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California Leads on Global Warming

CA Gov. Schwarzenegger announces new global warming action plan for CA.
California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has signed an executive order that would make California the largest state to take on global warming. The order sets bold targets to reduce heat-trapping gases.
The governor's plan calls for the state to make steep cuts to greenhouse gas emissions, using a set of benchmarks and target dates: 11 percent by 2010, 25 percent by 2020 and 80 percent by 2050.
Challenge Is Made, Now Work Begins
The Republican governor's speech on Wednesday could be this generation's "put a man on the moon" commitment that inspires one of the world's top economies to develop innovative solutions to our most serious environmental challenge: global climate change. But the legal framework Gov. Schwarzenegger has laid out is just one small step in the right direction; the giant leap will come when specific strategies are secured, such as implementation of a mandatory cap-and-trade system to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

"Global warming is our most serious environmental threat, and the governor has shown that he's willing to confront it head on," said Tom Graff, California regional director of Environmental Defense.

"This is a great start," Graff added, "but we're far from the home stretch. The governor and legislative leaders such as Assemblywoman Fran Pavley and Senator Sheila Kuehl should work together on a bipartisan basis to assure that there is no backsliding in meeting these vitally important objectives, and that the targets are met efficiently and fairly, using the cap and trade mechanisms perfected in the control of acid rain in the east and Midwest."

California: A Strong Environmental Foundation
California is a state noted for both its excellent environmental leadership and significant environmental hurdles. The sixth largest economy of...