America’s mayors are trying to change the carbon footprint of their cities, however they are finding that doing this is quite hard. To help mayors, “Congress has included block grants in energy legislation now under consideration—up to $2 billion a year in a House bill” (Roosevelt). These grants will help train workers to make buildings that are more energy efficient and it will help teach them to “install climate-friendly energy systems” (Roosevelt). Last week 728 mayors signed the Climate Protection Agreement, which means that the mayors have “formally pledged to slash greenhouse gas emissions by their cities to 7% below 1990 levels by 2012” (Roosevelt). Also, “the mayors have set a goal to further cut their cities’ emissions by 80% by 2050—the amount most scientists say is needed to avoid potentially catastrophic climate change” (Roosevelt). However, “the Bush Administration has opposed the 1997 Kyoto Protocol [the agreement that launched the Climate Protection Agreement], saying that it would damage the U.S. economy—a stance that drew scathing criticism at last week’s summit” (Roosevelt). Still, though many cities are having a hard time trying to calculate the level of greenhouse gases from 1990.
I think that this article brings up a great point that I think we all should be doing in our lives. I think that everyone needs to step up and try to cut his or her use of energy. Although this may be difficult, I think that the mayors are doing a good job by being influences for the citizens. By trying to cut emissions by 7% from 17 years ago, I think that the country will be in really great shape. However, I am angry that the Bush administration is so against this policy because I think that this is one of the most important issues, not the most but one of the most. I believe that the Bush administration is more into their war spending then into how they are going to save the planet because they are not seeing immediate results. This policy is not going to occur overnight, but it will make a huge difference in the long run. I believe that besides trying to cut emissions we also need to find alternative resources so we will not be ruining the Earth.
To read more, read Roosevelt's article: http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/asection/la-na-mayors4nov04,1,1764128.story
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2 comments:
I believe that the mayors are being very hypocritical. If you notice, they only state that they are trying to reduce the emissions in cities. No knows that the rural towns actually cause more greenhouse effects than the cities do. Livestock gases and manure are the cause of 20% of the global warming today. This percentage is muchhhhhh greater than those of carbon from our vehicles. Some of the emissions from the animals we raise are 100 x more harmful. If they really wanted to do something, they need to focus their debate over how we raise our livestock. They would never tell their citizens to become vegetarians, but ultimately that is one thing that would cause a great change If they were willing to. I for one love meat, but I think if more people were informed of this, the more the government could see if they could fix it.
Its great that majors are forming an alliance to fight against global warming, by fighting gas emissions, but it is interesting how things are focused locally rather than nationally when it comes to something as global as "global" warming.
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