Forty-five leading local elected US officials have agreed to create more resilient cities, towns, and counties in the face of unprecedented extreme weather and energy challenges that threaten communities across the country.
The inaugural signatories of the Resilient Communities for America Agreement letter pledged to take cost-effective actions to prepare and protect their communities from increasing disasters and disruptions such as heat waves, floods, droughts, severe storms, and wild fires. In addition, they called for more action and support from federal leaders on climate change.
“A new national movement is emerging, led by mayors who believe that now is the time to take powerful, proactive steps to safeguard our communities, adapt to extreme weather and energy challenges, and transform adversity into economic opportunity,” said Kevin Johnson, Mayor of Sacramento, California, and Chair of the Resilient Communities for America campaign. “Today, I call on my fellow mayors and county leaders across the country to join the campaign and make your own commitment to creating more resilient communities that are strong, self-reliant, prepared, and prosperous.”
Inaugural signatories include the mayors from Washington DC, San Diego, El Paso, Denver, Cincinnati, Kansas City, Missouri, and Des Moines. Organisers hope to secure 200 local elected official signatories in the first 12 months of the campaign and 1,000 by 2015.
“By signing the Resilient Communities for America Agreement, these elected officials have demonstrated their leadership, which will in turn inspire hundreds more cities and counties to take action and sign on,” said Michael Schmitz, executive director of ICLEI USA, one of the four organisations to coordinate the campaign, including the US Green Building Council, the National League of Cities, and the World Wildlife Fund.
“Leading local governments understand that focusing on preparedness is incredibly cost-effective,” said Jason Hartke, vice president of national policy at the US Green Building Council. “For every US$1 spent on disaster preparedness, a community can save US$4 in avoided costs.”
At the campaign launch event at the National Press Club held today in Washington DC, local leaders also called for more action at the federal level.
“Local governments have always been the leaders on climate action, but we need more support from the federal government,” said Frank Cownie, Mayor of Des Moines. “We need better local-federal coordination on disaster preparedness, and we need them to address our ageing and inadequate infrastructure, which has been under-funded for far too long. I am proud to be a part of the Resilient Communities for America campaign to help raise awareness and visibility on these issues.”
For those US local leaders interested in signing the letter, see http://www.resilientamerica.org/
