• Cities must act to preserve environmental health and beauty.nature image by Dmitriy Aydreev from Fotolia.com
  
  Global warming theories warn people that being wasteful and disrespecting the environment can have disastrous consequences. From carbon emissions to landfill waste, municipal governments and city residents carry some responsibility for harming the environment. By taking a few simple steps, cities can go green and learn to respect the natural world.
  
  

Waste Diversion Initiatives

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  By encouraging residents to divide trash into garbage, recycling and organic matter, municipalities help reduce their city's impact on the environment. Recycling plastic and paper products decreases the amount of trash disposed of in landfills. Organic matter, such as food scraps, can be turned into compost that fertilizes city parks naturally and inexpensively. Redirecting waste away from landfills means that less waste is reabsorbed into soil and water bodies, decreasing the risk of contamination.
  
  

Ban Plastic Bags

• Americans throw away approximately 100 billion plastic bags every year. But instead of arriving in a landfill, these bags get caught everywhere, clogging gutters, sewage systems and bodies of water. Some of them even get caught by animals, posing a threat to their health and safety while polluting their habitats. Cities can help prevent this huge source of pollution by banning the sale and use of plastic grocery bags
  
  

Support Public Transit

• Supporting public transit reduces carbon emissions by reducing the number of vehicles on city roads.japanese bus image by R.A.Liederbach from Fotolia.com
  
  It takes oxygen from 130 trees to fight the amount of carbon dioxide emitted by one car each year. Consider how many cars drive through the city every single day to understand how that amount increases exponentially. Offering a tax credit for transit passes encourages residents to travel by public transit instead of in cars. Not only does this incentive decrease the financial strain experienced by people struggling to pay car payments and insurance costs, it also reduces the amount of air pollution emitted by vehicles, since there are less cars on the road. The extra income generated by the sale of transit passes can be reinvested into roadwork and improvements in transit vehicles and routes. Transit authorities can also help by installing bike racks on buses so that cyclists don't have to revert to driving when faced with long distances.
  
  

Rooftop Gardens

• Composed largely of paved roads, cement sidewalks, high rise buildings, apartment buildings and condominiums, cities offer little room for planting trees and shrubs outdoors. Rooftop gardens offer the aesthetic appeal of plants and greenery while contributing to better air quality. By absorbing carbon dioxide and emitting oxygen into the air, plants help reduce the amount of air pollution created by cities.