Lessons From Germany. By Laura Blue, Time, April 27, 2008. "Between 1990 and 2005, Germany's total greenhouse-gas emissions declined 18%; in the same period, those of the U.S. went up 16%. But Germany's impressive performance has been less about innovation than about implementation. The government has left little to chance. An eco-tax on fuel discourages petroleum use. Laws push waste reduction and recycling; producers must pay to deal with packaging they create. Subsidies encourage people to retrofit their homes with solar panels. It may seem glib to resort to national stereotype, but the Germans have done well by being, well, efficient -- and that means many of their gains may be replicable. Like the U.S., Germany is a major industrial nation where viable environmental policy must work with business interests. And like the U.S., Germany has a political system in which state and local governments operate semi-autonomously within a federal structure, allowing plenty of room for policy experimentation. So what can Americans learn from Europe's most populous nation?"
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