Earth Equity News

U.S. Cities Unable to Meet Climate Targets. By Laura Snyder, BoulderCamera, March 10, 2009. "More than a decade after the U.S. Senate first made it clear it would not support the Kyoto Protocol -- or any future treaty limiting greenhouse gases at the perceived expense of the economy -- the federal government has still not signed the agreement. But a quarter of Americans are theoretically bound by it just the same. More than 900 mayors representing 81 million Americans -- which taken together would create the world's 15th most populace country -- have now pledged to meet the provisions of the protocol by reducing their emissions to 7 percent below 1990 levels. In the last year and a half, only San Francisco and Seattle have publicly declared that they are on target to meet the standard... And even if none of the 900-some 'Kyoto cities' meet their emission targets, there is still power in signing the agreement, according to Annie Strickler, spokeswoman for ICLEI, Local Governments for Sustainability. As a group representing a quarter of all Americans, the mayors make a powerful lobby for state and federal climate policies."