Updated

Mesa, Arizona, is the 1,000th city to sign the U.S. Conference of Mayors' climate change agreement. Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels brought the idea to the conference in 2005. Nickels is now president of the mayor's group—members are meeting in Seattle this week to talk about climate protection and the recession.

The agreement is an effort to meet the international Kyoto Protocols for reducing greenhouse gases. The mayors who have signed on represent more than 86 million Americans. Nickels will lead a delegation of U.S. mayors to a global climate change conference in Copenhagen in December. Mayor Scott Smith of Mesa, Ariz., said Friday that not all the mayors agree on how to deal with climate change but they do have a common goal of responsible environmental stewardship.

For more on the agreement, see the website for the Council of Mayors.