This week on the Andrew Yang podcast.

It's really a shame that this is happening. And, you know, imagine what could happen if cities like Los Angeles encourage this kind of grassroots self-improvement instead of punishing it. So I would really love to see L.A. and other cities, instead of punishing this stuff, finding a way to, like, help these folks out a little bit, right? Maybe give them a little bit of technical support, maybe give them like a little tax abatement or something, or maybe just loosen some of the regs. Because I do sort of feel like these well-meeting city agencies that all

know that people want shade and want to make more shade, their hands are tied by their own red tape.

It is my pleasure to welcome to the podcast for the very first time, journalist and author of the brand new fascinating book, Shade, The Promise of a Forgotten Natural Resource, Sam Block.

Welcome, Sam.

Andrew, thanks for having me.

So, Sam, shade. The fun thing for me is imagining you pitching the book to publishes your friend.

You got like a, you know, a fantastic publisher. When did you start this project and how did the inspiration hit you? So those are, this project predates the book,

actually. So I was inspired to start writing about shade when I lived in Los Angeles. I now live in

New York City, but I used to live in L.A. in the 2000s and 2010s.

And when I lived in Los Angeles, I lived in this kind of lush hillside neighborhood called Mount Washington,

where, you know, 100 years ago, people had moved in to sort of spruce up what became kind of like

a mountainside resort or a hotel destination back before, you know, it was so easy to get around

the city.

And they planted, you know, a very lush canopy of oaks, sycamores, eucalyptus trees.

And, you know, I was the beneficiary of that where I lived because I would wake up in the morning and I would go out into my yard and I would see the sun, you know, raking through the leaves and feel cool and calm in this kind of verdant, shady paradise. But when I would drive down from where I lived onto the streets, I would notice people were who didn't have the privilege of me to, first of all, live in a shady neighborhood,, who didn't have the privilege of me to, first

all live in a shady neighborhood, but also didn't have the privilege of driving to work in an air-conditioned

car. I noticed I'm waiting for the bus and standing behind like telephone poles and street

signs and just the, like the tiniest, most meager, you know, I'm not even going to call it

shade infrastructure, but things that cast shadows, doing anything they could to get out of

the sun's glare. And that was the first moment that I sort of, you know, my eyes opened up to

shade. I thought, okay, you know, how did they come to be this way? You know, why do I get

...