U.S. States at Climate Meeting in Bali: "Laying groundwork for what will soon be national policy."

[DeepModem Mom]

Source: NYT/AP

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: December 11, 2007
Filed at 4:31 p.m. ET

BALI, Indonesia (AP) -- A second wave of Americans has landed on this tropical island, envoys of state and local governments who have come to tell the U.N. climate conference that not all U.S. leaders oppose mandatory cuts in global warming gases.

''We are laying the groundwork for what we feel will soon be a national policy,'' said California's environmental protection secretary, Linda Adams, whose state has led the way with legislation paring down emissions of carbon dioxide and other gases blamed for rising temperatures. Adams was referring to expected changes in U.S. national policy after the January 2009 end of the Bush administration, which has opposed emissions caps under a legally binding treaty.

The ''other American'' message will be delivered by headline spokesmen: a larger-than-life California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, addressing the conference by live video link on Friday, and a life-size New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, speaking in person that same day. The governor and the mayor will follow by one day the appearance of climate crusader and former Vice President Al Gore, fresh from his Nobel Peace Prize award ceremony in Norway....

Besides Adams' 30 Californians, larger than many countries' delegations, a consortium of northeastern U.S. states is represented here by a New York state official, and local governments, from Annapolis, Md., to King County, Washington, who have sent chief executives or other envoys.

They began arriving last weekend, midway through the two-week, 180-plus-nation conference, and immediately entered into a schedule of presentations and meetings with European delegates and others, to report what they're doing at home and to learn what more might be done to head off the impacts of climate change....

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/world/AP-Bali-The-Other-Americans.html

[Lisa]

1. Hurrah for the states and cities!

In particular, a big shout-out to the Western Climate Initiative -- Washington, Oregon, California, Arizona, New Mexico, Utah, British Columbia, and Manitoba. And to the east coast counterpart organization ...

http://www.westernclimateinitiative.org/
http://www.negc.org/environment.html

[DeepModem Mom]

2. Yes, indeed! It gave me great pleasure to post this -- something, for once, to be proud of. nt

[Lisa]

3. as a Canadian, it makes me very happy to see people taking charge, regardless of the feds

I totally agree, DeepModem Mom!

[Frisbee]

4. Maybe we can work out some kind of a trade...

I'm thinking something along the lines of Schwarzenegger for Lieberman.