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A group of local environmentalists kicked off their bid Tuesday to pressure U.S. Congress and the Bush administration to ratify the Kyoto Protocol one city at a time. 

“Our hope is that people will step up as citizens and as city residents to do what the federal government refuses to do,” said Juliet Lamont of Kyoto USA. 

The group, founded last December by Berkeley residents Tom and Jane Kelly, has already won the support of the Berkeley City Council and friends in far away places. 

“Time is not on our side,” said Enele Sopoaga, United Nations Representative from the Island nation of Tuvalu, who flew in from New York for the Berkeley event this week. 

Sopoaga said that Tuvalu, a South Pacific island with 10,000 inhabitants, that rises no higher than four meters above the Pacific, has seen advancing sea levels, which he attributes to the effects of global warming, dump salt on its limited arable land. 

As the quality of its soil erodes from salt intrusion, Tuvalu has few options and has considered evacuating the island, Sopoaga said. 

“For us in Tuvalu and small island nations already suffering from climate change, this initiative is the best valentine that our global island and community could ever have,” he said. 

The Kyoto Protocol, which goes into effect Wednesday, requires signatories to reduce the levels of greenhouse gas emissions that are believed to result in global warming. 

The U.S., responsible for 25 percent of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions, is joined by Australia as the only two major industrialized nations not to sign the accord. Both nations have expressed concern that the restrictions required by Kyoto could harm domestic industry. 

Kyoto USA asks cities to effectively implement the protocol by reducing its greenhouse gas emissions by between five to seven percent. 

“By acting individually and collectively, we clean our air and water, improve our health, create economic activity and leave a vibrant place for all the world’s children,” Tom Kelly said. 

Berkeley has initiated numerous programs aimed at reducing the city’s consumption of greenhouse gases. Among them, the city has converted its entire fleet of diesel trucks to non-polluting bio-diesel fuel, installed energy-saving light bulbs that reduce the need for natural gas, implemented a car share program where residents can use city cars during non-business hours, and hired students to give free home energy saving installations that have eliminated an estimated 281 tons of greenhouse gases.