1. Join a coalition and learn more about the vast resources at your disposal:

ICLEI - Local Governments for Sustainability

ICLEI is an international association of 660 local governments. Its mission is to improve the global environment through local action. Specifically, municipalities might be interested in its The Cities for Climate Protection^TM (CCP) Campaign, which assists local governments that wish to adopt policies and implement quantifiable measures to reduce local greenhouse gas emissions, improve air quality, and enhance urban livability and sustainability.

The campaign is based on an innovative performance framework structured around five milestones that local governments commit to undertake. The milestones allow local governments to understand how municipal decisions affect energy use and how these decisions can be used to mitigate global climate change while improving community quality of life. The CCP methodology is compliant with international standards and provides a simple, standardized way of acting to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and of monitoring, measuring, and reporting performance.

Communities that participate in the CCP benefit from the actions that they take to reduce greenhouse gas emissions through:

• Financial savings through reduced utility and fuel costs, which benefits the local government, households, and businesses;
• Improved local air quality, contributing to the general health and well being of the community; and
• Economic development and new local jobs as investments in locally produced energy products and services, which keeps money circulating in the local economy.

For information on the specific resources that ICLEI provides in our region, please check in with the Northeastern US program:

2. Enter into an agreement where you could join local governments across the country to reduce global warming pollution.

U.S. Mayors Climate Protection Agreement

In terms of getting your municipality into the climate change ballgame, you might want to consider entering it into the U.S. Mayors Climate Protection Agreement. Under the agreement, participating governments commit to take the following three actions:

• Strive to meet or beat the Kyoto Protocol targets in their own communities, through actions ranging from anti-sprawl land-use policies to urban forest restoration projects to public information campaigns;
• Urge their state governments, and the federal government, to enact policies and programs to meet or beat the greenhouse gas emission reduction target suggested for the United States in the Kyoto Protocol -- 7% reduction from 1990 levels by 2012; and
• Urge the U.S. Congress to pass the bipartisan greenhouse gas reduction legislation, which would establish a national emission trading system.

As of June 14, 2007, 532 local leaders have signed onto the agreement, however in New York, only 22 local leaders have done so. There's still time to be at the head of the parade in New York State.