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ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) -- Mayors from 32 U.S cities were urged Sunday to take leadership roles in reducing global warming.
"We need to find the leadership in this country," Salt Lake City Mayor Rocky Anderson said. "If it's not going to come from the top down ... we need to push from the bottom up."
He spoke at a conference hosted by Anchorage Mayor Mark Begich for municipal leaders from 17 states. The meeting is focused on how local leaders can strengthen their communities by reducing their contributions to global climate change.
Anderson said there is no longer a dispute over warming and that it's due to the burning of fossil fuels that add greenhouse gases to the atmosphere, trapping more warmth.
The only uncertainty, he said, is how fast the globe is warming and where the impacts will appear.
Mayors kicked off the conference by swapping stories from their communities.
Two Washington state mayors, Rosemarie Ives of Redmond and Royce Pollard of Vancouver, said they have seen an effect on salmon.
"The fish gave us our first indication," Pollard said.
Ives said warmer water has affected salmon runs, and the community has responded with steps to restore habitat such as trees along the river.
Bruce Botelho, mayor of Juneau, Alaska, said warming has affected tree species such as western yellow cedar, which is under severe stress because of changes in the freeze-thaw cycle.
"The average snow fall has decreased by two feet, and the average annual temperature has increased by four degrees," Botelho said.
John Engen, mayor of Missoula, Mont., said his city has had more 90-degree days than anyone can remember.
"We catch fire in western Montana and millions of dollars have been devoted to fighting wildfires," he said.
Mayors will spend three days discussing how they can reduce warming and how cities can adjust to changes predicted by scientists.
The conference follows meetings hosted last year by Anderson, the U.N.-sponsored International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives and actor Robert Redford.
The burning of carbon-based fuels adds to naturally occurring greenhouse gases that retain Earth's heat.
Accelerated warming has been most apparent at the Earth's poles. Two NASA studies showed the winter Arctic sea ice is melting far faster than before, a trend that researchers fear will threaten the ocean's delicate ecosystem.
Elsewhere in Alaska, researchers have documented thinning glaciers and effects on the boreal forest from drought and warmer temperatures in which destructive insects can thrive.
(Copyright 2006 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
