April 02, 2007

Florida's warming

State can play big role to improve climate
Daytona Beach News-Journal

Editorial

Florida is finally, officially taking global warming seriously. Gov. Charlie Crist and the Cabinet, with the leadership of Chief Financial Officer Alex Sink, will hold a series of meetings beginning Tuesday on how to position Florida in a globally warming world -- and what to do about it. The Cabinet summoned a list of experts for guidance in a state precariously vulnerable to one of global warming's most immediate threats: rising sea levels. But while Florida talks, California already has leaped farther ahead than any other state -- and most other countries -- to battle global warming.

Six months ago, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed legislation that aims to reduce California's greenhouse gas emissions by 25 percent over the next 13 years, with mandatory caps on greenhouse emissions beginning in 2012. If successful, the law would bring emissions down to 1990 levels by 2020. It doesn't stop there. The law aims to reduce emissions to 80 percent below 1990 levels by mid-century.

Greenhouse gases like methane, carbon dioxide and ozone are produced naturally and by humans. They regulate the planet's temperature, making life livable. But human production of the gases has triggered an imbalance in the atmosphere, provoking the greenhouse effect. More heat is being trapped in the atmosphere than nature normally would allow. At current rates, the planet could warm by as much as five degrees Fahrenheit over the present century, melting polar ice and sending sea levels considerably higher. The biggest culprit among human-made greenhouse gases is carbon dioxide, which is produced mainly by fossil fuels like coal, natural gas and oil. Cars, trucks and planes account for a third of the nation's carbon dioxide emissions, the production of electric power more than a third. Homes and industry produce much of the rest.

Doing something about greenhouse gases sounds like one of those unattainable generalities. But it isn't. Think of it in these terms: The United States is responsible for more than a quarter of the world's greenhouse gas emissions. (China and India are gaining, but that's a story for another decade.) Within the United States, the biggest states, California and Florida among them, are responsible for disproportionate shares of the nation's emissions. What government, industry and individuals do in each of these states will affect the larger picture -- for the worse, if, as in Florida, business carries on as usual; for the better if, as in California, the crisis is recognized as having passed the point of talking, studying and debating.

California has enacted tough but realistic standards. That doesn't stop the debates. Those should continue, if only to keep refining the best way to tackle global warming's challenges. In fact, much of the California plan hinges on negotiations over what kind of regulations will be imposed on which industries. But as talk carries on, so should action. A Senate bill that would create the Florida Climate Action Partnership to make just such policy recommendations is making its way through the Legislature. It should make its way to the governor's desk. (Crist supports it, but it lacks a companion bill in the House.) How to enact emission caps will be the biggest challenge, but that's where innovation and other states' (and countries') initiatives play a role.

The assumption that enacting such things as emission caps would hurt the economy is just that -- an assumption based on current models of economic development. But green economies develop their own models. In the 1970s the great fear was that robotics and computers would unleash legions of unemployed men and women. The opposite happened. Robotics and computers redirected the economy in new and powerfully job-creating ways. Greening the economy could have the same effect. California is taking the lead in that direction. Florida ought to join in. It's the kind of race that yields only winners.