, not just combustibility, will become a watchword. This is not the moment for the individual American way, Thompson says. This is a group project.
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E-Commerce
If you visit the Erie Canal today, youll find a tranquil waterway and trail that pass through charming towns and forests, a place where hikers, cyclists, kayakers, bird-watchers, and other visitors seek to enjoy nature and escape the pressures of modern life. However, relaxation and scenic beauty had nothing to do with the origins of this waterway. When the Erie Canal opened 200 years ago, on Oct. 26, 1825, the route was dotted with decaying trees left by construction that had cut through more than 360 miles of forests and fields, and life quickly sped up. Mules on the towpath along the canal could pull a heavy barge at a clip of 4 miles per hourfar faster than the job of dragging wagons over primitive roads. Boats rushed goods and people between the Great Lakes heartland and the port of New York City in days rather than weeks. Freight costs fell by 90%. As many books have proclaimed, the Erie Canals opening in 1825 solidified New Yorks reputation as the Empire State. It also transformed the surrounding environment and forever changed the ecology of the Hudson River and the lower Great Lakes. For environmental historians like me, the canals bicentennial provides an opportunity to reflect upon its complex legacies, including the evolution of U.S. efforts to balance economic progress and ecological costs. Human and natural communities ruptured The Haudenosaunee Confederacy, the Indigenous nations that the French called the Iroquois, engaged in canoe-based trade throughout the Great Lakes and Hudson River valley for centuries. In the 1700s, that began to change as American colonists took the land through brutal warfare, inequitable treaties, and exploitative policies. That Haudenosaunee dispossession made the Erie Canal possible. Haiwhagai’i Jake Edwards of the Onondaga Nation describes the Erie Canals impact on the people of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy. WMHT. After the Revolutionary War, commercial enthusiasm for a direct waterborne route to the West intensified. Canal supporters identified the break in the Appalachian Mountains at the junction of the Mohawk River and the Hudson as a propitious place to dig a channel to Lake Erie. Yet cutting a 363-mile-long waterway through New Yorks uneven terrain posed formidable challenges. Because the landscape rises 571 feet between Albany and Buffalo, a canal would require multiple locks to raise and lower boats. Federal officials refused to finance such internal improvements. But New York politician DeWitt Clinton was determined to complete the project, even if it meant using only state funds. Critics mocked the $7 million megaproject, worth around US$170 million today, calling it DeWitts Ditch and Clintons Folly. In 1817, however, thousands of men began digging the 4-foot-deep channel using hand shovels and pickaxes. The construction work produced engineering breakthroughs, such as hydraulic cement made from local materials and locks that lifted the canals water level about 60 feet at Lockport, yet it obliterated acres of wetlands and forests. After riding a canal boat between Utica and Syracuse, the writer Nathaniel Hawthorne described the surroundings in 1835 as now decayed and death-struck. However, most canalgoers viewed the waterway as a beacon of progress. As a trade artery, it made New York City the nations financial center. As a people mover, it fueled religious revivals, social reform movements, and the growth of Great Lakes cities. The Erie Canals socioeconomic benefits came with more environmental costs: The passageway enabled organisms from faraway places to reach lakes and rivers that had been isolated since the end of the last ice age. An invasive species expressway On Oct. 26, 1825, Gov. Clinton led a flotilla aboard the Seneca Chief from Buffalo to New York City that culminated in a grandiose ceremony. To symbolize the global connections made possible by the new canal, participants poured water from Lake Erie and rivers round the world into the Atlantic at Sandy Hook, a sand spit off New Jersey at the entrance to New York Harbor. Observers at the time described the ritual of commingling the waters of the Lakes with the Ocean in matrimonial terms. Clinton was an accomplished naturalist who had researched the canal routes geology, birds, and fish. He even predicted that the waterway would bring the western fishes into the eastern waters. Biologists today would consider the Wedding of the Waters event a biosecurity risk. The Erie Canal and its adjacent feeder rivers and reservoirs likely enabled two voracious nonnative species, the Atlantic sea lamprey and alewife, to enter the Great Lakes ecosystem. By preying on lake trout and other highly valued native fish, these invaders devastated the lakes commercial fisheries. The harvest dropped by a stunning 98% from the previous average by the early 1960s. Tracing their origins is tricky, but historical, ecological and genetic data suggest that sea lampreys and alewives entered Lake Ontario via the Erie Canal during the 1860s. Later improvements to the Welland Canal in Canada enabled them to reach the upper Great Lakes by the 1930s. Protecting the $5 billion Great Lakes fishery from these invasive organisms requires constant work and consistent funding. In particular, applying pesticides and other techniques to control lamprey populations costs around $20 million per year. The invasive species that has inflicted the most environmental and economic harm on the Great Lakes is the zebra mussel. Zebra mussels traveled from Eurasia via the ballast water of transoceanic ships using the St. Lawrence Seaway during the 1980s. The Erie Canal then became a mussel expressway to the Hudson River. The hungry invading mussels caused a nearly tenfold reduction of phytoplankton, the primary food of many species of the Hudson River ecosystem. This competition for food, along with pollution and habitat degradation, led to the disappearance of two common species of the Hudsons native pearly mussels. Today, the Erie Canal remains vulnerable to invasive plants, such as water chestnut and hydrilla, and invasive animals such as round goby. Boaters, kayakers and anglers can help reduce bioinvasions by cleaning, draining and drying their equipment after each use to avoid carrying invasive species to new locations. A recreational treasure During the Gilded Age in the late 1800s, the Erie Canal sparked a utilitarian sense of environmental concern. Timber cutting in the Adirondack Mountains was causing so much erosion that the eastern canals feeder rivers were filling up with silt. To protect these waterways, New York created Adirondack Park in 1892. Covering 6 million acres, the park balances forest preservation, recreation and commercial use on a unique mix of public and private lands. Erie Canal shipping declined during the 20th century with the opening of the deeper and wider St. Lawrence Seaway and competition from rail and highways. The canal still supports commerce, but the Erie Canalway National Heritage Corridor now provides an additional economic engine. A kayak tour shows how locks operate on the Erie Canal. WMHT Public Media. In 2024, 3.84 million people used the Erie Canalway Trail for cycling, hiking, kayaking, sightseeing and other adventures. The tourists and day-trippers who enjoy the historic landscape generate over $300 million annually. Over the past 200 years, the Erie Canal has both shaped and been shaped by ecological forces and changing socioeconomic priorities. As New York reimagines the canal for its third century, the artificial rivers environmental history provides important insights for designing technological systems that respect human communities and work with nature rather than against it. Christine Keiner is the chair of the Department of Science, Technology, and Society at the Rochester Institue of Technology. This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
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E-Commerce
Surveillance pricing has dominated headlines recently. Delta Air Lines announcement that it will use artificial intelligence to set individualized ticket prices has led to widespread concerns about companies using personal data to charge different prices for identical products. As The New York Times reported, this practice involves companies tracking everything from your hotel bookings to your browsing history to determine what youre willing to pay. The reaction has been swift. Democratic lawmakers have responded with outrage, with Texas Representative Greg Casar introducing legislation to ban the practice. Meanwhile, President Donald Trumps new chair of the Federal Trade Commission has shut down public comment on the issue, signaling that the regulatory pendulum may swing away from oversight entirely. Whats missing in this political back-and-forth is a deeper look at the economics. As a business school professor who researches pricing strategy, I think the debate misses important nuances. Opponents of surveillance pricing overlook some potential benefits that could make markets both more efficient and, counterintuitively, more equitable. What surveillance pricing actually is Surveillance pricing differs from traditional dynamic pricing, where prices rise for everyone at times of peak demand. Instead, it uses personal databrowsing history, location, purchase patterns, even device typeto charge a unique price based on what algorithms predict youre willing to pay. The goal is to discover each customers reservation pricethe most theyll pay before walking away. Until recently, this was extremely difficult to do, but modern data collection has made it increasingly feasible. An FTC investigation found that companies track highly personal consumer behaviors to set individualized prices. For example, a new parent searching for baby thermometers might find pricier products on the first page of their results than a nonparent would. Its not surprising that many people think this is unfair. The unintended progressive tax But consider this: Surveillance pricing also means that wealthy customers pay more for identical goods, while lower-income customers pay less. That means it could achieve redistribution goals typically pursued through government policy. Pharmaceutical companies already do this globally, charging wealthier countries more for identical drugs to make medications accessible in poorer nations. Surveillance pricing could function as a private-sector progressive tax system. Economists call it price discrimination, but it often helps poorer consumers access goods they might otherwise be unable to afford. And unlike government programs, this type of redistribution requires no taxpayer funding. When Amazons algorithm charges me more than a college student for the same laptop, its effectively running a means-tested subsidy programfunded by consumers. PBS NewsHour featured a segment on the Delta Air Lines news. The two-tier economy problem In my view, the most legitimate concern about surveillance pricing isnt that it exists, but how its implemented. Online retailers can seamlessly adjust prices in real time, while physical stores remain largely stuck with uniform pricing. Imagine the customer fury if Targets checkout prices varied by person based on their smartphone data: There could be chaos in the stores. This digital-physical divide could also create unfair advantages for tech-savvy companies while leaving traditional retailers behind. That would raise fairness considerations for consumers as well as retailers. This is related to another force that could limit how far surveillance pricing can go: arbitrage, or the practice of buying something where it is cheaper and selling it where it is more expensive. If a system consistently charges wealthy customers $500 for items that cost poor customers $200, it creates opportunities for entrepreneurial intermediaries to exploit these price gaps. Personal shopping services, buying cooperatives, or even friends and family networks could arbitrage these differences, providing wealthy customers access to the lower prices while splitting the savings. This means surveillance pricing cant discriminate too aggressivelymarket forces will erode excessive price gaps. Thats why I believe the solution isnt to ban surveillance pricing entirely, but to monitor how its put in practice. The regulatory sweet spot The current political moment offers a strange opportunity. With Republicans focused on AI innovation and Democrats fixated on bans, theres space for a more sophisticated position that embraces market-based redistribution while demanding strong consumer protections. In my view, smart regulation would require companies to disclose when personal data influences pricing, and would prohibit discrimination based on protected characteristics such as race, color, or religionand this list needs to be created extremely carefully. This would preserve the efficiency benefits while preventing abuse. Surveillance pricing based on desperation or need also raises unique ethical questions. Charging a wealthier customer more for a taxi ride is one thing; charging someone extra solely because their battery is low and they risk being stranded is another. As I see it, the distinction between ability to pay and urgency of need must become the cornerstone of regulation. While distinguishing the two may seem challenging, its far from impossible. It would help if customers were empowered to report exploitative practices, using mechanisms similar to existing price-gouging protections. A solid regulatory framework must also clarify the difference between dynamic pricing and surveillance-based exploitation. Dynamic pricing has long been standard practice: Airlines charge all last-minute travelers higher fares, regardless of their circumstances. But consider two passengers buying tickets on the same dayone rushing to a funeral, another planning a spontaneous vacation. Right now, airlines can use technology to identify and exploit the funeral attendees desperate circumstances. The policy challenge is precise: Can we design regulations that prevent airlines from exploiting the bereaved while still allowing retailers to offer discounts on laptops to lower-income families? The answer will determine whether surveillance pricing becomes a tool for equity or exploitation. Aradhna Krishna is a Dwight F. Benton professor of marketing at the University of Michigan. This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
Category:
E-Commerce
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