It takes a city to limit greenhouse gases

By LISA STIFFLER

If you could give a rip about global warming and the pressure to do environmental good to stop it, the city of Seattle is going to drive you nuts. Steps for slowing climate change will confront you on the flip side of the No. 12 cheer cards waved by fans at the Seahawks game. They'll nudge you from posters hanging at the local Starbucks when you're grabbing a mocha to go. The friendly librarian might add a fluorescent light bulb to your stack of books to take home.

But if you're pumped up to do what you can to slow global warming -- strategizing the best bus routes and bumping down the thermostat -- you might embrace the city's new Seattle Climate Action Now campaign in all its manifestations. After the hoopla of vowing that Seattle will cut its greenhouse emissions on par with the Kyoto Protocol -- plus getting 672 U.S. cities to join the effort -- leaders here are trying to kick-start public involvement.

"Mayors and councils can't do this," Mayor Greg Nickels said at a news conference Friday. "It takes the entire community." Central to the campaign is a new Web site, seattlecan.org, a sort of clearinghouse for local and national climate change information.

The Web site has a calendar of global-warming-related events to which the public can make additions. After a short registration, there's a detailed survey for figuring out how much carbon dioxide you're producing each year, followed by goals and strategies for reducing emissions. There's a list of generic tips for cutting pollution -- checking your tire pressure, turning off idling vehicles, turning off unused lights. And there are links to resources for mass transit, finding energy-saving appliances, recycling and so on.

The site cost about $30,000 to produce and will be maintained by the city. Elected officials and climate change activists acknowledged that the global-warming issue is plagued with paralyzing messages of doom and gloom. They said it doesn't have to be that way.

"We're not just going to be worried," said K.C. Golden, policy director for Climate Solutions, a local non-profit group. "With Seattle Climate Action Now, we are going to be the solution."
Locally, global warming is expected to raise sea levels, gobbling up miles of shoreline, reduce the snowpack that supplies drinking water and increase forest fires.

Seattle leaders aren't the only ones taking action to reduce planetary warming. King County has its own lengthy plan for cutting carbon dioxide emissions, and County Executive Ron Sims recently declared greenhouse gases pollutants that must be considered in environmental reviews for construction projects. Gov. Chris Gregoire joined the Western Climate Initiative in February, a coalition of states and Canadian provinces working to cut emissions.

Seattle leaders have vowed to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions by 7 percent below 1990 levels by 2012. Nickels created a "green ribbon commission" to come up with strategies for making those cuts. The question now is whether the public can be inspired by campaigns such as the one launched Friday to make the changes and sacrifices needed to reach the goals.

"This is a really big day," Steve Nicholas, director of Seattle's Office of Sustainability and Environment, said at the news conference. "A big day on our journey to becoming America's most climate-friendly city."

CURBING CLIMATE CHANGE

Check out the Seattle Climate Action Now Web site, seattlecan.org, for a global-warming events calendar, resources and greenhouse-gas emissions calculator.

Some of the climate change events happening Saturday:

Free compact fluorescent light bulbs will be given away at all Seattle public libraries from noon to 4 p.m.

The Columbia City Climate Action Now Bike Fair at Ferdinand Street and Rainier Avenue South from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. will provide information about bike safety, maintenance and routes.

The West Seattle Climate Action Now Conversation at Youngstown Cultural Arts Center, 4408 Delridge Way S.W., from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. will discuss climate solutions. There will be a biodiesel demonstration and used batteries and fluorescent light bulbs can be turned in for safe disposal.

The International District-Chinatown Climate Action Now Save Fair at Hing Hay Park, 423 Maynard Ave. S., from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. will have a biodiesel demonstration, booths on energy conservation and free compact fluorescent bulbs.

The Phinney-Greenwood Climate Action Now Fair at Greenwood Library, 8016 Greenwood Ave. N., from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., will present climate action resources.

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