{"id":4401,"date":"2010-01-27T15:25:20","date_gmt":"2010-01-27T23:25:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/?p=4401"},"modified":"2010-01-27T15:25:20","modified_gmt":"2010-01-27T23:25:20","slug":"epas-new-regional-chief-act-locally","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/2010\/01\/27\/epas-new-regional-chief-act-locally\/","title":{"rendered":"EPA’s New Regional Chief: Act Locally"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"New
New EPA regional chief Jared Blumenfeld. Photo: EPA<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Yesterday I spoke with Jared Blumenfeld, the former head of San Francisco\u2019s Department of the Environment–aka the guy who brought mandatory recycling to San Francisco and banished the phrase “Paper or plastic?” from the city’s supermarkets–by banning the plastic.<\/p>\n

Blumenfeld now occupies a vast corner office in the EPA\u2019s Region 9<\/a> headquarters, overseeing a territory that includes four Western states and 20 of the country\u2019s largest cities. Born 40 years ago, just as Region 9 came into being, this week he was briefing reporters on his plans to \u201crevolutionize\u201d the region<\/a> with a tighter focus on environmental justice, enforcement, and making small businesses more efficient.<\/p>\n

What do these things have in common? For one thing, they\u2019re all pretty local: specific communities with specific complaints and needs (a profile, incidentally, that fits Blumenfeld\u2019s first initiative<\/a> to a “T”).<\/p>\n

So what about more sweeping changes on, say, climate? You could argue that it\u2019s not the job of a regional head to get mixed up in Beltway politics. But given all the recent drama<\/a> in Washington around cap and trade, maybe Blumenfeld\u2019s local focus is intentional.<\/p>\n

How, I asked him, has the mood in Washington affected his ambitions for EPA Region 9?<\/p>\n

\u201cI was looking at a recent poll that showed how many fewer people understand climate change last year than this year,” he replied. “I think the environmental movement has gotten away from the people. We\u2019ve become overly specialized, jargony, focused on large problems no one person can solve.\u201d<\/p>\n

Having made San Francisco a considerably “greener” place, maybe Blumenfeld’s first task is to export small initiatives that–for the moment at least–make environmental problems feel local and solveable.<\/p>\n

Amy Standen is the lead radio reporter for Quest<\/a>, KQED’s multimedia science initiative.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The EPA says the new chief of its southwestern region will “revolutionize” the office. 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