putting the dollars in

First of all, I guess it's fair to say I won't be posting as often while I'm down here in Juneau covering the legislative session. And down here in Juneau while the state's biggest environmental conference is happening in Anchorage...
That said, there's fairly big news from the Gov's office these days. I've heard some grumblings from enviro folks that Palin's approach to dealing with climate change has been lots of talk and not so much action. Now that's a little harder to say. In a supplemental budget request for the current fiscal year, she's asking for $230,000 for her sub-cabinet on climate change and $1.1 million for planning grants for communities with immediate needs. It won't move villages, but it's a start.
Here's the story I wrote for today's News-Miner.
As a follow up, the state is formally proposing to go with the non-profit Center for Climate Strategies to develop a response plan. The state would chip in $180,000 (from the $230,000), and CCS would be responsible for raising the rest of the needed money (close to $1 million) from private charities.
CCS made its pitch to Palin's sub-cabinet last November. The group has done climate-related work in more than two dozen states, and has helped a number of them develop plans to reduce emissions in the most cost-effective manner (they argue many of the changes actually save money). Alaska would be somewhat different because it's already experiencing dramatic impacts from climate change. CCS is proposing one stakeholder process to work on mitigation measures -- emissions reductions -- and another to deal with adaptation. Here's what I wrote back then.