It’s just a coincidence that as another hurricane turbocharged by unusually warm waters slams into the East Coast, California Governor Jerry Brown is convening a global summit on fighting climate change on the West Coast. But it’s still revealing.
On climate, Brown, a former Jesuit seminarian, has become America’s most insistent apostle for action, the antithesis to President Donald Trump. While Trump is systematically dismantling any federal response to the challenge, Brown’s California is pushing the envelope on what a single state can do to combat what he recently called “the existential threat of climate change.” That threat is growing more tangible seemingly by the week, measured in risks from record wildfires and hurricanes, like the approaching Florence, that draw more destructive power from ocean waters warming as the climate shifts.
Climate change is going to revolutionize politics in cities across the world.
Brown, now 80 years old, has been innovating on climate, energy, and the environment for a very long time. During his first term as California governor, back in the mid-1970s, he faced pressure to approve a new nuclear power plant to close a projected gap between the state’s electricity demand and supply. On the advice of Art Rosenfeld, a brilliant particle physicist serving on the state’s then-new energy commission, Brown instead imposed the nation’s first energy-efficiency standards for refrigerators and freezers (followed quickly by rules for air conditioners). That reduced projected demand enough that Brown didn’t need to authorize the nuclear plant.