This essay is based on the authors’ new book, Climate Change and Sustainable Development Law in a Nutshell (West 2011), which describes the close relationship between sustainable development and climate change management. The book reviews the history of both fields and demonstrates how they appeared at the same time as an integrated set of considerations. It contains numerous examples of state and local initiatives that draw on the skills of the planning and legal professions, including energy-efficient buildings, green buildings and sites, renewable energy, green neighborhoods (including transit-oriented development, Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design rating system for Neighborhood Development (LEEDND), green infrastructure, and district energy systems), and climate change adaptation through sequestration, resiliency, and adjustments to sea level rise.