Will Morgantown Become a Cool City?

The Monongahela Group of Sierra Club has been encouraging the Morgantown City Council to participate in the Cool Cites Campaign by signing the U. S, Mayors' Climate Protection Agreement. This Agreement pledges the City to reduce its emissions of greenhouse gases by 7 % below 1990 levels by the year 2012. The real goal of this Campaign is not so much in passing a resolution, but in providing a long-term mechanism to develop an emissions baseline, implement emissions reductions, and track success in a meaningful way.

It is clear that, although we might get a resolution passed in City Council, the effort needed to actually reduce greenhouse gas emissions will require community support beyond what can be generated by any one organization. Thus it is our hope to engage the broader community in this effort as a long range campaign to conserve energy and reduce pollution emissions. While many money-saving practices can be adopted easily, some of the changes needed may require substantive efforts by the City, and this can only happen if their is broad support in advance. Thus we want to engage other organizations in this effort early, and identify ways that each can build on the strenghts of the others to encourage wider participation.

While there has been some support in Morgantown City Council, it is clear that a broader community-wide effort is now needed. Therefore, we plan to host a meeting of community leaders at 7 PM on Nov. 15 at the Morgantown Public Safety Building.

Our tentative agenda would include: 1) Introduction of the organization representatives and interested citizens, 2) Introduction to the U. S, Mayors' Climate Protection Agreement and resources available through the the Cool Cities Campaign. 3) Informal brainstorming and planning to identify specific needs of each entity and how they can contribute most effectively. 4) Develop a list of actions and tactics as "next steps" in the campaign. 5) Social hour for further informal discussions

Submitted by : Jim Kotcon, Sierra Club, MVCAC, CLEAR, et al.

Would the Mon Valley Clean Air Coalition be willing to co-host this event?

Tell me your questions or comments if you have any reservations, as our decision process is by "consensus".

Thanks, Duane Nichols