What's Next

The Cool Cities proposal should get on the Glen Ellyn Village Board docket soon. As soon as we know when, we will post it here.

Why You Should Care:

Becoming a Cool City will make Glen Ellyn a leader in the community in the local fight to curb global warming. By pledging to reduce our carbon emmsions to 1990 levels by 2012, Glen Ellyn is making a statement that this is an important thing for everyone to do. If the pledge isn't met, there is no penalty, so this is a win/win/win opportunity for The Village of Glen Ellyn.

Contact your Village Board Reps today and urge them to say "Yes" to becoming a Cool City.

Cool Cities: A Sierra Club Initiative with LWV Support

LWV is supporting the a plan brought to its attention by Glen Ellyn resident Adam Kreuzer to help Glen Ellyn become one of DuPage County's first Cool Cities. Adam has successfully lobbied the Glen Ellyn Environmental Commission to recommend that Glen Ellyn become a Cool City. Next, the Village Board will learn about this grass-roots program.

Cool Cities is the brainchild of Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels who in February 2005 initiated the idea at the US Mayors Climate Protection Agreement. Since then, nearly 600 mayors including Chicago's Mayor Richard M. Daley have signed on to The Sierra Club’s national campaign— Cool Cities: Solving Global Warming One City at a Time.

Kreuzer presented the idea to the LWV in April of 2007, who enthusiastically signed on and sent a representative with Adam to Glen Ellyn's Environmental Commission meeting to present the idea. The Environmental Commission is a subcommittee of Glen Ellyn's Village Board and will make recommendations to the board about the program. "Cool Cities was developed to provide cities with concrete ways to work for positive, visionary solutions to global warming in their own communities," said Ginger Wheeler, LWV Veep, who attended the meeting with Adam. "The Environmental Commission, like the LWV, was very positive about this program but wanted more information about the costs involved," she said.

Mr. Kreuzer pledged to work with the Environmental Commission to draft a plan for the village board to consider. Part of the plan would be for the village to document its current levels of carbon emissions and then pledge to reduce those levels of global warming carbon dioxide pollution in the community to 7 percent below 1990 levels by 2012 (the same reductions and target date called for under the Kyoto Protocol Global Warming Treaty).

Many of these Cool City leaders are moving forward with innovative energy solutions that cut the country's dependence on oil, benefit public health, and save taxpayer dollars. These ideas could include buying hybrid vehicles in the future, installing energy-efficient lighting in stoplights, and turning down thermostats in government owned buildings on evenings and weekends. Many cities already do these things so it might not even be much of a hurdle to document the changes in order to be a true Cool City.

Should Glen Ellyn sign on to the Cool Cities plan, it's simply pledging to meet the reduction plans. There are no penalties for not following through with the program. Most of the cities do not yet have a real action plan to meet their reduction targets by 2012. But at least it's a start in the right direction and Glen Ellyn can feel good knowing it's a Cool City should the village board adopt the program. We would be joining Carol Stream as the only other Cool City in DuPage County. For more information about Cool Cities, contact Adam at: akreuzer@mkec-law.com.

Glen Ellyn is a Cool City - Let's Make It Official.