Posted on 06/05/2005 1:19:20 PM PDT by calcowgirl
SAN FRANCISCO Sunday, when mayors from around the world gathered in this most environmentally aware of American cities to mark World Environment Day, they hoped to make a clear statement: Local communities - even more than nations - can be the pioneers of environmental reform. The choice of place and time could hardly have been more auspicious.
In recent months, it has become increasingly obvious that a critical mass is developing around perhaps the most nettlesome issue of modern American environmentalism - climate change - and that states, cities, and even some businesses are the ones taking the lead. While the Bush administration insists that human impact on climate change is far from certain, a growing number of policymakers disagree and are now taking decisive steps that the federal government has so far shunned.
Mayors of more than 150 cities ranging from Los Angeles to Atlanta have signed an agreement pledging to move their communities toward the greenhouse-gas reductions laid out the Kyoto Protocol. And last week, California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger - a pro-business Republican - proposed cutting the state's greenhouse-gas emissions by 25 percent, proclaiming:
"The debate is over ... and we know the time for action is now."
In this context, California can have a profound influence - not only on the environment, but on shaping public policy. As the 10th largest emitter of greenhouse gases in the world and a crucible of environmental policy, California's decisions could again lay the groundwork for the future path of the entire nation.
"If this continues, when you add it all up, it will be significant activity on climate change even without a national policy," says Pietro Nivola of the Brookings Institution in Washington. "Very often that is the way policy works: When enough major states take action, then eventually the central government follows."
(snip)
"The debate is over ..."
Road apples!
Gov. Schwarzenegger unveiled the plan to combat global warming at the UN World Environmental Day Conference on Wednesday.
"Today, California will be a leader in the fight against global warming," he told the conference. "I say the debate is over. We know the science, we see the threat and we know the time for action is now."
San Francisco........clean air and water........polluted bodies and minds.........where else is there a contradistinction this stark?
When a bunch of corrupt politicians start flatulating about "saving da enviroment," the first thing that comes to their teeny weeny minds is TAX INCREASES!! This article is about tax increases on private vehicle use.
Idiots!
Turn the Sun down slightly and maybe you will get some "results".
Idiots!
Turn the Sun down slightly and maybe you will get some "results".
They all flew in, did they? On their private jets? Burning thousands of gallons of fuel? What hypocrites: conservation for thee, but not for me.
"They all flew in, did they? On their private jets? Burning thousands of gallons of fuel? What hypocrites: conservation for thee, but not for me."
There's a name for this sort: "Third Way Socialist." George Soros, Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton, Tony Blair... you get the picture. Nominally pro-business insofar as it suits their own interests, but avid collectivists where "the masses" are concerned.
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