Sub-National Climate Change Sucesses

So what are we doing to help stop climate change? I'm sure that question has probably run through your mind a couple times over the course of this blog. I recently attended a session where that question was (at least in part) answered. Present at this side event session were heads of Environmental Departments from California, Oregon, Montana, British Columbia, Ontario, and Quebec.

All of these positions are part of state or regional governments. On the national scale, for the United States especially, the federal government is dealing with many different viewpoints and interests. Representatives from states like Kentucky, who's economy is largely based on coal mining, don't want other states switching to renewable energy or natural gas. Other states are concerned about impacts on their economies.  For example in California, with an economy based largely on agriculture, the impacts of climate change have produced a decade-long drought.

These opposing viewpoints make the federal government come to nearly a standstill on climate change decisions. This, however, gives state governments the opportunity to take environmental protection and mitigation of climate change into their own hands. Many states have taken this opportunity.

California is working with Oregon and other states along the west coast to create an electric-car friendly highway, so people can own electric cars and get where they want to go without having to search long and hard to find a charging station. This comes along with California's vow to have a million electric cars on the road by 2025. Montana exports 50% of the energy it produces, and passed a law in 2007 that any coal plants that are opened in the state must capture 50% of carbon released. It is probably because of this law that no new coal plants have been opened in the great state of Montana in recent years. Regional leaders from Canada are working with states from the US to create a common price point of carbon credits, so that credits can be purchased internationally at a competitive rate.

Regional leaders are stepping up and they are trying to create more awareness for their people as well. David Rosenheim, Executive Director of The Climate Registry, stated it very nicely: "We don't speak about the health impacts enough. We don't talk about the fact that people will no longer be able to support their families doing what they do now, because the climate around them will change and job opportunities with it." What many people don't understand is how climate change will impact them, and so they continue to fail to take action,. If we can raise awareness on how climate change will impact peoples' lives, then more people will stand to take action. The reason they take action will vary from person to person, but the overarching reality is that they will take action.