E3G

Florida steps forward on Climate Change

By Chris Littlecott

Following in the footsteps of California, Florida is the latest state in the USA to push forward with efforts to respond to climate change.

Governor Charlie Crist held a two-day conference last week to explore how Florida can take a lead in reducing emissions and securing its future in the face of sea level rises.

In attendance at the conference was E3G Founding Director John Ashton in his role as Special Representative for Climate Change of the UK Foreign Office. Both the UK and Germany signed cooperation agreements with Florida as a signal of the desire to find workable solutions.

The conference featured prominently in the national and state-level media in the USA.

The Palm Beach Post focussed on the UK-Florida agreement, quoting John Ashton as saying:

It’s a way of expressing the commitment I spoke about...It shows that we stand beside Florida. It’s an expression of a political commitment that you can interpret as: We applaud the level of ambition the governor has stated.”

The St Petersburg Times took a similar line, including John’s views on the benefits of working with individual states:

We are very open to talking to anyone who wants to be part of the fight against global warming… quite a lot of the big things that happen in America seem to be things that are driven by state action.”

The Herald Tribune in turn looked at the lack of Federal support for the Florida conference:

I wasn’t particularly surprised” to see no federal government representatives, said John Ashton ... “What I see is an awful lot of energy from Florida itself, and that’s what I’m here to support.”

In the national media, the Washington Post included a photo of John Ashton in its article, which also quoted him as saying

In the end, what the United States does collectively is going to be a very powerful shaping force in the global effort

This last quote was expanded in the Miami Herald, which continued:

We welcome the acceleration of that dynamic and this event is part of it.”