California Greenin': Shaping America’s Environment

Over the course of its 150-year history, California has successfully protected its scenic wilderness areas, restricted coastal oil drilling, regulated automobile emissions, preserved coastal access and improved energy efficiency. Back in 1963 when the Clean Air Act was written, legislators acknowledged that California was ahead of the curve and wrote a waiver into the law allowing the Golden State to set its own stricter standards. In 2018, that exception is being used in fighting—and so far winning—the loosening of national Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards.

Join us for a conversation about the past, present and future of California’s leadership in environmental policy. We will look at the lessons—as laid out by David Vogel—offered by California to the nation and the world. What has worked, and where has the state fallen short?