Schwarzenegger's Green Challenge

California Governor Says He'll Stick To Environmental Plans, Despite Economic Crisis

(CBS)  He owned the room, but in a sense he was behind enemy lines. The big three automakers had sued Schwarzenegger to stop cuts in tailpipe emissions. They lost. And he was here to grill them about their alternative fuel cars.

"I have been in Detroit in 2000 and have talked to the car manufacturers then to put hydrogen engines in the cars and start experimenting. And they said to me then, 'Well, this would take five to ten years to do something like that.' Well, that time has come now. Where are the cars?" Schwarzenegger questioned.

"When you came out in California with your stricter emissions standards, you know there were billboards all over Michigan which said, 'Arnold to Detroit: drop dead,'" Pelley remarked.

"Right, that's true. That was the best free publicity I could get. But actually I was not saying, 'Arnold to Detroit: drop dead,' I was just saying, 'Get off your butt,'" Schwarzenegger said.

Not many people know that Schwarzenegger personally invented the civilian Hummer. The maker of the military version told him that it could never be made street legal, so Schwarzenegger bought one and spent $100,000 of his money to show that it could be done.

Schwarzenegger’s action helped launch the brand that is the very symbol of greenhouse gas gluttony.

That original Humvee, which Schwarzenegger still occasionally uses to ride around Los Angeles, has now been modified to run on cooking oil. "You can literally go up to a restaurant and get cooking oil," he told Pelley.

Now he has re-invented the vehicle with green that's more than skin-deep. He has one variation that runs partly on hydrogen, and this one has an engine modified to run on bio fuel. "I mean, it runs, basically, on anything. Anything natural," he said, as he took Pelley for a ride in it.

His point is that trying to chase Americans out of their big cars, what he calls "guilt-trip environmentalism," has failed. "And my point was is keep all of the stuff that you like. But change the technology," Schwarzenegger explained. "So I started really pushing that agenda in a positive way. Look at the great things that we can do. We can turn this whole thing around. The damage that we have created over the last 100 years, we can undo that."

This "have it all" philosophy leads some critics to say the governor sees green through rose-colored glasses, that he tends to underplay challenges involving cost and technology.

[katiell]

Can''t anybody see the writing on the wall? There is definitely something going on in the atmosphere. I can''t believe how stupid people are. We got a president leaving office who was in for 2 terms....that is just one example of stupidity. There is so much greed and me, me, me, now it is pathetic. There was pollution in Los Angeles back in the 60s when I lived there. Wake up idiots!! Kate

[pepperwood2]

What''s the Story Here? Kalifornia is going to run out of cash in two weeks.

Something''s rotten in Kalefornia? The richest of the rich with all this wealth and the Liberals are going to bankrupt the State. Why don''t these Elite who wanted Green just pay there fair share? Instead of getting in line for a Federal Bailout like all the Losing Corporations & Banks across this Country of ours. Where''s Al & Rosie with the big bucks?

Instead of becoming a part of the problem, come up with a real solution. After all aren''t these the people running the show out their as in Washington the world''s most intelligent.

I know, just spend spend spend get ourselves further in debt with no real means or help for the consumer to ever come out of it. Wonder which the NEXT State that has gone Greeen will come out pissing & moaning that they will be out of cash. They just don''t ever get it.

[noloyalisti]

Baaaaahhhhhhh

Posted by Cryos

Thanks for demonstrating for ALL of us to see, your complete ignorance of the facts and your stupidity by parroting the right wing propaganda of the corporations and talking heads like Sean Slannity. Good job, thanks for sharing.

[lovegetpeace]

RECALL ARNOLD!

[noloyalisti]

Let''s recall this Republicon SOB who supported Butch and McSame. This guy drove CA into the ground, part of the Con conspiracy to bankrupt the middle class.

[Mccarthyaw]

So, McCarthy51, you are calling Nobel Prize Winner for Physics, Ivar Giaever ignorant for his comment %u201CI am a skeptic%u2026Global warming has become a new religion.%u201D ignorant????

Posted by telloian at 04:53 PM : Dec 22, 2008

Yes, I am calling him ignorant. Too entrenched in his paradigm. There are a few respected scientists here and there that disagree. I know there is one at Harvard. But a large majority agree that climate change is occurring at a faster pace than seen before.

[s_libertas]

I''d be interested in seeing a cost/benefit analysis of the Governator''s plan to cut emissions. How much will it cost, and what amount of global warming will it prevent? I''ve never seen any such analysis of any global warming initiative. Other than "doing something", what actual benefit are we going to attain?

www.semperlibertas.com

[czervik7]

President Arnold,

Please accept our thanks for joining the Kyoto Climate Change Consortium. We really needed a big-pocket donor to keep our religion...er eh I mean...just cause alive.

We will need a check in the amount of $1,000,000,000,000.00 payable to the Gore/Soros Cap & Trade fund. The money will mainly be used for travel expenses by Al Gore to canvas the world and spew propoganda...eh...enlighten young children about the dangers of climate change.

While we realize that climate change has been happening for millions of years, your donation will help us sell the idea that somehow us humans have managed to have some meaningful affect in the past 50 years. Although we cannot even accurately predict the weather for more than 1 day in advance we must show that we can change it.

We must also figure out a way to say global warming has caused record-cold temperatures. If you have any ideas on this please let us know. You, after all, have figured out how to sell global warming economics to a state that is $40 billion in the hole. We need your marketing expertise.

Thanks a bunch!

China

P.S. We''d join the accord but we just don''t have the money right now.

[dlaws99]

This bozo is arguably the worst governor in the history of the state going back to the Spanish land grant, so it only makes sense he''d want to be president...

[czervik7]

President Arnold,

Please accept our thanks for joining the Kyoto Climate Change Consortium. We really needed a big-pocket donor to keep our religion...er eh I mean...just cause alive.

We will need a check in the amount of $1,000,000,000,000.00 payable to the Gore/Soros Cap & Trade fund. The money will mainly be used for travel expenses by Al Gore to canvas the world and spew propoganda...eh...enlighten young children about the dangers of climate change.

While we realize that climate change has been happening for millions of years, your donation will help us sell the idea that somehow us humans have managed to have some meaningful affect in the past 50 years. Although we cannot even accurately predict the weather for more than 1 day in advance we must show that we can change it.

We must also figure out a way to say global warming has caused record-cold temperatures. If you have any ideas on this please let us know. You, after all, have figured out how to sell global warming economics to a state that is $40 billion in the hole. We need your marketing expertise.

Thanks a bunch!

China

P.S. We''d join the accord but we just don''t have the money right now.

[czervik7]

President Arnold,

Please accept our thanks for joining the Kyoto Climate Change Consortium. We really needed a big-pocket donor to keep our religion...er eh I mean...just cause alive.

We will need a check in the amount of $1,000,000,000,000.00 payable to the Gore/Soros Cap & Trade fund. The money will mainly be used for travel expenses by Al Gore to canvas the world and spew propoganda...eh...enlighten young children about the dangers of climate change.

While we realize that climate change has been happening for millions of years, your donation will help us sell the idea that somehow us humans have managed to have some meaningful affect in the past 50 years. Although we cannot even accurately predict the weather for more than 1 day in advance we must show that we can change it.

We must also figure out a way to say global warming has caused record-cold temperatures. If you have any ideas on this please let us know. You, after all, have figured out how to sell global warming economics to a state that is $40 billion in the hole. We need your marketing expertise.

Thanks a bunch!

China

P.S. We''d join the accord but we just don''t have the money right now.

[dlaws99]

In case it isn''t completely obvious to anyone, the global warming hoax is being used as the "scientific" foundation for inplementing the anti-capitalist socialist agenda. It''s the classic "big lie told long enough..."

[telloian]

So, McCarthy51, you are calling Nobel Prize Winner for Physics, Ivar Giaever ignorant for his comment %u201CI am a skeptic%u2026Global warming has become a new religion.%u201D ignorant????

[jimdrotto]

I agree with Cryos and RealScience. Also prescribed burns, which are controlled burns, would help limit the wildfires, but environmentalists won''t let departments of Natural Resources operate that way. Pay now or pay later when mankind interferes with nature.

[jpipk]

Arnie should re-register as a Democrat.
They''ll change the rules about where he was born like they did for the anointed one.
Or he could just get a birth certificate from Hawaii -- they don''t seem to care too much.
Wouldn''t that just be great! Swartzie the RINO following McLame the RINO.
Where does a conservative go to throw up?
Probably Chicago -- they like stuff like that there!

[bikerbill98-2009]

Arnie thinks it''s fun to solve the problems he and others created. Must be nice being able to laugh while the state is crumbling under the weight of the debt. Me thinks he''s used too man steroids over the years.

[petro49l]

California should control vehicle emissions to reduce pollution. Coal is a good idea when it is correctly extracted from the ground. The coal is then converted into gasoline for automobiles. Hydrogen is an abundant source of fuel. The technology is sophisticated, but it could be marketed in the United States to most drivers. California should also invest in preparedness for wild fires. Emergency vehicles, chemicals, tools, and forest breaks are effective strategies for stopping the flames.

[Mccarthyaw]

Watch the governors of Alaska, North Dakota, Louisiana, Mississippi, and a few others, if you really want to see effective state government in action.


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Posted by KatyfromTX at 03:41 PM : Dec 22, 2008

Rofl, Palin? Seriously? She is as inept as they come

[81w10]

Schwarzenegger for President? Hmmm

Built up his body but evidently didn''t concentrate much on building up his mind,

Spent years building personal wealth playing make-believe.

Managed to marry a Kennedy cousin, while maintaining that he was a Republican.

Cashed in on all his sterling qualifications (see above) to swoop in with celebrity name recognition to replace poor old Gray Davis, an equally stupid career political animal who may have actually been duped by ENRON as he claimed at the time. But, we all know Californians - celebrity will win out every time.

Schwarzenegger is probably sincere about his environmental opinions, but his ignorance is blatant. He probably believes his own hype about his leadership role in solving California''s problems, but again, his ignorance is blatant.

What we have in Schwarzeneggar is a super-sized ego. This is not a movie, Arnold. No movie script will turn up which can trump the Constitution. YOU CAN''T BE PRESIDENT of the USA, being Mr. Olympia, Mr. Maria Shriver, Mr. Governor notwithstanding.

Watch the governors of Alaska, North Dakota, Louisiana, Mississippi, and a few others, if you really want to see effective state government in action.

[Mccarthyaw]

Climate change (AKA global warming) is occuring. There is no real scientific debate over that. Even the most outspoken antagonists of climate change the last couple decades have come out and said that it is occuring. Those who say climate change is not occuring are ignorant.

The debate now is whether humans are partly responsible for the change. Yes, the earth goes through cyclic changes, but this change is occuring at a much more rapid pace this time around.

I see nothing but good that can come from switching to green technology anyways.