Session One: Discussion of Governors on State-level Innovation

Session Two: Climate Change, Global Issues, State Solutions

“This Conference on the conservation of natural resources is in effect a meeting of the representatives of all the people of the United States called to consider the weightiest problem now before the Nation.”

…so said President Theodore Roosevelt in May of 1908 in his opening address at the White House Conference of Governors which launched the modern conservation movement and planted the seed for the National Parks System.

Now, 100 years later, we face a new and critical challenge: global climate change. This time, however, leadership in the United States is coming from visionary state governors who are simultaneously acting to grow their economies, protect their people and ecosystems, and address this global challenge.

The Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies commemorated the 100th anniversary of Roosevelt’s legacy with a Conference of Governors on Climate Change on April 17 and 18, 2008. This conference celebrated the past, confronted the present climate challenge, and sought to envision a new future. In particular, this conference recognized those governors who have demonstrated global leadership in addressing climate change and provided these leaders with an opportunity to exchange ideas and chart a path forward on state, national, and international action.

Visit the official website for the 2008 Conference of Governors on Climate Change.

Download the press release.

Read the transcript.

Watch Session One, Watch Session Two.

Read the Governors' Declaration on Climate Change.