3:00 – well this room is standing room only, the speakers are:Ritt Rjerregaar (Lord Mayor of Copenhagen)Amos Masondo (Johannesburg)Rakesh Mehta (Delhi)Robert Doyle (Melbourne)Marcelo Ebrard (Mexico City)Antoni Villaraigosa (LA)Barbel Dieckmann (Chair of World Mayors)Bertrand Delanoe (Paris)I’m going to apologize in advance, I’m in the back corner so I can’t see the name plates of whoever’s speaking, so I wont always be able to attribute statements.Update from after the fact: Big thanks to the lady who was sitting beside me who was able to keep track of the mayors and tell me who was talking, this was especially helpful as the list we were given at the beginning didn’t exactly match up to who ended up speaking.3:03 – Mayors are committing to a reduction of 30-40% by 2020 and they think if they can do it then countries can certainly do it3:05 – If things continue how they are, then we will see cities that will be/have to be eliminated because of climate change3:06 – A lot of the solutions for climate change is city oriented, recycling, public transit, infrastructure for electric cars, etc. It is also an easier environment to pull people together because they live close to one another and can work cohesively.3:15 – “do you think that if we can bail out the auto companies the insurance companies and the banks we can find the 100 billion dollars per year we need to save the planet?”3:18 – Mayor of Melbourne talking about the fires that raged through his state that got earlier this year and while that got world news coverage the week that proceeded it did not. The temperature was so hot for that week that building systems failed, public transport systems failed, etc.3:21 – Don’t worry about what they sign at the end of the week, because they will sign something, but we are already doing what they are talking about (Mayor of Melbourne)3:23 – (Mayor of Johannesburg) More resources need to be available at the local level because action has to happen at the local level. This fight will be won or lost depending on what happens at the local level.3:26 – (Mayor of Seattle – Greg Nicolas) Climate change is a local issue3:27 – (Mayor of Seattle) Assumed that it was a federal issue and that someone was already dealing with it. Then in 2005 when there was no snow in the winter they had no water in the summer because they depend on the snow on the mountain for water. He realized that it was a problem because the US government hadn’t signed onto Kyoto, that’s why his city signed on. Now 1016 US cities are signed on Kyoto.3:30 – “We made it safe for the current congress and president to take this issue up seriously” Mayor of Seattle on the 1016 cities that signed onto Kyoto3:31 – (Mayor of Delhi) Cities create carbon footprints and therefore have to deal with that. Many cites have already taken up this challenge.3:32 – (Mayor of Delhi) Challenge in front of us in in terms of transportation, air quality, etc.3:35 – “The challenge in front of us is how do we sell this to communities, especially the poorer communities” Mayor of Delhi, mentions specifically the challenge of getting people to conserve energy and use public transportation3: 39 – “Without local governments there will be no solution to climate change” Chair of World Mayors3:41 – (Chair of World Mayors) Hopes that references to the importance of local governments in the current draft will remain in the final draft3:48 – “We are not discussing the differences between boarders, counties, states, we are discussing the future of the global community” Mayor of Mexico City3:49 – (Mayor of Mexico City) Local governments need to be involved in the negotiations because they are discussing things that cities are already doing3:50 – (Mayor of Nantes) Cities are at the heart of the problem, but also at the heart of the solutions. We know that countries will not meet their climate change goals without the cities.3:54 – “If cites are empowered and given the right resources then we deliver on our commitments” Mayor of Nantes
