DeKalb Mayor Frank Van Buer is seeing green.

On Sept. 9 through 12, Van Buer attended the third annual Sundance Summit to discuss global warming and the actions that can be taken to combat it.

“A Mayors’ Gathering on Climate Protection” was hosted by Robert Redford; Rocky Anderson, Salt Lake City mayor; the International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives and The Sundance Preserve, and was held at Robert Redford’s Sundance Preserve in Utah.

Experts and environmental professionals gave presentations on current climate science, upcoming developments in federal climate policy, local leadership on combating global warming and the enormous impact of the coal industry on greenhouse gas emissions, said Patrick Thronson, spokesman for the Salt Lake City’s mayor office.

Forty-one mayors from across the nation participated in the event. Other Illinois cities represented were Normal, Northbrook and Rock Island, as stated on the Sundance Summit’s Web site.

“Local leadership is crucial for combating catastrophic global warming, especially given the failure of national leadership on developing effective climate protection policy,” Thronson said.

“We all have a role to play at the local level,” Van Buer said. “It’s a real challenge, but Americans have dealt with similar challenges in the past, but we have to keep working towards it.”

Van Buer said he learned different ways to help with climate protection, such as using different sources of energy and the importance to switching over to fluorescent bulbs.

As a new police building is in planning, Van Buer hopes to be able to apply some of the things he learned at the summit to make it environmentally friendly.

Ultimately, the DeKalb Citizen’s Environmental Commission must recommend it to DeKalb’s City Council, which makes the final decision.

“Global warming is the most important public policy issue facing us at the local, national and global level. If we want to preserve our quality of life for future generations, we must work together, at all levels of government, in business and in our personal lives to reduce our energy consumption and utilize clean, alternative sources of fuel for the energy we do use,” Thronson said.