How green is your city?

Learn what you can do about global warming.

To date, 772 mayors across the US have signed The U.S. Conference of Mayors Climate Protection Agreement. The agreement states that cities will try to reduce environmental impacts through various actions, ranging from anti-sprawl land use policies to urban forest restoration project to public information campaigns.

Check the list of signing mayors on The U.S. Mayors Climate Protection Center . Is your mayor listed? If not, you can encourage your mayor to sign by sending the signature page along with your encouragement to make your city part of the effort to protect our environment. You will find the signature page at this link: The U.S. Conference of Mayors Climate Protection Agreement - Signature Page.

I am proud to say that my mayor, Jeff Meyers of Shawnee, Kansas is one of 20 mayors to sign the agreement in the Kansas City area. What is your city doing? Encourage your mayor to sign if he/she hasn't signed yet.

Check it out: The Top 10 Greenest Cities

What the countries mayors have agreed to do:

1. Inventory global warming emissions in City operations and in the community, set reduction targets and create an action plan.
2. Adopt and enforce land-use policies that reduce sprawl, preserve open space, and create compact, walkable urban communities;
3. Promote transportation options such as bicycle trails, commute trip reduction programs, incentives for car pooling and public transit;
4. Increase the use of clean, alternative energy by, for example, investing in “green tags”, advocating for the development of renewable energy resources, recovering landfill methane for energy production, and supporting the use of waste to energy technology;
5. Make energy efficiency a priority through building code improvements, retrofitting city facilities with energy efficient lighting and urging employees to conserve energy and save money;
6. Purchase only Energy Star equipment and appliances for City use;
7. Practice and promote sustainable building practices using the U.S. Green Building Council's LEED program or a similar system;
8. Increase the average fuel efficiency of municipal fleet vehicles; reduce the number of vehicles; launch an employee education program including anti-idling messages; convert diesel vehicles to bio-diesel;
9. Evaluate opportunities to increase pump efficiency in water and wastewater systems; recover wastewater treatment methane for energy production;
10. Increase recycling rates in City operations and in the community;
11. Maintain healthy urban forests; promote tree planting to increase shading and to absorb CO2; and
12. Help educate the public, schools, other jurisdictions, professional associations, business and industry about reducing global warming pollution.

Buzz it up