San Diegans had a unique opportunity at the University of San Diego’s Kroc Center to see and communicate in a real time by videocast with Governor Schwarzenegger’s climate team in Copenhagen. The team consisted of Linda Adams, secretary for Environmental Protection; Mike Chrisman, Secretary of Natural Resources; A. G. Kawamura, Secretary of Food and Agriculture; and Mary Nichols, Chair of the California Air Resources Board. Sponsored by the Procopio law firm, the local forum was chaired by Procopio partner John Lorman and hosted by the USD Center for Energy and Climate Center and its Director, Scott Anders. The Copenhagen panel was chaired by San Diegan Carl Nettleton of OpenOceans Global. John Lorman fed local audience questions to the panel.
Indicating that 80 percent of greenhouse gases originate within local jurisdictions, Schwarzenegger’s called for state and local governmental initiatives within countries to combat climate change. His climate team developed contacts and initiated several partnerships with “sub-national” representatives in Copenhagen. California, for example, will be partnering with forestry officials in Brazil and Mexico to take stronger measures to prevent deforestation, now accounting for 20 percent of greenhouse gases.
At the conclusion of the videocast, a question and answer period was held with the Director of the Scripps Institution for Oceanography, Dr. Tony Haymet, and San Diego Mayor Jerry Sanders. Dr. Haymet described Scripps’ significant role is climate monitoring and it special expertise in verification technology to assess the progress of countries toward reaching emission reduction targets. Sanders described the city’s leadership role in forging partnerships to grow San Diego’s clean tech industry to the level of prominence of its biotech and wireless industries.