California is a leader in the fight against dangerous climate change. But experts say more needs to be done. Much more.
What is the state of scientific knowledge about the causes and impacts of global warming?
How can the U.S. and fast-growing economies such as China and India reduce carbon emissions to safe levels?
Can California consumers, corporations and policymakers facilitate systemic change and spur others to act?
What are the costs and what are the opportunities? What role does innovation play?- The Commonwealth Club of California
Bio
Greg Dalton
Gregory Dalton is chief operating officer at the Commonwealth Club of California and Director of The Club's Climate 1 Initiative. He previously was international editor at The Industry Standard magazine, an editor for the Associated Press in New York, and a correspondent in China and Canada for the South China Morning Post, a Hong Kong newspaper.
Proficient in both Mandarin and Cantonese, he is a former term member of the Council on Foreign Relations.
Ray Lane
Ray Lane is a Managing Partner at Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, focused on helping entrepreneurs with technological and market insight, organizational development, team building, selling and managing growth. Since joining KPCB, Ray has sponsored several investments for the firm in enterprise and consumer technology, as well as clean and alternative energy.
These companies include Ausra (solar concentrator), GreatPoint Energy (coal to gas conversion), Fisker Automotive (plug-in hybrid car), Th!nk NA (electric car), Luca Technologies (biologically enhanced gas recovery from fossilized hydrocarbons), Xsigo Systems (virtual I/O switch for datacenters), SpikeSource (open source platform for integration and testing), MEVIO (social media network), Virsa (compliance for large enterprises) and Elance (marketplace for services). He also serves on the board of Quest Software.
Mary Nichols
Mary D. Nichols was appointed by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger as Chairman of the California Air Resources Board in July 2007. She returns to the Air Board 30 years after serving as the Chairman under Governor Jerry Brown from 1978 to 1983.
Nichols has devoted her entire career in public and private, not-for-profit service to advocating for the environment and public health. In addition to her work at the Air Board, she has held a number of positions, including: assistant administrator for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Air and Radiation program under the Clinton Administration, Secretary for California's Resources Agency from 1999 to 2003, and Director of the University of California, Los Angeles Institute of the Environment.
As one of California's first environmental lawyers, she initiated precedent-setting test cases under the Federal Clean Air Act and California air quality laws while practicing as a staff attorney for the Center for Law in the Public Interest. Nichols holds a Juris Doctorate degree from Yale Law School and a Bachelor of Arts degree from Cornell University.
Dr. Rajendra Pachauri
Rajendra Kumar Pachauri (born August 20, 1940, Nainital, India) is an economist and environmental scientist who has served as the chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) since 2002. Pachauri is also the director general of the Energy and Resources Institute in New Delhi, an institution devoted to researching and promoting sustainable development. On December 10, 2007, Dr. Pachauri accepted the Nobel Peace Prize on behalf of the IPCC, along with co-recipient Al Gore.
WHAT GLOBAL COOLING?
• The combined global land and ocean average surface temperature for May 2010 was 0.69°C (1.24°F) above the 20th century average of 14.8°C (58.6°F). This is the warmest such value on record since 1880.
• The combined global land and ocean average surface temperature for January–May 2010 was the warmest on record. The year-to-date period was 0.68°C (1.22°F) warmer than the 20th century average.
-- NOAA, June, 2010
6/1/10, Arctic sea ice LOWEST on satellite record -NSIDC
Is it not just a touch inapropriate that the UN have employed an economist/engineer,(Rajendra Pachauri)who has a career in the energy sector, as the chairman of the IPCC instead of a qualified climatologist.
member. 
