Following are the opening remarks presented by Olympia Mayor Mark Foutch at the Climate Change forum presented by the Olympia City Council on Tuesday, October 2, 2007:

Good evening. I’m Mark Foutch, Mayor of Olympia.

It’s my pleasure to welcome each of you to Climate Change: Olympia’s Call to Action.

One of the Olympia City Council’s four primary goals is to Put Sustainability into Action so that We Save our Planet. Let me emphasize -- “So that we SAVE OUR PLANET.”

The City Council believes that individually and collectively, we CAN make a difference for this community and for our world.

In January, when the Olympia Council gathered for our annual goal setting retreat, we had a vision of presenting a premier educational forum on climate change:

• to learn what is happening elsewhere in the world and how others are mitigating and adapting to climate change;
• to do our part to help focus local attention on the topics of climate change and sea level rise;
• and to help inspire our community commitment to action.

Your response this evening – both in-person and as a television audience - greatly exceeds our expectations. Thank you!

Climate Change is not a new topic for Olympia City government and this community.  In some regards, it’s as if the scientific evidence is now proving what we have suspected for some time.

Twenty years ago, though, before some of us were beginning to appreciate the effects of human activity on our world’s climate, the Olympia community was fortunate to have on the City Council a true visionary who fought to bring this issue to the forefront.

That individual is MARY STUART LUX.

As an Olympia Councilmember and Mayor Pro Tem, as a State Legislator and School Board Member, as a community activist, wife, mother and grandmother - Mary is still the environmental conscience of this community.  And, I continue to hear from her on these topics.  As former Mayor Bob Jacobs said more than once, “It’s hard to say NO to Mom!”

With Mary’s leadership, the Olympia City Council – nearly seventeen years ago in 1991, adopted resolutions to:

• mitigate global warming;
• reduce use of petroleum fuel and our dependence on limited resources;
• improve the urban environment;
• and make Olympia more sustainable in the future.

She urged the City to step forward as a national and international leader and become a founding member of the International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives.  And she represented the Olympia community at numerous local and world-wide conferences in her passionate commitment to Save Our Planet.

Please join me in thanking my dear friend and mentor MARY STUART LUX for her leadership and inspiration.

Now … Mary – then and now – was not the only Olympia official to lead and support the City’s climate change efforts.  Over the years, we have worked hard to implement that vision.

I am especially pleased to report to all of those forward-thinking leaders, that over the past three years Olympia City Government, in its daily operations, has reduced greenhouse gas emissions to levels below the Kyoto Agreement, with more reductions yet to come.

We have reduced the overall size of our operating fleet; replaced many aging vehicles with hybrid cars; and retrofitted City trucks to burn biodiesel.

Our comprehensive planning under the Growth Management Act is transforming our community into a more densely developed and transit-friendly place that’s better adapted to future realities.

Throughout the City, we are adding bicycle lanes, sidewalks, and walking trails to provide us all with a variety of mobility options.

And beginning this year, we are purchasing 100% green power for the operation of our water utilities.

Under the leadership of City Manager Steve Hall, our employees often walk, ride bikes, take the bus, and carpool to and from work and when they need to travel between City buildings.  And Steve sets the example by frequently biking to work, and using on-street parking – feeding the meters – to pay for the space his own car takes up on those days when he needs to drive.

Our employees are also showing all of us that it’s possible to achieve ZERO waste.  As a matter of fact, at our annual employee recognition picnic last month, the entire amount of non-recyclable and non-compostable garbage left over from lunch for more than 400 employees was LESS than the size of a basketball.

Our emphasis on environmental stewardship extends to this event tonight. You will have noticed the recycling and composting containers in the lobby, and we are purchasing carbon credits to offset greenhouse emissions associated with presenting the forum, including air travel by our guest speakers.

I would like to take a moment to thank our forum planning partners – Climate Solutions, Intercity Transit, and Puget Sound Energy, along with Olympia city staff – for their outstanding effort to organize this evening’s event and – maybe most important – a youth summit on climate change that was held this afternoon, next door in the “Black Box.”

That youth summit might well be even more significant than this forum.

You see, we are embarking on a multi-generational effort, to do our part as responsible world citizens to reduce our impacts on Earth’s climate, and to plan and act to adapt our precious community to sea level rise and other effects of climate change.

Fortunately, we’re not alone in this effort.  The State of Washington -- the Legislature and Governor Gregoire – are acting now to mitigate, and help our State adapt to, climate change.  Among others, Rep Sam Hunt, GA Director Linda Villegas Bremer, and Community Trade and Economic Development Director Juli Wilkerson are here this evening.

And, we have our local partners – the other cities in Thurston County, the LOTT Alliance, the Port of Olympia, Thurston Regional Planning Council, Intercity Transit, local schools – all are stepping up and doing their part.

Now … On behalf of the Olympia City Council and the greater South Sound community, it is my pleasure to welcome this evening’s moderator Liam Moriarty, from KPLU, National Public Radio, who will introduce our distinguished guests – Andrew Revkin and Terry Tempest Williams.