Pat Yourself on the Back: Local government efforts are making Local Climate Action Week a national success
Apply for Our Committee: Help develop our adaptation program
Find Retrofit Funding: A new federal program funds home retrofits
Follow Their Progress: The latest ICLEI member accomplishments

Good job, ICLEI members: Your efforts to support Local Climate Action Week are having a major impact.

• On Monday, the Climate Action Blueprint –- endorsed by more than 375 local government leaders -- was submitted to members of Congress and President-elect Obama.
  
  
• Local governments across the country -- from Santa Cruz, Calif., to Charlottesville, Va. -- are hosting local media events to support the Blueprint and promote a key message: Thousands of ready-to-go local government projects can create jobs, stimulate the economy, reduce energy consumption, and curb GHG emissions. These local funding opportunities are smart investments—not handouts or bailouts!
  
  
• Local and national media outlets are writing about the “chorus of cities” speaking up in support for this approach. And over the weekend, President-elect Obama pledged to undertake a massive public works program to stimulate the economy, with a strong emphasis on green projects such as home weatherization. (Watch his YouTube address.)
  
  
• Turn this national story into a local story that boosts climate protection and green jobs in your community: Endorse the Blueprint (if you haven’t already), submit to ICLEI your list of ready-to-go local initiatives, and use our press release to alert local media.
  

ICLEI USA and The Climate Registry have announced a new partnership. The two organizations will launch initiatives to encourage local governments to use the highest standards of the Local Government Operations Protocol and report their emissions as active members of The Climate Registry and ICLEI.
>> Learn More

Thanks to you, our members, for making 2008 a milestone year. This edition of the ICLEI Connection will be ICLEI’s final national e-newsletter of 2008. ICLEI Connection will resume on Wednesday, Jan. 7. Also, please remember that all ICLEI USA offices will be closed from Dec. 25 to Jan. 1, 2009. We will resume work on Friday, Jan. 2. We wish you a safe and happy holiday season!

Park City, Utah won ICLEI’s recent drawing and will have its membership dues waived for 2009. The 88 member jurisdictions that completed the 2008 ICLEI Member Annual Survey by Nov. 19 were entered into this drawing, and Park City’s name was randomly chosen. Congratulations to Mayor Dana Williams and Sustainability Project Manager Crystal Ward, and thank you to all members who took time and completed the survey.

If you haven't had a chance to take the survey this fall, we would still appreciate your feedback. >> View Our Survey

ICLEI is still accepting applications for our Adaptation Steering Committee. We need 20 to 30 member liaisons to help develop and roll out our upcoming Climate Resilient Communities Program, which will help local governments adapt to climate change! Apply by Jan. 15. >> Learn More

The Neighborhood Stabilization Program is allocating $5 billion to communities hardest hit by foreclosures, to redevelop homes and urban property, among other measures. One use of this money is to provide residential energy efficiency retrofits, which help create green-collar jobs. >> Learn More

Phoenix, Az., Moves Forward With Climate Action Plan

San Francisco Releases Draft Study on City's Bike Plan

Austin, Texas, Aims to Become U.S. 'Clean Energy Capital'

Hamden, Conn., School Bus Fleet Running Cleaner with Emissions Filters

Don’t forget to bookmark ICLEI’s Climate & Sustainability News page, or subscribe to our RSS feed. You can also bookmark our ICLEI & Members in the News page, or subscribe to the RSS feed.

U.N. Climate Talks in Poznan, Poland, in Search of Leadership and Ideas, Say Delegates

U.S. Greenhouse Gas Emissions Rose 1.4 Percent in '07

New Ridership Record Shows U.S. Still Lured to Mass Transit

Obama, Gore Talk Climate

“I’ve asked my economic team to create an economic recovery plan for both Wall Street and Main Street. ... First, we will launch a massive effort to make public buildings more energy efficient. Our government now pays the highest energy bills in the world. We need to change that. ... Second, we will create millions of new jobs by making the single largest new investment in our national infrastructure since the creation of the national highway system in the 1950s.”
--President-elect Barack Obama in his Dec. 6 weekly address. 

The ICLEI network welcomes the following new local governments:

• El Segundo, Calif.
• Half Moon Bay, Calif.
• Napa, Calif.
• Rancho Palos Verdes, Calif.
• Urbana, Ill.