In the winter of 2005, Seattle began to see the potential consequences of global warming. Mountain snowfall reached dangerously low levels, jeopardizing the cities clean drinking water and hydroelectric power and increasing the chance of wildfires. In response, Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels launched a climate change initiative that's earned him and the city high marks for innovation.
"We faced an uncertain year of water supply," Nickels said. "I was concerned for my city, and I was worried about the future. And I was mad that my nation's government was sitting on its hands."
The same year, President Bush rejected the Kyoto Protocol, one of the first international steps toward curbing global warming. One hundred and forty-one countries joined the Kyoto accord, agreeing to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions by 2012. But the United States was not one of them.
"In the United States, we view ourselves as a great nation; a principled people with a history of rising to the challenge of the most serious international threats," Nickels told BBC News. "Yet there we were, responsible for 25 percent of the greenhouse gas emissions causing a global meltdown, but somehow incapable of doing anything about it."
Tired of waiting for the federal government to act, Nickels launched Seattle's Climate Protection Initiative (CPI), which relies on individuals and large businesses to achieve its overall goal of reducing the city's emissions.
The campaign involved promoting energy conservation in transportation, heating, and lighting. To meet this goal, Seattle began and continues to invest heavily in its mass transit systems and has launched a biodiesel program, enabling city buses, trucks, and state ferries to use this cleaner, renewable fuel.
City officials are also providing money for sustainable landscaping projects, which includes replacing each tree removed during construction with two new trees.
Seattle City Light, a publicly owned power company that powers 370,000 residential and commercial customers, is one example of the city's success in meeting its low emissions goals.
"Our publicly owned electric utility, City Light, is the first in the nation to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions, through a combination of renewable energy sources and carbon offsets - essentially paying others to reduce their pollution," Nickels said. "It is a source of great pride: we are powering our city without toasting the planet!"
Overall, Seattle has reduced its carbon emissions by 60 percent since the initiative began. But Nickels realized that it would take more than just Seattle to make a dent in the problems surrounding global warming.
He has persuaded 450 mayors from across America to agree to a voluntary commitment to lower their emissions to those of the Kyoto Protocol.
"The fact that mayors have really embraced it is a strong signal to the country that this is a very important issue," Rick Fedrizzi, president of the U.S. Green Building Council, told USA Today. "Mayors do this for their cities not as window dressing but to prove that their cities are well managed."
However, not everybody believes the cities themselves can create sustainable change.
"Climatically, it means nothing," Patrick Michaels, a senior fellow in environmental studies at the libertarian Cato Institute, told USA Today. "If all the nations of the world lived up to the Kyoto Protocol the effect on global warming would be undetectable for a century. So the effect of a few cities within the United States living up to Kyoto would be less than undetectable."
But Nickels remains positive that a coalition of cities shows that this is more than just a symbolic gesture.
"The frustration has turned into a sense of hope that we have helped build a movement that will result in this great nation joining, even leading, the global battle for a stable climate."
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