Towns decide what gets built, how it's heated and where the trash goes. We read their rules and ranked every one by where a single vote does the most to cool the planet.
Zoning decides whether new homes land near shops and buses or out past the edge of town, where every errand is a drive.
Permit rules decide whether a solar roof takes a day or a season, and whether a town can buy cleaner electricity for everyone at once.
Food buried in a landfill rots into a gas that traps heat 80 times harder than car exhaust. A town can compost it instead.
And a town law sticks. Once backyard cottages are legal, they get built, and they stay built. That's the same patient, town-by-town strategy that has shaped American politics for thirty years, pointed at the climate.
No group can show up everywhere, so most climate energy goes to Washington, where change is slowest.
But 500 towns hold most of what local laws can do. If they win, it’s like taking 38 million cars off the road for a year.
A town council votes next Tuesday.
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See the one change your town can make first, and how it cools the planet.
The exact rule to change, a model ordinance and a script you can read in 90 seconds.
Say you'll go with just your email. We send the reminder and tell you how many neighbors are coming.
A national bill can take years, and one later vote can undo it. The same money spread across the 100 highest-value town campaigns buys 100 separate laws. Each one would have to be repealed on its own.
Pick a cause and the list narrows to it: trees, solar, housing or food scraps. Each campaign comes with the town, the rule to change, the model law and the odds.
See the top 100Towns decide what gets built, how it's heated and where the trash goes. We ranked every one by where a single vote does the most to cool the planet.
What can my town do?Near shops and buses, or out past the edge of town where every errand is a drive.
Whether a solar roof takes a day or a season, and whether the town buys cleaner power for everyone.
Food in a landfill rots into a gas that traps heat 80 times harder than car exhaust.
And a town law sticks. Once backyard cottages are legal, they get built and they stay built.
No group can show up everywhere, so most climate energy goes to Washington, where change is slowest.
But 500 towns hold most of what local laws can do. If they win, it’s like taking 38 million cars off the road for a year.
A town council votes next Tuesday.
By how much one vote would cool the planet, how likely it is to pass, and what it costs.
cars' worth of exhaust gone for a year if the top 500 towns win.
Neighbors copy wins and states follow. For the top 500, that multiplies the effect 1.8 times.
cars' worth, every year, if every town passed what it can today.
See the one change your town can make first, and how it cools the planet.
The exact rule to change, a model ordinance and a 90-second script.
Say you'll go with just your email. We send the reminder and tell you how many neighbors are coming.
A national bill can take years, and one later vote can undo it. The same money across the 100 highest-value town campaigns buys 100 separate laws.
See the top 100 →