Gov. Brown's new climate change agenda: Count me in!

Last week, Gov. Jerry Brown kicked off the new term by announcing an ambitious plan to combat climate change in California:

• Increase from one-third to 50 percent our electricity derived from renewable sources;
• Reduce today's petroleum use in cars and trucks by up to 50 percent;
• Double the efficiency of existing buildings and make heating fuels cleaner.

Here at CLCV, we've been front-and-center for every statewide environmental proposal (large or small) since 1972. In other words, we've been at this long enough to know the difference between a promise and a pander. Yet critics are already saying that the goals are too ambitious, unrealistic, and destined to fail.

We believe the critics are wrong. Gov. Brown's climate change agenda – though aggressive – is very much achievable. It's just a question of political willpower. In short, here's what we have to say about the new plan: "Count us in."

In the end, it's going to come down to the California State Legislature, and every lawmaker who feels pressure from oil and polluting interests will try to claim that voters in their districts don't care about climate change.

Contact your elected officials in the state legislature right now, and make sure they hear from you about Gov. Brown's bold new plan to combat climate change:

http://ecovote.org/CountMeIn »

To quote Gov. Brown:

“Taking significant amounts of carbon out of our economy without harming its vibrancy is exactly the sort of challenge at which California excels. This is exciting, it is bold and it is absolutely necessary if we are to have any chance of stopping potentially catastrophic changes to our climate system… California, as it does in many areas, must show the way. We must demonstrate that reducing carbon is compatible with an abundant economy and human well-being. So far, we have been able to do that.”

As the governor points out, we in California are well on our way to meeting our goal, outlined in our 2006 Global Warming Solutions Act (AB 32), of reducing carbon pollution and limiting the emissions of heat-trapping gases to 431 million tons by the year 2020.

The new plan isn't too ambitious. It's the next logical step, and you can count me in.