Austin Mayor Will Wynn's endorsement of the Urban Environmental Accords Sunday reflects a growing trend in our nation's environmental policy.
Since 2001, when President Bush withdrew the United States from the Kyoto Treaty, the tasks of reducing global warming and maintaining global environmental standards have fallen to leaders at the local level.
The need for local action against global warming is a result of years of short-sighted Bush Administration policies, namely the rejection of Kyoto and the adoption of the "Clear Air Act," which does not consider carbon dioxide - a major source of global warming - a pollutant.
After the Kyoto Treaty went into effect in February - without the United States - Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels headed up an effort to implement the treaty's goals without the federal government's endorsement.
The effort, called the U.S. Mayors' Climate Protection Agreement, calls on mayors around the country to implement the Kyoto standards in their own cities. That means reducing their greenhouse gas emissions to levels 7 percent below those of 1990 by 2012.
As of press time Sunday, 158 mayors from 37 states had signed the agreement since the initiative began in March. Only four Texas cities - Austin, Denton, Hurst and Laredo - have signed on to the measure.
According to the Texas Almanac, the state has 1,201 incorporated cities. If the 18,000 students who typically register for summer courses at the University lobby their hometown mayors, we could easily double the agreement's signatories.
If you're interested in helping circumvent the Bush Administration's backward environmental policy, write to your mayor and tell him or her about the Climate Protection Agreement.
For more information about how to get involved visit www.seattle.gov/mayor. You can also click here to download a PDF version of the U.S. Mayors Climate Protection Agreement and the signature page, for easy distribution to your hometown mayor.
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