SEATTLE — One day last month in this normally sun-starved corner of the country, when the temperature reached into the low 60s, residents donned shorts and acted as if summer had come early.
That bothered Mayor Greg Nickels -- not the shorts, but the warm weather.
The temperature hit the 60s again this month, and with mountain snowpacks alarmingly low and scientists already predicting drought this summer, Nickels said he feared "the profound changes" associated with global warming had reached home.
Kyoto Protocol -- An article in the Feb. 22 Section A about Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels' campaign to persuade American cities to adopt the terms of the Kyoto Protocol said that most of Idaho's ski resorts were closed because of a lack of snow. Only Schweitzer Ski Resort in northern Idaho had announced it would close.
Last week, on the day the Kyoto Protocol went into effect, Nickels announced he would lead a campaign to get U.S. cities to adopt its terms, beginning with Seattle. He said his goal was to recruit 140 cities to match the 140 countries that signed the treaty. The mayors of 10 cities, including Los Angeles; Santa Monica; Portland, Ore.; Minneapolis; and Oakland, have signed on.
The Kyoto Protocol, the first major international effort to reduce the industrial emissions that many scientists believe are creating a warmer climate, went into effect without the support of the world's biggest polluter. The United States, which produces about one-fourth of the world's heat-trapping exhaust, initially signed the treaty in 1997 but withdrew in 2001.
"I'm deeply disappointed that the U.S. is not part of the treaty," said Nickels, a Democrat. But, he said, he did not see his campaign as a partisan effort by Democrats to thumb their noses at the Republican Bush administration.
"We want to show that a city -- and I hope it turns out to be many cities -- can act to meet the intent and spirit of the Kyoto Protocol," Nickels said. The goal would be to "inspire our federal government to take the action it should have done years ago."
Sarah Jaynes, a Seattle resident and board member of the nonpartisan King County Conservation Voters -- which works to elect "environmentally responsible candidates" to office -- said she believed Nickels was genuinely concerned about global warming but also was being an astute politician.
Nickels, a first-term mayor, is running for reelection later this year.
"Seattle voters are extraordinarily concerned about environmental protection, and Mayor Nickels wants to demonstrate a strong environmental ethic," Jaynes said. "This is one way he can do it. As a politician, it can only help him."
