Mayor Davlin Pledges to Implement Local Global Warming City Solutions

Springfield, IL-- At a news conference in the City Council Chambers, the Sierra Club celebrated Mayor Tim Davlin’s commitment to reduce the city’s global warming pollution by putting into place local energy solutions which save taxpayer dollars and reduce energy use.

The Sierra Club praised Mayor Tim Davlin for signing on to the U.S. Mayors Climate Protection agreement, joining more than 300 other mayors nationwide, including 32 in Illinois, who are taking real action to re-energize their communities with proven innovative local energy solutions such as cleaner car fleets, energy efficiency and renewable energy.

"Springfield took a leading role with its commitment to buying wind energy, promoting new efficiency programs and reducing pollutants from CWLP’s coal power plants," said Sierra Club Sangamon Valley Group Board Member, Will Reynolds. “Becoming a Cool City provides Springfield an opportunity to come together as a community to develop new programs that will keep us ahead of the clean energy curve.”

So far, over 300 mayors representing over 51 million Americans in 47 states and the District of Columbia have signed the U.S. Mayors Climate Protection Agreement, pledging to reduce global warming carbon dioxide pollution in their cities to 7 percent below 1990 levels by 2012. (For more information on the Mayors’ agreement, click here).

Today’s news conference is part of the Sierra Club’s national “Cool Cities” campaign to encourage cities to take action to solve global warming one city at a time. The Sierra Club has released a new guide, “Cool Cities: Solving Global Warming One City at a Time,” a resource for citizens and local officials who are ready to take action to reduce energy waste and heat-trapping global warming pollution. The guide tells success stories from a broad range of cities, from hybrid car municipal fleets in Houston and Charlotte, to energy efficient street lights and buildings in Salt Lake City and Scottsdale, Arizona, and to renewable energy investments in Waverly, Iowa and Columbia, Missouri. The guide is available online at the Sierra Club's Cool Cities web site.