Eric de Place

Even in the breathtaking absence of federal leadership on climate change, there’s been some very good news lately: states are stepping up with sound climate policy. And though it gets lost in the fever of election year politicking, states can play a huge role in addressing global warming. Consider this map I made that shows states labeled with nations that had equivalent greenhouse gas equivalents in 2003.

Today, John McCain traveled to Portland, Oregon and speechified on his new climate policy. His plan is far from perfect — more on that later — but what’s really remarkable is what a stunning rebuke it was to Bush and the GOP.

All the interwebs have been abuzz with the “gas tax holiday” pander-fest from McCain and Clinton. Turns out, everyone loves a holiday so much that it’s been a rare moment of unity. It’s been bipartisanly slammed by the MSM, both hemispheres of the blogs, and pretty much everybody else.

Researchers produced a first-of-its-kind map of U.S. carbon dioxide emissions. But for obvious reasons, the map looks a lot like a population density map, since the largest share of cars, buildings, and industry — and hence CO2 — tend to be where the people are. But by turning major cities red, it leads one to precisely the wrong conclusion.