The Governors’ Climate Summit convenes Tuesday against the poignant–and salient–backdrop of the multiple wildfires and smoldering ruins ringing Los Angeles.
Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is hosting the somewhat hastily arranged conference, which is “co-hosted” by the governors of four other U.S. states; Florida, Illinois, Kansas, and Wisconsin. Governors of four other states have pledged to send delegates. Two of these states, Utah and Washington, are already partners with California in the Western Climate Initiative, which recently rolled out a framework for its regional cap & trade program, set to take effect in 2012.
Governor Schwarzenegger said in September that “all 50” US governors would be invited. Sacramento-based AP writer Samantha Young documented invitations to at least 36 governors.
Those who made it are joined by representatives from a dozen other nations, including Mexico, Brazil and importantly, China and India. These last two are linchpins in the success of any concerted effort to control emissions of greenhouse gases. Brazil can make a major contribution in the preservation of tropical forests. And Mexico–well, they’re right next door. And annoyingly, GHG emissions tend to flout international borders. It’s been estimated that on certain days, a quarter of L.A.’s air pollution can be traced to China, though today was certainly not one of them. The odor of smoke from surrounding wildfires followed me down I-5 from Castaic, into the L.A. Basin.
Tuesday’s summit agenda is dominated by breakout sessions devoted to specific sectors and topics, such as energy, transportation and cement manufacturing. Discussions will include representatives of diverse interests, from The Nature Conservancy to Wal-Mart. By Wednesday organizers expect delegates to sign a “joint declaration agreeing to pursue collaborative action to reduce greenhouse gas emission and create opportunities to grow green economies.”
I’ll be following the proceedings and blogging daily from them.
2 thoughts on “Climate Summit Set to Start as L.A. Smolders”
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AP journalist Samantha Young’s story is here:
http://www.businessweek.com/ap/financialnews/D94DLCNG1.htm
And it’s odd; it’s an “Al Gore’s House” theme to it. I want to talk to those who worked on it, to understand why, for example, the (non-govt) sources they talked to weren’t told what the thrust of the piece would be (and, when they found out, disagreed strenuously with it), but the AP seems to have quite a firewall – the journalist I spoke to wouldn’t talk to me and passed me on to her superior, who himself wouldn’t talk to me, he said, without prior permission from the AP San Francisco Bureau Chief (in charge of northern California&Nevada and Hawaii), which, he said, could take days.
If anyone knows how I can find someone at AP who *is* willing to talk, please let me know…
” The [ARB] plan’s evaluation of the costs and savings of some recommended measures is inconsistent and incomplete. The plan does not reflect the costs and savings of all of the emissions reduction measures that it recommends.”
The politicians in Sac. don’t care a whit about what it really does because it really a tax measure. The carbon cap and trade programs turns the electric, manufactories,heavy trucks, cars,airlines,etc into tax collectors for the state. It’s just a tax scheme.!! run by the CARB. Once the gov. get’s into the elect rates they’ll always remain high and never will go down, just like any other state taxs. The Fed. program is S.3036 and it’s so bad that it has a 900 Billion welfare program to offset the higher electric and fuel costs. These politictians will be long gone when this takes effect in 2012 and be on the boards and commissions that this sets up. But YOU and ME will be left with the higher bills to pay.