I just came from a press conference wherein Seattle mayor Greg Nickels unveiled the recommendations of his Green Ribbon Commission on Climate Protection. This is the first big step in Seattle’s attempt to comply with Kyoto — a mission which, via Nickels’ U.S. Mayors Climate Protection Agreement, now involves some 219 cities (and counting).

I’ll have more to say about this event and some others in the past week shortly. For now I just wanted to share something said by former Vice President Al Gore (you’ll have to forgive me for paraphrasing — I didn’t record it). He talked of two possible futures ahead of us.

In one, our children ask, "Why? How could they let this destruction happen?"

In the second, they say, "Thank God they had the moral imagination and courage to rise above their limitations and tackle this problem. And it all started in a city between the mountains and the sea. It all started in Seattle."

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I’m not much for civic cheerleading, but today I’m pretty damn proud to be a Seattleite.