international carbon action partnership

Wow. This is possibly the coolest action I've ever seen on climate change: the International Carbon Action Partnership. I'll freely admit the truth: I think this is so cool, not because it's an international cap-and-trade--it's not--or because it's a solution to climate change--it's not that either. I think it's so cool because states and regional governments are bypassing the U.S. federal government to sign agreements with other nations. Take a look at the list of members: countries from the EU, states from the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, and states from the Western Climate Initiative. I get a kick out of seing Arizona, Maine, and New Mexico being listed parallel to France, Germany, and Ireland. Not only--or even mostly--about what that says about at least parts of the U.S. being willing to take action on this issue, but because of what it says about the localization of efforts on this issue. And that, I believe, really is the key to solving this: local efforts being coordinated at a global scale.

And, of course, it inspires me on the possibilities for the future of the U.S. Could secession be hiding somewhere in the wings? It might depend on the next president. But why can't the southeast be a leader on this? Guess we don't mind global warming here in Atlanta--we like it hot.