That is the same goal the United States would have been required to meet if President George W. Bush had ratified the Kyoto Protocol.
Greener Cities are Vital in Reducing Global Warming
The news was announced in New York City at the C40 Climate Summit—a gathering of world mayors convened by New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg and the Clinton Foundation to discuss climate change in cities.
Worldwide, cities account for 78 percent of all greenhouse gas emissions. The 500 U.S. cities that have pledged to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions are home to more than 64 million Americans, more than 20 percent of the entire U.S. population.
“The demand for action on climate protection is growing every day, in big cities and small towns, in the heartland and on the coasts and now across the world,” said Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels, who initiated the U.S. Mayors Climate Protection Agreement in 2005. “What started in Seattle as a protest against the policies of delay has become a coalition of communities across America that is making a difference for the future of our planet.”
Intelligent Life in the U.S.?
The 500-city mark was reached just a little more than two years after Nickels first conceived the plan on the day in February 2005 when the Kyoto Protocol took effect in 141 countries, and President Bush still had refused to ratify the international agreement designed to reduce global warming.
Saying that he wanted to “show the world there was intelligent life in the United States after all,” Nickels drafted the U.S. Mayors Climate Protection Agreement, calling on other U.S. mayors to join him in a nationwide grassroots effort to address global warming at the local level.
“Cool Cities” are Making a Difference
“The real leaders on global warming solutions in our country are to be found in the city halls, not in Washington, DC,” said Glen Brand, Cool Cities Campaign Director for the Sierra Club, in a press statement. “Mayors like Seattle's Greg Nickels, Salt Lake City's Rocky Anderson, and Minneapolis' R.T. Rybak are showing that clean energy solutions are feasible, cost-effective and politically popular. It’s time for our leaders in Washington to follow the extraordinary lead of these 500 cities.”
Brand said the Sierra Club’s Cool Cities Campaign, with 150 local branches nationwide, is working to help cities meet the goals and timetable of the U.S. Mayors Climate Protection Agreement by “advocating smart energy solutions such as energy efficiency, cleaner vehicles and renewal power.”
“The over 500 Cool Cities demonstrate the growing national resolve to take action to solve global warming,” Brand said. “Not waiting for the federal government, Cool City mayors are moving forward today with clean energy solutions such as energy efficiency, cleaner vehicles and renewable power. These smart solutions are reducing global warming pollution and energy costs, while creating new economic opportunities.”