Algonquin now in the 'cool' club

Algonquin is officially one of Sierra Club's Cool Cities.

To get into the Cool Cities program, towns must approve the U.S. Mayor's Climate Protection Agreement.

Under the terms of the agreement, towns then give themselves until 2012 to reduce their carbon dioxide emissions by 7 percent from levels posted in 1990.

Algonquin agreed to this pledge Tuesday night.

Towns designate mayors to sign the document, organize a global warming emissions inventory, which Algonquin intends to cover with grant money, create and then implement a plan to reduce emissions.

The mayors of at least 600 U.S. towns have signed onto the agreement, including those in charge of neighboring Lake in the Hills, Elgin and Hoffman Estates.

Membership into the program caused a minor stir last week when Trustee Robert Smith called the document a "propaganda piece" and said he wasn't entirely convinced people are to blame for global warming.

Smith was the lone board member to vote against joining the program, saying Algonquin shouldn't give Sierra Club carte blanche to use the village's name for its own agenda.

A Sierra Club spokesman confirmed that the group uses these pledges to lobby Washington for stricter environmental laws. Sierra Club also doesn't monitor towns' compliance with the agreement.

"They make it so easy to join," Smith said.

Moreover, by accepting the agreement, Smith says the village endorses the view that people are solely responsible for global warming, a position that runs counter to Smith's belief that it's a completely natural occurrence.

Other village trustees, however, have said Algonquin, which already employs multiple green policies and has done so for years, should do whatever it can to reduce its impact on the environment.

"I'm not a scientist, but I know the weather patterns are goofy from when I was a child" in the 1960s, said Trustee Jerry Glogowski.