Resource Renewal Institute’s Green Planning

Huey Johnson, environmentalist and former California Secretary of Resources in the Brown Administration (1978 -1982) has been forging comprehensive environmental solutions for 30 years. Mr. Johnson founded the Resource Renewal Institute in 1985 following his service as California Secretary of Resources. His pioneering policy, Investing for Prosperity, was one of the first comprehensive and long-term environmental plans in existence. Since the early 1990’s, when the first nation-scale environmental policies appeared in the Netherlands and New Zealand, Mr. Johnson has promoted these and other Green Plans.

Mr. Johnson remains an authority on the subject and the third edition of his book, Green Plans: Blueprint for Sustainable Earth, was published in 2008 by University of Nebraska Press. Green Plans have incorporated a wide spectrum of environmental themes and policy goals; the proof is in the 20-year track record of the Netherlands, New Zealand, Singapore and the European Union, among others. Decoupling economic growth from environmental pressures is a realistic outcome of Green Plans and would secure California’s future prosperity.

The interdisciplinary nature of climate change has introduced many Californians to the challenge and importance of assessing a wide spectrum of causes and policy outcomes for a safe environmental future. Like California’s landmark global warming legislation of 2006, however, most climate policy is relatively new, untested, and lacking integration with sectors beyond air and energy.

Green Plans can be modified and reproduced as policy templates in states, nations, and municipalities, reducing the costs and lengthy implementation periods usually associated with complex new legislation. Read a proposal for a California Green Plan, prepared by the WELL Network.

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