Mayors

More than 700 US mayors have signed on to the modest goals of the Kyoto Protocol in an outpouring of local government initiative and historically unprecedented protest -- against the White House, which rejected the treaty. "Our cities will do our part for global warming," these mayors are saying, "to make up for the failure of the federal government to do what is right and take action."

The effort -- known as the US Mayors Climate Protection Agreement -- started with less than 175 signatures collected by Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels. He announced its existence on the day the Kyoto Protocol went into effect on February 16, 2005, and since then, the number of signatories has swelled. Close to 100 million Americans live in the cities whose mayors have now signed on, and the number keeps steadily growing.

By signing on, the mayors have committed to a 7% reduction of greenhouse gas emissions in their cities by 2012, as compared to 1990. And now they are working hard to honor their commitment. It's no small undertaking, and an important one: 75% of emissions are produced in cities. It's where most people in America -- about 80% of the population -- live.

The mayors, though, have only so much power to affect change directly. They're working with the help of ICLEI- Local Governments for Sustainability to drive down emissions as much as they can. But most of the emissions are out of their reach, requiring big structural shifts in the way energy is used -- shifts that can only be instigated by federal law. And so while they work with their city governments and citizens to do what they can together, they are also sending a loud message to Washington: support our climate leadership with federal law worthy of our nation.