 Mayor's Climate Protection Agreement
Along with more than 740 Mayors nationwide, Mayor Frank Hibbard signed the U.S. Conference of Mayors' Climate Protection Agreement in June 2007, committing to the residents of Clearwater to protect our environment.
Everyone know there's an increasing threat to the environmental health of our communities, and it's so important to start making changes today that will chart the course for a greener, cleaner Clearwater. Signing this agreement is the first step to taking action.
 Under this Agreement, participating cities - Clearwater included - have committed to taking the following three actions:
- Strive towards 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 strive towards greenhouse gas emission reduction target suggested for the United States in the Kyoto Protocol: a 7% reduction from 1990 levels by 2012; and,
- Urge the U.S. Congress to pass the bipartisan greenhouse gas reduction legislation.
The goal is to meet or beat specific environmental benchmarks, by using educational campaigns, adopting "Green Building" policies, and overall energy management. As part of a community partnership with the University of South Florida, a University of South Florida graduate class during the Fall 2007 semester used the City of Clearwater's environmental practices and sustainability as a case study. The course, called "Going for the Green: Enhancing Environmental Sustainability in Clearwater," focused on community-based research to see how the city could become more sustainable. In December 2007, the fourteen students presented their recommendations to the City Council, on how Clearwater can improve its green efforts.
Students addressed many issues and prepared a final report, including their perspectives and recommendations. Some areas of study included conservation, transportation, energy, "green building" codes, and more. The class also evaluated the city's eligibility for Clearwater to get certified as a "Green City" by the Florida Green Building Coalition.
Another outcome of the USF partnership is completion of a "Green House Gas Inventory," which establishes Clearwater's "carbon footprint." According to www.CarbonFootprint.com, a carbon footprint measures the "impact that human activities have on the environment in terms of the amount of greenhouse gases produced, measured in units of carbon dioxide." The inventory is one of the major goals of the Climate Protection agreement. All cities that committed to the agreement are expected to produce similar surveys.
Read more information on the Mayor's Climate Protection Agreement
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