Given Arnold Schwarzenegger's legendary achievements in bodybuilding and movies, expectations were high in his seven years as Governor. His legacy as arguably the greenest chief executive in our country's history will rival Mr. Universe titles and box office championships, not only because of what he accomplished, but also how he got things done.
On land, for example, he enlisted two shrewd legislators (Republican Tim Leslie and Democrat John Laird) to structure a bi-partisan compromise that created the 25 million acre Sierra Nevada Conservancy. In another example, knowing the state couldn't afford to buy coastal real estate, he crafted a less costly conservation easement to save 13,000 pristine acres of Hearst Ranch and over 200,000 acres of Tejon Ranch. All of these blockbusters had eluded the grasp of prior administrations for decades, but the promoter-businessman-statesman Governor Schwarzenegger found new ways to overcome old barriers.
The Governator used another strategy that had been lacking in Sacramento and Washington DC for many years to achieve other great green goals -- he applied sound science. Taking the inescapable conclusions of two national ocean health reports, one chaired by California's own Leon Panetta, he pushed for an Ocean Policy Act that created an Ocean Protection Commission and the tools to begin restoring our ocean habitats. These efforts culminated in thousands of acres of "ocean parks" that are now the nurseries for the recovery of hundreds of plant and animal species, many of which were on the brink of extinction.
But the state's 38th governor will probably best be known for making California a global leader in the fight to address climate change and air pollution. His landmark executive order in 2005 threw down the gauntlet of an 80% reduction of carbon pollution by 2050 -- the first such goal in the world -- and a process driven by sound science and economics that culminated in the passage of the Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006. He led the charge to implement those bold goals by accelerating the state's deployment of renewable energy (20% of the state's energy from renewables by 2010 and a third by 2020); creating a Hydrogen Highway for clean transportation; establishing the world's first Low Carbon Fuels Standard; and by signing laws that help communities grow without adding to the greenhouse gas burden.
As with his land and ocean conservation campaigns, Schwarzenegger again used strategies that former governors never tried. He took on his own party, for example, fighting the Bush administration in court to implement California's strict new limits on tailpipe carbon emissions, ultimately prevailing until those standards were adopted by other states and the Obama administration. In another example, when powerful special interests blocked his Million Solar Roofs Initiative in the Legislature, he worked with the CPUC to set up the program and later get it passed into law. In both examples, he understood that everything takes leadership and adjusting to inevitable setbacks -- but never giving up.
Perhaps his greatest legacy will be the fact that all of these initiatives demonstrated that the choice of environment or economy is, as he would say, simply bogus. His accomplishments proved time and again that good environmental policy creates sustainable domestic jobs and new businesses that are fueling California's economic recovery, investment, and growth.
In "Terminator", Arnold Schwarzenegger famously utters "I'll be back." The world should hope that he'll be back to keep working on these issues with the unique style of public service that is the basis of his unprecedented green legacy.
Terry Tamminen is the President of the non-profit Seventh Generation Advisors and the former Secretary of the California EPA. His latest book is "Cracking the Carbon Code: The Key to Sustainable Profits in the New Economy."
The board — made up of members appointed by former Gov. Bill Richardson — was at the center of a heated debate last year over whether New Mexico should regulate greenhouse-gas emissions. The board ultimately decided to approve two proposals — one from an environmental group that aimed to limit the emissions of the state's largest polluters and another from the state Environment Department that called for a regional cap-and-trade program."
So New Mexico bails out of an "Arnald style" cap and trade program. Too bad we didn't do the same.
So here we sit in January 2010, with our mountains buried in snow, and floods in our future. It seems that our Governor was blind to the dangers from cold stormy winters, and heavy winter snowpacks. Hopefully our Governor was spending adequate money maintaining the river levees near Sacramento. But I would not bet my life on it.
It involves the little recognized threat of solar flares and can attract wide support once understoodÂ.
See Green Light and other articles on: www.aesopiÂÂÂÂÂnstituÂtÂeÂ.ÂoÂrg for an outline of the potential problem and a few surprising ways it might be addressed.
We are at the edge of both a climate disaster and a new age of low-cost, decentraliÂÂÂÂÂÂzed energy.
If we are quick enough to accelerate radically new science and technologyÂÂÂÂÂÂ, there is still time to avoid the worst.
The technology is out-of-theÂÂÂÂÂ-box and needs independenÂÂÂÂÂt laboratory validation before it will gain acceptance by most scientistsÂÂÂÂÂ.
But, there is a possibilitÂÂÂÂÂy that cost-compeÂÂÂÂÂtitive products that provide electricitÂÂÂÂÂy will begin to enter the market in 2011.
IronicallyÂÂÂÂÂÂ, a truly adequate initiative to maximize the probabilitÂÂÂÂÂy of that prospect could provide large numbers of jobs and help revive the economy.
The difficult is sometimes done immediatelÂÂÂÂÂy. The seemingly impossible may surprise many skeptics and take just a little longer.
Work emerging from laboratoriÂÂÂÂÂes all over the planet suggests that will prove accurate.
Cost-compeÂÂÂÂÂtitive alternativÂÂÂÂÂes will be the most realistic way to end the need for carbon fuels.
Why not see that they do!
With a determined effort, future cars can become power plants when parked, selling electricitÂÂÂy to pay for themselvesÂÂÂ.
The new possibilitÂies may bring Schwarzenegger and everyone else a very much happier new year!
A consensus builder ... not so much.
While the governor travelled around combating climate change, California was producing massive emissions reacting to the symptoms of buildings being radiated by the same sun that burns us. Air conditioning is in fact refrigeration requiring huge electrical loads and tells you the building is being radiated because of a paint job or lack of shade. The radiated buildings including new development are not code compliant or energy efficient.
The governor has finished his term and California development is still being radiated, generating extreme heat and contributing to climate change. Here is an example of what a radiated building looks like. It was 10 degrees F on November 23rd, 2010 and radiated buildings were as hot as
132 degrees F without producing emissions. In summer months, the buildings are close to boiling temperature. http://www.thermoguy.com/urbanheat.html
Like his movies, don't respect his administrative ability and hope he stays out of further politics.
Yep
Let's not go for that Cheneyesque revisionist history.
As for the bodybuilding he got a benefactor in Joe Weider, in return he had to endlessley plug all of Joe Weider's products and he owned the competitions that Arnold won it was a marketing tool.
Movies-OK but they weren't that great.
this policy would fix our slumping property values, create twice as many jobs as wilderness-killing Big Solar, create a serious economic stimulus (not only will we no longer be bled dry by Big Energy but we will be GETTING CHECKS!) and will seriously and permanently reduce GHG emissions while saving water (in stark contrast to Big Solar, Big Wind, and Big Transmission), increasing energy conservation and reducing urban heat islands...
no innovation required, all he would have needed to do was spare us one of his soul-killing, self-aggrandizing "speeches" and review a quick factsheet about the insane success germany is having with their rooftop solar program, while saving ratepayers money. just 30 minutes of his time, and we would have thousands of MW/year being installed right where the power is needed - in our built environment.
• Schwarzenegger allowed the Department of Water Resources to pump record levels of water out of the Delta from 2004 to 2006, resulting in the Central Valley salmon and California Delta pelagic species collapses. The largest annual water export levels in history occurred in 2003 (6.3 million acre feet), 2004 (6.1 MAF), 2005 (6.5 MAF) and 2006 (6.3 MAF).
• He constantly attacked two federal biological opinions, released in 2009, protecting Delta smelt, Central Valley steelhead, Sacramento River chinook salmon, green sturgeon and southern resident killer whales.
• He has vetoed numerous environmental bills, including vetoing a badly needed bill sponsored by Senator Lois Wolk (D-Davis) that would provide for emergency fish rescue plans on the Delta.
• He fast-tracked a controversial Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA) Initiative filled with conflicts of interest, mission creep and corruption of the democratic process.
However, the "crown jewel" of Schwarzenegger's water policies is his campaign to build a peripheral canal/tunnel and new dams through his Delta Vision and Bay Delta Conservation Plan processes. The construction of a canal/tunnel, estimated to cost anywhere from $23 billion to $53.8 billion, is likely to lead to the extinction of Central Valley steelhead, Sacramento River chinook salmon, Delta smelt, longfin smelt, green sturgeon and other species.
I proudly pay my taxes to live here and if they need to go up to support the services only the government can provide, so be it. I want to have good infrastructure, the security of knowing that the police and firefighters will be there if I need them, I appreciate that the roads get fixed, my garbage gets picked up, and all the other benefits that are returned to me for my investment. I also think teachers should be paid well enough to attract the best and brightest to our state and there should be enough to go around, if I have to pay a little more for that, it's worth it.
Could things be better and more efficient, certainly, but there a lot of great things about living in the country of Cal.
With the election of Jerry Brown, it is only going to get worse. The sooner California goes bankrupt, the better for the citizens.
I hope you are paying what you feel your property tax should be to the state, they could use it. Or I bet you are giving it to agencies that alleviate the imbalance you cite? Or are you like the self-righteous billionaires that say they are not taxed enough and then pocket that money? I suspect the latter.