Gail
while on the surface this sounds like a good idea, it's ludicrous since
this council can't even get a budget together without adding more taxes
to the residents. What is it going to cost us for all city vehicles to
become hybrids? MP passing a climate ordinance is like spitting into the
wind - it's got to be the whole world but the greedy industry corps
aren't going to go along thanks to Bush et al.
Donnasue

REMINDER: Menlo Park's City Council is set to act on Climate Change
tomorrow, Tuesday, February 12 (see email below).
This important agenda item will probably come up at about 8:15pm. Your
help is needed -- there is still time for you to take supportive action
today and tomorrow!

CAN YOU PLEASE HELP WITH THESE 4 SIMPLE ACTION ITEMS?
(1) TODAY: If you haven't already done so, please send an email to
Menlo Park's City Council
at city.council@menlopark.org and/or call the council members. This
agenda item
was sponsored by Kelly Fergusson and Heyward Robinson, so if you have
limited time,
focus your calls on the other 3 council members (Rich Cline, Andy Cohen
and John Boyle)

(2) TODAY: Forward this message to others you know in Menlo Park

(3) TOMORROW NIGHT: Come to the Council meeting Tuesday 2/12 at 8:15 pm
and ask the council to take action. Added bonus
is you will meet other cool fellow citizens who care about this issue --
make a new friend while making policy change happen!

(4) TODAY: Reply to this email and let us know which of actions you plan
to take (or have already taken)
and if you are interested in learning more about local Climate Change
action.

Here is the staff report for this agenda item:

  _____

Good News: As noted in the staff report, the City's Environmental
Quality commission recently unanimously recommended that Council
(a) set a greenhouse gas emissions target now and (b) establish a
citizen's Green Ribbon Task Force - informal advisory group -- to report

on cost-effective ways to take action toward that goal. (Thanks to
those who when and spoke to that Commission)

Please help us reinforce these points with the Menlo Park City Council
now. If the Council signs the U.S. Mayor's Agreement like many other
cities in our area have done,
it says we would strive to reach the targets of the Kyoto Protocols that
most of the rest of the world is also aiming to achieve (other targets
can work to focus efforts too).
Palo Alto's Green Ribbon Task Force has been very successful, producing
a high quality report in December 2006.
Or course, we have similarly talented and motivated people in Menlo
Park! ;-) If you would like to see the Palo Alto report, please let me
know (Maybe one of them is YOU!)

Thanks for doing whatever you can do on this important issue,

Gail Slocum
Former Mayor

Begin forwarded message:

From: "Craig Lewis" <craigermp@gmail.com>
Date: February 6, 2007 10:41:37 AM PST
To: "Craig Lewis" <craigermp@gmail.com>
Subject: Climate Change action in Menlo Park

Dear Residents of Menlo Park,

The City of Menlo Park is currently considering how it can help
address climate change and we have an important opportunity to
encourage the city to be proactive. Next Tuesday, February 13th,
Menlo Park's City Council will consider two initial climate change
actions as follows:

1) Signing the Mayors Climate Protection Agreement.

2) Establishing a community-based Green Ribbon Task Force to
investigate the most effective actions for Menlo Park to reduce
greenhouse gas emissions.
Neighboring cities, including Palo Alto, Portola Valley, and San
Mateo, have already taken these actions, and more than 380 cities
across the country, representing nearly every state, have signed the
Mayors Climate Protection Agreement.

If you are concerned about climate change and you would like to see
Menlo Park take action, please take personal action in any, or all, of
the following three ways:

a) Contact City Council members to encourage Menlo Park to take action
on climate change (email the entire City Council at
city.council@menlopark.org and/or contact individual Council members;
individual email addresses and telephone numbers are posted at
http://www.menlopark.org/council/city_council.html).
<http://www.menlopark.org/council/city_council.html).>

b) Attend the Menlo Park Environmental Quality Commission meeting
tomorrow, Wednesday February 7th (the meeting starts at 6:30pm at the
City Recreation Center, 701 Laurel St; climate change discussions
should begin around 6:30pm).

c) Attend the Menlo Park City Council meeting on Tuesday February 13th
and publicly voice your support (the meeting starts at 7pm at the City
Council Chambers, 701 Laurel Street; climate change deliberations
should begin around 7:30pm).

In addition to the multitude of threats posed by climate change, it is
important to consider that the process of addressing these threats
brings tremendous economic opportunity. Being at the heart of the
venture capital community, Menlo Park is in a position to be a leader
in the clean tech economy, and being proactive now will help attract
the related economic activity that is expanding daily.

I hope you will join me in taking action,

Craig Lewis
Principal, RightCycle Enterprises
Co-Leader, Sierra Club Cool Cities Campaign, Menlo Park

Additional details:

Last Friday, February 2nd, the United Nation's Intergovernmental Panel
on Climate Change (IPCC) released its most recent assessment of the
affects of human activity on the earth's climate.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2007/02/03/MNGR9NUBL
N1.DTL.
<http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2007/02/03/MNGR9NUB
LN1.DTL.>
The report is sobering, with evidence that climate change is
accelerating and will result in severe human and economic impacts,
including right here in Menlo Park. But the report also provides a
blueprint on how to mitigate the effects and avoid the worst of the
potential consequences. Menlo Park has an opportunity to join with
cities throughout the country in initiating a more systematic process
of taking vitally needed steps. The benefits to Menlo Park include
stimulating the technologies and businesses associated with energy
efficiency and renewable energy - attracting some to locate here! The
types of steps the Green Ribbon Task Force may recommend, like
improved energy and fuel efficiency, have already been proven to save
tax dollars for other Cities in the short and medium run -- while
avoiding larger long-term outlays to address harmful long-term
impacts.

See Mayor Kelly Ferguson and Councilman Heyward Robinson's formal
request that the Menlo Park Council take action at:
http://service.govdelivery.com/docs/CAMENLO/CAMENLO_102/CAMENLO_102_2007
0123_040000_en.pdf
<http://service.govdelivery.com/docs/CAMENLO/CAMENLO_102/CAMENLO_102_200
70123_040000_en.pdf>

----------------------------------------------------------------
ENERGY INDEPENDENCE THRU PLUG-IN HYBRID/FLEX FUEL VEHICLES -- Tackle
national security, jobs and global warming at the same time! Rapid
introduction of cleantech solutions will reduce U.S. oil imports from
the unstable Middle East by millions of barrels a day. Get plugged in
to next step solutions that national security experts,
environmentalists, unions, and national media are buzzing about:
Plug-in Hybrid-Electric Vehicles (PHEV) . The CalCars' Prius+
demonstration car already gets ***over 100 MPG*** (and Flex Fuel PHEVs
could use Cellulosic Ethanol for beyond battery mileage and get up to
*500 MPG*!). See http://www.calcars.org/ <http://www.calcars.org/>
-- Join newsgroup at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/calcars-news
<http://groups.yahoo.com/group/calcars-news> -- Check out "Bettah"
video and click to sign Plug-In Partners petition "if you build it I wil
buy it!" http://www.calcars.org/bettah/
<http://www.calcars.org/bettah/> -- For Federal bipartisan action, go
to http://www.setamericafree.org <http://www.setamericafree.org>

Gail Slocum
Former Mayor, Menlo Park, CA
650-465-3436 (mobile)
650-325-4367 (evenings)
gailslocum@comcast.net
Received on Tue Feb 13 19:45:04 2007