Governor Brown's 2012 Budget Invests $1 Billion From Cap-And-Trade Into Renewables, EVs

Last month, California’s Governor Jerry Brown hosted a conference on extreme climate risks in San  Francisco, where he urged people to "wake up" to the extreme weather patterns we’re already seeing because of climate change.

He noted that faster snowmelts in the Sierra Nevada are stressing the state’s aging levee system and threatening agriculture in the Central  Valley.

Although this year’s budget has plenty of cuts, Governor Brown proposes continued investments in addressing climate change, because it can close the deficit by growing clean energy companies, which in turn will grow the economy.

California’s new "cap-and-trade" program (which the GOP wants to scrap) is expected to generate $1 billion in revenue, which Brown want to allocate to clean energy research, natural
resource protection and renewable energy projects, such as solar and wind farms and electric vehicle charging stations.

He also wants the planned high-speed rail project to move forward, where trains running at 220 mph would carry passengers between  the San Francisco Bay area, the Central Valley and
Southern California.

Brown wants California to keep investing in the future even though times are tough right  now.

It sure is getting hotter

Meanwhile, this winter has so far set record warm temperatures, shattering records from southern California to North Dakota.

Minneapolis, Milwaukee, Chicago, St. Louis, Indianapolis, Detroit and Cincinnati are enjoying highs on the order of 10-to-20 degrees above average, and those temperature are on their way east to New York City, Washington, D.C. and Charlotte, N.C., according to the Weather Channel.

In Minnesota, this is the first time 60 degrees have ever been reported in the first of week of January, and its been several decades since Southern California’s surfers hit the ocean in early January with 80- and even 90-degree weather.

In North Dakota, temperatures exceeded 60 degrees – up to 40 degrees above typical averages for early January. Des Moines, Iowa set a record high of 65 degrees, Rapid City, South Dakota hit 73 degrees and St. Louis, Mo. reached 66 degrees, to name a few.

The complete lack of snow makes the Dakotas vulnerable to wildfires and the seasonally cold air that follow the heat surge could severely damage crops that would normally be protected by at least 3 inches of snow right now.

This past summer also shattered record high temperatures across the country.