Staff | Santa Monica Daily Press

As a community, we are often guided by the maxim that we should think globally and act locally. In the fight against global climate change, that has certainly been true.

Santa Monica has been a leader in this fight. As a city, we have been striving for a 15 percent reduction of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions — the primary cause of global climate change – by 2015 compared to 1990 levels.

We’ll find out later this year if we’ve hit the target, but it’s clear that, even if we have, the harder work lies ahead.

Gov. Jerry Brown’s latest executive order, calling for a statewide reduction of GHG emissions to 40 percent of 1990 levels by 2030, only drives home the urgency for action now.

Brown’s order was meant to get us to the ambitious goal of a statewide 80 percent reduction in GHG emissions compared to 1990 levels by 2050. That’s the goal mandated by State Senator Fran Pavley’s 2006 Global Warming Solutions Bill (AB 32).

To get there, we will need a full toolkit. The single largest source of GHG emissions in our city — and the state — is transportation. More than a third of GHG emissions comes from personal vehicle travel. Read more