Cool Cities Delaware - Get Involved

Local governments will be more enthusiastic about implementing policies and programs to reduce their energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions and protect the environment if they have the support of their constituents. In order to secure a more sustainable future, everyone must get involved. Download our Volunteer Guide and join our effort.

There are a variety of activities that the community can engage. Below are some suggestions.

Check to see if your village, town or city has signed on to the U.S. Mayors Climate Protection Agreement at the national Cool Cities website.

Get familiar with the Cool Cities approach. Download the Delaware Cool Cities Handbook and visit the national Cool Cities website.

Write or call your mayor and city council. Let them know that you support an endorsement of the U.S. Mayors Climate Protection Agreement by your local government.

Find out what your local government is already doing. Schedule a meeting with your city manager to ask what types of energy, environment and climate actions are being taken. Use the Cool Cities Delaware Worksheet to guide you in asking questions. Discover where your town needs to improve. Use the Cool Cities Delaware Program Matrix to match programs with the twelve action items of the U.S. Mayors Climate Protection Agreement.

Keep up the pressure. If your local government is reluctant to sign on, there are several tactics that you may which to consider.

Send and/or present an organizational sign-on letter representing a broad coalition of the community to the mayor.

Collect signatures from the public on post cards or petitions, and then present a large number of them to the mayor in person (and perhaps in front of the media).

Meet with local church, business groups, school board, etc… and ask them to support a call for the mayor to sign the agreement.

Organize a public event and ask people who attend to contact the mayor.

Conduct a letter-to-the-editor campaign to the local paper and submit an Op-Ed.

Ask a supportive local leader, such as a council member, to talk to the mayor about signing the Mayors’ Agreement.

Ask another mayor in your state who has signed the agreement to contact your mayor.

If your mayor follows the lead of the city manager or purchasing manager on these issues, seek their support ahead of time.

For more information, consult:
Cool Cities Activist Tookit
Conservation Leaders Network Advice for Advocates
Citizen's Resource Kit by the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Newark

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