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Climate Change

San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom on Green Cities - Part 1
May 1, 2009

Newly announced California gubernatorial candidate Mayor Gavin Newsom's opening address to the Asia Society's "Scaling Up, from Green Buildings to Green Cities in the US and China" conference in San Francisco. See part 2

Partial excerpt:
"I think we can all agree that the world consumption of energy is the sum of all local consumption, and so when I look at the issue of local climate change, when I frame this debate, I think of it from a local context. Of course, that local lens may be self evident as a mayor, but nevertheless I think it's important to break down where greenhouse gases emissions emit from, and it's indeed important to recognize that we need to reconcile something that not only the United States understands but notably now also China is increasingly understanding, and that's the mass urbanization that's taking shape globally.

A million to a million and a half people moving every single weekmoving into urban cores. For the first time in human history, we saw more people on the planet living in urban centers than suburban and rural areas - first time in human history - that just happened just a few years ago, and already those cities, these urban areas, are already consuming 75% of the earth's natural resources and now - new numbers just came out -emitting in excess of 80% of the green house gas emissions. So you cannot, with respect, talk about the issue of global climate change without talking about green cities or the importance of green cities, in terms of the goal of reforming our agenda, in terms of addressing this serious risk and crisis."