December 13, 2009 | 5:48 PM | By

Schwarzenegger to Rally Subnationals

FILED UNDER: Government & Business, Power, adaptation, COP 15, Copenhagen, Economics, Emissions, International, Policy, Schwarzenegger, Technology

Meanwhile Rob Schmitz, our reporter in Copenhagen, sets the scene with a look at how the state’s anchor climate legislation is playing here at home, three years after its passage. That report airs Monday morning on The California Report.

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is expected to arrive in Copenhagen on Monday, ready to rally the world’s “subnationals” in the fight against global warming. This is the first time that UN climate talks have created a formal role for states, provinces, cities and the like, and California’s governor will be loaded for bear.

In the weeks leading up to Copenhagen, the Governor turned up the heat on climate rhetoric, with a series of related media events. On Treasure Island, a low-lying man-made rectangle on San Francisco Bay that he said “could be under water” by the end of the century, Schwarzenegger unveiled the state’s climate adaptation strategy with a video tour of California’s climate vulnerabilities, powered by graphics from Google Earth (if you just want the gist, there’s a shorter version available).

The Governor also seized the occasion to preview his trip to Copenhagen, saying we “can’t wait” for national and multi-national efforts to save us from the potentially catastrophic effects of climate change; that “subnational” actors like California–perhaps led by California–should stay focused on their own efforts to both reduce greenhouse gas emissions and prepare for the changes already on the way. The Governor’s speech to COP 15 delegates on Tuesday will be a chance to do some crowing about California’s climate leadership, on an international stage, before a media gallery that’s been estimated at somewhere between 3,500 and 5,000 members.

About the author

KQED Science Editor, specializing in weather, climate, water & energy issues. Formerly senior editor of Climate Watch. View all posts by Craig Miller →

  • http://ncwatch.typepad.com/ Russell Steele

    According to a Times on Line post the key decision on preventing catastrophic global warming is being kicked down the road to 2015 or no later than 2016.

    –The key decision on preventing catastrophic climate change will be delayed for up to six years if the Copenhagen summit delivers a compromise deal which ignores advice from the UN’s science body.

    World leaders will not agree on the emissions cuts recommended by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and are likely instead to commit to reviewing them in 2015 or 2016.

    The delay will anger developing countries who, scientists say, will face the worst effects of climate change despite having contributed relatively little of the man-made greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.

    A draft text published by the UN says that there should be a review in 2016, which could result in an “update of the long-term global goal for emissions reductions as well as of the adequacy of commitments and actions”.–

    This is good news of it holds. By 2015 we should know if we are truly in a Grand Minimum and experiencing extended periods of crop killing cold.

  • Dixon Cruickshank

    You guys in CA just can’t wait to be the first off the cliff. In 5 yrs the science community will be switched back to fighting off the next coming ice age that needs desparete funding since globel warming turned around so fast – this science is settled remember so no need for funding here.
    160 yrs ago weren’t you guys the poster boy for the cliche – Snake Oil Salesman, hard to break old habits I guess