US Mayors Climate Protection Agreement
Background
In March 2005, in the wake of the US refusal to join the other 141 nations that had signed the international treaty on global warming known as the Kyoto Protocol, Seattle Mayor Nickels took the lead and challenged his counterparts in other US cities to commit to take local action to reduce global warming pollution. He drafted a document, the US Mayors Climate Protection Agreement
http://www.ci.seattle.wa.us/mayor/climate/cpaText.htm
to be presented at the US Conference of Mayors in June 2005. It was adopted unanimously. Despite the US refusal to sign on to the Kyoto Protocol, we would achieve the same goals, one city at a time. As of June 2007, 592 mayors representing 67 million citizens have signed on to the Agreement, and more mayors are coming on board every week.
These mayors represent a broad spectrum of politicians: republicans as well as democrats; from progressive coastal cities as well as conservative heartland cities; some govern cities with longstanding environmental activism (Chicago, S.F., Portland), others include converts like the conservative republican mayors of Arlington, TX and Tom Barrett of Milwaukee who just two years ago said it would be hard for him to join because of his city’s commitment to promoting industry.
As of June 2007, 84 California cities have adopted the Mayors Agreement (
http://www.ci.seattle.wa.us/mayor/climate/quotes.htm#mayors
).
Why is this agreement important to mayors?
The mayors recognize that:
climate disruption (droughts, extreme storms, heat waves, etc) is a distinctly local issue and that action is urgent.
actions to reduce global warming pollution provide
economic benefits and tax dollars savings ( the download of a Word document;
http://www.aidemocracy.org/UEApress.doc )
benefits important to quality of life, e.g. cleaner air, safer environment, etc.
decreased dependence on imported oil and gas,
more economically vibrant communities,
reduced energy bills
What is the US Mayors Climate Protection Agreement ?
It’s “a set of guidelines initiating innovative and real actions to reduce energy waste and heat-trapping global warming pollution.”
The strategies proposed to achieve these goals fall into 3 areas:
Green vehicle fleets
Energy efficiency
Renewable energy.
The steps for executing the strategies are:
Conduct an inventory of the city’s current global warming emissions
Develop plans to reduce emissions.
Implement the plan
Monitor the progress.
Pacific Grove City Council adopted the Agreements unanimously. The Mayor signed the Agreements on October 3, 2006.
( A link below an "Action" (
in green
) will provide a description of each
implementation activity the City has taken. )
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To contact Denyse Frischmuth for more information on the Agreements
.
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What are the Agreement’s 12 recommended guidelines?
1. Inventory global warming emissions in City operations and in the community, set reduction targets and create an action plan.
2. Adopt and enforce land-use policies that reduce sprawl, preserve open space, and create compact, walkable urban communities;
3. Promote transportation options such as bicycle trails, commute trip reduction programs, incentives for car pooling and public transit;
4. Increase the use of clean, alternative energy by, for example, investing in “green tags”, advocating for the development of renewable energy resources, recovering landfill methane for energy production, and supporting the use of waste to energy technology;
5. Make energy efficiency a priority through building code improvements, retrofitting city facilities with energy efficient lighting and urging employees to conserve energy and save money;
6. Purchase only Energy Star equipment and appliances for City use;
7. Practice and promote sustainable building practices using the U.S. Green Building Council's LEED program or a similar system;
8.
Increase the average fuel efficiency of municipal fleet vehicles; reduce the number of vehicles; launch an employee education program including anti-idling messages; convert diesel vehicles to bio-diesel;
Agreement satisfied 8
9. Evaluate opportunities to increase pump efficiency in water and wastewater systems; recover wastewater treatment methane for energy production;
10. Increase recycling rates in City operations and in the community;
11.
Maintain healthy urban forests; promote tree planting to increase shading and to absorb CO2;
Agreement satisfied 11
12.
12. Help educate the public, schools, other jurisdictions, professional associations, business and industry about reducing global warming pollution.
Agreement satisfied 12
Pacific Grove Accomplishments
Pacific Grove is in the process of implementing the following actions recommended by the
Mayors Agreement. It should be noted that most of the accomplishments to date have been
made possible through the volunteer work and the financial contributions by members of
the grass root organization Sustainable Pacific Grove (SPG), members of the city council
and city staff, and other dedicated PG residents. The severe financial constraints presently
experienced by the city limit the extent to which PG can undertake some of the recommended
actions requiring some financial investments which, we know, in the long run
would financially benefit the city. Hopefully, the situation will soon improve sufficiently
to enable us to expand the range of actions we can take.
City Action on Agreement #8
For several months now, the P.G. fire department has been working on converting our fleet of 4 fire trucks to bio-diesel fuel. It is a gradual process that has to happen slowly, to ensure that there is no damage to the trucks` mechanism.
City Action on Agreement #11,
City Action on Accord #11.
P.G. enacted an environmental stewardship campaign,
Trees for P.G., a public-private effort to reforest Pacific Grove. The program has 2 components:
Holiday Trees for P.G.
At Christmas time, our mayor, Dan Cort, encouraged the residents to consider buying a live Christmas tree, to be later planted on their property or donated to the city in support of its reforestation efforts. Trees had to be native and appropriate for our area. Residents who opted instead to make a donation became seedling sponsors (for $75.) or sapling sponsors (for $250.), each receiving a certificate, plus the opportunity for the sponsors to have their names engraved on a special sculpture plaque in city hall. Dan and Beth Cort personally collected the donated trees.
Carbon-neutral Good Old Days week-end event.
Good Old Days is an event sponsored every April by the PG Chamber of Commerce. This year, Good Old Days got an aura of modernity when the Chamber decided to make it carbon-neutral. The CO2 emissions resulting from transportation, on-site energy use, energy to produce the event`s products and services, were all calculated and it was estimated that 507 trees would have to be planted in order to offset those emissions. Mayor Cort personally purchased the seedlings, and volunteers from Sustainable Pacific Grove distributed them to PG residents visiting the SPG Sustainability Fair in Jewell Park.
On Arbor Day, volunteers from the community, including our mayor, city manager Jim Colangelo, and council member Scott Miller, members of SPG, and school children, planted several hundred trees and seedlings in Washington Park, where the ground had been prepared by a group gathered by our Public Works director Celia Martinez. As for the care of the trees until they are rooted, our Fire Chief, Andrew Miller, has volunteered his crew to water these new plants weekly for one year.
The Trees for PG campaign is enhancing our sense of community and instilling a new urgency about caring for our environment. The cost to the city has been $0. thanks to individual donations, a grant from the Regional Park district and volunteer time.
City Action on Agreement # 12
April 2007 SPG Sustainability Fair at Good Old Days. The several exhibits shown at the Fair were a means of educating the visiting public on energy efficiency, alternative source of energy, energy waste. One station provided the public with the opportunity to calculate their carbon footprint.
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