Innovative Leadership:

The technological and policy solutions for the climate crisis already exist. What's missing is something much more important but less tangible: innovative leadership.

Innovative leaders help us see what's possible. They bring us together and help us achieve more as a community than we ever imagined we could do as individuals. Martin Luther King, Jr, Abraham Lincoln, and John F. Kennedy understood this; they unleashed creative processes that helped us reach new heights, whether political, technological, or spiritual. We need leaders to help us move forward again, this time to solve the climate crisis.

Innovative leadership exists. For example, last year Florida Governor Charlie Crist signed executive orders requiring the state government to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by ten percent by 2012 and by forty percent by 2025. His actions will lead to more efficient government buildings and vehicles and will increase the use of alternative energy. The new policies also have great potential to stimulate local economic growth in renewable energy and efficient building sectors, creating jobs and driving innovation.

In another example, Colorado voters passed a ballot initiative in 2004 requiring ten percent of the state's energy to be renewable. Building on this initial success, Colorado Governor Bill Ritter and the legislature signed new policy in 2007 that doubles the amount of renewable energy by 2020 for investor-owned utilities, and makes it easier to connect the new clean energy to where it's needed. They plan to double the amount of renewable energy by 2020 for investor-owned utilities and passed laws to make it easier to transfer electricity from renewable sources. This shows how leaders can promote policies that help solve climate change. It also shows how individuals working together can promote policies and help make a difference: Colorado voters were clear about what they wanted, and elected officials responded by making better policies.

There are many examples of innovative leadership in every region and in every sector. But we need more. To help ensure that our children have a positive future, we will need to support -- and demand -- innovative leadership at the community, state, and national levels.

As individuals, we must urge leaders to make climate change a priority. We must speak up for what we believe in and urge our leaders to pass legislation that will dramatically reduce carbon emissions and increase the use of renewable energy sources. Please join us today and help add your voice to this important issue.