It was one of those “Hey Martha” moments in the 2008 presidential campaign Wednesday at the Port of Long Beach. Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., dipped himself in the vat of green environmentalism. Not just his big toe, but his entire body.

The conservative is a Teddy Roosevelt conservationist, or at least his Web site says that he is. McCain sounded like a conservationist when, standing with Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, he pledged to make California’s global warming fight the model for a national effort to curb greenhouse gases.

He said, if elected president, he would push for the adoption of low carbon standards in vehicle fuels to reduce pollution blamed for climate change. Schwarzenegger’s January executive order for cutting carbon dioxide emissions by 10 percent by 2020, however, is being challenged by legislative Democrats as not stringent enough. They want half of all California cars using low-emission fuels by 2020.

McCain also endorses the Global Warming Solutions Act. The state law approved in 2006 requires California to cut total greenhouse gas pollution by 25 percent, also by 2020. It offers a free-market solution of paying for your environmental sins rather than state regulations and punishments. For example, industries can pay for exemptions from emission standards with “carbon credits” that they would buy from businesses that are out-performing the state compliance standards. A similar program has been successful in improving California’s air quality.

McCain displayed his greenness when he told reporters, “My friends, the debate over climate change should be over. Climate change is taking place and it is largely due to human activity. … Time is not on our side. We must act.”

McCain’s embrace of the global-warming agenda leaves American voters with one question: While on the long road to the White House, will his environmental green tint fade If McCain is true to his word, it won’t.