With a somewhat disappointing energy package that passed through Congress last year, it seems like we may be waiting for forever—or at least for a new administration—to make a difference on federal climate change legislation. Meanwhile, a few states and municipalities aren’t waiting around for the federal government to act. In Minnesota, for example, two bills outline an aggressive set of targets to reduce fossil fuel dependency, increase renewable sources of energy, and curb greenhouse gas emissions. Several municipalities are outlawing plastic bags, buying hybrid buses, and creating a more pedestrian or biker-friendly cities. Even companies and local school districts are getting in the game. These days, incremental change seems to be our best chance of making long-term progress.

The two bills that passed through the Minnesota legislature recently were a part of an omnibus energy package. The first initiative, which was voted on at the end of the legislative session last year, will mandate that 25 percent of power produced by Minnesota utility providers will be from renewable sources—solar, wind, burned waste, or hydroelectricity—by 2025. Utility companies unwilling or unable to meet the requirement by 2025 would have to build new facilities or purchasing credits from other utility companies that have met the targets (a system commonly known as cap and trade). If utility companies do neither they will face fines from the state public utilities commission.

The second bill commits the state to substantial energy conservation, mandating that utilities decrease customers' energy use by 1.5 percent per year until 2025. The bill has been passed, but is undergoing examination by a task force to see which utilities the 1.5 percent reduction will apply to. The details of how this target will be met will be worked out over the course of the next year through meetings between lawmakers, public interests, and utility companies.

The law, if it goes into effect, would make Minnesota the second state, behind California—which recently had its emissions standards blocked by the Environmental Protection Agency—to have passed binding limits for greenhouse gas emissions. These two initiatives could decrease greenhouse gas emissions in Minnesota by over 40 percent by 2025 and reduce emissions by 80 percent by 2050. Of course, there’s always the fear that the EPA will block Minnesota’s clean energy program in the same way they did California’s.

But these two bills, promising as they may be, face larger difficulties. Since utility companies often span multiple states, state-level standards can be difficult to enforce. For example, the state’s largest energy producer, Xcel Energy, could set up facilities in South Dakota and circumvent the need to meet the energy standards in Minnesota while still serving its Minnesota customers legally. This is the problem that will persist until federal standards are put in place. Such standards would lead to a larger, more concerted effort to reducing our fossil fuel use and greenhouse gas emissions.

While states like Minnesota and California take initiative on their own, smaller changes can make big differences. Environmentalists tend to promote simple, repetitive actions— like bringing reusable sacks to grocery stores and refusing bags at check-out lanes. Plastic bags often have a life span of a few minutes, and take thousands of years to decompose (if they ever really do), in a landfill. Whole Foods recently announced it is phasing out plastic bags by Earth Day 2008. The company alone will save 100 million plastic bags by the end of the year. San Francisco passed legislation last year that outlawed the distribution of plastic bags. And many San Francisco residents are warming to the idea.

Other local or state legislation could include requiring customers to bring or use refillable coffee mugs in coffee shops. Some chain stores like Caribou Coffee already give incentives by allowing customers to save a few pennies at the register. Another option to eliminate waste in restaurants or at home is to insist on reusable napkins instead of disposable paper ones.

Incentives for public transportation, walking, or biking instead of driving can have a major impact. The Safe Routes to School program in Arizona provides funding to communities to create healthy and more eco-friendly options for getting children to and from school. Whether a community wants to build a sidewalk from a neighborhood to the school, on a route that previously had no sidewalk, or creating a crosswalk, or posting signals, the program helps communities make it possible. One outlet of the program finds adults to lead children on daily walks to and from school, which increases the amount of time kids spend exercising and reduces the amount of cars and carbon emissions for those daily treks to and from school.

Schools have the power in their choices of transportation or busing contracts to influence carbon footprints. States can require a certain percentage of a school district’s bus fleet to run on renewable fuels or hybrid technology. Neighborhood groups and city government have the power to create more walking paths and bike routes.

Federal and international regulation is slow in coming, but aggressive local and state governments can push for climate change action in the states through waste and pollution reduction. Ultimately, even if national or international legislation does pass, state and local governments will still need to do their parts to implement environmental change. Creativity is paramount, since no single energy choice will change the environmental tide. Whatever the tactic, changes at the state and local level can tip the scale on a national and international level.

Adam Welti teaches English in France and served in Morocco for the Peace Corps. He graduated from the University of Minnesota in 2004.