Climate Neutral Bonding: Building Global Warming Solutions at the State And Local Level

According to an August 2005 Harris Poll 74 percent of people agreed that, "Protecting the environment is so important that requirements and standards cannot be too high, and continuing environmental improvements must be made regardless of cost." A September 2005 ABC News/Washington Post Poll found that 41 percent of Americans believe that global warming requires immediate government action; an additional 47 percent thought longer term action is necessary. In 2004, a nationwide poll by the Global Strategy Group found that 70 percent of Americans consider global warming a "very serious" or "somewhat serious" problem.

Individuals can take responsibility in a number of ways.

• As consumers we can make smart purchases: buying energy efficient appliances and furnaces, installing ground source heat pumps, buying fuel-efficient vehicles or green electricity.
• As citizens we can advocate in our legislative and regulatory arenas for policies that maximize efficiency and the use of renewable resources.
• As taxpayers we can demand that the government use our money efficiently, a demand that can often be met by minimizing its energy expenditures.

This memo proposes a strategy that can begin to allow us, as citizens and taxpayers, to make concrete our desire to live lightly on the earth. That strategy is to convince all tax exempt bond issuing agencies at the state and community level to adopt a climate neutral bonding policy.