Under California's groundbreaking law addressing climate change, AB32, carbon credits will be auctioned off for the first time on Wednesday. Members of the state's faith community played an important role in pushing the legislation through and plan to celebrate. The law says if utilities and industries do not reduce their emissions, they must buy permits to continue polluting, and those funds will be used to help alleviate the worst effects of global warming.

The Rev. Sally Bingham is founder of California Interfaith Power and Light, which brings communities of faith together on climate change issues.

"AB32 is particularly important to the faith community because we believe that we are the stewards of creation. We see climate change and too much carbon dioxide in the atmosphere as very detrimental to God's creation, in that it is affecting all aspects of life."

Bingham, who is an Episcopal priest, notes that those who suffer the most from air pollution and climate change are the poor, who contributed the least to the problem.

"Now that we have the opportunity to auction off some of the credits - this is in the cap-and-trade aspect of the bill - we will see some funds being accumulated that can go back to those low-income communities."

She says the auction can improve the lives of those affected in very concrete ways, such as developing renewable energy or installing technology to clean up fossil-fuel pollution.

Rabbi Joel Simonds says his congregation, University Synagogue in Brentwood, also worked on the bill. He says the faith community's support of AB32 was an important contribution.

"We really show the broader community that there are laws and that there are bills and there are regulations that the faith community supports because we know that these laws and bills and regulations will help protect the earth that God gave us and the earth that truly is a gift for us."

The auction of pollution credits aims to reduce carbon emissions 15 percent by 2020.






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SEATTLE - Democrats in Congress are aiming to have legislation passed by the end of September that could have big implications for the climate.

Congress is debating what to include in a $3.5 trillion budget reconciliation bill. Sen. Patty Murray - D-Wash - praised the state's action to move toward 100% clean energy by 2045, but said more needs to be done to address climate change.

"We cannot ignore this," said Murray. "Washington state has taken some great steps forward, but this is going to take a national step forward on this, and we've got to be part of it."

The Senate already has passed a bipartisan, $1 trillion infrastructure bill that includes action on climate change as well. Progressive members of the House have tied the bill to the budget reconciliation measure, saying they won't agree to pass one without the other.

The reconciliation bill needs only a simple majority in the Senate to pass, but some moderate Democrats - in both House and Senate - have balked at its price tag.

One key climate action in the budget bill is the Clean Electricity Energy Program, which would create incentives for utility companies to transition to clean energy with federal investments over the next decade. Murray said she sees it as a critical part of the bill.

"We need this historic clean-energy payment program that will really move us to reducing carbon emissions," said Murray. "That's the key, essential goal we have to meet in order to change the actions of what climate is happening to us."

One analysis found the program could add nearly 8 million jobs over the next decade. Sen. Joe Manchin, a West Virginia Democrat still on the fence about the reconciliation bill, wants to slow the proposed rate at which utilities are required to make the clean-energy transition.

Nonetheless, Murray said action on climate change must happen soon.

"Every day we delay, every month we delay, every year we delay is much more expensive and hard-to-do changes we need to make to meet the urgencies of this time," said Murray.

SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- Climate activists are praising Gov. Gavin Newsom for signing a $15 billion climate action package Thursday, but argued he should go one step further, and declare an official "climate emergency" in California.

The bills will fund projects to build up wildfire resilience and combat the drought.

Heidi Harmon, former mayor of San Luis Obispo, said the state needs to think even bigger.

"People in the state of California and everywhere will not do small things for small goals, but they will do big things for big goals," Harmon asserted. "And California is a big vision state."

The package also includes money to plant more trees in cities to combat the heat island effect and improve air quality. It would also fund so-called "smart agriculture" projects, and put more zero-emission vehicles on the road. Newsom said the investment is the largest in state history.

Paul Koretz, member of the Los Angeles City Council, thinks it does not go far enough, given the immediate threats climate change poses in terms of drought, wildfires and sea-level rise.

"We need to halt the permitting of oil and gas operations," Koretz contended. "We need to phase out the sale of fossil-fuel-powered vehicles as soon as possible. Right away wouldn't be too soon."

Advocates are also calling on the state to allow more prescribed burns on Native American reservations, in order to reduce the buildup of dead trees and brush that increases the fuel load and leads to megafires.

DULUTH, Minn. - As Minnesota looks to address the impact of climate change on the region, land managers and policymakers are reminded of the role nature can play. They're being urged to use a new tool that shows the range in which forests can capture and store carbon emissions.

In recent years, The Nature Conservancy has offered an interactive online map that shows which lands are more resilient to climate change. Now, that same tool can show which areas are well-suited to absorb carbon-dioxide floating through the atmosphere.

The Climate Change Director for The Nature Conservancy in Minnesota, North Dakota and South Dakota - Meredith Cornett - said Minnesota's forests are capable of removing 487 million metric tons of C02 over the next 30 years.

"That's a number that may not mean a lot to a lot of us," said Cornett. "So we have something called a carbon dioxide - an emissions equivalency. So that is equivalent of 3.6 million cars. "

She said taking the equivalent of those gas-powered cars off the road each year can only happen if the forests remain in their current form.

The group says potential roadblocks include wildfires and forest management that doesn't prioritize ecological thinning and prescribed burning.

Minnesota's forest cover has gone from more than 30 million acres down to 17 million over the past 150 years. But the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources' State Forest Action plan notes there's been an uptick in acreage over the past decade.

Cornett applauded some of the progress in planting seedlings in forests after they've been harvested, including climate-resilient species. But she said Minnesota can't afford to slow down.

"We will need to really ramp up nursery production and wild-seed collection in order to make that possible," said Cornett.

She referred to a specific goal from the group that calls for one million acres in reforestation in Minnesota by the year 2040.

As the for the carbon tool, the Nature Conservancy says it can measure "capture potential" on lands as small as one quarter of an acre, adding that could be helpful for policymakers as they develop conservation plans.