SierraScape February - March 2008
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by Becky Denney
Contributing Member
The first big step (third of 5 Milestones) of the Cool Cities campaign is for your mayor to sign the U.S. Conference of Mayors Climate Protection Agreement. As of January 6, 2008 there are 754 mayors who signed the U.S. MCPA. The St. Louis area has 8 mayors who signed the Agreement with St. Peters being a recent addition.
Whether your mayor has signed the U.S. Mayors Climate Protection Agreement or not, he needs to know that you and your neighbor expect him to take important steps to reduce energy use by your city government. That reduction can truly save your city money. It is easy to see that if energy efficiency and location siting are considered for a new building, energy and water can be saved for the life of the building. Studies have found that green buildings are also healthier for the occupants. But doing retrofits for energy efficient lights or other equipment in older buildings may be hard to justify from the simple viewpoint of money payback. An emissions inventory can give a city the payback time and other answers which are necessary to write the Climate Action Plan.
These are critical steps of the 5 Cool Cities Milestones.
The Cool Cities campaign is as much about talking to each other and our city officials as it is about writing a Climate Action Plan. But, if you would rather e-mail or write a letter instead of phoning or talking in person, a short note with a point or two from you--a resident-will also be effective. Your letter may be the one that galvanizes your mayor or councilwoman to action!
There are many intermediate steps a city can take within our 5 Milestones but the public must show its support for each forward solution. You and I as citizens must keep contacting our city officials to ask for changes: "How can we get an employee to do the emissions inventory? What council person will help us write an ordinance?"
The Cool Cities campaign is also about our whole community cutting its energy use . . . and the total community reducing CO2 emissions as well as municipal government reduction in energy use. Many of us in St. Louis wonder what we should do first. Does success depend on the number or structure of environmental committees or on choosing particular action items? Members of our Environmental Quality committees wonder, "What important steps can we take to reduce our energy use?"
The Sierra Club offers the Climate Action Summit on March 8 so you and I can learn pertinent steps to decrease local greenhouse gases. Other cities across the country and in Missouri have already completed some of the early steps in lowering CO2 emissions through their Climate Action Plans. Some cities report success in saving money and increasing the health of their communities. Our Summit speakers include experts from Kansas City, Columbia, and the National Sierra Club who will offer us first hand information. Another purpose of this Summit is to share contact information so we can support each other as we work in our communities.
Plan to attend the Climate Action Summit on Saturday, March 8. Bring your neighbor! A few actions, a phone call or e-mail may be the tipping point in your mayor's fight to save energy. Support the momentum to cool our cities as a resident or as a committee member!
If the Cool Cities campaign is new to you, please check the website of the national campaign for information: www.coolcities.us. If you have questions or want to study a specific area, please e-mail me at: dardenne@charter.net.