[sustran] Schwarzenegger combats global warming...?

[Eric Britton]

>> Who would have thought... See article below, an article about the
man-o-steel's statement concerning global warming reduction for California.
Best regards, Carlos F. Pardo<<

 

Dear Friends of Sustainability World-Wide, 

 

No. Not surprising really.

 

The evidence suggest that there are at least four basic underlying things
that we need to understand for this apparently unexpected event not only to
make perfect sense but also to see it as a source of  powerful lessons for
all of us around the world who wish to make some of these fundamental
changes in our transportation/environment arrangements:

 

*         First, that California, as the most and earliest automobilized of
all the States, has for some fifteen years now been a leader in both
thinking and innovation in the environmental field.  (That is not to imply
that this has been a straight line. . . To the contrary, there are lots of
things going on in terms of policy, practice and funding which work in
exactly the opposite direction.  But all that said California has now a long
history of taking leadership positions in both matters of transportation and
energy.)



*         Second, Schwarzenegger is a political opportunist, and if this
will get him visibility and votes -and it sure will - then what's the big
surprise?



*         Third, when it comes to pattern breaks, including those in favor
of the environment and well-being of our communities and our children, the
old right/left political divisions and affiliations are meaningless. To the
contrary just as the traditional left has been weak and often betrayed the
key precepts and concepts when they finally get into office, the right from
time to time merges to come up with happy surprises such as this.  (I call
this the "Nixon in China" syndrome).



*         And finally, the governator has a smart and not-timid wife with
many of the right reactions and positions on this.  This last is not
entirely a one time shot. By this I mean that families, wives and children,
can often be a means for accomplishing otherwise unexpected breakthroughs.
Which is one of the reasons that in our work we give so much attention to
children as a source of information and inspiration (see our still a bit
nascent Children on the Move! at http://www.ecoplan.org/children/) 

 

Lesson: To realize our ambitious objectives we must be prepared to go out of
the box. Again and again and again.

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