Category Archives: New solutions

Green Drinks 3 (eco chats) March 2013 Schedule

Calendar treeGreen Drinks 3 logo

Green Drinks are about the environment, sustainability, community empowerment, saving the net & happiness
At Green Drinks we are working on building healthy food systems and clean, safe communities. We’re chatting about . . . combatting climate change, composting, biking, kids walking to school, protecting public education, solar energy, alternate fuel cars and better public transit. Each of these is a sustainability topic.

Expert social and environmental justice advocates come out to spend the evening with the community discussing these issues. The point of Green Drinks is to spark conversation about integrating sustainability activities and environmentally friendly practices into our lives and neighborhoods!

WHO’S WELCOME?
You are! We have interesting and lively discussions, and meet at restaurants that serve good, inexpensive food. If you have information to contribute, or just want to learn, you’ll be welcome at Green Drinks. Feel free to bring a friend.

HAPPINESS & SAVING THE INTERNET
Recognizing your blessings is a game changer, so we discuss happiness. Protecting the free and open internet is ESSENTIAL to being happy and empowering communities, so we discuss this too.

CHEERS FROM YOUR HOSTS
Kimi Wei, Ivan Gomez Wei, Angenett Washington & Sally Gellert

MARCH GREEN DRINKS 3 SCHEDULE
Newark 1st Mondays (04 March) 7-9PM
Hackensack 2nd Mondays (11 March) 7-9PM
Paterson-Clifton 3rd Tuesdays (19 March) 12NOON
Visit http://greendrinks3.org/ for other location addresses

Check our list of upcoming events, actions & training

Half the Sky New York screening this Fri 01 Feb

Half the Sky MovementPlease join us for a screening of Half the Sky and to raise awareness and funds for New Light, an organization in Kolkata, India helping to empower women through education and life-skill training.

A discussion and reception will immediately follow the screening.

Friday 01 Feb 2013 7:30-10:30pm
At Anthology Film Archives
32 2nd Ave, New York, NY 10003

About Half the Sky:

The central moral challenge of our time is reaching a tipping point. Just as slavery was the defining struggle of the 19th century and totalitarianism of the 20th, the fight to end the oppression of women and girls worldwide defines our current century.

Hidden in the overlapping problems of sex trafficking and forced prostitution, gender-based violence, and maternal mortality is the single most vital opportunity of our time and women are seizing it. From Somaliland to Cambodia to Afghanistan, women’s oppression is being confronted head on and real, meaningful solutions are being fashioned. Change is happening, and its happening now.

Journalists Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn took on this urgent moral challenge in 2009 with their acclaimed best-selling book, Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide (already in its 25th printing in hardback). They encouraged readers all over the world to do the same.

Now, a landmark movement inspired by Kristof and WuDunns work and also entitled Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide is working to amplify the books impact. Ignited by a high-profile national television event and fueled by innovative multi-platform initiatives, Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide is galvanizing even more people to join the burgeoning movement for change.

Learn more about Half the Sky Movement at halftheskymovement.org
Learn more about New Light at newlightindia.org/#

Free tuition + stipend for MSU Master’s / Urban Teacher Residency

Montclair College Grad SchoolThe Newark-Montclair Urban Teacher Residency is an innovative Master of Arts in Teaching (MAT) program offered at Montclair State University in partnership with the Newark Public Schools. Participants will receive free tuition and a $26,000 stipend. A 3-year teaching commitment is required.

SECONDARY MATH AND SCIENCE APPLICATIONS are now being accepted. Final Application Deadline extended till Friday, March 15, 2013.

Residents enroll in full-time graduate coursework each semester (summer sessions included) and participate in summer internships with community based organizations in the city of Newark. Applications are currently being accepted for Secondary level (K-12) subject matter certification in mathematics or a field of science.

A series of events is being held to help clarify steps in the application and admission process:

Newark-Montclair Urban Teacher Residency Events:
January 31 – Information Session
February 10 – Graduate School Open House

Eligibility
Candidates must have a minimum cumulative GPA of 3.0;
A conferred Bachelor’s degree prior to beginning the program;
A genuine interest and commitment to urban education; and
Proof of United States citizenship or permanent residency

Candidates unable to attend may contact the program staff with application questions at nmutrp@mail.montclair.edu

Please note: The events below are not mandatory for applicants.

January Event Details – Information Session
Date: Thursday, January 31, 2013
Time: 10:00am-11:30am
Drop-in hours: 11:30-12:30pm
Location: University Hall, Ferraro Lounge

Information Session Highlights:

Overview of N-MUTR Program
Application and admission process
Tips on how to be a successful applicant
Praxis II exam (upcoming dates and deadlines)
Tips for completing the application by the deadline
Common mistakes in the application process
Review of Frequently Asked Questions

Graduate School Open House
Date: Sunday, February 10, 2013
Time: 12:00pm-1:00pm: Breakout Session
1:00pm-2:00pm: Graduate Program Fair
Location: University Hall, First Floor

Additional Information for the Open House can be found on the Graduate School Website

Program Overview
Calling Math and Science majors with a commitment to teaching and a strong interest in urban education to apply!

The N-MUTR offers full Montclair State University tuition plus a living stipend of up to $26,000 for this twelve month program.

*Additional funds are available to those who qualify through the Federal TEACH grant program.
*The N-MUTR requires a commitment of 3 years teaching in the Newark Public Schools after completing the program. Graduates participate in an induction program to support their development as teachers in their first 3 years as teachers.

Registration
To RSVP for either session, please send an email to nmutrp@mail.montclair.edu Walk-ins are welcome.

To find out more about how to apply to the N-MUTR program, please visit http://nmutrp.ning.com/

All visitors are directed to park in the Red Hawk Parking Deck for a nominal fee.

Is Climate Change real?

It is, according to more politicians, academicians, public figures and the United States Government: the EPA predicts coastal sees to rise and extreme weather events like Hurricanes to become more frequent.
US EPA carbon emisisons data
Bloomberg.com reports

Here’s what we know: an overwhelming majority of scientists tell us that the Earth’s climate is heating largely due to rising greenhouse gas emissions, which, in turn, is driving more extreme weather and climate events. The underlying changes–warmer oceans, more intense precipitation events, and rising sea levels–are significant contributors to storms like Sandy…

U.S. politicians’ silence on climate change is not only out of step with the rest of the world, but also with the American people, the vast majority of whom are concerned about climate change.

The human and economic costs of Hurricane Sandy and other extreme weather events are abundantly clear. In 2011, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, there were 14 extreme weather and climate events of more than $1 billion in the United States, totaling approximately $55 billion. Looking at the bigger picture, a recent report found that the failure to act on climate change is likely to cost the world economy 1.7 percent of GDP, approximately $1.2 trillion per year in the near term, with the figure expected to double by 2030.

Shifting to clean energy opens new economic opportunities, including taking advantage of the $2.3 trillion global clean energy market expected to emerge in the next decade (pdf).

CNN seems to have become a believer since Sandy, too, and they’ve brought in heavy hitting guest writers to tell the public about it. MacArthur Fellow, Stony Brook University professor and president of Blue Ocean Institute, Carl Safina, writes as a CNN special guest

Reporters share their photos with CNN Obstacles and challenges after Sandy Mom can’t get help; two sons die NY mayor: Marathon won’t hurt recovery Search for gas gets more desperate
Sea levels are rising. They’ve been rising since the last ice age and that rise has been accelerating since the Industrial Revolution. We’ve had fair and continual and increasing warning. And yet, small coastal communities and cities as large as New York have done essentially nothing to prepare.
Over decades, we filled many wetlands that are the natural buffers to floods. Shrinking the area of our wetlands has left adjacent areas more prone to flooding.
As the world continues warming, the warming tends to intensify storms. New York has been hit with two hurricanes in two years. That’s unusual. And since at least Katrina, scientists have warned that hurricanes take their strength from the heat of the ocean’s surface.

And Chris Field, Global Ecology Department Chair of the Carnegie Institution for Science and co-chair of a working group tasked with assessing climate change impacts, adaptation, and vulnerability for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), writes as another CNN special guest,

Climate change is occurring now. We see its consequences in hotter temperatures, higher sea levels and shifted storm tracks. In many parts of the world, we are also seeing an increase in the fraction of rainfall that comes in the heaviest events. When it rains, increasingly it pours.
Climate change over the next couple of decades is already largely baked into the system, but changes beyond that are mostly in our hands. As we learn more about the links between climate change and extreme events, it will benefit all of us to think hard about the opportunities and challenges of getting a handle on climate change, so we control it and not vice versa.

Van Jones (as yet another special CNN contributor) proposes a solution that won’t only address climate change, but will improve the United States financial outlook too:

We have just the answer. It’s not a new idea, but as the two parties face off over the federal budget, it could be the path forward. There’s a tool we can use to answer the public’s call for more jobs – without cuts to Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security: a carbon tax.

One analysis by the Congressional Budget Office says a moderate, $20-per-ton tax on carbon emissions could raise $1.25 trillion over 10 years. And the savings don’t stop there. For decades, the oil and coal industries have passed along their costs to the rest of us, in the form of asthma treatment, emergency room visits, doctor bills and missed days of school and work. Combined with droughts, wildfires, hurricanes and severe weather events like Superstorm Sandy, rising levels of carbon in the atmosphere cost our nation an estimated $70 billion each year.

Everybody has to make up her own mind about what to believe, but I have no problem all believing that climate change is real, and making changes in my living habits to reverse global warming, and I want my government and business to do the same.

Tour your area’s greenest buildings on Oct. 13 – free

green alternative energy houseOn 13 October 2012 from 10-3, hundreds of residential homes and commercial buildings fro Maine to Pennsylvania will invite the public to tour their structures and learn about each property’s sustainability features. The tours are completely free. See a list of tour locations and the annual energy savings (in dollars) which accrues to each. The Northeast Sustainable Energy Association sponsors this annual Green Buildings Open House.

http://energysage.com/projects/nesea-gboh

Green Drinks September 2012

In September, Green Drinks discusses

  • How to Save the Internet and advocate for an open internet
  • Why fracking has such a disastrous impact on our national/local water supplies and why this practice should be ended
  • How to build healthy, bikeable/walkable communities

SAVING THE INTERNET & NET NEUTRALITY

Green Drinks Paterson-Clifton June 2012Open internet access is one of the great freedom fights of our time. We have to use it so we don’t lose it. This is now a standard topic of discussion at every Green Drinks 3 event. See more at http://thewei.com/kimi/verizon-wants-to-control-your-internet-keep-them-out/

FRACKING AWARENESS RESOURCES & ACTIONS

  • http://www.foodandwaterwatch.org/water/fracking/fracking-action-center/
  • Global Frackdown http://www.globalfrackdown.org/
  • http://shalegasoutrage.org/ NJ & Philly on 20 Sept 2012

Newark Green drinks

Meets 1st Mondays at Rio Rodizio Newark except on major holidays.
1st Monday this month was Labor Day, so we didn’t meet.

Hackensack Green Drinks

Monday, 10 Sept 2012 7-9pm (and 2nd Mondays)
At Victor’s Maywood Inn, 122 W. Pleasant Avenue, Maywood NJ

Global FrackdownHackensack Green Drinks will be joined by members of 350.org and Food & Water Watch who will discuss climate actions and tell us about fracking teach-ins happening in September.

Paterson-Clifton Green Drinks

Tuesday, 18 September 2012 7-9 pm (and 3rd Tuesdays)
The Sultan Restaurant, 429 Crooks Avenue, Clifton NJ (outside if the weather’s nice)

Where to find us

Green Drinks 3 http://greendrinks3.org/
Like us on Facebook https://www.fb.com/thegreenwei/
Follow us on Twitter http://twitter.com/greenwei

Other events and actions

In solidarity with the Global Frackdown Actions taking place, September is Green Drinks 3 Fracking Awareness month.

FRACKING AWARENESS & ACTIONS
http://www.foodandwaterwatch.org/water/fracking/fracking-action-center/
Global Frackdown http://www.globalfrackdown.org/
http://shalegasoutrage.org/ NJ & Philly on 20 Sept. 2012

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99% SPRING GROUP MEMBERS are welcome at any Green Drinks meeting. We discuss action plans and volunteer opportunities at most Green Drinks events.

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Help Protect National Forests

America’s national forests provide essential habitat for lynx, grizzlies and other wildlife — and clean water for millions of Americans. Yet new rules could threaten the sanctity of these special places, paving the way for more logging and more destructive development on our national forests. Help protect these special places. Sign the petition online at: http://dfnd.us/vYt93D

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Prevent racism from blocking the Latino & Black vote

Watch the 4 minute video by Van Jones’ Rebuild the American Dream team
http://thewei.com/kimi/racist-romney-gop-move-to-block-the-latino-black-vote/ )

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SHOE DONATIONS FOR HAITI
Collected at Stride Rite Wyckoff location ONLY
Monday-Saturday 10am-6pm
319 Franklin Ave, Wyckoff NJ

Stride Rite of Wyckoff is accepting worn/used shoes, children’s and adults for donation. All donations are sent to Haiti. We have received hundreds of pairs of shoes to date, but the need is much greater.

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After Rio+20: Moving Beyond 2015
RSVP at http://j.mp/rio20plus
15-19 OCT 2012 (9am – 5pm only)
COST: FREE
Ramapo College, 505 Ramapo Valley Road, Mahwah, NJ
In the campus Student Center Room SC 137

The speakers for this event series are all key players from Civil Society Organizations and from the United Nations, collectively engaged in planning for a post-Rio+20 future. The purpose of the workshop series is to lay out the framework for a road map to plan for a Global Citizens Movement to help us move beyond the major United Nations Rio+20 conference held earlier this year in June.

In this intensive workshop, the many dimensions of the UN Conference in Rio de Janeiro will be explored, and a coherent path forward will be charted.

As you may be aware, by most conventional accounts, Rio+20 was at least a disappointment, if not a failure. We argue that real, path-breaking, and innovative solutions began to emerge from the grassroots level out, and we will present many dimensions of these solutions, as well as strategize a way forward into a more sustainable future.

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Support the Ramapough Indians.
Tell the EPA to clean up Ford’s mess in Ringwood.

Journalist Jan Barry started the research on the tragic and intentional pollution of a housing development which was home to members of a tribe of Ramapough Indians in Ringwood, NJ, and collaborated with HBO to create Mann v. Ford, a moving documentary about the crushing impact this has had on the health of tribe members as well as the water source for the entire region.

The site was prematurely de-listed by the EPA from its Superfund cleanup status, and several years later became the first site to be listed for a second time. Ford has resisted taking responsibility for the poisonous effects on tribe members of the toxic paint sludge it trucked in under cover of nightfall every day for many years, and has also resisted funding the cost of cleanup.

Make sure the EPA knows you support the clean-up of the Ramapough Indians by (Action 1) signing the Change.org petition and (Action 2) sending a letter to the EPA. Petition and sample letter available at

Tell the EPA to clean up Ford’s mess in Ringwood

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Click to give Hackensack Riverkeeper the chance to win a grant from Chase Community Giving
(must have a Facebook account)

Click on http://j.mp/gd4hrk2012
Click on “VOTE”
Click Accept the APP
Click “VOTE” again and a pop-up window should appear.

You get two votes, so use your second vote for any other organization

How can you get extra votes to vote for us?
• Share the special link you get with your Facebook friends – you may get an extra vote. (Make sure you use both of your original 2 votes so you can use the extra vote)
• Chase customers automatically get two more votes by logging in from the Chase Community Giving home page accessible through the Chase website

Learn more about Hackensack Riverkeeper’s amazing ecological advocacy and nature tours and cleanups at http://hackensackriverkeeper.org

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Click to give Morris County Hispanic-American Chamber of Commerce the chance to win $30,000
(You get 10 votes just for having an email address)

Click on http://j.mp/mchaccvoh

MCHACC was selected as a Voices of Health finalist for its commitment to the health of ethnic minority individuals in the northern New Jersey area. Learn more about the chamber at http://mchacc.org.

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OUR SPONSOR
MENTION GREEN DRINKS FOR 20% OFF Online or at the store

Eco Galleria

Eco Galleria at the Historic Oradell Train Station
400 Maple Avenue, Oradell, NJ
201-447-GIFT (4438)
http://www.ecogalleria.com

Eco Galleria carries fun or fine items handcrafted by artists from throughout the Americas in many price ranges. Including eco-friendly jewelry, pottery, glass, wood, fiber, watches, bags and more. Call ahead to have your gift boxed, wrapped and ready for pick-up or shop online at http://ecogalleria.com

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Interested in sponsoring Green Drinks? If you have a good cause or service, we have a contact base of about 6000 that can learn about your through our meeting announcements. Contact Kimi for information mailto:kimi@thewei.com or 862-203-8814
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Protect our world – say goodbye to dirty fuel & coal

The Sierra Club tells us that coal industry is heavily subsidized by American taxpayers to the tune of tens of billions of dollars and it’s clear that this industry’s power is not diminishing. But it should diminish. In fact, it’s so dangerous that it should be done away with altogether. In the process of mining, coal destroys waterways, ecosystems, trees, miners’ health and the health of residents of nearby communities. A well-documented example of this is the tragedy of mountain-top mining in the Appalachian Mountains, a practice which Robert Kennedy Jr., affected citizens and environmental activists continue valiantly fighting to bring to a permanent end.

When it’s burned, coal puts massive amounts of carbon in the air, and this is a main contributor to global warming which brings on drought, soaring temperatures, the rising of seas that will take over island cities and coastal areas, tsunamis, floods and drought. Coal is also a dirty fuel, so burning its puts heavy pollutants in the air that lead to poor air quality and acid rain.

Why aren’t people all over the world staging huge protests to ban coal mining and replace it with clean energy sources? It boils down to this: we’ve been supporting coal so long it’s become sort of a global institution. We can’t imagine a world without a massive coal industry any more than we can imagine a world without gas-powered vehicles, so we protect the industry even though it’s killing both us and our Earth Mother. World citizens protect our institutions. But, the truth is that clean energy is our future: it’s environmentally friendly, health friendly. It’s a massively growing jobs industry, is economically friendly and it’s also cool (in more ways than one). Can you say, win-win-win-win-win? There’s nothing wrong with protecting institutions but they need to work for us. It’s so clear that we need to give up on the old fuels that are destroying us and turn to clean energy with open arms.

For those worried about the impact that embracing clean energy will have on our economy and jobs, just look at the evidence. The Boston Herald reports,

“The growth of Massachusetts’ renewable energy economy is outpacing the overall economy nearly tenfold, according to a new report that measures clean energy sector employment and the number of businesses that use clean energy practices.”

Avaaz is working to prevent horrific environmental destruction in Australia. Please sign the petition.

Australia could let mining magnates build one of the world’s largest coal ports on top of the Great Barrier Reef ecosystem – opening access to 8 billion extra tonnes of planet-killing coal and risking the survival of this entire amazing world heritage site.

US laws which address environmental issues are the Clear Air act and Clean Water Act. They need to be strengthened and expanded.

The Clean Water Act
http://www.epa.gov/lawsregs/laws/cwa.html
The River Network’s Course on using the Act to protect local waterways
The Clean Air Act
http://www.epa.gov/air/caa/peg/
Other Proposed Legislation
2009 Waxman-Market Climate Energy bill (Died)
Everything you always wanted to know about the Waxman-Markey energy/climate bill — in bullet points and ejmatters.org/docs/Waxman-Markey_bill_summary_6-2-09.pdf

H.R. 724, the Security in Energy And Manufacturing (SEAM) Act (sponsored by Congressman Steve Rothman).  If enacted, this legislation would make needed investments in a clean energy economy by rebuilding the U.S. manufacturing sector.  It provides a 30% tax credit or grant to companies that open new or expanded facilities that manufacture a wide range of clean energy products, including wind turbines, solar panels, hybrid vehicle systems, carbon capture and sequestration systems, and biofuel refinery components, among others in the U.S. I strongly believe that this is the path we must take to end our dependence on both foreign and domestic oil and move toward a secure clean energy future. H.R. 724 is currently pending before the House Committee on Ways and Means.

H.R. 3307, the American Renewable Energy Production Tax Credit Extension Act of 2011 (co-sponsored by Congressman Steve Rothman). If enacted, this bill would provide a clean, 4-year extension of the existing production tax credit (PTC) for wind, biomass, geothermal, small irrigation, landfill gas, trash, and hydropower. This tax credit was created in the Energy Policy Act of 1992 and has frequently been extended in year-end packages of expiring tax provisions, as well as in the Energy Policy Act of 2005. The current incentive is set to expire this year for wind and in 2013 for other renewable energy forms. Historically, at least six to eight months before the tax credit expires, financial lenders hesitate in providing capital for projects because of the uncertainty created by the pending expiration of the credit, stalling projects from coming online. This is why many of my colleagues and I believe it is imperative to pass H.R. 3307 now as our economy continues to recover. If the PTC is not renewed, those projects working under the credit will be reduced in size, will not be completed or will add costs, resulting in higher electricity prices for consumers. This measure is currently pending before the House Committee on Ways and Means.

EPA’s pollution assessment tool in beta

The EPA released a beta version of the new Community-Focused Exposure and Risk Screening Tool (C-FERST). It will increase the availability and accessibility of science and data for evaluating impacts of pollutants and local conditions, understanding the overall environmental health consequences of your community and ranking risks. The tool will enable communities to identify environmental health issues, rank and prioritize issues, make informed and cost-effective decisions to improve public health, and promote actions.

Feedback is needed to finalize development, so please give C-FERST a test drive and share your experiences. More information here.

Cap & Trade – an emissions reduction strategy

The Environmental Defense Fund wrote the cap-and-trade approach to sulfur emissions into the 1990 Clean Air Act. A similar program has become law in California to limit carbon emissions, where implementation will begin in 2013. The cap part of the program is an incrementally rising cap on the legally allowable limits for carbon emissions factories produce. The trade portion allows companies that reduce their emissions to a lower level than the legal mandate to use the difference as a credit that a company exceeding the legal limit can buy to bring itself into the compliant range of emissions output.

The EDF explains the history of cap-and-trade, which started in 1990

Traditional, top-down government regulation would have simply directed every plant owner to cut pollution by a specific amount in a specific way. But this method, critics said, would cost too much, impede innovation and ignore the knowledge and initiative of local plant operators.

The way forward, EDF experts argued, was to harness the power of the marketplace. Our cap-and-trade approach, written into the 1990 Clean Air Act, required that overall sulfur emissions be cut in half, but let each company decide how to do it. And power plants that cut their pollution more than required could sell those extra allowances. A new commodities market was born.

Under this market-based plan, sulfur emissions have gone down faster than predicted and at one-fourth of the projected cost. By 2000, scientists were documenting decreased sulfates in Adirondack lakes, improved visibility in national parks and widespread benefits to human health. The Economist called it “the greatest green success story of the past decade.”

EDF explains that the California cap-and-trade market for greenhouse gases addresses is modeled after their plan.

In October 2011, the California Air Resources Board voted to create a cap-and-trade market for greenhouse gases, as required by AB32, the state’s landmark bipartisan 2006 climate bill, which EDF cosponsored and defended in court.

AB32 aims to cut greenhouse gas emissions in California, the world’s eighth largest economy, to 1990 levels by 2020, while generating one-third of its electricity from renewable sources like solar and wind.

The cap-and-trade market alone, which begins operating in 2013, will slash the state’s warming emissions by an amount equivalent to taking some 3.6 million cars off the road.

The LA Times reports

Environmental justice groups oppose aspects of the program, arguing that cap-and-trade’s market allows refineries, power plants and other large-scale facilities to continue polluting poor neighborhoods as long as they purchase credits or offsets ..

and gives details about how the carbon cap-and-trade program will work in California

Emissions caps were established by collecting three years of emissions data from the state’s largest industries. Those businesses were grouped into sectors and assigned an average emissions benchmark. Businesses are allowed to emit up to 90% of that amount in the first year. Companies that operate efficiently under the cap may sell their excess carbon allowance on the market; companies whose emissions are above the benchmark must either reduce their carbon output or purchase credits or offsets.

Offsets are a way of turning carbon “savings” into tradable equities. For instance, a forestry company may change its practices so that its forests store more carbon. That increase in carbon storage can be turned into a marketable credit. An independent entity would verify that the carbon savings are real. That additional storage must be maintained for at least 100 years. No carbon offsets may be purchased from non-U.S. sources.