Saving the planet should be motivation enough, but a new report forthcoming from Environment California Research & Policy Center shows that cutting global warming pollution can also create economic opportunities.

In its report being released on August 10th, the Center tells the stories of 12 pioneering businesses in the Golden State that have reduced their carbon dioxide emissions by more than 100 million pounds a year, while saving more than $13 million in the process. (That’s in addition to the invaluable publicity that savvy companies now realize they can cynically exploit by appearing green.)

From the Westfield Corporation’s energy efficiency and conservation projects in San Diego shopping malls to the installation of large-scale solar photovoltaic panels at P-R Farms’ fruit packaging facility in the Central Valley, the report details approaches that work both for the environment and the bottom line. Of course if the climate change crisis goes on too much longer, all of our bottom lines will be devastated and our problems will run much deeper than triple-digit heat waves and air-conditioning breakdowns.

So here are some things you can do:

Join the Stop Global Warming Virtual March. The point is to develop a collective entity that can ultimately demand that governments, corporations, and politicians take the steps necessary to forestall global warming.

Petition your mayor to sign the Climate Protection Agreement if he or she is not one of the 275 US mayors who have already done so. If they have, thank them.

Urge your legislator to support House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi’s Safe Climate Act. Click here for contact info for your legislators.

Finally, join the group StopGlobalWarming.com for updates on new actions and efforts to ensure a viable climate for our descendants.