Tuesday, October 10, 2006

Where Is Phoenix?

Among the nine cities in the United States with a population exceeding 1 million only one is not listed as either having a mayor who has signed the U.S. Mayors Climate Protection Agreement or has joined the international Cities for Climate Protection Campaign. That city is Phoenix, Arizona, the nation’s sixth largest city. The next largest city in size that so far has not joined either climate protection initiative is Detroit which once had a population of well over 1 million but has now dipped below that mark.

Only four states, Alabama, South Dakota, West Virginia, and Wyoming, do not have even one municipality with a mayor who has signed the U.S. Mayors Climate Protection Agreement. Not surprisingly, California leads the states with mayors who have signed on, now having a total of 59. Perhaps surprisingly, New Jersey is the state with the second most mayors, with 25 so far signing the agreement. However, in terms of number of Americans represented by the agreement, New York state is right up there with California as New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s signature alone represents over 8 million people.