The Most Important Place To Fight Climate Change Is Right Where You Live

It is 9000 years ago. You are standing in the middle of a new invention: a city. Çatalhöyük in today’s Turkey. What you don’t know is that this new thing, this city, and those that follow are where civilization will be born, where the spirit of humanity will flourish, where we will create music, math, philosophy, law, innovations, and inventions. You may be in a city right now. And what you may not know is that cities will be the way we solve some of our most vexing challenges from justice to climate pollution and more.

Cities are responsible for over 70% of global climate pollution, especially transportation and buildings. Local governments are major players on climate with fewer partisan roadblocks around implementing climate policy that protects public health and safety from the risks of fossil fuels:

• We must shift transportation to electric power. • Petaluma, CA became the first city in the world to ban new gas stations. Others are following.

• New apartments, offices, and homes need to be powered by clean energy. • Tacoma, Sacramento, Yakima, and dozens of other cities are requiring electrification in new buildings.

• In Los Angeles, oil derricks are a common sight and an air pollution blight. • Culver City outlawed oil extraction. Others are following.

The SAFE Cities program at Stand.earth is where communities are standing against fossil-fuel expansion, where elected leaders connect with peers to curb climate pollution, and where concerned individuals like you help cities take bold action. SAFE Cities is a growing, global community where innovations—communications strategies, ordinances, research—are shared to accelerate progress.

The dual threats of climate change and justice present humanity with the greatest challenges we have ever faced. Our best ideas and innovations have always come from cities, and our solutions to these challenges will be no exception. Join the movement that is making it happen.

Canada and Europe are joining as this movement expands. In the coming months and years, SAFE Cities will be increasingly international—and unstoppable.

There is a place for you in the SAFE Cities movement. Everything you need to participate is here: Stand.earth/safe.