Teddy's dictum.

Byline: The Register-Guard

Theodore Roosevelt IV, a Republican environmental activist, exhorted the audience at last week's climate change conference in Florida by quoting his great-grandfather Teddy Roosevelt's guiding principle: "In any moment of decision, the best thing you can do is the right thing. The worst thing you can do is nothing."

So far, 34 states, including Oregon, and more than 600 cities have acted in accordance with the former president's credo by taking definitive action to combat global warming. Florida became the latest addition to that list last week when Gov. Charlie Crist signed executive orders requiring that his state cut greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 levels by 2025, that 20 percent of its power eventually come from renewable sources and that Florida's civil servants use fuel-efficient vehicles and "green" offices.

An exuberant California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, whose state has led the growing grass-roots movement to curb greenhouse gas emissions, told the conference that the United States was approaching a "tipping point" when the federal government and industries would have no choice but to join in confronting the nation's - and the world's - greatest environmental challenge.

Schwarzenegger is right; a tipping point is approaching. But President Bush appears determined to make certain it will not occur until after he leaves office. Meanwhile, the new Democratic majority in Congress has been dismayingly slow to tackle the essential task of limiting greenhouse gas emissions.

For more than a year, the Bush administration has refused a request by California, Oregon and at least 10 other states to exceed inadequate and outdated federal standards regulating the carbon emissions of new cars. It shows no signs of relenting, even though the U.S. Supreme Court ruled earlier this year that the Environmental Protection Agency has the authority - and responsibility - to regulate heat-trapping greenhouse gases in auto emissions.

Crist said last week that he hopes Florida will join the swelling ranks of states adopting more stringent tailpipe standards as soon as the EPA gives the green light. That could be a long wait unless Congress intercedes by passing legislation that requires the federal agency to give its approval. Or better yet, federal lawmakers could bring current federal emissions standards in line with those adopted by California, Oregon and the other states that are attempting to fill the void in federal leadership on global warming.

Oregon has been at the vanguard of this states-based movement. In addition to the new emissions standards that Gov. Ted Kulongoski put in place through an executive order last year, the recently concluded 2007 Legislature approved one of the toughest renewable energy standards in the nation, one that requires the state's largest utilities to obtain 25 percent of their electricity from renewable sources by 2025. State lawmakers also approved the Climate Change Integration Act, which sets the aggressive goal of reducing greenhouse emissions in Oregon to levels that are at least 75 percent below 1990 levels by 2020.

Like California and Oregon, Florida and an increasing number of other states understand that "in any moment of decision, the best thing you can do is the right thing." And that "the worst thing you can do is nothing."