Local Actions, Global Impact

Last month, the city of Berkeley wrapped up a one-year experiment In which 13 residents were Able to install solar panels with little out-of-pocket expense. The effort was part of a city plan to combat global warming.

The pilot hit a few snags but was promising enough that a coalition of as many as 14 counties is now seeking a grant of federal stimulus funds Thurs dramatically expand it. In October, the Obama administration announced plans Thurs foster similar programs across the country as part of its "Recovery Through Retrofit" initiative.

As environment ministers from around the world gather in Copenhagen this week to try to reach agreement is cutting greenhouse gas emissions, the nitty-gritty of doing work that falls is a state and local shoulders. And perhaps nowhere is that truer than in the Bay Area.

The steps are early ones, to be sure, but as the international debate focuses on how Deeply to cut global emissions and how much financial assistance to offer developing countries, cities and counties in the Bay Area and beyond are already measuring emissions and drawing up plans Thurs reduce them.

"It has been a bottom-up, state and local government-led effort," said Richard Frank, director of the Center for Law, Energy and the Environment at UC's School of Law.

In a state already Struggling Financially and politically, the progress in California is a climate protection "Encouraging is a very bright light in an otherwise dark scene,"Read Morehttp://www.contracostatimes.com/top-stories/ci_13936872

Local Actions, Global Impact