It's cool to be green and fight carbon emissions
- Original The Morning Call article: It's cool to be green and fight carbon emissions
It got greener in Bucks County on Wednesday.
In a unanimous vote, commissioners made Bucks the first county in Pennsylvania to take a national pledge promising to combat global warming.
Bucks is now a ''Cool County,'' a Sierra Club-sponsored initiative that calls on communities to reduce carbon emissions by 80 percent by 2050, or 2 percent a year.
The pledge effort began last year in Fairfax County, Va., and King County, Wa., and has since spread to 30 counties nationwide, said Jason Brady, an organizer for the Sierra Club.
Some commonwealth counties are considering it, but Bucks is the first to adopt it, Brady said.
''Let Westmoreland (County) know we beat them,'' Commissioner Chairman Jim Cawley crowed during a meeting held at Silver Lake Nature Center in Bristol Township in the lead up to Tuesday's Earth Day.
The Sierra Club initiative encourages counties to adopt energy-efficiency measures, promote renewable energy, purchase fuel-efficient fleets, and sponsor environmentally friendly land use, transportation and water use.
It mirrors the environmental group's older ''Cool Cities'' effort, which asked municipalities to sign pledges to reduce carbon use. Nearly 1,000 communities have agreed, including Allentown, Bethlehem, Easton, Reading and Kutztown, according to the Sierra Club.
In Bucks, Lower Makefield Township was the first to adopt the pledge. Others including Doylestown, New Hope and Solebury are interested, Brady said.
''It is important for the county to be a leader, so that other municipalities considering it won't be afraid,'' said Commissioner Diane Marseglia.
The county already has an employee committee that is charged with coming up with ways for the government to be more environmentally friendly.
The Bucks Employees Green Initiative Committee has been working to find ways to increase recycling and reduce energy use.
The installation of energy efficient light bulbs at the courthouse alone saves $15,000 a year, said Michael Bannon, Bucks County consumer advocate and a member of the committee.
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