If New Jersey ever chose a spokesperson to represent their state, it would likely be Rodney Dangerfield. New Jersey is generally viewed more as a punchline, a suburb of New York, or as one big highway, than it is a state.

This is a state that considered naming Born to Run, a song that tells Jersey residents that they “gotta get out while we’re young”, as the “unofficial rock theme” of its youth; a state whose most famous residents include the Sopranos; and a state that recently unveiled the enigmatic motto: “New Jersey, Come See For Yourself”.

But, for all of the jokes about New Jersey, there is something interesting going on here that we all ought to pay attention to.

Back in April of 2006, New Jersey Governor Jon Corzine signed Executive Order 11 that enacted the following policies:

• It established the position of Director of Energy Savings within the Department of Treasury
• It mandating that all State departments purchase ENERGY STAR products
• It forced all State departments to purchase recycled materials when possible
• It forced all State departments to print all publications and documents on recycled paper.

Almost as importantly, if you look at how this executive order was justified, it talked about the negative economic impact that sea level rises would have on New Jersey. It also explained that an “increased use of renewable energy will improve the State’s economy by exerting downward pressure on natural gas prices and otherwise lowering the cost of energy, creating local jobs, and stemming the flow of energy dollars to out-of-state entities.”

This seems like a shining example of exactly how the power of the executive office should be used. It shows leadership from the top. It recognizes that the State spends large amounts of money and can use that money to effect change. It also does this in a way that doesn’t cost billions of dollars — in fact, it could wind up costing the State less as they realize the savings from some of these actions.

I believe that large chunks of this Executive Order could be picked up, as is, and taken to other states and even to the municipal level. Why shouldn’t our mayors or selectmen adopt virtually identical measures controlling town and city operations?

But, New Jersey didn’t stop there. Yesterday, Governor Corzine signed Executive Order 54 which:

• Established greenhouse gas targets that would result in “stabilization of greenhouse gas emissions at 1990 levels by 2020″ and “reduction of greenhouse gas emissions to 80% below 2006 levels by 2050″
• Directed the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) to monitor the states emissions and report on progress toward these goals

It is still too early to see what will really happen here, but this is exactly the sort of bold leadership that we need. There is no tap dancing around the issue or setting weak targets that make us feel good, but don’t really accomplish anything.

This confronts the issue head on.

Huge kudos to Governor Corzine for taking the leadership here. We should all wish that our states would take this sort of action.

We’ll be watching New Jersey to see what happens next, but for the time being, New Jersey has pulled into the pole position on this issue.