Changing The Nation's Climate

Carl Pope

December 12, 2006

Carl Pope is executive director of the Sierra Club , the nation’s oldest and largest grassroots environmental organization.

Take hope. Everywhere but the White House, America has stopped debating whether global warming is real and started taking significant steps to meet this mounting threat.

Two weeks ago, all eyes were on the Supreme Court as it heard oral arguments in Massachusetts v. EPA, the landmark global warming case. This case—brought by the Sierra Club, more than a dozen states, three cities, and numerous other environmental groups—asks the High Court to force the Environmental Protection Agency to do its job, and that’s simply to follow the law. In this case, that means exercising its existing authority under the Clean Air Act to regulate global warming pollution. Although a decision is months away and should we prevail, we would likely face years of glacially slow rulemaking and deliberate evasion by the Bush EPA. And even though Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., incoming chairwoman of the Environment and Public Works committee, has set out an aggressive agenda on global warming, any meaningful legislation passed by the new Congress would still face the president’s veto pen. Realizing that relief from Washington will be slow in coming and understanding the need for urgency, states and cities across the country are taking the lead in the fight against global warming.

California, long a leader on environmental issues, is once more at the head of the class when it comes to global warming. First, it has laid out automobile emissions standards that will reduce the global warming pollution from new vehicles by approximately 30 percent by 2016. Eleven other states have followed California’s lead and adopted these same standards. Second, it adopted the nation’s first mandatory cuts in carbon emissions—the landmark law will cut the state’s emissions 25 percent by 2020. On the other side of country, seven Northeastern states have launched the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative to institute a cap-and-trade system on carbon emissions from power plants.

Other states are implementing different solutions, such as aggressive energy efficiency programs or renewable portfolio standards—requirements that a certain percentage of the state’s electricity come from renewable sources such as wind and solar. During this fall’s campaign, I had the pleasure of sharing the stage with Gov. Ed Rendell of Pennsylvania. His leadership in establishing an RPS in his state—and thus creating a stable market for renewable energy—allowed his state to best Minnesota, a state with no RPS, in the competition for a new wind turbine factory. Gamesa, the large Spanish wind concern, has decided to invest $34 million in a facility that will create 530 good-paying union jobs in Fairless Hills, Pa., an area that has been hit hard by the decline in the steel industry.

In good news for the environment and for Ohioans, Rendell is in for some new competition from across the border. Ted Strickland, Ohio’s newly elected governor, is committed to expanding the clean energy options in his state—knowing embracing this technology will help wean his state off oil and create new jobs. The Apollo Alliance  estimates that additional investments in wind and solar manufacturing at existing factories in Ohio and Pennsylvania could create 65,000 new jobs in those two states alone—proof positive that fighting global warming is good for both the environment and the economy.

Mayors across the country are also banding together to fight global warming. The Sierra Club’s Cool Cities program has assisted in signing up over 300 mayors in 48 states. These cities have all signed on to the U.S. Mayor’s Climate Protection Agreement, essentially agreeing to abide by the Kyoto Protocol in their cities. By using hybrids and other efficient vehicles in city fleets, purchasing renewable energy, and upgrading the efficiency of city buildings, these cities are reducing their carbon emissions and saving taxpayers money at the same time.

While scientists tell us we are perilously close to reaching a tipping point on global warming, it is also clear that we may be reaching a political tipping point here in this country. The new Congress is likely to lay much of the groundwork needed to pass meaningful legislation on global warming once a new administration moves in to the White House. In the meantime, cities and states understand the imminence of the threat and are moving forward in ways that protect our climate, save taxpayers money, and create new industries and new manufacturing jobs. Whether compelled by common sense or the High Court, it’s a new day in America when it comes to global warming.