Sweating the hothouse

RECOGNIZING THAT GLOBAL WARMING fast may be approaching the point of no return and that the world cannot wait for our Federal government to act, hundreds of American city mayors have pledged to cut emissions of greenhouse gases. By signing the U.S. Mayors Climate Protection Agreement, these elected officials--representing some 44,000,000 Americans--have committed their cities to meet or beat the U.S. emissions reduction target in the Kyoto Protocol, despite Washington's refusal to ratify that treaty.

This grassroots political revolution, spearheaded by Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels, calls for reducing greenhouse gas emissions to seven percent below 1990 levels by 2012. Since Feb. 16, 2005, the date the Kyoto Protocol came into effect for the 141 countries that ratified it, almost 250 cities have joined the mayors' agreement, including New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago, the nation's three largest metropolises. The Northeast, Great Lakes Region, and West Coast are particularly well represented, and the list keeps growing. The group includes communities with an eye on global problems as well as those concerned about climate-related impacts closer to home. For example, a dozen Florida coastal cities that are at risk from storms and rising seas have signed on. Ray Nagin noted a similar concern when adding New Orleans to the agreement, stating that "The rise of the Earth's temperature, causing sea level increases that could add up to one foot over the next 30 years, threatens the very existence of New Orleans"--and this was before Hurricane Katrina.

The cities' action plans vary in both content and completeness, but the common refrains include increasing automobile efficiency, improving public transportation systems, curbing urban sprawl, and encouraging walking and cycling. The plans emphasize using and generating electricity more efficiently, with renewable energy sources playing a prominent role. Seattle's pledge to reduce greenhouse gas emissions translates into an annual cut of 683,000 tons, the equivalent of retiring some 148,000 cars each year. In March 2006, the Mayor's Green Ribbon Commission made numerous recommendations on how to achieve this goal. The local role model is the municipal government, which already has slashed carbon emissions from city operations to more than 60% below 1990 levels. This was achieved in part by switching a share of the government fleet to hybrid-electric vehicles. By cutting fleet fuel use by seven percent between 1999-2005, the city saved at least $300,000 a year.

Seattle City Light became the nation's first major electric utility to achieve zero net greenhouse gas emissions in 2005 through a combination of conservation, renewable energy (principally hydropower), and offsets for the remaining emissions. To capitalize on this success, the commission recommends improving energy efficiency in all buildings and new housing. For Seattle as a whole, the city's 400,000 registered vehicles are the number-one local producer of greenhouse gases. The commission suggests a number of ways to reduce automobile dependence: broaden the availability of "frequent, reliable, and convenient public transportation," which could be funded in part by new regional toll roads and commercial parking taxes; encourage car pooling; add bike lanes and trails; improve sidewalks and crossings; and develop "compact, green, urban neighborhoods" built for people, not cars.

Suggestions to move beyond the Kyoto goals include using rooftop solar energy systems and heat pump water heaters. Other innovations that make the Seattle commission's list are pay-as-you-drive insurance to discourage unnecessary road traffic, and plug-in hybrid-electric vehicles that, for short trips, can run on electricity, preferably produced by renewable sources--virtually an 80-plus mile-per-gallon car.

Of the other locales signed on to the Mayors Agreement, Portland, Ore., has one of the most advanced plans for change. In 1993, Portland became the first U.S. city to develop a global warming action plan. Now, together with the rest of Multnomah County, it aims to cut greenhouse gas emissions to 10% below 1990 levels by 2010. Had the county continued with business as usual, today it would be emitting more than 12,000,000 tons of carbon dioxide. Because of its deliberate action to reduce greenhouse gases, however, the latest tally shows emissions have fallen to 9,700,000 tons--just one percent above 1990 levels. Portland has managed to increase public transit use by 75% since 1990. This was aided in part by the addition of new major light rail lines and the 2001 reinstatement of a central city streetcar, a throwback to the old trolley system that had been supplanted by polluting diesel buses and personal automobiles.

In 2002, Multnomah County established energy efficiency standards for "lighting, heating and cooling, appliances, and personal computers." Throughout Portland, traffic signals have been converted to light-emitting diode bulbs that cut energy use by a whopping 80%, saving the city more than $500,000 each year in energy and maintenance costs. Moreover, the city is investigating the possibility of powering all its facilities completely with wind energy.