Now that 2010 has gone down as one of history’s hottest years, many states are choosing not to wait for Congress to tackle global warming and are taking their own steps to slash greenhouse gas emissions.
States are increasingly adopting stricter, energy-saving building codes, spending more money (partly federal) on energy efficiency and prodding big polluters to cut heat-trapping emissions.
This is true, and thank goodness for the power of states to take such action. Doubling their spending on energy efficiency in two years’ time, rolling smooth with regional cap-and-trade programs that also bring in billions of dollars, passing important renewable energy standards and other supportive legislation, and more, states are stepping it up while our broken Congress does little to nothing (and even takes aim at the EPA, trying to stop it from doing its job — protecting the public’s most precious natural resources). Read more on USA TODAY: States take lead in efforts to fight climate change.
Image Credit: American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy
While I applaud states for taking the lead, we need a nationwide strategy to effectively stem the tide of global climate change. The vast majority of leading economists and scientists agree that cap and trade is not the best way to fight global climate change; a carbon tax is. That’s why we must insist that our lawmakers put good public policy ahead of political expediency and begin again with a revenue-neutral carbon tax. A revenue-neutral carbon tax avoids the evasion and market manipulation that plagued cap and trade while reducing emissions, incentivizing “green” R&D AND returning revenue to families already struggling under the weight of the current economic situation.
I completely agree with you ClimateTF — thanks for adding the comment.
What a load of………….
Obama never said “climate change” or “EPA” once in his state of the union address.
This is the worst reporing ever.
Harry, this post is not about Obama, the SOTU, or the EPA. It is about states addressing climate change. I’m not sure how you could have missed that.