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Cieslewicz vows to keep environment at city’s forefront

JEFF SCHORFHEIDE/Herald photo

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Also by Logan Jaffe:

Folk the night away (January 25, 2008)
Humanities journal launches 5th issue with more readers (December 13, 2007)
Coalition braves winter weather to help needy (December 12, 2007)
UW sues over similar W logo (December 5, 2007)
Faculty start new environment project (December 4, 2007)

by Logan Jaffe

Friday, February 1, 2008

Madison Mayor Dave Cieslewicz told a group of University of Wisconsin students Thursday he will increase efforts to make Madison one of the country’s greenest cities.

The mayor kicked off UW’s Focus the Nation teach-in, as students, professors and residents gathered to learn about green-friendly ways of life.

The two-day event featured 13 UW professors in brief back-to-back lectures about environmental issues like pollution in India, global warming and the health effects of climate change. Sponsored by the Wisconsin Public Interest Research Group and the Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies, 1,600 schools and organizations were involved in the nationwide campaign.

“I want to be mayor forever,” Cieslewicz said. “You want this green thinking to be in everything the city does, so it doesn’t matter who is mayor at some point.”

According to Cieslewicz, Madison is a green movement leader. The city has changed all red and green traffic lights to LED bulbs — the energy equivalent of taking about 450 cars off the road — and converted four metro buses to hybrids, saving 45 percent more fuel per bus. The city will soon change the entire bus system to hybrids, Cieslewicz said.

The mayor also emphasized buying local food to conserve transportation cost and energy, decreasing carbon emissions from all city buildings and converting fire station water sources to solar power.

In addition to increasing recycling and wind energy, Cieslewicz advocated a local form of the Kyoto Protocol, an international movement for nations to reduce greenhouse gases.

“Over 130 countries commit to the Kyoto Protocol,” Cieslewicz said. “So there was this idea to get 130 cities. As soon as I heard, I signed up. It’s still not enough to address the issue meaningfully, but it’s a start.”

Focus the Nation also allowed its participants to learn about community-oriented energy initiatives. Mpowering Madison — a campaign that helps individual residents do their part in the citywide goal to reduce 100,000 tons of carbon dioxide by 2011 — is one organization that inspires local residents to become more energy efficient, according to UW alumna Jessie Lerner.

“Madison students are affected because we all pay tuition costs and water bills, and it saves money taking on a more green approach,” Lerner said. “Living in Madison is a progressive environmental experience, and being a leader [in the green movement] means this can catch on at a state and national level.”

WISPIRG is another campaign that advocates green-conscious behavior, according to Tony Uhl, the organization’s Big Red Go Green co-chair. The club sponsored residence hall energy competitions at the Midwest Clean Energy Conference, where students from all over the Midwest can learn about energy alternatives.

“There is a huge amount of students here at Focus the Nation, and it beat our expectations by a lot,” Uhl said. “Aside from professors telling their students to come to this [event], the biggest help is everyone working together and realizing the importance of this cause.”

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