OREM — Government leaders should find Earth-friendly alternatives — which often prove to be simpler and more cost-effective over time — when starting new programs, says the mayor of Salt Lake.

"I think, overall, the standard I set, and in every single policy decision set by our leaders, the question we must ask is, 'Are we making things better or worse?' " Mayor Rocky Anderson said Monday.

Anderson touted the award-winning program Salt Lake City Green, which he described as "practical environmentalism," at Utah Valley State College's 18th annual Environmental Ethics Forum.

Anderson says he eliminated 35 sports-utility vehicles and replaced them with mid-sized sedans and pickup trucks that use less fuel. Eighty-nine city vehicles use natural gas; 40 percent of the airport fleet is powered by natural gas.

Anderson advocates improving mass transit over building highways because people will opt to drive their own vehicles if mass transit isn't made convenient.

The numbers of people in Salt Lake County who ride the 19-mile-long TRAX light-rail system have exceeded expectations, and a commuter train connecting Salt Lake City with the northern Wasatch Front is expected to be ready in about three years, he said.

"Frankly, Utah County needs to get on board with mass transit," he told the 80 people in the audience.

Anderson said he has made his city safer for pedestrians by installing blinking lights at crosswalks along with orange flags they can carry while crossing streets. Planned back-in angled parking will make drivers more aware of riders in bike lanes, he said.

Traffic lights were replaced with high-efficiency, low-energy lights that also save the city money. The new lights reduce the release of carbon dioxide by an equivalent of 509 tons per year, Anderson said. Light bulbs in the Salt Lake City-County Building were replaced with compact fluorescent bulbs and reduce the equivalent of 344 tons of carbon dioxide each year.

"We save about $33,000 a year as a result (of the fluorescent bulbs). We were able to move that savings to taxpayers and to (purchase) wind power," Anderson said.

Salt Lake City is promoting Utah Power's wind program and has committed to be the No. 1 wind-generated power customer, Anderson said. The wind power purchase is estimated to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by an additional 796 tons per year.

Anderson says he is motivated by public heath concerns associated with the impact today's pollution will have on future generations.

Global warming, he said, is the cause of melting of the Ward Hunt Ice Shelf in the Arctic and is the cause of floods that are forcing people in Tuvalu in the Pacific to seek refuge in New Zealand.

"This is not just theory. It has been established. If you look at the EPA, even under the Bush administration, they have established to a certainty (the existence of global warming)," he said.

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E-mail: lhancock@desnews.com