Are U.S. Mayor's leading the charge to fight climate change?

Question

Actions taken at the U.S. Conference of Mayors Climate Protection Summit in Seattle include stepping up programs to weatherize buildings, capture methane gas from landfills, switch municipal fleets to hybrids, promote mass transit and buy cleaner electricity.

Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels cited the " ... failure of our federal government to step up," and NY's Bloomberg added that "Green energy is going to be the oil gusher of the 21st century."

The 728 mayors cities house 1/4 of the nation's population.

Answer 1

It's not just the 728 mayors. Our township has signed on and we don't even have a mayor. Every bit helps.

Answer 2

They are leading the charge without the information to achieve it. Every city attached to the conference has building design criteria specific to their area.

Their buildings are designed to function within regional temperature extremes. ie...in my area -4 degrees F is the coldest time of the year and 92 degrees F is the warmest time of the year. We design and insulate the building for those temperatures. Those temperatures determine energy consumption, mold, dew point, fire separation integrity, fossil fuel use, expansion and contraction, etc, etc.

Every university teaches these same standards and architects do this in their calculators. At the end of the day, every one of the cities fighting climate change signs their buildings off as compliant because it couldn't be seen. Insurers pick up liability and ask that all the professionals did the job according to codes.

I participated in 17,000 hours of research qualifying building function that was otherwise calculated and assumed. Go to http://www.thermoguy.com/globalwarming-heatgain.html and see how the same UV and solar radiation that burns our skin is doing the same thing to absorbent building material.

Buildings are generating extreme heat that can be close to boiling temperature. The buildinging simply isn't designed for those extremes and we are treating the symptoms with ozone depletion, massive electrical waste, massive GHG emissions, toxicity, mercury, etc.

I will tell you the Mayors will not weatherize buildings for these extremes because they can't see them. They are reacting to symptoms when all they need to do is ask the developer to state the finished coatings used so the building doesn't generate heat.

Green is the language of the day, we aren't achieving it. The Mayors have hired lots of professionals like myself and in our educations, we were blind to the actual function of a building.

Let us help, we are 28 years ahead of you on the temperature issue.

The Mayor's surface monitoring systems for urban temperatures is missing extremely critical data. Using geothermal energy for buildings isn't effective without the proper design temperatures. It gives the illusion of savings.

Answer 3

We are on the verge of controlling earths temp. While we have big problems. Here is what we know: Blacktop (roads and parking lots) and buildings heat cities; Air pollution causes lung (And other) diseases, deforestation (causing more destruction -duststorms, hurricanes/cyclones all increasing deforestation) and destroys the ozone layer while heating earth surface; fires cause mud slides, deforestation and pollution-more heating surface temperatures; CFC's destroy the ozone layer raising skin cancer rates and killing off endanger species and increased surface temperatures; lighting produces ozone near the surface and raises air pollution levels-more heating, the suns increased magnetic field are causing increases in earthquakes (more destruction), volcanoes (wow), sun spots and more heating. Cars, airplanes, ships and most electricity production causes pollution, warmer temperatures and destruction...But most of this is in our control outside of the sun (Volcanoes and earthquakes are part of the sun magnetic strength): We need to fix it! That is why I founded CoolingEarth.org an geoengineering web sight.The Mayor's are on the right track, we can have control and economic growth. The fed gov is way out of step. We also need a pollution surcharge to balance the field and advance new technologies

Answer 4

Not only local governments. Also States:

"Republican governors team up against global warming"

http://rawstory.com/news/2007/Republican_Governors_team_up_against_Global_0716.html

The Federal government will get involved - after January 20, 2009.

Answer 5

A better question would be what changes in their lives have Al Gore and Laurie undertaken to reduce their carbon footprint. Have they moved out of their large houses into small apartments? Are they walking or taking the bus? Could it be that these wealthy Cassandras don't walk their talk? Maybe they don't believe what they tell us.

Answer 6

At least its a big step forward, the Repugs have better wise up to GW otherwise they will find very few voters.

Answer 7

It's nice that mayor bloomberg is investing other people's money in what he feels is going to be the next oil gusher. I would be more inclined to feel better if he was investing his billions in this technology.

Why isn't he putting his money where his mouth is? Why is he only putting other people's money at risk? That should be a telling sign of how good this technology is.

Answer 8

I would say they are behind the curve: http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=ArXV2tnQMGGM.wF5BE6Q.xvsy6IX;_ylv=3?qid=20071104052724AAtzmUL

Good Luck!!!