Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

California Governor Jerry Brown

Thanks to an executive ordered issued by Gov. Jerry Brown this week, California state buildings are going to be charged with meeting an updated and stringent green criteria.

Among the many goals of the executive order include half of all new state buildings being zero net energy facilities (AKA carbon neutral) by 2020. By 2025, all state buildings will be required to meet that mark. New or renovated state buildings over 10,000 sq. feet will have to reach the U.S. Green Building Council’s LEED Silver certification or higher, as well as incorporate clean energy generation.

“Doing something real about the growing threat of global warming requires more than just new laws. We must lead by example,” said Governor Brown in the Imperial Valley News. “Greening the state’s buildings will shrink our environmental footprint and save taxpayers millions of dollars.” 

Additionally, all state agencies will have to reduce greenhouse gas emissions at least 10 percent by 2015, and 20 percent by 2020.

Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

the nine-point bill lays out exactly how the state can invest in clean energy solutions in order to generate “jobs, savings, clean air and a more equitable and prosperous economy," 

Sierra Club, America’s longest-running grassroots environmental organization, has launched a new initiative asking members to petition Gov. Jerry Brown to sign a “Clean Energy Bill Of Rights.”

Tagged “My Generation,” the nine-point bill lays out exactly how the state can invest in clean energy solutions in order to generate “jobs, savings, clean air and a more equitable and prosperous economy," according to the Sierra Club.

Among those bill elements are “universal access to clean energy,” the “right to earn money from abundant and unlimited clean energy sources such as sunshine and wind,” and “reduced harm to low income communities & communities of color, which, according to Sierra Club, suffer disproportionately from the effects of dirty energy such as coal generation.”

Supporters of the bill can sign the petition and send a personalized message to Governor Jerry Brown on the Sierra Club website.

Oli Scarff/Getty Images

Pesticide methyl iodide has been generating controversy for years. By the time the State of California approved its use on local crops, California Senator Diane Feinstein had already called the fumigant into question over findings that it causes cancer. 

Last week, the Monterey County Board of Supervisors voted 4-1 in favor of a resolution that asks California governor Jerry Brown to take another look at the just how safe it is to use the much-debated chemical, according to the Californian.

It’s a hotly contested debate in Monterey County, as methyl iodide is used to fumigate strawberry crops, which is a $751 million industry in the county. It had been approved by the EPA as a replacement for pesticide methyl bromide in 2007, with California’s Department of Pesticides getting onboard in 2010, despite methyl iodide being on the state’s list of cancer-causing agents.

While many applaud the move to ultimately ban the pesticide, not everyone agrees. A guest editorial in the Monterey Herald questions the regulation, with agricultural scientist Glen Kardel stating: “if methyl iodide is not used on strawberry fields in Monterey County, the crop will be greatly reduced, along with employment of workers in strawberry production, sending unemployment rates and welfare costs soaring, with an attendant hardship for families of farmworkers.”

On which side of the methyl iodide debate do you stand?

CORRECTION: The original headline of this blog post was misleading. The Board of Supervisors vote does not directly lead to the banning of methyl iodide.