California Governor Schwarzenegger's Climate...

California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger will reprise the tradition he started last year and host the second annual â€œGovernors' Global Climate Summit 2â€ in Los Angeles from September 30 to October 3, 2009. This year he will boast some representatives from the current Administration in Washington, DC. The summit is being held in partnership with the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP).

Obama EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson and White House Council on Environmental Quality Chairwoman Nancy Sutley are expected to attend. Jackson will be keynote speaker. Joining them are expected to be UNICEF Executive Director Ann Veneman, UN Assistant Secretary-General Olav KjÃ¸rven, journalist and author Thomas Friedman (Hot, Flat and Crowded), and former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair.

Billed as "On the Road to Copenhagen," in reference to the upcoming COP meeting in December, this second annual summit is being co-hosted by Wisconsin Gov. Jim Doyle (D), Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm (D), New York Gov. David Paterson (D), Governor Chris Gregoire of Washington (D) and Connecticut Gov. M. Jodi Rell (R). Doyle also co-hosted last year's event, but the others are new as the other 2008 sponsors have moved on (Florida's Governor Crist to a run for a Senate seat, Kansas Governor Sebelius to Secretary of Health and Human Services, and Illinois Governor Blagojevich to talk radio [and perhaps jail])

The summit in part aims to gain UN recognition for so-called â€œsub-nationalâ€ agreements between states and developing countries meant to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Featured discussions and announcements at the summit are expected to include: reaching a new global deal in Copenhagen; the essential role of progressive states and provinces; urban area contributions and solutions to climate change; forestry solutions and recommendations to negotiators in Copenhagen; global strategies to address the inevitable impacts of climate change; and climate leadership in driving technological innovation and economic growth.

Comments: 24

Vivian P. Sep 11, 2009, 4:03pm UTC

I admire Arnold for his dedication to the cause

David K. Sep 11, 2009, 4:52pm UTC

He's a bit of an odd man out in his party with respect to his interest in the environment. Must be the wife's influence. :)

Rude D. Sep 11, 2009, 7:56pm UTC

I was in L A last year, something MUST be done, quick!!!!!!!

Why they let it get so bad? Surely the repukes aren't that powerful, are they?

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Charles T. Sep 11, 2009, 4:08pm UTC

Be nice if he dedicated himself to extracting California from the economic morass it's in first.

JOHN BECK Sep 11, 2009, 4:14pm UTC

He's not?

Charles T. Sep 11, 2009, 4:18pm UTC

No.

David K. Sep 11, 2009, 4:24pm UTC

I think he's multitasking. Cyborgs can do that you know.

Charles T. Sep 11, 2009, 4:27pm UTC

LOL, I'd forgotten that. You're likely right.

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Len Maxwell Sep 11, 2009, 4:24pm UTC

From what I understand he's too busy trying to find a way to become a senator to bother with running the state.

David K. Sep 11, 2009, 4:35pm UTC

I was unaware he was interested in becoming a Senator.

Len Maxwell Sep 11, 2009, 5:02pm UTC

Have no idea. The press has been tossing that idea around for the past month or so.

David K. Sep 11, 2009, 6:01pm UTC

Actually, they've been tossing it around for 3 years, and he keeps telling them he isn't interested. But then, that's what the press does.

Len Maxwell Sep 11, 2009, 6:06pm UTC

And politicians.

David K. Sep 11, 2009, 6:12pm UTC

Good point.

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Steve B. Sep 11, 2009, 4:56pm UTC

Schwarzenegger has been a leader on this issue - rare among republicans. FL Gov. Crist is another (at least he has been in the past). I don't know what future there is for the Governator in the republican party.

David K. Sep 11, 2009, 6:04pm UTC

That's a good question. He'll eventually run out the lease on the Governor's mansion, and if not Congress (he would definitely not do the House, would go straight to the Senate), what else is there? President is out without a Constitutional amendment, and I don't see that happening.

Maybe he'll go back to movies.

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Robert S. Sep 11, 2009, 5:28pm UTC

There are a few in the Republican party who have not crumbled under the tide of the Republican "base". They are a throw back to pre-Nixon Republicans who where fiscal conservatives rather than social conservatives. I mostly voted Republican than and would do so again if the party reruned to their pre-Nixon values.

Good for Arnold, Crist and anyone of their ilk in the Republican party. If the party is going to survive on a National basis they need to return to those pre-Nixon values.

David K. Sep 11, 2009, 6:05pm UTC

Well, Crist is probably a shoo-in to get elected Senator next year (barring any "hiking the Adirondack Trail" revelations). From what I hear he would be a good one.

Steve B. Sep 11, 2009, 6:26pm UTC

Crist disappointed me, when he sang with the "drill, baby, drill" chorus in the McCain campaign. He reversed his former position on drilling the continental shelf off his state.

Apparently, though, Governor Crist remains a strong proponent of action to address climate change.

http://healthygulf.org/blog/2009/03/florida-governor-crist-supported-on.html

Robert S. Sep 11, 2009, 7:08pm UTC

"Drill baby drill" wasn't one of his finer moments but compared to the majority of the GOP herd he is an enlightened being.

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Ed Da Head Toker Sep 11, 2009, 11:36pm UTC

The GOP has gone too far right.
This is not the party of Lincoln, Goldwater and Gerald Ford. Fiscal conservatives were not hard hearted bastards like what the far right of the GOP is today.

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Chris Wiegard Sep 12, 2009, 1:26pm UTC

I realize that this is Gather, and that climate change is Imaginary in this space time continuum*, but it is nice to see ONE republican take it seriously. Actually come to think of it McCain thought climate change was real until he ran for President. Has he gone back to believing it again?

*yes I am kidding

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Chris Wiegard Sep 14, 2009, 5:00pm UTC

I have a way of terminating discussion, what's up with that?

David K. Sep 15, 2009, 2:30pm UTC

LOL Chris. Must be the icon (though I happen to like it).

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California Governor Schwarzenegger's Climate Summit Bags Some White House Staff

Comments: 24

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