LARAMIE - Mayor Klaus Hanson hopes Laramie will soon become the second Wyoming city - after Jackson - to subscribe to the Mayors' Climate Protection Agreement, a voluntary program to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Hanson, a professor emeritus of German at the University of Wyoming, was one of four members of the City Council who attended a forum on global warming at UW recently. One of the organizers of the "Cool City Café," UW Atmospheric Sciences professor Bart Geerts said Wyoming has "so much opportunity" to contribute to reducing human-caused emissions, particularly by promoting the technical development of clean coal technology. The state should be proactive in this area, Geerts said, because the sequestration of carbon dioxide from coal can bring an economic return also.

Hanson said he expects the UW Students for a Sustainable Environment and other organizers of the forum to urge the Council this week to adopt energy conservation ideas and join the Mayors' Agreement, a program begun by Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels.

Contacted Saturday after participating in a Laramie Clean-up day downtown, Hanson said the program urges cities to purchase more fuel-efficient automobiles and use more energy-efficient light bulbs, as two examples.

"I think the council will be receptive to it," he said. "The city is in the process of doing a few things already. We have instituted an e-waste program and we debated whether to get hybrid police cars during our recent purchase but we couldn't find anything powerful enough to do the things a police car needs to do. We'll look at that when buying cars for other city purposes."

Geerts said 450 mayors have already signed the "cool cities" protection agreement. He said 115 people from throughout the community attended the forum. "A lot of ideas came to the table, but we didn't focus on any specific proposals yet," Geerts said. "We're hoping Laramie will join the other cities which are making efforts to reduce carbon dioxide emissions while awaiting a larger effort from the federal government."

UW atmospheric sciences professor Derek Montague told the forum that scientists generally agree that global warming is occurring and that human activities, such as burning coal for electricity, are contributing to it. Botany professor Steven Jackson urged citizens to get involved because they can have much more influence over politicians than scientists can.