Atlanta lawmakers approved a resolution on May 1 committing the city to transitioning toward running entirely on renewable energy sources, including wind and solar, by 2035. The city council unanimously approved the measure, which will first transition all city buildings by 2025.
“We know that moving to clean energy will create good jobs, clean up our air and water and lower our residents’ utility bills,” city council member Kwanza Hall said in a statement. “We never thought we’d be away from landline phones or desktop computers, but today we carry our smart phones around and they’re more powerful than anything we used to have. We have to set an ambitious goal or we’re never going to get there.”
This resolution makes Atlanta the 27th American city to commit to a 100 percent renewable energy plan, and the first in Georgia, according to the Sierra Club.
This move from Atlanta is part of a growing recognition that cities all over the world can take a tremendous bite out of climate change, even without much support from larger government. In fact, in March, a top New York City official called on other officials from city governments across the U.S. to keep fighting climate change with or without the help of the Environmental Protection Agency.
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