2011 A network of marine protected areas -- “underwater parks” -- encompasses 15 to 20 percent of California’s

The nation’s last unprotected wild areas -- those places that meet the federal legal definition of “wilderness” -- are finally off-limits to oil and gas drilling.

2012 Congress reforms the Toxic Substances Control Act. Every new chemical must be tested and proved safe before widespread use in consumer products.

NRDC advocacy forces the U.S. Navy to comply with federal law and halt sonar-training exercises in important habitat of whales and other marine mammals.

2013 An international treaty controls the use of mercury and bans its mining.

2014 Congress passes America's Red Rock Wilderness Act to protect more than 9 million acres of wild lands in Utah.

2015 Building on President Obama's 2010 executive order, new federal legislation improves the way oceans are managed by establishing a national policy to protect, maintain, and restore the health of marine ecosystems -- the equivalent of a Clean Air Act for the oceans.

2020 Threats, or "stressors," to polar bears -- which are already affected by global warming -- have been reduced by a ban on offshore oil drilling in the Chukchi and Beaufort seas and by prohibiting the international commercial trade in polar bear parts exported from Canada and Greenland.

Through tough emissions and fuel consumption standards and financial incentives, new electric vehicles, including plug-in hybrids, account for 10 percent of all U.S. automobile sales.

The development of smart-growth communities -- where homes are close to schools, workplaces, and shops -- reduces the average distance we drive by at least 10 percent, decreasing global-warming pollution by 144 million metric tons in 2020.

2025 Per capita water use nationwide is 20 percent lower than current usage because of more efficient water fixtures and appliances, on-site use of gray water and harvested rainwater, landscaping that thrives with less water, and utility rate policies that reward customers for efficiency. Combined, these measures help counteract critical declines in water supplies and aquatic systems because of climate change.

Thousands of gray wolves thrive in the northern Rockies, the Southwest, the Pacific Northwest, and the Midwest, while new populations recolonize northern California, Colorado, and the Northeast. Resurgent wolf populations prevent deer and elk from overbrowsing riparian areas, which helps trees and shrubs regenerate along streams and improves habitat for wildlife, from beavers to songbirds.

2030 China ceases construction of any new fossil-fuel–powered plants except those that sequester CO2 or displace older facilities and meets new energy needs through efficiency and renewables.

Fuel consumption standards for passenger vehicles rise to an average of more than 60 mpg, surpassing today’s most efficient hybrids. This reduces greenhouse gas emissions by 330 million metric tons annually and cuts annual oil consumption by an amount equivalent to more than a quarter of current imports.

2040 Regional public transit networks -- such as heavy rail, light rail, streetcars, and bus rapid transit -- are under construction or completed in every U.S. city of 250,000 residents or more.

Electric vehicles account for 35 percent of new U.S. automobile sales as a result of strong emissions standards, government grants and loans for the retooling of auto factories, and consumer incentives.

20 billion gallons of low-carbon cellulosic biofuels are produced from non-corn, non-food crops, displacing about 13.5 billion gallons of gasoline, equivalent to approximately 11 percent of the current amount consumed by cars and light trucks.

2050 All U.S. automobiles can run on non-petroleum fuels -- biofuels, electricity, or hydrogen.

Three-quarters of American households are close to public transportation, and 15 percent of all passenger travel is by public transit, compared with 2 percent today.

Most planes, freight trains, and long-haul trucks run on sustainable advanced biofuels.

Sixty percent of our energy is renewable -- from wind, solar, and other sources.

The use of coal as an energy source is phased out -- except at facilities that capture their carbon pollution and dispose of it safely underground -- because of firm limits on carbon pollution.

China produces 50 percent of its energy from environmentally friendly sources by putting a cap on carbon and by establishing ambitious targets and incentives for renewable energy.