Partners: The Joyce Foundation Bowdoin College

As part of the effort on PPI's State Environmental Innovation Project, this State Environment Exchange will serve as an online "clearinghouse" on state and local efforts to promote clean energy and to successfully tackle pollutants implicated in climate change.

The problem of global warming is one of enormous scope, and will ultimately require national and international solutions. Actions to reduce carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases implicated in global warming must start now to avert the potentially large disruptions to both the planted and the world's economy. While Washington decides what to do, states and cities can play a crucial role in reducing emissions, serving as laboratories to test new ideas to combat global warming. The project here will highlight and identify those ideas that are best suited for particular regions of the nation to provide state and local policymakers with the tools to launch their own programs.

Publications:

PPI's Environmental Policy Playbook

Model Initiatives:

• Rebuilding America's First Suburbs -- Revitalizing mature, developed communities and raising awareness of the problems associated with urban sprawl and disinvestment.
• Making Green Waves -- Using public pension funds to prod companies to acknowledge the costs of climate change and to invest in cleaner technology.
• A Blueprint for Greener Buildings -- "Green building" movement to construct offices and homes that use less energy, less water, and more environmentally-friendly materials.
• Water Quality Trading -- Harnessing market forces to protect and improve water quality.
• Charting a "Soft Path" to Cleaner Water -- Using alternatives to large water-infrastructure projects to improve water quality and cut costs.
• "Hook and Bullet" Wetland Protection -- Rallying the angling, hunting, and outdoor-enthusiast communities to support federal clean water protections.
• Trimming State Energy Use -- Using energy-wise programs to save taxpayer dollars, protect the environment, and conserve water.
• Carbon Cash Crop II -- Encouraging farming, forestry, and other land-management and natural resources practices that offset greenhouse gas emissions.
• Driving Down Carbon Dioxide -- Using "smart growth" to combat climate change.
• Regional Climate Change Actions -- Regional coordination to better address the challenge of climate change.
• Growing Greener Gardens --"Xeriscape" landscaping to reduce water use and polluted run-off, and enhance property values.
• Watershed Councils -- Giving citizens the opportunity and responsibility to improve water quality and restore aquatic species in their communities.
• State and Local Governments and Climate Change -- Taking the local lead to stem global climate change.
• State Greenhouse Gas Registries -- Reporting greenhouse gas emissions as a way to promote reductions.
• Farming Wind -- Using state programs to illustrate the combined potential for clean energy and economic development.
• Building Clean Cars -- Working in partnership with the private sector to develop technology for clean vehicle.
• Carbon Cash Crop -- Encouraging farmers to adopt practices that offset greenhouse gas emissions.
• Trading in Carbon Futures -- Working in partnership with the private sector, nonprofits, and cities to develop a greenhouse gas trading system.

Newsletters:

Sign up today for PPI's State Environment Exchange monthly newsletter. (Be sure to check the box next to Environment.)

PAST ISSUES:

E-newsletter | December 2, 2004
Clean Coal
It remains to be seen how many of the 100 new coal-fired power plants we'll need in the next 20 years will be built with IGCC or other clean-coal technology. But the early signs look bright.

E-newsletter | November 4, 2004
Ranching's "Radical Center"
Ranchers, environmentalists, public land managers, and scientists are putting aside old divisions and staking out a "radical center" aimed at promoting better land stewardship through greater collaboration.

E-newsletter | October 7, 2004
Giving Hybrid Vehicles a Break
Officials in Califonia, and across the country, have started to reward drivers of hybrid cars by allowing them to use restricted HOV lanes.

E-newsletter | September 9, 2004
Powering Oil Independence on Peanuts
A number of factors have combined to create a whirlwind of public policy and commercial activity aimed at advancing biodiesel fuel in the United States.

E-newsletter | July 1, 2004
Using Markets to Protect Land and Property Rights
Rather than rely on first generation "regulatory" approaches to manage development, states and cities are increasingly finding success with more flexible second generation tools, such as Transferable Development Rights programs.

E-newsletter | June 3, 2004
Charting a "Soft Path" to Cleaner Water
Some of the most promising new approaches to water resource management rely not on centralized "big infrastructure," but instead on decentralized tools that use the environment's natural ability to process and treat polluted water right where it's produced.

E-newsletter | May 6, 2004
Rebuilding America's First Suburbs
Groups like the Northeast Ohio First Suburbs Consortium (FSC) are working on new ways to rebuild the nation's "first suburbs" and assist the working families who live in them.

E-newsletter | April 1, 2004
"Hook and Bullet" Wetland Protection
Rallying the angling, hunting, and outdoor-enthusiast communities to support federal clean water protections.

E-newsletter | March 4, 2004
Making Green Waves
Launched in February, California Treasurer Phil Angelides' Green Wave initiative will push for a cleaner environment while bolstering financial returns to California retirees.

E-newsletter | February 5, 2004
"Green" Buildings
As the name implies, green buildings use power and other natural resources far more efficiently and generate less pollution than buildings simply constructed to code.

E-newsletter | December 10, 2003
Fighting Climate Change Through the "Back Door"

E-newsletter | November 6, 2003
Think Globally, Act Locally

E-newsletter | October 15, 2003
Setting the Stage for Mandatory Carbon Dioxide Caps

Local Partners:

• Minnesotans for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ME3)
  www.me3.org