"Together, these 37 cities... represent over five percent of total U.S. emissions of greenhouse gases," said David Gardiner, assistant administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. "Burlington's actions to increase energy efficiency and reduce fossil fuel emissions are extremely significant in protecting our climate, both nationally and globally."
This is an illustration of the kinds of action that should be undertaken by cities that have chosen to mundialize. As regular readers of World Citizen News know, mundialization is the process of declaring one's city a world city, thereby formally recognizing its connection with and responsibility to the rest of the world.
Burlington, which mundialized in 1992, also participates in the international sister-city program, through which it is paired with Puerto Cabezas, Nicaragua; Yaroslavl, Russia; Arad, Israel; and Bethlehem on the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
Burlington likewise hosted an Infoset for the launch of the World SyntegrityTM Project in 1993. This small city in northern New England, an educational and publications center of the World Government of World Citizens, is leading the way in local action for global reform.
Whether they have formally mundialized or not, cities all over the world are demonstrating global leadership in the ecological, social and economic realms.
Because many urban areas sustain populations larger than those of numerous countries, cities have the potential to be some of the world's most powerful entities. At the very least, they are certainly forces to be reckoned with.
According to Richard Sennett, an urban studies professor at New York University, city citizenship is becoming more important than allegiance to a nation.
In a June 2 New York Times article entitled "The Return of the City-State," Barbara Crossette wrote: "The new megalopolises are not the city-states of old, with their largely homogeneous populations and restricted views of citizenship. Today, they are vast, polyglot and sprawling.... But like the cities of old, they are gateways to the rest of the world... connected by a global economy, computerized communications, easy air travel, shared tastes in fashions, food, music and film.... Regardless of size, many of these cities are drifting away from their national moorings, establishing their own political, economic and diplomatic identities."
And Wally N'Dow of Gambia, who presided over the U.N. conference on urbanization in early June, has this message: Success or failure in a global economy is directly linked to the efficiency of cities.
City-run programs can thus be clearly seen as both powerful and crucial.
By concretizing commitments made by nation-states at the 1992 Earth Summit, the Cities for Climate Protection Campaign offers another germane example of how local initiatives can have global repercussions.
At the summit meeting in Rio de Janeiro, the United States became one of the signatories of the Framework Convention on Climate Change. This United Nations-sponsored agreement, aimed at heading off the effects of global warming, calls for reducing greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 levels by the end of the decade. Even as the federal government procrastinates, cities such as Burlington are prodding the U.S., the world's largest emitter of greenhouse gases, to make good on its promise.
The Climate Protection Campaign further addressed the issue of global warming at a recent four-day national workshop it organized in Berkeley, California. Many scientists warn that global warming may already be contributing to environmental disasters such as floods and hurricanes as well as severe heat waves. The workshop outlined methods for reducing the gas emissions responsible for global warming while also demonstrating how investments in energy efficiency create jobs and help develop local economies.
The resolution recently approved by Burlington's City Council speaks specifically of saving money and creating jobs by reducing energy expenditures and by curbing air pollution. This is an effective political strategy. By calling attention to potential economic benefits, citizens concerned primarily with "the bottom line" can be encouraged to support environmental initiatives.
World Citizens already know, as Burlington states in its mundialization pronouncement, that "we can best serve our city, state, and nation when we also think and act as world citizens." Similarly, the Cities for Climate Protection Campaign demonstrates that action at the local level can have a direct influence on matters of global concern-and do much, in the process, to advance the awareness that we are One World.
Dianne Tangel-Cate is director of the World Syntegrity Project.