San Diego's in!!!

From Donna Frye:

FRYE JOINS MAYOR IN SIGNING CLIMATE PROTECTION AGREEMENT

Today at a press conference in Mission Bay Park, I joined and supported Mayor Sanders and Council President Peters in signing the U.S. Mayor’s Climate Protection Agreement. The agreement is an effort to help San Diego take actions to reduce global warming pollution.

The agreement urges cities to conform to the goals and guidelines of the Kyoto Protocol, which the federal government failed to sign. Some of the goals for cities that sign it include: promoting the use of clean and renewable energy sources, increasing energy efficiency and water conservation, escalating the growth of urban forests, reducing urban sprawl and curbing global warming emissions by 7% below 1990 levels by 2012. The agreement has been signed by mayors of hundreds of cities throughout the United States and I am proud that San Diego can now be added to the growing list of cities that are taking a stand against global warming. Implementing the goals of the Climate Protection Agreement is an incredible opportunity to create good-paying jobs and help save the planet.

Global warming is the biggest environmental threat to the economy and our communities today. It is absolutely imperative that we work together to take action at a local level to curb the impacts of global warming. Most importantly, I want to emphasize that this is not a partisan or political issue, but rather an issue of survival and quality of life.

In September, as chair of the City Council’s Natural Resources & Culture Committee, I held a hearing on the issue of global warming. The committee discussed the impact of global warming in San Diego and heard potential local solutions. Professor Richard Somerville, from Scripps Institute of Oceanography, spoke about the causes and effects of global warming, while other experts discussed what solutions exist for this crisis. The threat to San Diego is serious-- rising sea levels and higher temperatures can cause devastating floods, erode our coastline and decrease our supply of clean drinking water.

I have also worked with local business leaders to reduce energy use and increase the use of green energy sources to save money and minimize their impacts on the environment. As a firm believer in leading by example I have made sure that the city is taking a leadership role on this issue. I am also working on adopting a ‘local action plan’ for addressing global warming at the City and am providing preferential parking to owners of hybrid vehicles in our city parking lots.

To see a copy of the U.S. Mayor’s Climate Protection Agreement click on the following link: http://www.usmayors.org/uscm/resolutions/73rd_conference/env_04.asp
Councilmember Donna Frye 202 C Street, San Diego, Ca. 92101

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