Securing Sound Policies to Address Climate Change
The potential impacts of climate change threaten California and the West on virtually every front. Higher temperatures, sea level rise, changes in precipitation and decreased water supply will profoundly alter natural ecosystems, residential communities, agricultural systems, and already fragile economies in these places. The greenhouse gas emissions driving climate change are already degrading the health of our children. Further complicating the situation, prime locations for developing renewable sources of energy are often in or adjacent to public lands containing delicate natural ecosystems, habitat, and wildlife corridors. Thoughtful, science-based planning needs to help drive the best locations for needed renewable energy development and transitioning to a more carbon free economy.
California has led the nation in tackling climate change by passing landmark laws that reduce greenhouse gas emissions and help ensure the thoughtful, sustainable growth of its communities. Other states in the West are moving in these directions as well. These policies have the potential not only to help the communities in California and elsewhere adapt to climate change, but revive them as well by creating new industries and jobs around clean energy and other new, “green” technologies.
Resources Law Group crafts strategies that support the implementation of these policies and their potential application throughout the Western United States. We work with communications, public opinion, research, and administrative advocacy experts to help philanthropic investments drive meaningful policy development and to ensure that these new approaches revitalize the state’s economy, clean up its air, and protect the health of its children and families. In 2010, we helped safeguard California’s future by working with partners to lead a successful campaign against Proposition 23, which would have halted implementation of climate change laws.
RLG also works to ensure that the development of renewable energy on public and private lands is done responsibly, so renewable energy siting and transmission aligns with the conservation of natural resources. Focusing initially on the California desert, RLG works with a coalition of conservation groups, philanthropic entities, clean energy advocates, solar industry companies, and other key stakeholders to establish a model approach to the development of renewable energy. Additionally, RLG has engaged with policy experts to craft and implement projects that access federal stimulus funds, and an effort to promote a scientifically derived, broadly supported plan for renewable energy development.