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Increased forest fires in the Western United States, stronger hurricanes in the Gulf and Atlantic, disappearing hardwood forests in the Northeast — with all the recent bad news about potential effects of global warming, it's time to shake off negative attitudes, roll up our sleeves and get to work. And best of all, we don't have to wait for some technological miracle.

In Salt Lake City I've seen the desirable results of pursuing a sustainable, clean-energy economy. And by pursuing solutions to global warming, we will become far less dependent on foreign oil. Our national security will improve. Our local air quality and public health will get better. We will reduce emissions and combat global warming. And in many cases, we'll save ourselves a whole lot of money. This is not theory, it's empirical fact.

I committed our city in 2001 to meet, in our municipal operations, the emissions reduction target of the Kyoto protocol. While some may disparage that sort of commitment as a public relations exercise, we acted aggressively and, seven years early, exceeded our goal, reducing emissions more than 21 percent, and we have only just begun.

We started in city hall, converting light bulbs to compact fluorescents. The change saves us about $33,000 every year in electricity costs. We applied some of the savings to purchasing wind-generated electricity. These two simple measures saved taxpayers money and reduced carbon-dioxide emissions by 1,100 tons each year.

We converted our traffic lights to high-efficiency LEDs, saving huge amounts of electricity and money. We capture methane — which has 21 times the warming effect of carbon dioxide — at our wastewater treatment facility and use it to fuel a cogeneration plant that meets half the electricity needs there, further reducing the amount of electricity needed from coal-burning power plants.

We have converted our fleet, using more fuel-efficient cars and trucks, as well as alternative fuel vehicles. Every resident enjoys curbside recycling, our city forestry program (which helps sequester greenhouse gases) has been enhanced, and I have issued an executive order requiring all city-owned buildings be designed according to high-energy-performance standards.

If every governmental entity, business and individual in the United States took these sorts of measures, we would be far along in meeting the challenge before us. But we're not going to get there with a can't-do attitude and a failure of leadership.

Corporations, cities, states and other nations have profited from reducing global warming pollution. DuPont reduced global warming pollution by 67 percent since 1990 and saved $2 billion. BP — which used to be "British Petroleum," but now is marketed as "Beyond Petroleum" — invested $20 million in reducing emissions by 20 percent and saved $650 million. IBM reduced its greenhouse gas emissions 38 percent and saved $791 million through energy efficiencies. Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels led his city's utility to achieve zero net emissions. Between 1990 and 2003, while electricity use climbed 5 percent, Germany created 120,000 jobs in its renewable energy sector while cutting global warming emissions from power generation by 13 percent. Denmark now generates 20 percent of its energy from wind.

Perhaps excuses about the current state of technology are enough to salve the consciences of those who fail to act to combat catastrophic climate change, but many people — in government, business, the scientific community and their personal lives — know we can take responsible, effective action now to protect our climate.

The more than 250 U.S. mayors who have committed themselves to major emissions reductions believe Americans shouldn't walk away from their responsibilities, nor miss out on the opportunities available to us. We believe that leadership begins at home, especially when it has been abdicated at higher levels of government.

As a father who pledged the day his son was born to do what he could to make this a safer, healthier world, I refuse to stand by and watch the rapid deterioration of our world due to global warming. Effective, immediate action is a moral imperative.

Our individual actions may seem small, but the combined impact of everyone working together will make a huge difference. Despair, defeatism and inaction is entirely inconsistent with America's proud tradition of stepping up and doing what it takes, with the means available to us, to get the job done.

E-mail Anderson at rocky.anderson@slcgov.com.