California , The Golden State has a population of 37 million folks or so. That's around Kenya's or Poland's population. According to which source you use, California, if it were an independent nation, would have the seventh, eighth, or tenth largest economy in the world. California is responsible for 13% of the United States' gross domestic product. The state's GDP was about $1.7 trillion in 2006. Think people pay attention to what happens there?
Well, California just issued a comprehensive draft plan for reducing its greenhouse gases. The aim is to reduce GHG to 1990 levels by 2020, or about 10 percent from today's levels. See also this story from the AP. For everything climate change, see California's portal.
The Governator and much of the political and civic leadership in California have been hard at work trying to create a post-carbon society. I've noted some of their efforts here, the Million Solar Roofs initiative for instance, the Western States cap-and-trade compact, and the landmark law for regulating GHG from automotive emissions , plus the dirty pool played by the EPA in pushing back.
While fires consume Big Sur, the California climate change juggernaut keeps plunging ahead. It's a very good thing for all of us that Google and Arnold Schwarzenegger, Nancy Pelosi and Barbara Boxer and Gavin Newsome, all those venture capitalists and energy entrepreneurs, and millions of citizens are thinking and living greener and greener.
Massachusetts , I wrote about the brouhaha in the Bay State in "Cape Wind" just below. Former Governor Mitt Romney did his best to scuttle the wind farm, but Governor Deval Patrick is a staunch supporter. The Massachusetts legislature is also on board and this week is moving an aggressive renewables package forward. See this from the "Berkshire Eagle" and this from the Union of Concerned Scientists.
Rhode Island , Meanwhile, just down the coast, Governor Donald L. Carcieri, has vetoed a renewables package from the legislature. This article from the "Providence Journal" recounts how the Governor and the legislature are in substantial disagreement about how best to bring renewable energy to RI. The venerable and progressive Conservation Law Foundation, in this release, is calling on the legislature to override the veto, something they are likely to do. The CLF, not incidentally, has an important profile on climate change.
Wisconsin , The news from the Badger State is that the Governor's Task Force on Global Warming has issued an ambitious plan that calls for utilities to bring greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 levels by 2022 according to this article from the "Chicago Tribune." The plan recommends that Wisconsin join a regional GHG cap-and-trade program, or the federal one when it comes into being , in 2009, most prognosticators, including me, project. The task force also says that nuclear power should be considered, even though there's been a moratorium on nukes in Wisconsin for over 20 years.
Florida , The Sunshine State just hosted its second Climate Change Summit. Governor Charlie Crist has been taking climate change quite seriously. Unfortunately, his legislature hasn't taken quite the forward-looking stance he has. See Energy bill stops short of Crist's goals from the "Daytona Beach News-Journal." The bill, it appears, doesn't have much of what Crist intended when he started the process. It looks like nothing more, at this point, then a formula for nuclear power.
Arizona , A conservative institute is suing the state to block a surcharge on consumers to help fund renewables. See this from the "Phoenix Business Journal." When I was in Arizona in January, I was thunderstruck that every single roof didn't have solar panels installed. There is nothing but sun there – and room for improvement. With plug-in hybrids, for that matter, you could supply huge amounts of both the stationary and surface transportation needs of the state from solar without a gram of carbon dioxide making the atmosphere hotter.
