In the winter of 2004 and 2005, Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels was hearing alarming reports from the nearby Cascade Mountains, the stunning snow capped peaks that sit just east of the city in Washington State, in the US Pacific Northwest. Nickels' advisers were coming to him weekly with reports that the snow pack in the mountains was just one percent of normal. This was a serious issue in the city, where melting snow feeds the city's reservoirs in the springtime and swells the rivers that supply...
more »In the winter of 2004 and 2005, Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels was hearing alarming reports from the nearby Cascade Mountains, the stunning snow capped peaks that sit just east of the city in Washington State, in the US Pacific Northwest. Nickels' advisers were coming to him weekly with reports that the snow pack in the mountains was just one percent of normal. This was a serious issue in the city, where melting snow feeds the city's reservoirs in the springtime and swells the rivers that supply its hydroelectric energy. At the beginning of 2005, while President Bush was refusing to sign the Kyoto Protocol to fight global warming, Mayor Nickels of Seattle decided to start the US Mayors' Climate Protection Agreement, also called the "Cool Cities" initiative, which set CO2 emission goals for US cities that met or exceeded the Kyoto Protocol. In order to face the local climate crisis, Nickels signed the agreement along with eight fellow mayors at the US Conference of Mayors in March, 2005. Two years later, Mayor Nickels managed to get 471 mayors, representing some 60 million Americans, to agree that it's a good idea for American cities to meet or beat Kyoto Protocol targets for reducing greenhouse gas emissions, despite the Bush administration's continuing rejection of the treaty. Sitting in one of the most beautiful natural environments in the United States, Seattle and its residents have a long history of environmentalism and the "Cool Cities" initiative has encouraged many new local efforts to reduce carbon emissions in the city and beyond.
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