Global warming: hot economic news for California

A report released last month by the California Climate Change Center at UC Berkeley says that global warming presents California with valuable business opportunities. "Managing Greenhouse Gas Emissions in California" says that "climate action in California can yield net gains for the state economy, increasing growth and creating jobs." In more simple terms, that spells ECONOMIC BENEFIT. If California is smart, our state could easily become "a leader in the new technologies and industries that will come into existence worldwide due to the common goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions."

Last June, Governor Schwarzenegger created a Climate Action Team and signed an executive order setting new greenhouse gas emissions targets. In reading the California Climate Change Center's recent report, the LA Times wrote "The state's ambitious plan to cut greenhouse gas emissions could create tens of thousands of new jobs and dramatically boost the economy in coming years."

Organizations that aren't happy about the Gov's action plan have given themselves the trickster name Sustainable Environment and Economy in California. They include the California Farm Bureau Federation, Western Growers, the California Nevada Cement Promotional Council, the Western States Petroleum Assn., the Rubber Manufacturers Assn. and the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers. Hmm, those last three sound a lot like the groups that managed to kill the Red Car. Why are these companies spending time to fight good solutions to a real problem? Shouldn't Chevron be retooling their business model instead of buying ads on Google on the search results page for "global warming"?

Photo by Johannes Henseler via Flickr