Published by the Monterey Herald
SEASIDE >> About 80 people attended a recent marine science and policy forum at Cal State Monterey Bay featuring a group of candidates on the state ballot.
Many of those attendees, including several CSUMB students, said they came away having heard about what they expected from the three Democrats running for various state offices, but seemed surprised by some of the viewpoints Dalila Epperson, the Republican state assembly candidate, expressed challenging mainstream climate science.
“One panelist was spreading misinformation,” Stephanie Gamble, a CSUMB marine science senior, said about Epperson after the forum. “I was confused.”
The student reaction wasn’t distressing to event organizer and moderator James Lindholm, who chairs the university’s marine science department and has a distinguished professorship in science and policy.
“I think it’s important to hear all vantage points,” Lindholm said. He added, “The students were all up in arms. They were exercised and engaged as the result of conversation they saw on stage. That’s exactly what we were hoping would happen.”
During the two-hour event, the four candidates — State Sen. John Laird (D-Santa Cruz), Assemblymember Gail Pellerin (D-Santa Cruz), Assemblymember Dawn Addis (D-Morro Bay) and Addis’s Republican opponent for District 30, Epperson — fielded a wide range of questions concerning coastal California. Candidates in each of the races were invited. The three Democratic candidates were largely aligned. They expressed grave concern for the climate crisis and their support for renewable energy, ocean research and reduced plastic pollution. They highlighted the promise of the new Chumash Heritage National Marine Sanctuary, California’s fifth sanctuary.
When asked to name the most pressing issue for the Central Coast’s marine environment, Laird — who boasts a significant marine protection resume, including his previous work as California Secretary for Natural Resources — said the question asked him to “prioritize the top catastrophe on a list of catastrophes.” Yet his clear answer was climate change.
Meanwhile, Epperson’s responses to the same questions sounded starkly different, though environmental conservation is one of her stated campaign priorities. She expressed distrust for conventional scientists. She did not support renewable energy such as offshore wind, claiming manufacturing and use of turbines actually hurts the environment. After the Democrats voiced support for Proposition 4, the $10 billion climate bond on November’s ballot, Epperson said taxpayers were already overburdened. Regarding climate change, she acknowledged, “Over the past few years, our carbon dioxide has radically gone up.” Yet she continued, “But just remember, it’s not that bad. Carbon dioxide is plant food.”
Later, Epperson — who received 37 percent of the primary vote to represent District 30’s hundreds of miles of coastline in San Luis Obispo, Monterey and Santa Cruz counties — expanded on why increased atmospheric carbon did not concern her. “[There’s] only 150 years of collecting data on weather patterns. What we have found when you look at those weather patterns is that it’s cyclic. It goes up and down,” she said.
After claiming that hurricanes are decreasing in intensity based, she said, on those 150 years of recorded weather activity and the seas are not rising based on observations of old photographs, she concluded, “I don’t think we have a problem here.”
World Weather Attribution scientists warn climate change is driving more intense hurricanes such as Helene and Milton — which made landfall days before and after this forum. Meanwhile, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration found seas have risen 8 inches on average globally since 1880 and, depending on emissions, could rise nationally up to 7 feet by 2100.
Laird, whose statements followed, countered Epperson for a rare, heated moment in the evening by arguing scientists in fact agree our emissions have caused a climate crisis.
His statement is widely supported. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) says, “Human activities, principally through emissions of greenhouse gases, have unequivocally caused global warming.” IPCC reports average global temperatures are about 1.1°C warmer than in the 1800s and rising, with 2023 the warmest year on record. (In addition to using the temperature records that began in 1880, climate scientists rely on geologic records, among other tools, going back over three billion years.)
Once the speakers were off the stage, the students gathered among themselves to discuss some of Epperson’s views.
“Did they background check the panelists and what Dalila [Epperson]’s positions were?” Cove Kerr-Osman, a senior majoring in marine science, asked. “Since, based on her statements, her positions are not supported by this university and what we stand for here.”