I'm currently visiting the city of Santa Cruz, California, which has long been an official Cool City, in one of our greenest, and "coolest" states.  Santa Cruz is hardly an Ecotopia - the highways are still full of cars, and far too many of them are SUVs - but the city is deffinitely taking steps in the right direction.  It has been pleasant to observe the biodiesel filling station, the solar panels on the roof of a hotel, and the ease with which organic produce can be purchased in this city.  The Santa Cruz city government has created a position for a "global warming coordinator" to oversee projects that will reduce the city's emissions of greenhouse gases.  Surely, this city is on the right track.

Santa Cruz has good reason to be concerned about global warming - particularly the implications of rising sea levels.  The coastal city would be in deep trouble (no pun intended) if the waters were to rise by very much.  However the ocean, while sometimes a hazard, is also a blessing to the city; hundreds of residents and tourists enjoy Santa Cruz's beaches and sea-side views, where brown pelecans, sea otters, and sometimes even porpoises can be sighted on a regular basis.  Global warming threatens all of this sea life, with its potential to turn kelp beds into wastelands, and change the very chemistry of the ocean itself.  In Santa Cruz, and in California in general, preventing global warming will be a neccessary part of environmental protection.  The same holds true for Oregon; our forests, rivers, and, of course, our own coastal ecosystems, are also threatened by climate change. 

Let's get down to work.  By taking measures to curb global warming at the local level, we can help protect the entire global environment.  This movement in Oregon is still running strong, and it is my personal goal to see that Washington County, OR becomes one of the first Cool Counties.  Want to get involved?  Check out the GLOBAL WARMING ACTION DASHBOARD.

-Nick