Wow! This is a bigger wow than the Governor's Wow!
Copied directly from Flog, Folio Weekly's blog. Kudos to them for getting the information so quickly:
Jacksonville Mayor John Peyton has signed the U.S. Mayors Climate Protection
Agreement, in which cities commit to scaling back their greenhouse-gas
emissions in accordance with the international Kyoto Protocol’s
target for the U.S.: to 7 percent below 1990 levels by 2012. Peyton’s prior and
conspicuous lack of participation in the initiative has been covered
continuously by Folio Weekly.
Peyton spokesperson Susie Wiles tells Folio Weekly that until recently,
all conversation about committing to greenhouse-gas reductions had been related
to The Sierra Club’s Cool Cities
program, which the Mayor’s Office and The Sierra Club discussed about a year
ago. Peyton promised to consider joining the program, but after JEA urged him
not to, he “somewhat reluctantly” decided to back away, says Wiles, rather than
commit to something unattainable.
“We were persuaded we could not meet [the
goals of Cool Cities],” says Wiles. Nonetheless, Peyton remained interested in
making efforts to fight global warming, she says.
More recently, and after learning more about the USMCPA from the U.S. Conference of Mayors, Peyton was
formally asked to join the agreement by Miami Mayor Manny Diaz. Perhaps
anticipating federally mandated greenhouse-gas cuts (post-2008, obviously), the
city of Jacksonville’s lobbyists in Washington also advised Peyton to do so. JCCI’s
recently released report on local air quality was also a factor, says
Wiles.
In fact, Peyton signed the agreement six or seven weeks ago, Wiles
estimates. Because the city is still mapping out the plan it will implement to
meet USMCPA goals, Wiles declined to talk about specific measures. What with all
this budget business, the Mayor’s Office isn’t planning to announce the decision
until late this summer, she says.
Sorry to spoil it, guys.
Philip Ramsey of the Jacksonville
Carbon Neutral Initiative, a group that was founded chiefly to lobby the
mayor to join the USMCPA but has since expanded its mission, reacted to the news
with a bit of skepticism. The schedule for reducing greenhouse gases laid out in Gov.
Crist’s recently issued executive orders — to 2000 levels by 2017, to
1990 levels by 2025, and to 80 percent of 1990 levels by 2050 — is superior to
and more realistic than that of the USMCPA, he says.
Even if only symbolic, Peyton’s decision to commit to specific
climate-protection goals is exciting news for local environmentalists. Now comes
the hard part — Wiles says Peyton will soon have to begin persuading his city
“partners” to get onboard the effort to fight global warming.
Again. Wow. I'm really blown away by this. We had just recently discussed how to get the mayor to sign off of the agreement. And now it's done. More to follow....
2 comments:
That is great news Ellen, regardless of the "howevers" in the very important back story. The first step is the hardest as they say! Thanks for sharing the background and stats. I applaud the Mayor and look forward to seeing how this progresses. I thought with the budget issues this would not get done during this term. Bravo!
I imagine that this is a good way for our mayor to inject a bit of positivity into an otherwise difficult time. With the frustration of budget cuts, the stress of job's and vital programs in jeopardy, this may be a shining light the city needs.
(A skeptic may say that the timing is in an effort to eclipse the other problems... Good thing I'm not a skeptic.)
I have always had a soft spot for politician *and with this, I'm in a significant minority*. I would not want to be in the mayor's position and make the decisions he makes. You're always unpopular and raked over someone's coals.
Perhaps by signing this agreement, the Mayor is sending out a smoke signal to his city... "Okay, everyone. I want to do the right thing. Tell me what that is. I've taken the first step... Now give me some feasible solutions."
The next step is providing feasible solutions.
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