by Julia Rosen [courtesy of Working Californians blogs]

Dan Weintraub is skeptical that we can continue to grow our economy under the greenhouse gas regulations resulting from the passage of AB32. He is afraid that increased costs on businesses will drive them out of the state. Fortunately for us all there is somebody who is tracking the reduction of greenhouse gases in conjunction with economic growth. SacBee:

A key measure that sums up the entire challenge is one that compares carbon emissions per million people to the state's economic output.

Ideally, the two lines would move in opposite directions.

"We want the economy to grow while we want emissions to decline," said Doug Henton, an economist and Next 10 adviser. "That's it in a nutshell."

Interestingly, that's also pretty much what has been happening over the past decade – even without the state's intervention. California has been using less carbon per person while its economy has been growing.

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