Mayors Call for Ambitious Climate Deal

Mayors from major cities
around the world signed a resolution calling
for a comprehensive and "ambitious" accord to institute and enforce
carbon pollution cuts, spurning the notion that difficult economic straits
preclude nations from taking decisive climate action.

"We can't sit around and
wait for federal governments to act when our constituencies really want
something changed," said Michael Bloomberg, mayor of New York.
"Recessions are when we need to be more environmentally friendly."

More than 80 heads of cities
in Copenhagen this week for a summit opposite the U.N. climate summit met to
hash out objectives for conscientiously
tackling transportation, energy usage, and waste management issues-many of which
disproportionately affect the 50-odd percent of the world's population that
inhabits cities.

 "The battle against climate change will
be won or lost in cities," said David Miller, mayor of Toronto.
"While nations talk, cities are acting."

Indeed, some are acting
ambitiously: New York plans on adding add some 18,000 new energy consumption
reduction jobs, according to Mayor Bloomberg, leading to emission cuts of
almost 5 percent.

 "Mayors are in the business of
acting," said Ritt Bjerregaard, mayor of Copenhagen, meeting host, and the
European Union Commissioner for the Environment from 1995-1999.