In 2007, the leaders of environmental groups in 23 states joined forces to form Environment America. Together, we’re building on the progress our advocates and activists have made at the state and local level—from laws that promote solar and wind power, to cuts in the pollution that causes global warming, to new protections for millions of acres of wilderness and open space. With grassroots support and action across the country, a team of professional researchers and issue experts, advocates at work in 23 state capitols, more advocates at work in Washington, D.C., a spirit of cooperation and an orientation toward real results, Environment America is providing a powerful new force for progress on the environment in our country.
In each state, our staff work to achieve concrete, practical changes on issues ranging from air and water pollution to global warming, from protecting wilderness to banning toxic chemicals.
Highlights
- In California, we helped win the Million Solar Roofs Initiative, a $3.2 billion program to help put solar panels on a million California roofs by 2018. Then, we helped pass a solar hot water heater program in 2007.
- Our advocates and activists in 12 states have helped champion Clean Cars programs to require more hybrids and reduce global warming pollution.
- We’ve helped put in place clean energy standards that require utilities to provide more electricity from wind, solar and other forms of clean energy in 20 states. We’ve won new standards for energy-saving appliances and other products in 10 states.
- We led a campaign that convinced the governors of Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island, and Vermont to sign the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative to cut global warming emissions from power plants by 10 percent by 2019.
We worked with governors in California and New Jersey to pass the first state global warming caps in the country and we helped the governors of Arizona, California, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington sign on to a regional climate initiative.
- Our advocates in Michigan, Illinois and Wisconsin helped stop BP from dumping more pollution into Lake Michigan.
- Our state and federal advocates helped to stop plans to build a new coal-fired power plant in the Everglades ecosystem.
- Our work in Washington and Maine helped pass the first ever bans on all phthalates, a class of toxic chemicals in consumer products.
- Read more results.
