Nevada Ballot Measure a Catch-22 for the Mojave
![Image](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-QpL_DcVbBmGJBjUK5S0Z6c3LKh4EeYePdAtYRG_UF_28a56h_3HRvb73XmTcmbkEUL-Eq8nqxdWoMa0nI6d7wyJwfH5enDE-YZ2xSZv2mi_uOsKXayMhPMChmAS9s0qD78lKI0ovJZ9G/s640/20170529-SVG_5305.jpg)
"As we focus on climate change, we must also act decisively to protect the living world while we still have time. It would be humanity’s ultimate achievement." - E.O. Wilson Nevada is poised to vote on whether to increase its renewable portfolio standard (RPS) - the share of electricity required to come from renewable sources - to 50% by the year 2030, without any plan for protecting Nevada's increasingly vulnerable wildlands. An increased RPS without corresponding plans to protect wildlands is sure to spur a second rush of solar and wind projects, but continuing to burn fossil fuels will compound the ongoing harmful effects of climate change on that same landscape. A more sensible path - providing stronger incentives for solar on rooftops and over parking lots and diverting larger projects to already-disturbed lands - has eluded the state's policymakers and environmental groups. This Joshua tree woodland in southern Nevada would be transformed