Green Leaf Report

Felicity Barringer wrote an excellent article about the recent California actions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. 

1. Legislation is awaiting the CA governer’s signature that would require the 20 proposed new coal plants outside of California’s borders to meet the lowest possible carbon dioxide emissions for CA to buy the energy.
2. 2006 legislation to reduce CA industrial carbon dioxide emissions by 25% by 2020.
3. 2002 legislation requiring cars to have lower emissions.
4. CA is adding phone chargers, remote control boxes and other vampire devices to its list of items which must be made more energy efficient.
5. 2005 restrictions on large investor-owned electrical utilities buying energy; certain emissions standards must be met. 
6. And my personal favorite: 2006 legislation that new homes by 2012 have solar panels as a standard option. 

Certainly there are a lot of arguments against these steps.  No business wants to change its model, strategy and profit due to government intervention.  This is the antithesis of capitalism.  But true capitalism has never existed.  Government accounting controls, hard to interpret tax structures that are 800 pages for one rule, monopoly laws, etc. already require businesses to operate within government guidelines.  These new rules in California are the start of an American trend; limiting CO2 emissions.  We’re wasteful in our use of fossil fuels, and unchecked, this abuse is having effects.  It’s time to stand up to billion dollar businesses and say: Get creative.  Stop doing things the way you’ve always done them and think about the consequences.  Kudos to California and the former schoolteachers willing to stand up.  I agree whole-heartedly with these CA measures.  One thought nags at me, though, throughout this argument: the Supreme Court is going to decide whether the EPA can rule carbon dioxide as a pollutant.  I wonder what will happen if CO2 production is restricted; will we outlaw mammals?  If hairspray can blow a hole in the ozone, can six billion humans exhale enough to heat the planet without the help of cars and big business?  We need to control our wasteful practices, but global warming may be a problem that is never solved, only slowed.

tags: california+legislation, green+legislation, global+warming, pollution, environmental+legislation