Cambridge's Climate-Change Plan Too Radical?

Cambridge's attempts to lead by example in the battle against global warming are drawing heat from the conservative blogosphere after Fox News recently brought attention to the city's progressive climate-change proposal. Released on Jan. 23the Cambridge Climate Congress's ambitious recommendations are fairly wide-reaching and include a voluntary carbon taxfunding for sustainability-education programsand creating more bike paths and sidewalks. The Cambridge Climate Congresscreated last May as a local response to global warmingwill submit its proposals to Harvard's hometown's city council once it has finalized its recommendations.

While Fox has focused on several aspects of the planincluding Meatless Mondays and taxes on plastic bagsthe proposal's language is slightly more flexible than Fox suggests. The group says that one of its goals is to "raise awareness and promote action about the connection between food choices and climate change." While it does suggest mandating that restaurants and schools institute Meatless Mondaysit also proposes year-round farmers' markets and support for community gardensinitiatives that are hardly radical. And while plastic-bag taxes are among the suggested fee-based incentivesso is a statewide refund for recycling bottles and canswhich is already practiced at some level in 11 states.