Jul. 9--Cities across the country are taking up the global challenge of reducing greenhouse-gas emissions.

Roughly 600 U.S. mayors have agreed to adopt the Kyoto Protocol goals rejected by President Bush, essentially embracing the same pledge ratified by all other developed nations to reduce heat-trapping emissions dramatically. In Florida, more than 50 cities from Tallahassee to Tamarac have decided they can't wait for federal action to curb global warming and signed on to the U.S. Conference of Mayors' Climate Protection Agreement. In Central Florida, leaders have been slow to take it on. Only two mayors, in Lakeland and Leesburg, have attached their name to the climate-change agreement, and it's not clear at what level of commitment.

Leesburg Mayor Sanna Henderson said she has not yet run the idea past other city leaders, and she's not sure how the city could accomplish the goals. "It's troubling to me," said Charles Lee, the advocacy director for Audubon of Florida. "It's hard to imagine why politicians in Central Florida would not want to sign on." Lee and other environmentalists were most surprised by Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer's absence from the list. Plenty of Republicans signed the pledge, but many leading advocates are Democrats, such as Dyer. Most major cities in Florida have signed on, including Tampa, Miami, Jacksonville and the capital.

But it's not clear to what degree they embrace it. "It's not my initiative," said Melbourne Mayor Harry Goode, who signed the agreement but steered questions to John Thomas, a fellow City Council member. Thomas said there was intense debate about the science of global warming before Melbourne's elected leaders voted to join the effort. But there was fairly wide agreement that driving down energy costs was a viable city goal, regardless. "Let's do something about it now," he said, "and argue about how it got that way later." Dyer said he plans to eventually sign on to the mayors' climate effort, but he doesn't want to be pushed into doing so prematurely without a big-picture plan to reduce emissions.

Orlando officials point to efforts they've already made, including future ail and power-plant projects, as well as energy-efficient and other green-building standards. "We want to be seen as one of the greenest cities," Dyer said. "We will do that [agree to the mayors' climate-change goals] as part of a more aggressive comprehensive effort." Miami's leading role But most of the state is already there, especially in South Florida, where Miami Mayor Manny Diaz is regarded as a national leader in the effort. Florida Gov. Charlie Crist picked Miami to host a two-day climate-change conference there later this week to forge possible statewide strategies for cutting emissions.

Diaz acknowledges that some cities will tackle this pledge more aggressively than others, but signing the agreement is a major step. "First and foremost, it's important to raise the issue and get the community talking about this," Diaz said. "Some mayors may be able to accomplish two things to reach that goal; others may be able to do 10." Diaz said he plans to follow up with each city and share what is working with the others. The urban blueprint The city-by-city Kyoto effort started with Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels. He and eight other mayors presented goals for reducing greenhouse gases to the U.S.

Conference of Mayors in 2005, hoping to get 141 cities to sign on -- the same number of countries that agreed to the Kyoto targets. The pledge requires cities to meet or beat the Kyoto targets -- which call for reducing emissions to 7 percent below 1990 levels by 2012 -- and urge state and federal officials to do the same. In Seattle, that means reducing polluting greenhouse gases, uch as carbon monoxide and methane, by 680,000 tons. By this spring, more than 435 cities were on board, and recently Las Vegas and Phoenix -- two fast-growing metro areas that Orlando is often compared with -- signed on.

Where we stand Orange County Commissioner Linda Stewart recently visited Austin, Texas -- a participating city -- and saw that Central Florida was far behind in energy-saving efforts. Stewart also plans to press Orange leaders to adopt a detailed action plan to reduce energy use and emissions. "I think the public really wants us to go in this direction," Stewart said. "We're slow to catch on. Hopefully we'll be quick to catch up." David Damron can be reached at ddamron@orlandosentinel.com or 407-420-5311.