City mayor

What can I as a city mayor do to help stop the global warming? As a leader of a city you have an key role in stopping the climate crisis. The necessary transition affects how cities and societies are planned, the different infrastructures for transports, energy, food supply, nutrient cycles, waste etc. This will also have many positive effects on our lives in the cities with cleaner air, higher quality of food, a richer social life and healthier people. We have an opportunity to leave a better place to live in to our children and future generations.

You are most likely already addressing several of these problems. But we need to speed up the transition. Since the usage of fossil fuels are deeply integrated into our society, many different areas need to be addressed simultaneously. This action list suggests where attention is needed to make this happen in a coordinated way with citizens and other stakeholders such as city mayors and enterprise leaders. Don’t hesitate – take a lead in this! Your city will prosper and people will thank you.

  • Switch the electricity/heating/cooling production to fossil free alternatives (why? how?)
  • Introduce benefits for fossil free transportation to make it the first choice alternative (why? how?)
  • Ensure public transportation is competitive and has sufficient capacity (why? how?)
  • Make biking a privileged transport alternative in the city (why? how?)

  • Provide organic and vegetarian food alternatives in city institutions (why? how?)
  • Enhance the possibilities for markets where local farmers can provide their organic products (why? how?)
  • Close the nutrient cycle – create an infrastructure for collecting food waste and returning it as fertilizer to local farmers (why? how?)

  • Promote new values in the city beyond the traditional growth (why? how?)
  • Stimulate local markets and promote usage of long lasting quality products in all sectors (why? how?)
  • Stimulate the repairs and maintenance sector (why? how?)

  • Stimulate R&D and investments in green technology (why? how?)
  • Network with other city mayors nationally and globally to get ideas and inspiration in reaching the above tasks (why? how?)

The above twelve actions will stop further global warming. The below three actions is the best way to recover from the changed climate. One of the main reasons our blue and green planet Earth is habitable for life, with a nice climate compared to our neighboring planets Mars and Venus in the solar system, is actually life itself. The myriad of lifeforms in different ecosystems, on land and in sea, they smoothen out extreme temperatures and they smoothen out the rainfall so that it rains more regularly but less hard each time. So by taking use of the nature, it should be possible to get back the nicer climate and weather we used to have just 70 years ago.

  • Help preserve a healthy sea (why? how?)
  • Take care of existing forests, plant new forests (why? how?)
  • Make agriculture more sustainable (why? how?)


When all of us are moving in the same direction, the climate and the future of our kids will be saved in a surprisingly short time. Start working on the check list, engage your staff, find out more, and share with colleagues. Calculate your carbon footprint to get some numbers on where you are personally. We are all in this together. You find some more background and links for further reading.

“It always seems impossible until it is done.”
                                    -Nelson Mandela

“The BIGGEST mistake is thinking someone else will save our climate.”
                                    -Unknown


It's about the future of our children and their childrenIt’s about my future heart

“Earth is not a gift from our forefathers,
but a legacy to our children.”
                                    -Ancient Indian proverb

Why?

  • The oceans are more important to a healthy planet than most of us realize. So far, they have stabilized the climate by buffering much of the excessive heat from the global warming, and they have stored more than half of the carbon dioxide (CO2) that we have released into the atmosphere when burning fossil fuels.
  • The algae in the oceans could potentially remove more of the CO2 from the atmosphere than all trees and plants on land combined. That is, algae can potentially save us from the excessive CO2 we have released into the atmosphere. This means algae might be one of the best means to reverse the global warming and get back a stable climate again. Of course, this requires that we take care of and make sure the oceans are healthy. That we stop some ocean related human activities, and instead do everything we can to make the ecosystems in the oceans thrive again.
  • The ocean is the main source of food for a large share of humanity, especially in poor countries along coasts. Preserving thriving ecosystems in oceans ensures these people survives.
  • Large scale fishing practices, such as industrial fishing boats that can stay at sea for weeks, are typically harmful for the ecosystems in the oceans. These boats catch everything and make it difficult for life in sea to recover. Have you noticed that many fish shops have disappeared in recent years? This is a sign that there are less fish left in the oceans and that fishing practices have been completely unsustainable. Another fishing practice that destroy ecosystems in oceans are bottom trawling. The seabed at that the bottom is very important for a healthy life in the sea. This is where new born fish and other living creatures in the sea take shelter to survive.
  • Based on current practices, farming salmon demands wild fish for feed. Very efficient industrial fishing ships empty the oceans all over the world from many small fish, e.g. herrings, sprats, sardines, and anchovies, and some boats even specialized in krill, and produce fish oil and meal to feed big aquaculture fish like salmon. To avoid that ecosystems in the sea collapse, this practice cannot be used.
  • International discussions under United Nations are targeting for ultimately creating marin protected areas for 30% of oceans. This is encouraging and need to be supported, but some scientists claim at least 50% of the ocean area need to be protected for it to be long-term sustainable.
  • One of the main threats to healthy ecosystems in oceans are plastic waste. UN is working on an agreement on plastic pollution. Scientists in California suggests a set of actions to solve the major part of the problems with plastic waste: High reduction in single use packaging; put a cap on virgin production of plastic; increase plastic recycling and invest in waste infrastructure; mandate minimum levels of plastic recycling in products (e.g. >40%); put a tax on packaging consumption; reduce additives in plastic and ban polystyrene packaging.

How?

  • Consume less fish and sea food. Allows ecosystems in the seas to recover and the carbon capture processes in oceans to gain strength again.
  • Buy locally caught fish from small scale fishers. Tends to be sustainable and preserves the ecosystems in oceans.
  • Avoid deep frozen fish, that often originate from industrial style fishing harmful to oceans.
  • Avoid farmed fish, e.g. salmon. Unfortunately such fish is predominately fed by fish oil and meal produced from huge quantities of small fish and krill essential to the balance of ecosystems in the oceans.
  • Never eat shark fin soup. Sharks are important for healthy ecosystems in the oceans.
  • Don’t eat fish caught by bottom trawling, e.g. flounder, sole, turbot, plaice, halibut, and monkfish. Large scale fishing typically uses bottom trawling, which destroy habitats for fish and harm marine ecosystems.
  • Eating more vegetarian food releases the pressure on ocean ecosystems. Vegetarian food is a much more resource efficient food source than both fish and meat.
  • Support creating marine reserves where no fishing is allowed. In the reserves fish and marine life can recover. The fish also tend to spread to other areas were the fishing will be better again.
  • Oppose deep sea mining. Very harmful to ecosystems in the oceans, especially since the sea bottom is needed by new born fish and many other creatures for their lifecycle.
  • Minimize your use of plastics. Make sure the plastic you still use does not end up in the sea by recycling the plastic.
  • Clothes made of polyester and nylon release micro plastics every time washed. Use a washing machine equipped with a filter removing these plastics. Use less clothes made from polyester or nylon.
  • Replant mangrove forests where there used to be. Mangroves are the nursery for fish and many other creatures living in the ocean, helps them to survive their childhood and grow big. Mangroves also protects land from typhoons, hurricanes and stops erosion. In short, mangroves supports healthy ecosystems both on land and in sea.

Why?

  • Trees and forests are a key mechanism to remove carbon dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere, they are a “carbon sink”. Every wooden thing is actually made of CO2 taken from the atmosphere. As such, much of the excessive CO2 that have already been released into the atmosphere when we have burned fossil fuels, could be removed by planting more trees and forests. Though we need to stop burning even more fossil fuels ASAP – that is now!
  • Forests and trees are the fundament for life on earth, on land. How we protect and manage forests the next ten years, will define our future as mankind on this Planet.
  • Earth without forests would be an earth without higher lifeforms. Forests are the base for ecosystems where both humans, other animals and plants can exist. Of course, we don’t need to live inside forests, but we need forests nearby and a major part of land areas (about 30-50%) need to be covered by forests to have sustainable and healthy ecosystems.
  • Trees and forests smoothen out extreme weather. Days when it’s hot, their photosynthesis absorbs radiation (i.e. heat) from sun. Trees absorb over 20% of the solar radiation. Days when it’s cold, they preserve and buffer warmth from earlier days. When it’s windy, they provide shelter and reduce the cooling effect. When it is raining heavily, they mitigate flooding by retaining water. When there is drought, forests suck up water from deep down the ground and release water vapor into air. That mitigates the drought and absorbs heat (everyone knows that a lot of heat is needed/used to boil a pot of water dry into vapor). Plants and mushrooms in the forest release pollen and spores into the air, that serve as condensation nucleus for water vapor and thereby start rain to fall. Even bacteria, e.g. the Pseudomonas Syringae found in forests and healthy soil, can disperse through the atmosphere and act as the coolant around which water vapor condenses into raindrops. Trees can even initiate rainfall themselves by emitting certain chemicals that can make water vapor condense into rain. And as one scientist, Professor Dominick Spracklen, even put it – “NO FOREST, NO RAIN”. So without forests, weather tend to be more extreme.
  • A healthy forest is a bio diverse forest. The forest that have many different species of trees, trees of different ages, many different species of plants, insects and animals, will be more resistant and resilient to disasters such as wild fires, droughts, floodings and deceases. It will also be more resilient and adapt better to changes in climate.
  • It might seem like a challenge to take care of and plant new forests, when we need the land for farming to grow our food. But did you know that approximately 80% of the agricultural land is used to feed our livestock. So by eating less meat, there is no problem in planting new forests. Or maybe we should say, restoring land that used to be forests – it all used to be forests a few thousand years ago. Preferably some of the less fertile land is restored to forests, and the more fertile is kept for agriculture. For one inspiring example, see this documentary.

How?

  • Stop deforestation and cutting down remaining forests.
  • Plant trees and restore forests on low yield arable land. Keep the high yield arable land for agriculture.
  • Eat less meat and more vegetarian food.
  • Plant different trees, not monocultures. Biodiversity gives resilience, e.g. increases resistance to wild fires, flooding, storms and erosion. Use native trees and plants.
  • Plant more trees in cities. Trees clean the air, provide shadow, absorb heat and reduce the temperature during hot days. Trees also retain water and mitigates damages from heavy rain. Trees also affects mental health and makes you feel good.
  • Replant mangrove forests where there used to be. Besides being a carbon sink and producing oxygen, mangroves protects land from typhoons, hurricanes and stops erosion. Mangroves are also the nursery for fish and many other creatures living in the ocean, helps them to survive their childhood and grow big. In short, mangroves supports healthy ecosystems both on land and in sea.
  • Stop using palm oil and products containing palm oil. Large rainforests are being cut down just to plant palm oil trees. Such monocultures are as far from healthy ecosystems one can be.
  • Stop unlawful hunting and killing of animals. Large animals such as elephants, rhinos, lions, tigers, jaguars, wolfs, crocodiles, monkeys, bears, whales, sharks, etc, are all important for the health of the respective ecosystem they belong to. For closer explanation why, take a look for example at this TED talk.
  • Restoring forests is amazingly easy. Set land aside and leave it alone. Fences might be needed to keep grazing animals such as goats and sheep out. Seeds hidden in the ground will soon start to grow and within 5 to 10 years, a forest and natural ecosystem will be born again. The process could be speeded up by bringing in and planting indigenous trees and plants.
  • Don’t use clear cutting of forests. Instead apply incremental harvesting of selected trees, not to disrupt the forest’s ecosystem, the soil included. The soil and the rich life of fungi, bacteria, viruses, and other microorganisms it contains, is what provides the nutrients to the trees and plants in the forest. Done in the right way, incremental harvesting will also long term give a better bottom line economically.
  • Avoid heavy use of products or bi-products from forests. What the forest produces, is to a large extent needed in the forest itself for the forest to be healthy and long term thriving. It would be naive to believe that forests produce a large surplus, given that everything in nature is very optimized and well-functioning.
  • Let the soil keep and accumulate organic materials from trees, plants and animals. This is what holds moisture and contains carbon, and this is where the nutrients are released and recycled. Living soils in healthy ecosystems contains on average three times more carbon than all the foliage above the ground. This is an efficient way to sequester carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and perhaps the best way to recover from climate change.

Why?

  • Today a large share of land on Earth is used for agriculture. Therefore of course how agriculture is practiced has a large impact on ecosystems and on Earth’s energy balance. That is, the climate and the weather.
  • 80% of the agricultural land is today used to feed our livestock. A sustainable agriculture must be more focused towards directly feeding people rather than our livestock. It is hardly sustainable for our planet and its ecosystems, that of all animals on Earth, there are 10 times more livestock animals than wild animals (counted in biomass). This imbalance is indeed one important reason for the problems humanity is now facing with global warming. The simple solution – eat less meat and more plant-based food.

How?

  • Eat less meat and more plant-based food.
  • Make farming more sustainable. Right managed farmland and soil can be turned into a carbon sink e.g. in richer root systems, instead of a carbon source as in many conventional farms today.
  • Change to either low-till or no-till farming practices. Minimizing plowing builds soil health and increases carbon in the soil.
  • Grow at least four or five crops in rotation. Builds soil health and increases yields.
  • Keep the ground covered by living plants. Builds soil health and mitigates erosion and impact from flooding and drought.
  • Intermediate crops during winter time is a good practice in some parts of the world.
  • Switch to crops that survive several years.
  • Go organic, or even biodynamic. Reduce and stop the use of pesticides and fossil based fertilizers. These are both harmful to the rich life of the soil and hence not sustainable. Biodynamic farming are even more healthy for the soil using sustainable circular and regenerative farming practices.
  • Take care of the soil, always build soil health. The soil and its rich life of fungi, bacteria, viruses, and other microorganisms it contains, is what provides the nutrients to the crop.
  • Breed new crops better adapted in taking advantage of healthy soils and all the nutrition that mycorrhizal fungi and microorganisms can provide.
  • Let the soil accumulate organic materials from plants and animals. This is what holds moisture and contains carbon, and this is where the nutrients are recycled. Living soils contains on average three times more carbon than a foliage above the ground. This is an efficient way to sequester carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and ultimately recover from climate change.
  • Avoid monocultures on large areas. Keep trees and wild plants between fields, along roads, and on nearby non-farmland. Biodiversity gives resilience, e.g. increases resistance to diseases, drought and flooding.
  • Increase local supply for cities, i.e. “urban perimeter agriculture”. Potentially the highest production of vegetables, lowest cost of transport, and a low cost of employment.
  • Avoid products containing palm oil. Stop large scale palm oil plantations, which are a disaster for many of Earth’s forests.
  • Learn from science and best practices the best way to achieve a sustainable agriculture that builds soil quality and a healthy ecosystem where you live.

Why?

  • Focusing exclusively on growth is not a viable alternative in a post-fossil sustainable society. Find new values that will support a sustainable society, apply them on your city and the city will prosper.
  • Make sure resilience is part of the new values, to build a city that maintains its stability as the effects of global warming keeps getting severer. Proactive spendings on resilience will be more economic than taking the costs at repetitive disasters. Cities taking action now will be the winners in the coming decades.

How?

  • Promote cultural and social growth as part of the new city values
  • Stimulate a shift from consumption of goods to consumption of entertainment, restaurant dinners, sports, outdoor activities, and richer social lives. Living a “good life” should not be associated with plenty of shopping but plenty of entertainment and social interactions.
  • Make sure people can live their lives with less need for transportation. Shops with basic supply in neighborhoods can reduce transportation needs. Good internet infrastructure may allow working remote and from home.
  • The entertainment sector, restaurants and other functions for social interaction are typically not very dependent on global supply chains. Hence a shift of the economy to these sectors will increase the resilience of the city, and make it possible for the city to function more normal even if disasters strikes other parts of the nation or the world.
  • Stimulate localization of shops closer to where people live to minimize transports. People should be able to do more of their shopping without being dependent on a car.
  • Promote the city as a fossil free environment that increases peoples’ health and quality of life. This may include fresh air, fresh water, a rich offer of organic quality food primarily from farms near the city, parks and urban forests for walking and recreation, possibilities for sport activities, a rich entertainment scene, plenty of restaurants, cafés and other possibilities for social interaction.

Why?

  • Current food production is industrialized and heavily dependent on fossil fuels. It is also typically more vulnerable to global warmings than organic farming. So to stop the global warming and to secure a stable food supply to the city, it is necessary to switch to organic foods. This would also increase peoples’ health and by that reducing health care costs. It would also generate more jobs.
  • The reason to provide more vegetarian food alternatives is that it takes eleven times as much fossil fuel to raise a pound of animal protein as a pound of plant protein. By freeing up some farmland that used to produce animal feed today, the biodiversity and nature’s ability to capture carbon from atmosphere can be re-established. This could be the best way to stabilize the climate, and at the lowest cost.

How?

  • Introduce organic foods where ever it is in your power to do so, city institutions, schools, hospitals etc.
  • Investigate if it possible to introduce local tax benefits or other benefits for restaurants offering organic food menus
  • Ensure lunch menus have rich vegetarian alternatives
  • Motivate employees and people for using organic and more vegetarian food

Why?

  • The fossil fuel based fertilizers used by farmers need to be replaced. This can be done by reestablishing the natural nutrient cycle.

How?

  • Food waste, but also compostable waste from humans and animals, need to be returned to farmers’ fields as fertilizer.
  • Discuss with local farmers using organic methods to understand their needs and how an infrastructure for returning the food waste and compost to their farms can be established
  • Look at successful infrastructures that are already in place, e.g. in Vermont US, Sweden Europe, and in other places.
  • Establish a project or organization to define and execute procedures and policies for recycling the food waste to local farms. Use help subcontractors can provide.
  • Investigate ways to also return human urine and/or sludge to the farms. If it can be ensured these are not polluted by other waste or chemicals, these are excellent fertilizers too.
  • Try establish a “circular thinking” and a circular economy instead of the “linear” thinking and economy that has dominated the last century.
  • Use Internet to learn more about others’ experiences. Share your successful results on Internet to the benefit of other cities.

Why?

  • Food is our most important product. An increased level of local provision of food, increases the resilience to disturbances to food supply to city inhabitants. This would increase food security and by that stability in your city even as climate disasters as failing crops strikes more often.
  • Local markets facilitates for organic food production – farmers and customers can have a more direct relation, fewer intermediaries and better payed to the farmers’ more labour intensive production, less transports in total. It might also open up opportunities to return food waste as fertilizers to the farmland.
  • Shopping quality food at a local market nearby is also considered as fun by many.

How?

  • Create areas suitable for local farmers markets. Plan them so city inhabitants are able to reach the local market by foot, by bike, or by a short transport. It is more energy efficient to transport the few salesmen than the many buyers.
  • See if it is possible to locate the local market in an area where restaurants serving organic food, cafes, pubs and other local service and shopping are or can be located as well. This will bring more life to that part of the city as well as minimize the need for transports.

Why?

  • If your city has influence on R&D and investments, try attract green technology to your city. That will increase possibilities that those enterprises and institutions can provide useful results for your city. As your city transitions to a fossil-free city with high resilience it will encounter new types of issues that will require new type of solutions.
  • Green tech is a business of growing importance. Having it in your city may create new jobs and be prosperous for your city.

How?

  • Stimulate research within the area “transition to a fossil free society” at research institutions in your city.
  • Introduce tax benefits for certain green tech sectors.
  • Stimulate a close cooperation between the city and universities and other research institutions. Put focus on identifying what “resilience” means for your city and on finding solutions for a faster adaption to new requirements from the transition.
  • Establish and deepen the cooperation between the city and enterprises venturing on green tech. Focus on finding solutions to problems that arise as the city transitions to become independent from fossil fuels, and resilient to climate induced disturbances.
  • Market the city as an attractive location for green tech.
  • Spread the results and advances made with the city, to help other cities and to create more jobs at the city’s green tech companies.
  • Discuss results and problems with other city mayors.

Why?

  • The key cause for the global warming is the burning of fossil fuels. There are no realistic or economic ways to undo the release of the carbon dioxide once it has been released into the atmosphere. The only feasible way to stop the climate from becoming even worse is to leave the remaining fossils in the ground. Simple as that.
  • Electricity generation and production of heating and cooling are main users directly or indirectly of fossil fuels.
  • There are competitive fossil-free alternatives for electricity, heating and cooling today.

How?

  • Stop any new investments in fossil based technology where the city is involved.
  • Replace fossil based production sites, with fossil free alternatives. Start with the ”dirtiest” first e.g. coal before natural gas etc.
  • People are often willing to pay a bit more for sustainable alternatives. This may mitigate the cost penalty for any early close down of existing fossil based investments. Future costs for recovering after weather disasters may also be avoided by replacing fossil based investments prior to their planned end of life.
  • Renegotiate any deals the city has with external suppliers for electricity/heating/cooling. Require fossil free alternatives, primarily wind, sun, and geothermal alternatives. Make deals with new suppliers as necessary. This will stimulate the necessary growth of these alternatives.
  • Please note that wind energy alone has been estimated to have a potential of many times the total energy usage on the planet estimated 2030. That is, not only the need for electrical energy, but a potential corresponding to the total energy need all kinds i.e. electricity, hydropower, coal, oil, natural gas, shale gas, nuclear power and including expected growth until 2030 [see National Academy of Science, USA, 2009]. So don’t underestimate its potential.

Why?

  • Fossil driven cars, trucks, buses etc are a major source of the green house gases that disrupts our climate. They need to be replaced by fossil free alternatives. These alternatives are already available today. However as any new technology initially usually are, these are still a bit more costly. Some benefits for the fossil free alternatives as well as some higher taxation of the fossil based alternatives will speed up the technology shift. And that is exactly what the climate, we and our future generations need.
  • By replacing fossil driven cars and buses with electrical alternatives, the city and its citizens will also benefit from a much better air quality.

How?

  • Eliminate or reduce taxation of electrical vehicles. Even if it is just for a period of some years, this would stimulate the shift to a fossil driven fleet.
  • Add taxation to the fossil driven alternatives to make them less attractive. The motivation is that the costs for climate disasters need to be taken by those who are causing them.
  • If necessary taxation policies cannot be set on a city mayor level, look for other alternatives to differentiate fossil free vehicles from fossil driven. Road toll tickets, e.g. at a perimeter around the city, may for example be used to differentiate and tax vehicles harming our climate higher.
  • Escalate needs for new taxation policies to the responsible policy makers.
  • Promoting fossil free transportation should also be accompanied by enhancing public transportation, which is also more energy efficient. That would facilitate the expansion of the fossil free energy production at a pace with the deployment of electrical vehicles.
  • Investigate how fossil free transportation of goods in the city also can be promoted.
  • Include hydrogen driven electrical cars in your plans, as these require a special infrastructure of hydrogen stations. Electrical cars fueled by hydrogen has a much better range than current battery charged alternatives. In addition hydrogen is an interesting way to solve the problem of storing wind energy and solar energy.

Why?

  • Public transportation is the most energy efficient way to transport people in a city (besides bicycles). As people are looking for alternatives to fossil driven cars, public transportation of sufficient capacity must be available for the transition to happen and the city to continue to function normally.
  • By ensuring the public transportation is competitive and fossil free, people will more quickly abandon their fossil fueled cars. As people adopt public transportation instead, the need for investments and maintenance of the road infrastructure will be reduced and some resources released for enhancing the public transportation. In addition the air in the city will be cleaner.

How?

  • Invest in electrical buses and vehicles when increasing the capacity of public transportation. Make sure new vehicles are comfortable for passengers.
  • Extend the number of priority lanes for buses. The goal is public transports shall never get stuck in traffic jams
  • Consider start using electrical buses based on hydrogen fuel cells. These don’t need to be fueled/charged very often. Establish an infrastructure for hydrogen but make sure the hydrogen is produced based on fossil free generation such as wind power or solar energy. This infrastructure can also be used by electrical cars driven by hydrogen.
  • Make sure all replacements of buses and vehicles are done with modern fossil free electrical vehicles. This means that the fleet of vehicles will be fossil free in some years.
  • Renegotiate the supply of electrical energy used for public transportation in the city to be only fossil free electricity produced from wind, sun, or geothermal sources.

Why?

  • Biking should be the preferred transport alternative in cities. It is the far most energy efficient alternative both in terms of fuel for driving the vehicle and in terms of energy for manufacturing the vehicle. In addition it has positive effects both peoples health and it requires very little space on the streets and for parking. For the city this means reduced costs for infrastructure and maintenance of roads and parkings. In addition the costs for public transportation are reduced and probably also costs related to bad health.

How?

  • Give biking different privileges so that it becomes the first choice when people are selecting between different transport alternatives in the city.
  • Establish an infrastructure for biking with separate lanes, priorities in crossings, special highways for bikes for a faster transport into the city center, protection of biking lanes or clear marking of biking lanes to avoid accidents with cars and pedestrians, plenty of parkings for bikes – some weather protected, rental system for bikes that is easy to use etc.
  • Study cities which already have an advanced infrastructure for biking such as Amsterdam, Copenhagen etc. Use ideas than can be applied in your city.
  • Try biking yourself to get an understanding what problems a biker experiences.

Why?

  • Locally produced goods and services are energy efficient, they will stimulate the local economy and create jobs in the city. A flourishing local market will also make the city more independent from global supply chains and increase the resilience of the city.
  • Quality products with a long product lifetime reduces the energy and resource consumption in the society. As most products today have a high embodied fossil fuel content, increasing the lifetime of products will immediately decrease the usage fossil fuels and other resources.

How?

  • Find ways to stimulate the local economy. Pay special attention to essential products and services, such as food production and supply, provision of water, production of renewable electricity etc.
  • Use internet. Information is important for people to find local markets, local products and services. The city can provide information to facilitate and stimulate the local economy.
  • Promote quality products on the market. Publish tests made by independent institutes with quality and lifetime ratings of consumer products. Provide possibilities for citizens to blog of their experiences of product quality.
  • Stimulate second hand markets oct different kinds since they basically help extending the lifetime of various products. They also help people save money.

Why?

  • Better repair and maintenance possibilities in different products sectors increases the life time of products. That has a direct impact on the energy (today typically from fossil fuels) and resources used in the society. Even if products are imported from other countries, there is still a problem since the global warming is a global problem. Fossil fuel burned and released into the atmosphere in one part of the world affects all parts of the world equally much.
  • More jobs are created. These will to a large extent be jobs in the city as repair and maintenance is often provided by local enterprises.

How?

  • Introduce tax benefits for a repairs and maintenance sector. Lower or remove the VAT on repair and maintenance services or subsidize in other ways.
  • Keep people updated on what repair and maintenance possibilities are available in the city.
  • Encourage local companies to market spare parts for their products.
  • Help establish markets for spare parts. Make sure it is also available on internet, to also benefit other cities and help stimulate the economy in your city.

Why?

  • All cities in the world are facing similar challenges from the global warming and from trying to transition to an independence from fossil fuels. Many of the cities should have the same conditions for the necessary transition as your city and as cities not always are competitors there should be good possibilities for co-operation.

How?

  • Use your existing contacts and take new contacts with other city mayors.
  • Contact organizations engaged in the climate issues, e.g. the Earth Policy Institute New York, Transition Town Totnes & Transition Networks in UK, and discuss the issues and possible solutions.
  • Establish and exchange program to have experienced people from another city to join your team for some weeks or months to share experiences.
  • Use Internet to find and share experiences
  • Use competence within your organization. Hire new people and dedicate them to the new issues.

Questions answered

  • How can I stop global warming
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  • How to transform a city to meet the climate threat
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  • How should a city meet the climate change
  • How can a city stop the global warming
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  • What can a city mayor do to stop global warming
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