Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Dedication
- Contents
- List of boxes
- List of figures
- List of tables
- List of maps
- Preface
- Acknowledgments
- Permissions
- Introduction: a chronological overview
- Part I Issues
- Part II Domestic economics and politics
- Chapter 2 Business: part of the problem and part of the solution
- Chapter 3 Public perceptions and preferences
- Chapter 4 State and local governments – and the courts – in a federal system
- Part III National government policies
- Part IV The future
- References
- Index
Chapter 4 - State and local governments – and the courts – in a federal system
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 October 2014
- Frontmatter
- Dedication
- Contents
- List of boxes
- List of figures
- List of tables
- List of maps
- Preface
- Acknowledgments
- Permissions
- Introduction: a chronological overview
- Part I Issues
- Part II Domestic economics and politics
- Chapter 2 Business: part of the problem and part of the solution
- Chapter 3 Public perceptions and preferences
- Chapter 4 State and local governments – and the courts – in a federal system
- Part III National government policies
- Part IV The future
- References
- Index
Summary
The science is there. It’s time to stop debating it and to start dealing with it.
New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg (2007)I don’t accept the premise that man is the cause of global warming, if global warming even exists.
Candidate for Governor of Illinois, Kirk Dillard (2009)There are people who…don’t believe there is such a thing as global warming. They’re still living in the Stone Age….
California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger (2009)Because the United States is a federal political system, many local and state governments have been able to take their own initiatives on climate change issues, while others have of course lagged behind. When Congress failed to pass a national cap-and-trade bill in 2010, the climate-related activities of state and local governments took on renewed significance, and their potential for collectively making important contributions to reductions of greenhouse gas emissions became more widely recognized. California receives special attention in the chapter, because it is not only the biggest state in population and economic terms, but also one of the most advanced in responding to climate change issues. Throughout the chapter, the context is a federal political system, in which sub-national governmental entities have much leeway, but in which at the same time there are constant conflicts about who can do what. (On federalism, see Goulder and Stavins (2011); Derthick (2010); and Litz (2008) about climate change issues; more generally, on issues in federal systems, see Rodden (2008).)
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- The United States in a Warming WorldThe Political Economy of Government, Business, and Public Responses to Climate Change, pp. 117 - 146Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2014