N.C. takes lead
cutting carbon
emissions

North Carolina and Gov. Mike Easley have taken the lead among Southeast states to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and global warming.

The state is expected to consider more legislation in the 2008 session to limit emissions. Just this year, Easley signed a bill that requires utility companies to meet 12.5 percent of their energy demand by 2021 with clean resources, such as wind and solar. Carbon emissions from coal-fired electricity plants are cited as one of the leading causes of global warming

States such as North Carolina and California are beginning to take the issue of global warming into their own hands with the Bush administration’s refusal to cap greenhouse emissions, fearing it will damage the U.S. economy.

But here’s the bad news. North Carolina’s initiatives will be but a drop in the bucket as emerging industrial nations like China and India emit more carbon. Scientists say it will take a monumental worldwide effort to reverse the ever-increasing effects of global warming.

Still, change starts at home. We applaud the state’s efforts to take a leadership role in the Southeast, with hopes that others will follow.