The paper is organized into five sections. The first two sections address the contextual questions raised above: what is the level of knowledge and awareness among the collection of planners and local governments; and, what are the appropriate responses of different levels of government. Thus, in the first section, we review overall levels of knowledge and awareness of basic science and policy dimensions. This is followed by a discussion of theoretical prescriptions for actions at different levels of government. The third and fourth sections focus on Broward County. The third describes the county and presents a current measurement of its carbon footprint (at least at the level to which it can be measured). The fourth section describes the operational response of Broward County government. The final, concluding section returns to the original questions of knowledge and appropriate types of responses and argues that while the Broward response is generally effective in certain aspects, the current policy paradigm contains both strengths and weaknesses, which are outlined and discussed.