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Berkeley,
California (Wednesday, January 2, 2008) - The
City of Berkeley was recently selected to give a presentation on
developing and implementing community-based climate protection
initiatives at a national conference that focuses on innovations in
local government.
“Climate change is a global problem,
but it has local impacts and local communities have a huge role to
play in finding solutions that are going to work,” said Climate
Action Coordinator Timothy Burroughs. “Our community has much to
do, but we’re also at the leading edge when it comes to finding
such solutions.”
The City will make one of 24
presentations at the Transforming Local Government Conference in
June in Greenville, South Carolina. More than 100 cities from across
the U.S. and Canada applied. The conference is organized by the
Alliance for Innovation.
The City’s current climate action
planning effort was launched by Measure G, which passed by 81
percent of the vote in 2006. It mandates that the City find a way to
reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 80 percent by the year 2050.
Since that time, City staff members have been conducting a robust
community engagement program and significant greenhouse gas
emissions analysis and strategy prioritization. The Measure G plan
will be circulated to the public in draft form in mid-January and
submitted to the City Council at the January 29 meeting.
The Alliance for Innovation, formerly
The Innovation Groups (IG), is an international nonprofit local
government association with a mission to network innovative local
governments and private companies to bring about cost reductions,
service improvements, and productivity increases in the public
sector through technologies, processes, and ideas.
For more information about the Alliance
for Innovation and its conference, visit http://www.transformgov.org.
For more information about Measure G and the City of
Berkeley’s other environmental programs, visit http://www.cityofberkeley.info/sustainable/.
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