{"id":580,"date":"2015-05-11T21:16:29","date_gmt":"2015-05-12T04:16:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/pacificainstitute.org\/?p=580"},"modified":"2015-05-11T21:16:29","modified_gmt":"2015-05-12T04:16:29","slug":"assemblymember-butler-speaks-at-pacifica-institute-april-5th-2012","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pacificainstitute.org\/orange-county\/2015\/05\/11\/assemblymember-butler-speaks-at-pacifica-institute-april-5th-2012\/","title":{"rendered":"Assemblymember Butler Speaks at Pacifica Institute (April 5th, 2012)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Assemblymember Butler talks about the importance of being “green” (April 5th, 2012)<\/strong><\/p>\n

At the\u00a0Los Angeles\u00a0branch of Pacifica Institute on April 5th, Betsy Butler, California State Assemblymember recounted the accomplishments of her political career and discussed future goals that she hopes will pave the way for a better California.<\/p>\n

Among her priorities as representative of the 53rd<\/sup> assembly district are improving services for elder citizens and veterans, improving and protecting the education system and most importantly protecting the environment.<\/p>\n

\u201cI believe there need to be people in Sacramento who are talking for all of you who don\u2019t have very expensive lobbyists lobbying for you,\u201d Butler said.<\/p>\n

In October 2011 a bill sponsored by Butler that would ban the use of bisphenol A (BPA), a hormone-disrupting chemical, in baby bottles and sippy cups sold in California was signed into legislation by Gov. Jerry Brown, despite fierce opposition from the chemical industry.<\/p>\n

The power of California as a leader in environmental issues can be seen, Butler said, in the fact that the FDA had neglected to take the issue seriously until California\u2019s ban on BPA, even though 10 other states that had already instituted such bans.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have to be good consumers and good advocates for ourselves,\u201d Butler said, because big corporations will always try to hide the truth.<\/p>\n

Butler warned of additional environmental threats California is facing such as fracking, a process used to release petroleum for extraction, which can cause toxic gases and chemicals to be released into the environment that usually go undetected.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe \u2026 really need to take a hold of that before it takes over like it did in Pennsylvania and some parts of New York,\u201d Butler said.<\/p>\n

Another issue that demands immediate attention, Butler said is the proper care for elder citizens.<\/p>\n

\u201cEveryday 10,000 people in the US are turning 65,\u201d Butler said, \u201cwe have a lot of people who are aging and as a state we have to prepare for that [because] it\u2019s going to be a very, very, very big economic concern.\u201d<\/p>\n

Butler is also an advocate for promoting music and the arts in schools and redirecting the focus of teachers from high test scores to getting through to students and making sure they are actually learning.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have to have a very well-rounded education for our kids or they are not going to be prepared for the 21st<\/sup> century. So, it is incumbent upon us to figure out how to get our kids interested in what they want to do,\u201d Butler said, because: \u201cWe\u2019re blessed in California to have so much creativity and ingenuity. We\u2019re really the state that does everything. We\u2019re the leaders that people follow.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Assemblymember Butler talks about the importance of being “green” (April 5th, 2012) At the\u00a0Los Angeles\u00a0branch of Pacifica Institute on April 5th, Betsy Butler, California State Assemblymember recounted the accomplishments of her political career and discussed future goals that she hopes will pave the way for a better California. Among her priorities as representative of the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":581,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-580","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pacificainstitute.org\/orange-county\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/580","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pacificainstitute.org\/orange-county\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pacificainstitute.org\/orange-county\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pacificainstitute.org\/orange-county\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pacificainstitute.org\/orange-county\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=580"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/pacificainstitute.org\/orange-county\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/580\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pacificainstitute.org\/orange-county\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/581"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pacificainstitute.org\/orange-county\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=580"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pacificainstitute.org\/orange-county\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=580"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pacificainstitute.org\/orange-county\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=580"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}