With a number of national and international decision points on the horizon over the next couple of weeks (Congress/energy bill, Senate/Lieberman-Warner and the U.N. Bali Climate Conference) this is a crucial and exciting time in the fight against global warming.

No less exciting is the progress being made on the ground in cities across the United States. Take San Francisco as an example. After its voluntary plastic bag recycling program achieved less than the desired results (only 5% recycling rate), the city banned plastic bags in large grocery stores last month and in large pharmacies by April.

And just last Friday, the New York Times ran a story on San Francisco's converting its entire array of diesel vehicles — from ambulances to street sweepers — to biodiesel.

The city’s diesel vehicles now all use a fuel known as B20, a mix of 20 percent soy-based biofuel and 80 percent petroleum diesel fuel, which reduces toxic emissions of carbon monoxide, hydrocarbons and other pollutants that lead to global warming.

A spokesman for the mayor, Nathan Ballard, said the goal was to cut such emissions to 20 percent below 1990 levels by 2012.

Here's hoping our national and international lawmakers show as much vision in making tough choices as the city of San Francisco has.

Carbon Neutral Journal's choices are brought to you by Jorgensen Associates.

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