Over 600 cities across the United States - including ten in Oregon - are now Cool Cities, meaning that they hav signed onto the US Mayors Climate Protection Agreement, and pledged to reduce their emissions of global warming pollutants.  The Cool Cities movement has helped inspire initiatives across the country that are designed to decrease our cities' dependence on fossil fuels, while improving environmental quality.  Now it is time to build on this success, and move up to the next level of government: counties.  The new Cool Counties campaign, initiated partly by the Sierra Club, will encourage US counties to reduce their greenhouse emissions.  Will your county be one of the first to get on board the movement?

The three counties responsible for starting up the campaign are King County, WA, Fairfax County, VA, and Nassau County, NY.  These three, and others, have committed to reducing their greenhouse gas emissions to 80% below current levels by the year 2050, most likely cutting emissions by about 2% each year until that time.  A reduction of this type is what scientists say we need to make all across the country, in order to stave off the effects of global warming.  And this is what all counties that sign onto the Cool Counties initiative will be doing.  Here in Oregon, it's we need to make sure that our major counties make this pledge that others have already taken on.

I will be working to make Washington County, OR, a Cool County.  If activists in all of our state's major counties begin working with their own county governments, we can bring on real change very soon.  There are far fewer counties in Oregon that there are cities, so we can cover the whole state more quickly working county by county than we could working city by city.  I will keep readers of this blog up-to-date on the Washington County campaign.  It's up to you to get in your own county government - whether you live inside Oregon or not - and begin the process of world-changing there.

-Nick