Last week, 110 mayors from across the country attended the Mayors' Climate Summit in Seattle, to exchange ideas for reducing greenhouse emissions, and show that local governments can take the lead in the fight against global warming.  All 110 mayors had signed the US Mayors Climate Protection Agreement and pledged to become Cool Cities.  In total, more than 700 mayors nation-wide have now signed the Agreement, and Mayor Greg Nickels of Seattle referred to their 710 cities as "laboratories...where we are trying to find answers to this global problem."  It is to be hoped that even signatory cities that were not able to send a representative to the Summit will benefit from the gathering, as a result of new ideas generated there.  In addition to Mayor Nickels - the originator of the Mayors Climate Agreement - major speakers included Mayor Manuel Diaz of Miami, Mayor Michael Bloomberg of New York City, Washington Governor Christine Gregoire, and Nobel Prize-winner Al Gore (via satellite).

From Oregon, the mayors of Ashland, Corvallis, Lake Oswego, and Lincoln City attended the Summit, representing four of this state's eleven Cool Cities to date.  Five of Oregon's six largest cities have signed onto the Mayors Climate Agreement, and the work these cities do has real potential to contribute to our state's leadership on global warming.

Speaking of leadership, the Mayors' Summit coincided nicely the national Step It Up II event, designed to focus the attention of our elected officials on global warming.  The theme of Step It Up II was "Who's a leader?"  In the next few years, we will truly find out who's willing to be a leader on global warming, and steer us safely through the climate crisis.  And judging from last week's event in Seattle, it seems plain that many of the true leaders are local officials - mayors, city councilors, and maybe even county commissioners. 

Many local governments have already made huge progress toward curbing greenhouse emissions; a few cities, like Seattle and Portland, have already cut local emissions below their 1990 levels.  However, it will still be up to ordinary people to make sure that this progress continues, and to keep pressuring new local governments to join the movement.  For one thing, now that so many cities are making real progress, it's time to get county governments involved.  If you haven't already, please SIGN THE PETITION TO THE BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS in Washington County, and ask them to pass the US Cool Counties Climate Stabilization Declaration.

For more information about the Mayors' Climate Summit, go to http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2003989301_climate02m.html