The Arrowhead Symposium is an invitation-only gathering of policymakers, planners, analysts, and advocates, held every October at the scenic Lake Arrowhead Conference Center in the San Bernardino Mountains.  Now in its 29th year, the UCLA Arrowhead Symposium is regarded for excellence in programming, camaraderie, and problem-solving. 

2020 is a pivotal year for climate action in California. Standing at the horizon of California’s Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006, we can look back and take stock of 15 years of effectiveness of climate-mitigation programs in the state. And because Californians have felt climate impacts, there’s a burgeoning common understanding of the need for far-reaching changes to political and infrastructural systems to resist the most extreme impacts on California life.

 But resisting extreme climate-driven changes will still require profound transformations to aspects of life Californians hold dear — from zoning to property tax finance to insurance markets. Californians will need to reconsider relationships with natural lands and private outdoor space, privatization of public space for purposes of mobility, the provision of infrastructure services in exceedance of property tax revenues, and the ability to wield political power to domineer the evolution of places.

California’s uniqueness as a regulatory authority and global market powerhouse combined with its diversity of people and places make it an exceptional climate actor. The state has chosen to lead the nation through cooperation and defiance. What’s next? 

Looking beyond the United States, California has an opportunity to demonstrate a thriving transition from a fossil-fueled, automobile-based transportation system designed to obsolesce this century into a resilient, emission-less system. 

The 2020 Arrowhead Symposium will inform decision-makers about best practices in climate mitigation and adaptation while engrossing in the cultural and political confrontations in transportation, land use, and the environment that a changing climate will accelerate.