http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8044734/
Environment
Mayors gather for climate change summit
U.N. Environment Day idea draws 70 from around globe
The Associated Press
Updated: 8:13 a.m. ET May 31, 2005
SAN FRANCISCO - Mayors from some of the world's biggest cities are
gathering here this week to forge a set of international guidelines
for sustainable urban living - billed as a municipal version of the
Kyoto Protocol on global warming that the United States never
ratified.
The Urban Environmental Accords, to be signed at the United Nations
World Environment Day Conference, is the latest example of cities
seeking to tackle climate change despite reluctance from their
national governments.
We cannot afford to wait for the state or federal government to do
the job. There are too many excuses going around, particularly in
this country, said San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom. Increasingly,
the world will look at mayors to become the stewards of the
environment since the vast majority of the pollution comes from
cities.
At least 70 mayors from cities such as London, Rio de Janeiro,
Tehran, Capetown, Sydney and Shanghai are scheduled to attend the
five-day conference in San Francisco - the first U.S. city to host
the annual event. World Environment Day, celebrated each June 5, was
established in 1974, with annual conferences held since 1987.
At this year's gathering, themed Green Cities and running June 1-5,
the mayors will trade ideas on sustainable urban living in areas such
as renewable energy, recycling, public transportation, city parks and
clean air and water. More than 230 community activities for World
Environment Day are scheduled around the San Francisco Bay area.
Gov. Schwarzenegger signs on
On Wednesday, when the conference opens, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger
will unveil California's plan to reduce emissions of carbon dioxide
and other greenhouse gases blamed for trapping heat in the earth's
atmosphere and raising temperatures worldwide.
San Francisco, where the United Nations was founded 60 years ago, is
known as an environmental trendsetter, and city officials plan to
showcase its green successes. The city now recycles two-thirds of its
garbage, claims the largest fleet of alternative fuel vehicles and
boasts the country's largest city-owned solar power installation at
the Moscone Convention Center.
There's so much we can share, but there's also an enormous amount we
can learn from other cities, Newsom said.
Until recently, international treaties have been the main forum for
addressing global environmental problems such as climate change,
which scientists say is causing increasingly violent storms,
shrinking wildlife habitats and rising sea levels that threaten
coastal cities.
The Kyoto Protocol, adopted in the Japanese city in 1997, requires
industrialized nations to cut greenhouse gas emissions by an average
of five percent below 1990 levels. The treaty was ratified by at
least 140 countries and went into effect in February.
Bush administration stand
But the United States, the world's largest emitter of greenhouse
gases, did not sign because Bush administration officials believed
the treaty would result in the loss of five million U.S. jobs and
raise energy prices, said Michele St. Martin, a spokeswoman for the
White House Council on Environmental Quality.
President Bush favors an aggressive approach on climate change - one
that fosters economic growth that will lead to new technology and
innovation, St. Martin said, pointing to the administration's $2
billion climate change initiative that promotes clean-coal
technology, hydrogen-powered vehicles, nuclear power and renewable
energy.
Environmentalists and government officials are questioning whether
Kyoto and other global treaties between national governments are the
solution.
We have all these laws on the books, but none of them are being
implemented, said Jared Blumenfeld, director of San Francisco's
Department of the Environment. They have to teeth. Nothing happens
if you don't implement them. No one's going to hold them accountable.
Frustrated by the U.S. government's stance on global warming, many
Americans states, cities and corporations are taking steps to reduce
emissions of heat-trapping gases from factories, automobiles and
power plants.
San Francisco, Seattle have action plans
Last year, San Francisco was perhaps the first U.S. city to adopt its
own climate action plan that seeks to reduce greenhouse gas
emissions - to 20 percent lower than 1990 levels by 2012 - by
increasing public transportation use, recycling rates, renewable
power and energy efficiency.
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In May, Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels, worried about dry winters in his
famously wet city, announced that more than 130 U.S. mayors have
signed an agreement to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by meeting or
beating the Kyoto targets.
The mayors, the corporations and even the
