Notes from The Women’s Conference; and a Noted Woman on California’s Climate Change Program 1

Robin Roberts led Arnold Schwarzenegger, FDIC Chair Sheila Bair, and Sir Richard Branson in a discussion on leadership during The Women’s Conference held yesterday in Long Beach.

Conference notes:

Panelists agreed women should take more leadership roles; the governor said he’s appointed several women to state posts and realizes the importance of women’s points of view.

Branson described an event he spoke at in Saudi Arabia: Women were sequestered behind a curtain, and they cheered from there after he told the men, “You’ve taken all the best seats!” He followed up by encouraging thousands of women with good seats at yesterday’s conference (and those listening to the live stream on the internet) to to take the lead in bringing change to other parts of the world where women have virtually no freedom.

Sheila Bair’s message to women in business and government: focus on where you are, know yourself, do your job well, and the next opportunity will come along.

The governor’s points on leadership and women: Good decisionmaking requires good advice (he credited California’s first lady), families should emphasize math proficiency for daughters, and don’t be afraid of failure (he mentioned some of his movies – I’d never heard of Hercules in New York). Schwarzenegger said that even during this recession, California is leading the way in green technology jobs and patents.

Re: appointing women to government posts, green technology, and California taking the lead, UCLA’s Journal of Environmental Law and Policy just published California’s Climate Change Program: Lessons for the Nation by Mary Nichols, Schwarzenegger-appointed Chair of the California Air Resources Board.

Article points:

California has developed comprehensive policies on climate change, carbon reduction, and renewable energy.

This is a “classic exercise of a state’s historic police powers to respond to threats”

Upfront costs will save citizens money over the long term; that money can be invested in the state’s economy to promote green jobs and technologies.

Federal and state-level coordinated action should foster the initiative and creativity of local governments.

California has provided consistent leadership and brought together agencies, boards, departments and commissions to meet emission reduction targets in various areas.

AB 32, the state cap-and-trade program, low-carbon fuel standards, and SB 375 are all key components of California’s program.

SB 375 aims to synthesize land use, transportation and housing plans to reduce vehicle miles traveled.