Federalism At Work, And A Few Other Tidbits
May 9th, 2007 by Vihar ShethPosted in Agriculture, Climate Change, Energy, Government, Technology
First, some miscellany:
- World Agricultural Congress here calls for world cooperation - I love it when a bunch of senior executives and world leaders get together to figure out how to stop themselves from contributing to world hunger. As we know, self-policing always works. I’m not an expert on agricultural subsidies but I know they’re complicated, and double-edged swords to boot. But, somewhere deep inside I feel that getting food to those who need it is easier than it seems. If an 8-year old boy working in a Chinese village 1,000 miles from an airport can make a shirt that’s sold in the U.S., we should be able to get food to a similar child being eyed by a very hungry vulture in an African desert. But that’s just me.
- Encyclopedia of Life is launched - In the words of Peter Griffin, “Freakin’ sweet!”. It’s going to take ten years to complete but when it’s done it will be a catalog of every species on earth man has discovered, all 1.8 million of them. And all the information will be free.
- EPA’s top 25 green power partners - PepsiCo has moved to the top stop of renewable energy purchases in the U.S. Good for them . . . too bad I don’t like Pepsi, ’cause they sure are trying to be a more responsible company that Coke. Though Coke has made some strides of its own . . .
Now for our feature presentation. Janet Wilson, of the Los Angeles Times, reports:
“Led by California, 31 states representing more than 70% of the U.S. population announced Tuesday that they would measure and jointly track greenhouse gas emissions by major industries. The newly formed Climate Registry is the latest example of states going further than the federal government in taking steps to combat global warming. State officials, along with some industrial groups and environmentalists, say the registry is a crucial precursor to both mandatory and market-based regulation of industrial gases that contribute to warming.”
Federalism is a tricky form of government, but the one thing it does is empower states to act when the federal government has not or will not acted regarding a particular issue.
Thinking the federal government, during the rest of Bush’s tenure, will do anything meaningful to curtail this country’s effect on climate change is naive. The President can only be described as the biggest train wreck to ever hold that office, and much of Congress, on both sides of the aisle, are no different. That’s why I’m happy to see that states are finally growing pairs, 31 pairs in all, each a different size, shape and color.
While 31 states have joined the Climate Registry, each has done so in a different capacity. Some are mounting very aggressive efforts to change they way they operate while others are just examining possible action steps, and have yet to make any decisions. While I’d like to see each instituting comprehensive policies, I commend all 31 for stepping up to the plate. A thousand interests are surely pulling in a thousand directions, so coming up with a consensus will surely be difficult. But, this Registry, along with every other tidbit of progress shows that people understand the problems facing the human race at this very moment. Implementing state-level change will help raise awareness, and the more people know about climate change the more likely they are to act with their wallets and their votes.
Related Posts
