In My Own Words

"America’s greatness has always been tied to our ability to continually mature as a society--to expand our Founders' original goal of freedom and equality for all. One of the most basic freedoms available to us all is the freedom to choose, protect and have recognized who we love. I wholeheartedly applaud the President's acknowledgement of his own personal growth and maturity on the issue of same sex marriage." -- Sen. Alan Lowenthal

  If we believe what Thomas Jefferson told us, that “information is the currency of democracy,” then certainly our schools are the banks of that currency.
   Just as Jefferson also believed that a healthy democracy must have an educated citizenry, I believe that education is not only a necessity of the governed, but a duty. Society must assure every citizen has the access and the means to not only K-12 education, but higher education as well.

   Each year California’s commercial ports are visited more than 9,000 times by cargo vessels of all types and origins. In many cases, these vessels fuel up at one of our ports for the next leg of their trip.
   In fact, the two major California port complexes of Long Beach/Los Angeles and Oakland are, in essence, some of the busiest maritime gas stations in the world.

By Sen. Alan Lowenthal

For more than a decade I have been arguing that business success and environmental responsibility are not mutually exclusive.
   So it is refreshing to hear of a UC Berkeley and UC Davis research team that recently found it actually pays to be green.
   The academic study discovered that companies that voluntarily disclose their greenhouse gas emissions enjoy a small spike in their stock value and positive returns to shareholders.