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ENDORSING THE U.S. MAYORS' CLIMATE PROTECTfON AGREEMENT <br /> WHEREAS, the U.S. Canference of Mayors has previously adopted strong policy <br /> resolutions calling for cities, communities and the federal government to take <br /> actions to reduce global warming pollution; and <br /> WHEREAS, the Inter-Gavernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the <br /> international community's most respected assemblage of scientists, is clear that <br /> there is no longer any credible doubt that climate disruptinn is a reality and that <br /> human activities are largely resp4nsible for increasing concentrations of global <br /> warming pollution; and <br /> WHEREAS, recen#, well-documented impacts of clima#e disruption incfiude <br /> average giobal sea level increases of four ta eight inches during the 20th century; <br /> a 40% decline in Arctic sea-ice thickness; and nine of the ten hottest years on <br /> record occurring in the past decade; and <br /> WHEREAS, clima#e disruption of the magnitude now predicted by#he scientific <br /> community wi[I cause extremely costly disruption of human and nafural systems <br /> throughout the world including: increased risk of floods or droughts; sea-level <br /> rises that interact with coastal storms to erode beaches, inundate land, and <br /> damage structures; more frequent and extreme heat waves, more frequent and <br /> greater concentrations of smog; and <br /> WHEREAS, on February 'R6, 2005, the Kyoto Protocol, an internationa! <br /> agreement to address climate disruption, went into effect in the 141 countries <br /> that have ra#ified it to date; 38 of those countries are now legally required to <br /> reduce greenhouse gas emissions on average 5.2 percent below 1990 levels by <br /> 2012; and <br /> WHEREAS, the United States of America, with less than five percent of the <br /> worfd's population, is responsible for producing approximately 25% of the world's <br /> global warming pallutants; and <br /> WHEREAS, the Kyoto Protocol emissions reduction target for the United States, <br /> would have been 7% below 1990 levels by 2012; and <br /> WHEREAS, many leading Unites States campanies that have adopted <br /> greenhouse gas reduction programs to demonsfirate corporate socia( <br /> responsibility have also publicly expressed preference for the United States ta <br /> adopt precise and mandatary emissions targets and timetables as a means by <br /> which fo remain competifive in the international marketplace, to mitigate financia! <br /> risk and to promote sound investme�t decisions; and <br />