'Cool cities' pledge to reduce emissions
Officials stress economic perks
By: Rebecca Putterman, Staff Writer
Issue date: 8/27/07 Section: State & National
Local N.C. governments are taking on the environmental challenge issued on the international stage about a decade ago, stepping in where the federal government has yet to become involved.
Greensboro and Wake Forest joined 20 other N.C. cities last week in a commitment to uphold the Kyoto Protocol, an international measure to fight global climate change.
The U.S. Mayors Climate Protection Agreement, signed by 650 cities nationwide, creates a group of "Cool Cities" committed to reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
By signing on to the agreement, cities pledge to reduce emissions by 7 percent from 1990 levels by 2012.
The Kyoto Protocol, crafted in 1997, set out that goal for the entire United States. The U.S. has not signed the agreement.
"The premise of the program is that the federal government hasn't done a whole lot to stop the problem of climate change," said Tom Jensen, director of North Carolina's chapter of the Sierra Club's Cool Cities project.
"As an alternative, we'd work to get cities in taking the role to address global warming."
Jensen said the Cool Cities program is a "win-win," helping both the environment and the economy.
He cited consumption-cutting initiatives such as those taken by the Orange County Schools, where about $1 million in energy costs have been saved during the past five years.
"Cities are saving a lot of money for their taxpayers while helping the environment," Jensen said.
Gastonia Mayor Jennie Stultz decided to sign onto the U.S. Mayors Climate Protection Agreement in January 2007 as a means of working locally to combat global warming and boost the economy.
"It not only is an environmental issue, it is an economic development issue," Stultz said. "It recruits jobs and reinvents the economy that we've lost with the textile industry."
Stultz said city committees are busy researching alternate sources of energy and planning a public transit system between Gastonia and Charlotte.
She said environmental conservation must be a broad effort. "The average citizen thinks it means everyone has a recycling bin."
But other cities across the state said global warming isn't their most pressing concern.
The town of Hickory, which faces a 10 percent unemployment rate after the loss of the textile industry, set job creation as its first priority.
"We've been a victim of outsourcing," Hickory Mayor Rudy Wright said. "I have not personally identified climate change as a key priority."
Jensen said that climate change has been given a low priority in parts of North Carolina along the coast and in the sand hills region but added that fighting global warming is beneficial to cities as a whole.
"Most of the things that a city is going to do to reach its Cool Cities goal, it should be doing anyway," he said.
Jensen referred to expanding green space, reducing the prevalence of single-occupancy vehicles and planting more trees to absorb carbon dioxide as beneficial initiatives.
"All the things that are involved will improve the quality of life in the community," he said.
The Cool Cities program is a worthwhile first step in combating a difficult problem, Jensen said.
"We've gotten so behind the curve, since we're talking about reaching goals from a level 17 years too late," he said. "But it's a good start considering how far behind we are."
Contact the State & National Editor at stntdesk@unc.edu.
N.C. Cool Cities
Asheville
Black Mountain
Boone
Brevard
Canton
Carrboro
Chapel Hill
Charlotte
Clyde
Durham
Flat Rock
Fletcher
Franklin
Gastonia
Greenville
Highlands
Hillsborough
Raleigh
Salisbury
Wilmington
Winston-Salem
Woodfin
Greensboro and Wake Forest joined 20 other N.C. cities last week in a commitment to uphold the Kyoto Protocol, an international measure to fight global climate change.
The U.S. Mayors Climate Protection Agreement, signed by 650 cities nationwide, creates a group of "Cool Cities" committed to reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
By signing on to the agreement, cities pledge to reduce emissions by 7 percent from 1990 levels by 2012.
The Kyoto Protocol, crafted in 1997, set out that goal for the entire United States. The U.S. has not signed the agreement.
"The premise of the program is that the federal government hasn't done a whole lot to stop the problem of climate change," said Tom Jensen, director of North Carolina's chapter of the Sierra Club's Cool Cities project.
"As an alternative, we'd work to get cities in taking the role to address global warming."
Jensen said the Cool Cities program is a "win-win," helping both the environment and the economy.
He cited consumption-cutting initiatives such as those taken by the Orange County Schools, where about $1 million in energy costs have been saved during the past five years.
"Cities are saving a lot of money for their taxpayers while helping the environment," Jensen said.
Gastonia Mayor Jennie Stultz decided to sign onto the U.S. Mayors Climate Protection Agreement in January 2007 as a means of working locally to combat global warming and boost the economy.
"It not only is an environmental issue, it is an economic development issue," Stultz said. "It recruits jobs and reinvents the economy that we've lost with the textile industry."
Stultz said city committees are busy researching alternate sources of energy and planning a public transit system between Gastonia and Charlotte.
She said environmental conservation must be a broad effort. "The average citizen thinks it means everyone has a recycling bin."
But other cities across the state said global warming isn't their most pressing concern.
The town of Hickory, which faces a 10 percent unemployment rate after the loss of the textile industry, set job creation as its first priority.
"We've been a victim of outsourcing," Hickory Mayor Rudy Wright said. "I have not personally identified climate change as a key priority."
Jensen said that climate change has been given a low priority in parts of North Carolina along the coast and in the sand hills region but added that fighting global warming is beneficial to cities as a whole.
"Most of the things that a city is going to do to reach its Cool Cities goal, it should be doing anyway," he said.
Jensen referred to expanding green space, reducing the prevalence of single-occupancy vehicles and planting more trees to absorb carbon dioxide as beneficial initiatives.
"All the things that are involved will improve the quality of life in the community," he said.
The Cool Cities program is a worthwhile first step in combating a difficult problem, Jensen said.
"We've gotten so behind the curve, since we're talking about reaching goals from a level 17 years too late," he said. "But it's a good start considering how far behind we are."
Contact the State & National Editor at stntdesk@unc.edu.
N.C. Cool Cities
Asheville
Black Mountain
Boone
Brevard
Canton
Carrboro
Chapel Hill
Charlotte
Clyde
Durham
Flat Rock
Fletcher
Franklin
Gastonia
Greenville
Highlands
Hillsborough
Raleigh
Salisbury
Wilmington
Winston-Salem
Woodfin
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