Introduction
This study is going to take place in the American state of California. California comprises of fifty eight counties sprawling along the eastern coastline. Covering such a huge geographical location, California does boast of unparalleled diversity in all fronts. Its topography, geography, and climate are diverse, covering coastal zones, plateaus, mountains, valleys, and deserts. It has temperate temperatures along the coast and increasingly high temperatures inlands. This distinctive ecological setting supports a rich variety animals and birds with a number of them being classified as threatened or endangered species. It also enjoys a vibrant economy owing to its vast resources and its attraction as a tourist destination due its beaches.
The state has been faced with numerous environmental issues in recent times due to the increase in human population in the country coupled with increased exploitation of the natural resources found in the country. Some of these problems include the pollution of water sources, fracking in oil rigs, increased dumping on the ocean, beach pollution, and increased pollution of the air.
California being a coastal state has had particular hard times with ocean pollution. Some of the major causes of this pollution are;
- Polluted runoff.
Pollutant infested runoff water is the primary source of pollution in California's ocean. This occurs when rain water picks up pollutants and carries them into storm drains. Unlike the sewer system, California does not have treatment plants, or filters, for this runoff which eventually finds its way into the ocean. The effects of these pollutants are stupendous, such as endangering human health and leading to beaches being shut down.
- Pollution from localized points
Pollution also originates from point sources, or a sole identifiable source, such as factories or wastewater handling facilities. Factories, including oil refineries, and electronic manufacturers release effluents into the water ways causing health hazards such as increased mercury levels in sea food.
- Oil
Oil spills cause enormous damage to the marine environment. Nonetheless, spills are accountable for only around 12 percent of the oil reaching the ocean every year. As found by the U.S. National Research Council, thrice this amount of oil enters the ocean as polluted runoff from our motorways and parking lots.
There exists an enormous amount of scientific evidence to validate the need for better conservation strategies and the need to better conserve the environment. In study of greenhouse gasses emission and global warming, it was proven in the mid-19th century of the heat-trapping nature of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases. The increased release of these gases in the atmosphere in increasingly large amounts due to industrialization has led to corresponding rise in global average temperatures as shown in the following table. (D Morrison 1996)
There has been a lot of legislation enacted to curb this particular problem in the state championed by legislators themselves and to a far much greater extent, environmentalist and nature conservation crusaders. Some of this legislation has been of significance contribution towards the decline in the abuse of the environment. The California Environmental Quality Act is a California act passed in 1970, soon after the United States federal government approved the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), to found a statewide policy of environmental protection. It does not directly regulate land uses, but in its place requires state and local agencies within California to follow a procedure of scrutiny and public exposé of environmental impacts of proposed projects and adopt all viable measures to moderate those impacts. In 2006, the Legislature passed the Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006, into law. It required the California Air Resources Board (ARB or Board) to start developing detached early actions to reduce greenhouse gases while also making a scoping plan to identify how best to reach the 2020 limit. In addition it was also to determine the, among other things the state’s level of greenhouse gas emissions in 1990 to aid as the emissions limit to be realized by 2020.
The implementation of these laws has been quite smooth. This is mainly due to strong federal environment laws put in place that require all states to observe some minimum level of environment consciousness. However there have been some challenges in ensuring that the laws are followed to the letter owing to the large geographical area covered by California. Ensuring for instance, that everyone dumps their plastics is hard to achieve. This would better be achieved by using sensitization to the involved players rather than emphasizing on policing to ensure that these laws are followed.
There are certain laws that would go a long way in aiding California to better preserve its environment. An introduction of a law governing the type of products that are allowed into beaches would be a good example. It would be provided that all products consumable at the beach shouldn't be plastic wrapped. This would have the effect of reducing plastic waste in beach areas and thus protecting the ocean from being polluted by these non-degradable materials when they are washed up in the ocean during high waters.Implementation of the Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006, also known as A.B. 32, put California at the fore front in curbing global warming. The bill was passed by the national assembly on August 31, 2006, and passed by the senate on August 30, 2006. It was then approved by the governor on September 27, 2006.
The bill commences by stating that global warming carries a stern threat to the economic prosperity, natural resources, public health, and to the environment of California as well. It goes on to name some potential adverse effects such as poor air quality, reduced quality and amounts of water supplied to the state from the sierra snowpack, rise in sea levels leading to the displacement of numerous coastal businesses and residential places, and damage to marine ecosystems. It goes on to provide that, by January 1, 2008, the state board will, after one or several public workshops, with public notice, and an opening for all interested parties to remark, determine what the state greenhouse gas emission levels were in 1990, and approve in a public hearing, a state greenhouse gas emissions maximum that is equal to that level, to be realized by 2020. In order to ensure the most accurate determination practicable, the state board shall assess the best available technological, scientific and economic material on greenhouse gas releases to determine the 1990 level of greenhouse gas emission.
The passing of AB 32 came to be partly through a chance mixture of circumstances and partly through the impetus generated by preceding policy actions in California. Chance being why the bill passed at the particular time and context of it being widely accepted being California's use of state laws to curb automobile emissions. California first came to take notice in air pollution due to smog in Los Angeles. In 1941, Los Angeles first experienced heavy, choking fog. This recurred in 1943, decreasing visibility to three city blocks. In1945 the city passed a decree setting bounds on industrial smoke emissions and found an air pollution control division within the municipal Health Department. In 1950, research by Professor Haagen-Smit finally showed the cause as a photochemical reaction altering certain pollutants chiefly from factories and motor vehicles into smog. In 1959, California approved a law requiring its State Division of Public Health to institute air quality standards and controls for motor vehicles.Many numerous laws on environment were passed in accordance to changing circumstances and times such as, Nox standards for cars and light trucks of 1971, heavy-duty diesel truck standards of 1973 and many more culminating into the 2006 bill.
The implementation of this bill will have numerous economic benefits as stipulated here. The average Californian household uses more than $2,500 each year to buy fossil fuels, the main cause of global warming. By cutting our reliance on fossil fuels we can bring home a percentage of that$30 billion and invest it in our economy (Todd Schatzki 2007).Increased energy efficiency and a move to clean energy sources, such as solar and wind, will boost California's burgeoning clean technology industry. This will create new jobs and bring added investment into the state. Venture capital investment in California's clean technology industry has improved from $484 million in 2005to $1.8 billion in 2007. And California already has nearly half of nationwide venture capital investment in clean energy technology. Since every$100 million in clean tech investment creates 2,700 jobs, this investment benefits the state tackle unemployment. In entirety, California's efforts to cut pollution from global warming will add roughly 83,000jobs to California's economy by 2020. (Todd Schatzki 2007)
References
Too good to be true? Three Economic Assessments of California Climate Change PolicyRobert N. Stavins, Judson Jaffe, Todd Schatzki 2007
How California came to pass AB 32, the Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006W. Michael Hanemann
Graham N. and Pottage A. (2011). Lawscape: Property, environment, law. Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge.
Environmental reports and remediation plans: forensic and legal review. Randall L Erickson and Robert D Morrison D. Henderson Journal: Journal of Environmental Law 1996.
