Seattle, WA

Mayor: Greg Nickels

Date of Adoption:
2005-05-30

Primary Contact:
(Become a City Lead!)

Why My City is Cool

If you're looking for the “Coolest” city in the country, look no further than the Emerald City. Once known for Grunge music and great coffee, Seattle is now known as the home of the Mayor’s Climate Protection Agreement.
Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels started the U.S. Mayors Climate Protection Agreement and sparked a grassroots effort that has spread across the country and garnered international attention.

The mayor launched the “Clean, Green Fleet Plan” in 2003, which included downsizing the city’s fleet, replacing older compact sedans with more fuel-efficient gas-electric hybrid cars, and discouraging the purchase of new SUVs. In addition, new trucks come equipped with technology that automatically turns off the engine while idling, to avoid unnecessary pollution, fuel consumption, and cost.

Seattle’s fleet has cut the use of fossil fuels by 12 percent since 1999, largely by converting to hybrid vehicles and using biodiesel in many of its heavy trucks. These changes have cut global warming pollution by about 2,400 tons - the same as taking more than 500 cars off the road for a year.

In November Seattle City Light became the first major electric utility in the nation to achieve zero net greenhouse gas emissions. As part of that effort, some cruise ships docking at Seattle’s waterfront now get electric power from City Light so they can cut their engines and reduce emissions. And the privately owned garbage trucks contracted by the city, have switched to cleaner-burning biodiesel and ultra-low sulfur fuels to help protect the climate and reduce pollution.

Other key actions the city is taking include efforts to reduce the city’s use of paper by 30 percent, encourage neighborhood-based climate protection projects through the Neighborhood Matching Fund Program, and increase the use of climate-friendly materials such as slag cement in city projects. Seattle has also developed one of the strongest green building programs in the nation.

Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels’s U.S. Mayors Climate Protection Agreement challenge sparked a grassroots effort that has garnered international attention and has underscored the growing consensus that action is needed now to slow global warming—Sierra Club has taken this on in the form of the Cool Cities Campaign.

P-patch program allows Seattle residents to purchase small plots for gardening in their neighborhoods. The One Less Car Challenge is a new program that gives you a taste of living with one less car. Basically, you go on a "car diet" for a month by not driving your second car - or your only car. You'll get great tips on how to get around by bus, bike & foot, as well as some nifty incentives - like some free Flexcar use for the month.