doogiewray (![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} doogiewray) wrote,@ 2007-07-16 10:55:00 |
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| Entry tags: | environment, up on the soapbox |
Saving the World
Well, our small, but very active environmental action group (New London Earth Day) has been working very hard for some time on a proposal aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions for New London County (Connecticut, USA). Tonight, we finally make our formal presentation to the New London City Council (though we have already been trying to grease the skids by meeting one-on-one with most of the Council members and the City Manager).
(among other things, I created and maintain the New London Earth Day website)
This morning, the New London Day printed a good article about our efforts. We're pretty psyched about the Council meeting tonight. Stay tuned for details at 11!
New London is Being Asked To Join Drive To Reduce CO2
By Judy Benson
Published on 7/16/2007 in Home »Health & Science »Health & Science Wire
New London — The city is being asked to join more than 600 others across the country in signing on to the U.S. Conference of Mayors' Climate Protection Agreement, a pledge to reduce carbon-dioxide emissions in the city from homes, businesses, vehicles and public buildings that are the main cause of global climate change.
New London Earth Day, a local environmental organization, will present its request to the City Council at its regular meeting at 7 p.m. tonight.
Arthur Costa, the New London Earth Day member who will give the presentation, said the first step would be for the council to approve the formation of a task force that would be called the New London Sustainable Community Initiative Committee. It would develop recommendations for reducing greenhouse gas emissions that would be presented to the council. The council would also be asked to sign the agreement.
Thirteen other Connecticut communities have already joined the hundreds elsewhere in the country that have signed the agreement. It began in Seattle in 2005 after the White House refused to sign the international Kyoto Protocol and U.S. mayors sought a way to follow the protocol's emissions reductions goals on their own.
According to the U.S. Conference of Mayors Web site, the only other southeastern Connecticut community that has signed the agreement thus far is Ledyard. Mayor Susan Mendenhall could not be reached for comment Friday. Bridgeport, Easton, Fairfield, Hamden, Hartford, Mansfield, Middletown, Milford, New Haven, Stamford, Stratford and West Haven also have signed it.
New London Mayor Margaret M. Curtin said Friday that she supports the formation of a committee to look at the New London Earth Day proposal. She hopes the city will consider other environmental proposals as well, such as erecting wind turbines to produce electricity.
The task force, she said, should be composed of five to seven residents, including some who have scientific and engineering expertise.
One of the first jobs of the task force, Costa said, would be to figure out how much carbon dioxide is being emitted from homes, businesses and vehicles throughout the city. Once the baseline is established, it can figure out how that could be reduced in keeping with the agreement's goals of 7 percent below the 1990 levels by 2012.
City government, residents and businesses could also benefit financially by lowering fuel and electricity consumption, he added. New alternative energy businesses could be created.
No initial investment from the city would be required, Costa said. Any funds the group might need to carry out proposals in the future would be paid for with grants it would seek.
The undertaking, he said, would not only be good for the environment, but also for city residents, because it could help create a greater sense of community and shared sense of purpose.
“All of that can converge into solutions,” he said.
Recent troubling news about the projected effects of climate change on Connecticut, including more frequent and severe flooding in coastal areas such as New London, have intensified the sense of urgency about taking action, he said. Those projections were included in a report on climate change in the Northeast released Wednesday by the Union of Concerned Scientists.
“This is a moment we can take advantage of,” he said.
