Sacramento, land of the Governator

From a total sample of two, my impression is that US capital cities just don’t feel like cities. DC had a small town feeling despite the government machine which occupies its centre, and Sacramento appears to be a smaller version of the same thing. Astonishing though it may seem, in the state capital of California it’s almost impossible to buy a bag of groceries. There are plenty of upmarket restaurants, and a handful of down at heel corner shops and liquor stores, emphasising the unequal impact of the recession which has so clearly hit the state hard. There’s also a twee ‘old west’ street or two making a valiant attempt to attract the little tourism which comes to this city. But the centrepiece is the Senate building, seen above from the offices of the Sierra Club.

Schwarzenegger’s tenure as Governor is ending in abysmal poll ratings, but a positive climate change agenda seems to his one significant legacy. It’s now suffering from the same partisan politics which is playing out at federal level, but in a state which seems likely to remain Democratic at the mid-term elections the Republican party’s stubbornness may do less damage here than elsewhere. Alongside the elections, there’s a referendum on a proposal to ditch the state’s climate change legislation, with big bucks being spent by a couple of Texas oil companies. Most of the campaigners I met here seem confident that they can win the vote though, and that the greater threat is the race to succeed Arnie as Governor – the replacement will need the political will to press ahead with the various initiatives currently under way, or the progress which has been made on paper will fail to lead to real world emission cuts.

Meanwhile there are small companies out here trying to develop the solutions to California’s low carbon future. The solar thermal collector below is part of an air conditioning system – using heat energy to drive a cooling system in the building below. Not an approach which will work for every building, but out here where every bank, supermarket and motel is currently drawing huge amounts of electricity from the grid to cool the air, it surely has a role to play.