More than 100 mayors of us cities congregated at Seattle on November 1-2 as part of a climate protection campaign. They sought an 80 per cent reduction in greenhouse gas (ghg) emissions by 2050, but said that they cannot do it alone.
"We are showing what is possible in light of climate change, at the local level, but to reach our goal... we need strong support from the federal government," said Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels, who hosted the Climate Summit. Nickels initiated the us Mayors Climate Protection Agreement in 2005.
The mayors discussed methods to reduce ghg emissions in their own cities and deliberated topics such as boosting mass transit system, financing solar power projects and electric buses, and chalking out green building standards.
The mayors, however, stressed the importance of us government's partnership to boost energy independence and avert the impacts of global warming. New York city mayor Michael Bloomberg said that only a national-level tax will discourage practices that generate heat-trapping ghgs . Bloomberg also suggested imposing a pollution tax on heavy polluters such as power companies. The mayors have called on the Congress to complete its work on major energy efficiency legislation by the end of the year.
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