Cross-posted from Eye Daily.
John Barber has a good column in today’s Globe and Mail on the important role that city’s play in fighting climate change. Since the on-line version is password protected, here are some interesting snippets:
[New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg] joined radical leftist Ken Livingstone, mayor of London, and several top-ranked corporate leaders to denouce government foot-dragging on climate change and promote such policies as congestion charges to reduce dependence on private cars. “We can no longer just sit back and hope that national governments around the world will take the lead in fighting climate change,†Mr. Bloomberg said. “The world is looking to cities for leadership.
…
Cities will act if national governments fail, according to Mr. Bloomberg. “And shame on them,†he added. “But we cannot sit around and watch our environment deteriorate and put this world in jeopardy. The public wants action, and if you have a void, the mayors are going to fill that void.
Bloomberg and Livingstone are meeting with other mayors, including our own David Miller, for the C40 Summit on climate change, taking place in New York. According to Barber, one of the hottest topics has been congestion charges (a.k.a. road tolls).
London’s Mr. Livingstone commended Mr. Bloomberg for his “courageous†decision to introduce congestion charging in Manhattan below 86th Street — and offered pungent advice on dealing with critics.
“Ignore them,†he said. “We can’t solve the problems of climate change without getting a better balance between mass transit and the motor car.â€
Next to this aggressive piece of advice, Miller’s idea for an internet site that will allow citizens in different cities to calculate their “carbon foot-print†seems rather feeble. (Besides, don’t these kind of on-line calculators already exist — whatever happened to the One Tonne Challenge?) But here’s where it gets really embarrassing:
While fellow politicians packed Mr. Livingstone’s seminar on “beating congestion and surviving your next election,†none attended the concurrent session where Toronto Mayor David Miller introduced his plan for a Web-based program to encourage individuals to reduce personal emissions.
Ouch.
Well, at least this would have freed up Miller to attend Livingstone’s seminar as well. For more on the summit, check out these articles in the Toronto Star and the National Post.
Miller asks world’s cities to join T.O.’s green scheme [Toronto Star]
Big apple turns granny smith as mega-city mayors talk green [National Post]
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photo by David Topping
