Have they not heard of teleconferencing?
What: C40 Large Cities Climate Summit
Where: New York City, Tuesday-Thursday
Participants: Toronto Mayor David Miller, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, London Mayor Ken Livingstone, Chicago Mayor Richard Daley and representatives from more than 40 other cities, including Bangkok, Delhi, Tokyo, Sao Paulo and Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
On the agenda: Discussions on how to make water systems efficient, how politicians can beat traffic congestion and still get elected, how to create green skylines and how cities can use renewable energy.
city hall bureau chief
Mayor David Miller's heading to the Big Apple to issue a big challenge.
As one of several North American mayors who have vowed to make their city the greenest on the continent, Miller will announce a web-based plan called GoZero! Toronto, a project that will help Torontonians track how they're making a difference in fighting climate change.
And he'll challenge other mayors attending the C40 Large Cities Climate Summit to join what Nick Garrison calls "a sort of green Facebook."
Ultimately, the project could help cities around the world see how they stack up against others in reducing carbon-dioxide emissions, said Garrison, who is communications director for the Toronto-based Zerofootprint.
"We're facing an environmental crisis of unseen proportions. We need all the tools we can get to bring people together" and find solutions, Garrison said.
The company's website – www.zerofootprint.net – already has an "ecological calculator" that allows people to learn what impact they're having on the environment, for example by driving a particular model of car a certain number of kilometres a year.
The program to be unveiled next week will help Toronto residents see how their measures compare with green forces in cities like London or Chicago.
"The GoZero program is about reaching out to Torontonians and showing them... how much energy they're consuming, their impact on climate change, their own climate-change footprint, showing them how they can improve and allowing them to work with other people to significantly strengthen our environmental stewardship of Toronto," Miller told reporters yesterday.
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