Most of us know that when it comes to taking action to stop global warming, the Bush Administration has failed the American people. The Administration, misled by the oil industry and utility companies, has publicly questioned the science of global warming, dismissed the current impacts, and rejected the solutions - including the Kyoto Protocol, the only international treaty that limits greenhouse gas pollution. Despite the lack of action on the federal level, states and local governments are taking action to reduce greenhouse gas pollution and promote renewable energy solutions.

State actions

Seven U.S. states have imposed mandatory limits on carbon dioxide pollution, including policies directed at electric sector emissions, mobile sources, and statewide targets. Maine and Connecticut have implemented statewide greenhouse gas reduction goals. California has passed legislation that will limit carbon dioxide pollution from automobiles. And New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Oregon and Washington have moved to limit carbon dioxide pollution from power plants.

Legal actions

Over the last several years, environmental and other activist groups, cities, attorneys general, and affected citizens have begun to use the courts to reduce global warming pollution. Greenpeace is involved in two - the first charging the Export-Import Bank and the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) with funding international fossil fuel projects that cause global warming impacts in the U.S., and a second charging that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has a duty to regulate greenhouse gas emissions from motor vehicles.

Additionally, many East Coast attorneys general have banded together and sued the five largest U.S. power companies, and the Inuit Circumpolar Conference is charging the US with human rights violations for its failure to ratify Kyoto, claiming that global warming threatens their very existence.

Local Actions

Throughout the U.S. there are hundreds of initiatives on the community level. In California, 48 municipalities and counties are pursuing "community choice aggregation," where residents and businesses are choosing to finance a network of renewable energy and energy conservation projects.

San Diego has committed to generate a substantial portion of their electricity needs from solar power, and Austin is set to get 20 percent of its electricity from renewable sources by 2020. Over 150 cities currently participate in the International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives, Cities for Climate Protection campaign. In a similar vein, the mayor of Seattle recently announced plans to get 140 cities to "ratify" the Kyoto Protocol.