Editorial: Fighting global warming

Sunday, Oct. 1, 2006 | 7:35 a.m.

Las Vegas earned the distinction in July of being the first city in the country to join an anti-global warming campaign championed by the U.S. Conference of Mayors.

Henderson joined the campaign in late September, and other Nevada cities, including Reno, have also joined it.

Automobile emissions are the major source of greenhouse gases that collect in the atmosphere and prevent solar and Earth-generated heat from escaping into space.

Air pollution from other sources, such as manufacturing plants, also adds to the accumulation of greenhouse gases. The Earth has been warming for at least the past century, with the consequences particularly noticeable over the past decade.

Pat Mulroy, general manger of the Southern Nevada Water Authority, says Southern Nevada's eight-year drought is at least partly attributable to global warming.

A major goal of the mayors' conference is for cities to reduce their emissions to 1990 levels by the year 2012. Las Vegas is already providing a good example of how to get this done.

Eighty-seven percent of its nonemergency vehicles run on alternative fuels.

It provides incentives for its approximately 3,000 employees to use mass transit or carpools in commuting to work.

It requires that "green" standards be used in the construction of all public facilities in the city. It promotes the planting of trees, which absorb pollution and emit oxygen.

We commend these and other efforts and hope that all cities in Nevada, and the country for that matter, sign on to this most laudable effort to safeguard the environment.