There are more problems for the united front to support the settled science and solid consensus of global warming.
The Western Climate Initiative is an agreement between California, Montana, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah and Washington and the Canadian provinces of British Columbia, Manitoba, Ontario and Quebec to develop a regional target for reducing greenhouse gas emissions and develop their own system of cap and trade. The WCI was established in February 2007 and grew out of efforts in the western states to establish such a compact that date back to 2003. With the economic might of California as the anchor for this initiative, there was a view that these eleven jurisdictions could force a cap and trade system on the rest of the nation.
In establishing the WCI, then Arizona Governor Janet Napolitano said, “In the absence of meaningful federal action, it is up to the states to take action to address climate change and reduce greenhouse gas emissions in this country.”
This month, Arizona Governor Jan Brewer announced that her state would no longer participate in the WCI saying "Right now, given the economic downturn, given the complexity of the cap-and-trade scheme being developed, we're not going to be supportive of it."
Other jurisdictions are also going wobbly on the work of the WCI and showing less energy in moving forward. The WCI may fall apart or it may just become impotent, but the wind is out of the sail for a regional cap and trade.
What should the global warming community do? They need to shout even louder that the science is settled and the consensus is solid. They need to keep ignoring Climategate, and glaciergate, and the admissions of Phil Jones. They need more of that symbolic stuff like a big world-wide rock concert or turning off all the lights for an hour. That ought to do the trick.
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Great article. One way to reduce excessive gas emissions would be to shut up the politicians. This is a step in the right direction. :D
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