AUGUST
14, 2008 - The Florida League of Cities is meeting
in Tampa this week. A pre-conference seminar sharing ideas
about how cities can help solve global climate change was
held this morning at the Tampa Convention Center.
This seminar,
Beyond Lightbulbs and Hybrids: Local Government Solutions to
Global Climate Change, was co-sponsored by the Florida League
of Mayors. Rocky Anderson, former mayor of Salt Lake City,
said he helped launch an environmental program in 2001 called
Salt Lake City Green that had a climate protection component.
Anderson is president
of High Road for Human Rights, a group advocating for human
rights including reducing climate change. Anderson called climate
change the “greatest challenge ever to humankind,” but
said there are ways that cities can help to reduce its impact,
such as those he implemented in Salt Lake City. “We helped
stop the building of a major highway into Salt Lake City.”
That point drew
applause from Tampa City Council member Mary Mulhern, who took
notes on what she called “all kinds of great” ideas
from the mayors of other cities, such as using larger recycle
bins and reducing the frequency of curbside pick-up.
St. Petersburg
was the first green-certified city in Florida. St. Pete Mayor
Rick Baker said everyone should be concerned about reducing
greenhouse gas emissions.
Like several
of the other mayors, Gainesville Mayor Pegeen Hanrahan said
reducing greenhouse gas emissions saved her city thousands
of dollars. Hanrahan said that Gainesville has reduced carbon
dioxide emissions by 322,000 tons since 1996, and she expects
even more once the city constructs a 100 megawatt biomass power
plant that burns waste wood.
Matt Ward is
the policy director of the Climate Communities Coalition. He
said local governments are critical to helping to combat climate
change.
Steven Feren,
the current president of the Florida League of Mayors, is mayor
of Sunrise, Fla., encouraged more cities to sign the Green
City Action Accord, “Which supports the governor’s
energy action team.”
The Florida League
of Cities annual conference continues through Saturday at the
Tampa Convention Center and the Marriott Waterside.
