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GREENSBORO — The city may soon grow a shade greener.

The City Council voted Monday night to consider the U.S. Mayors Climate Protection Agreement at its Aug. 21 meeting, a move that pleased dozens of local residents who filled the council chambers to lend their support.

The agreement calls for the city to reduce global warming pollution, in part, by preserving open space, increasing recycling efforts and buying energy-efficient equipment. Hundreds of cities across the country have already signed the measure. The city would also encourage federal and state governments to reduce global warming pollution to 7 percent below 1990 levels within the next five years.

"This agreement will benefit so many of us in so many ways," said Gay Cheney of Browns Summit, one of four speakers to address the council about the agreement. "Not only the city, but the county and the state."

Regardless of whether the council votes to sign the agreement, officials said Monday that the city already runs a fleet of buses on biodiesel fuel and uses gas produced in its landfill — earth-friendly measures cited in the agreement.

"There's nothing wrong with setting an admirable goal," Councilwoman Yvonne Johnson said of the agreement. "And if you accomplish a great percentage of it, things are better."

Not everyone on the council supports the "original" document. Cities elsewhere have modified the language, and in Greensboro, leaders appear split, notably over a reference to the Kyoto Protocol, a global climate control agreement signed by more than 160 countries.

"I don't think anyone up here opposes a cleaner, better environment," said Councilman Mike Barber. "There's some language in the original (mayors' agreement) that hangs some of us folks up."

Contact Eric J.S. Townsend at 373-7008 or etownsend@news-record.com