This week's topic must be crossing borders. Yesterday, we introduced the Apollo Alliance, which has the potential to span green collars and green suits, and maybe more. Let's consider another kind of transition today.
Founded in February 2007, the
Western Climate Initiative provides an informational, climate-focused public-interest resource to the Canadian provinces of British Columbia and Manitoba, and to the American states of Arizona, California, Montana, New Mexico, Utah, and Washington. It's not quite Cascadia and certainly not Ecotopia, but certainly a worthwhile effort that tries to maintain a West Coast focus with supralocal collaboration. The states and provinces I just mentioned are considered partners; observers include even more entities, including Mexican states.
What does this organization actually do? The presentation on the Initiative's Web site may seem a little abstract, and it does not include anything like an "about us" section. The homepage offers a brief overview:
"The Western Climate Initiative is a collaboration which was launched in February 2007 by the Governors of Arizona, California, New Mexico, Oregon and Washington to develop regional strategies to address climate change. WCI is identifying, evaluating and implementing collective and cooperative ways to reduce greenhouse gases in the region. In the spring of 2007, the Governor of Utah and the Premiers of British Columbia and Manitoba joined the Initiative. Montana joined in January, 2008. Other US and Mexican states and Canadian provinces have joined as observers."
Current activities include:
"Through WCI, the Partners set an overall regional goal in August 2007 for reducing greenhouse gas emissions (see the GHG Reduction Goal Statement). By August 2008 the Partners will also complete the design of a market-based mechanism to help achieve that reduction goal. The partners developed a Workplan to guide their work and are seeking public input throughout the process."
Maybe the easiest and most worthwhile point of entry for some of us nongovernmental types is the public involvement page.
You can sign up for news (they use the old-fashioned term "list serve," but I assume that's what they intend) and submit comments. The same page also offers public-event listings (meetings, teleconferences, workshops, and recordings from past programs).
Most fascinating and informative is the record of discussions of the Western Climate Initiative's work plan. The organization posts comments from a wide spread of entities and businesses, including ConocoPhillips and the Natural Resources Defense Council. Intriguingly, comments from individuals also find a forum here and on the draft recommendation and options comments pages. The Initiative's presentation may be a little clunky ("click here!" like it was 1994, and the multitude of typos is unfortunate), but that capability is excellent. Let's hope that engaged, smart people and organizations start chiming in here to make the effort more relevant and public.
There's much more interesting material to find here, so please be patient and spend a little time learning and reflecting. Submit a comment and see if and when it appears. Join a (toll-free) conference call. You'll be heard only if you talk.
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