US Cities Fight Climate Change Using Kyoto Protocol

All around the nation mayors are making their voices heard.  Even if the federal government refuses to endorse the Kyoto Protocol, more than 600 mayors have made a commitment to try to meet Kyoto’s target for cutting greenhouse gas emissions.  This is a huge movement against climate change, but these cities have their work cut out.

Kyoto’s target calls for a 7% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions from the 1990 levels by the year 2012.  Boulder, Colorado is already making strides.  Jonathan Cohen, the city’s environmental affairs manager, says, “Our total carbon emissions have reduced by about 5 percent since we started this program. We have another 20 percent to go, and we're going to do it.”

Boulder is also making waves by creating the nation’s first carbon tax.  They have added a charge to all electric bills since the electricity is coming from coal-fired power plants.  Money collected from this tax (about a million dollars annually) will help fund the city’s “climate action plan” encompassing many more initiatives.

I applaud all of these mayors for taking a stand and trying to improve their communities.  Let me know what you think!

By Cassandra Darwin
cdarwin@enviance.com