Did You Notice The Government Was Closed? The Environment Probably Did

Ten years ago, Arnold Schwarzenegger was elected governor of California and he appointed me to be the Secretary of the California Environmental Protection Agency. Until then, neither of us had given serious thought to serving in government, but the experience changed our lives and, although you may not know it, changed yours too.

In 2003, Schwarzenegger was best known for bodybuilding, action movies, and driving Hummers, but even before he was elected, he was equally serious about environmental protection and after school programs for at–risk kids. These two issues may seem unrelated, but Schwarzenegger saw kids in his "After School All–Stars" sports programs wheezing from polluted air and heard how those living low–income neighborhoods were often drinking contaminated water and living near dilapidated parks or "brownfield" sites.

So as governor, he tackled air pollution by focusing on green energy and cleaner cars. He developed policies that addressed climate change, ocean protection, and preserved hundreds of thousands of acres of wild lands and open spaces. But all of Schwarzenegger's green accomplishments had two fundamental things in common.

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