Above all, the states are closest to many of the real environmental problems that we still face. The localities and communities are even closer. They are best able to balance competing environmental interests and come up with solutions that are most meaningful to them. An increasing number of localities, like Chicago, IL, Columbus, OH and Charlotte, NC, have gained high-level expertise through relationships with their own neighboring universities and private sector. The new environmentalism does not call for a universal shift of all problem-solving to the states.
Some states are more advanced than others.
And while localities are even more uneven in their environmental capacities, they're coming of age as environmental stewards, too. Some problems are national in scope and need uniform, national approaches. We believe that strong federal leadership is necessary when it comes to making decisions on air pollution that blows with the wind across state lines, or on oil tankers that ply our coastlines and on rivers that cross state boundaries. But even there, it is essential that affected states and localities bring their experiences, understanding and ideas into the federal decisions. And while that's happening more and more, because people in the states and localities want their voices to be heard, we have just begun to harvest the wealth of environmental ingenuity growing up all over the country.