Student activists celebrate Cool Cities goal

EAC students and Yepsen (right) at signing ceremony

When Saratoga Springs officially joined the Cool Cities movement this past week, it represented the achievement of a major goal set by the Cool Cities subcommittee of the Skidmore student Environmental Action Club (EAC). Led by Rebecca Drago '11, the group has worked for more than a year with a local citizen's working group to align the community with the Cool Cities Campaign.

After the United States failed to ratify the Kyoto Protocol, the international agreement to reduce carbon emissions and mitigate global warming, Mayor Greg Nickels of Seattle, Wash., created the U.S. Mayors Climate Protection Agreement. By signing the agreement, American mayors commit their communities to cut carbon emissions seven percent below 1990s levels by 2012, which meets the same standards the Kyoto Protocol would have met at a national level. The Sierra Club created the Cool Cities Campaign around the U.S. Mayors Climate Protection Agreement to ensure that the campaign's goals are met and to encourage other mayors to sign the commitment to climate action.

Skidmore's Cool Cities subcommittee of EAC advocated for the Cool Cities Campaign in Saratoga Springs in partnership with Sustainable Saratoga Task Force, a citizens working group led by Joanne Yepsen, Saratoga Springs county supervisor; and Amy Stock, chair of Sustainable Saratoga.

Saratoga Mayor Scott Johnson signed the U.S. Mayors Climate Protection Agreement Oct. 24, marking an exciting milestone in the campaign. Johnson's action will launch a citywide inventory of greenhouse gas emissions that will evaluate the most pressing greenhouse gas emission concerns, which are anticipated to focus on vehicles, lighting, and building codes. The Cool Cities subcommittee will work with the city government and the energy efficiency and resources subcommittee of Sustainable Saratoga to write a Climate Action Plan, which will guide the city's emission mitigation strategies.  Johnson indicates this will be a cost-neutral impact to the city.

The signing of this agreement affirms the city's commitment to reduce carbon emissions and its continued movement towards climate action.  Johnson signed the document at the Farmer's Market in an event organized by the EAC on the International Day of Climate Action, an initiative focused around the number 350. This international initiative was initiated by Bill McKibben and is devoted to reducing the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere to 350 parts per million (ppm).  The concentration is currently 387 ppm. There were thousands of political actions held worldwide Oct. 24 to raise awareness about the need for continued action to promote climate change.

For more information regarding the Cool Cities Campaign, contact Rebecca Drago at rdrago@skidmore.edu, or click here. (Story, photos by Erica Fuller, sustainability coordinator)

Tags: eac, rebecca drago '11, cool cities campaign, sustainable saratoga task force