With a catchy name and plenty of online tools, a grassroots campaign launched by the city of San Mateo aims to get residents, schools and businesses to reduce their carbon footprint and be gentler on the environment.

SMART, or San Mateo Acting Responsibly Together, is a phased public outreach campaign kicked off at Monday’s City Council meeting. The campaign goal is to promote sustainable practices by educating people on how to change simple, daily behaviors that can reduce carbon emissions.

“We will be working together with our residents, businesses and employees to lead by example by participating in green practices and policies, like recycling programs, carpooling and energy conservation,” Mayor Carole Groom said.

The SMART campaign currently focuses on individuals and will eventually include schools and businesses. The city is educating residents on ways to reduce their carbon footprint in their everyday activities. It created a special Web Site connected to its home page where people can find a carbon calculator, resources about global warming and a way to pledge to join the campaign to reduce emissions.

The campaign is part of an ongoing city movement to be more environmentally friendly. The city was strongly encouraged to pursue green measures following the Sierra Club’s Cool Cities campaign last year. Local Sierra Club members asked cities to support the U.S. Cool Cities Climate Stabilization Declaration, a nationwide initiative to combat global warming through city-led pledges to reduce emissions and establish environmental standards.

San Mateo formed a green advisory committee that delivered recommendations for getting the community to go green earlier this year.

The Sierra Club issued a report last year detailing what cities could do to improve their green polices, but a lot more can be done, said Julio Magalhaes, global warming program coordinator for the Loma Prieta Chapter of the Sierra Club.

“There has been a growing level of commitment from cities and counties,” Magalhaes said. “As far as implementing those plans, there is still a lot of room for improvement.”

The Sierra Club is now focusing its efforts on getting cities to share the best practices with each other.

San Mateo might find it easier to do so now that it is forming an internal “green team” composed of staff. The team is working to educate co-workers on the importance of carbon reduction and will continue with current recycling, green building and purchasing programs already in place, such as the voluntary green building program that encourages green point-rated and LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certified commercial, residential and civic development.

The city’s Main Library earned a gold LEED certification earlier this year.

As part of the SMART campaign, the city will make speakers available to present and discuss ways schools, civic organizations, community-based organizations, businesses and residents can all contribute to reducing San Mateo’s collective carbon footprint, according to the city’s Web site.

For more information go to www.cityofsanmateo.org/smart.

Dana Yates can be reached by e-mail: dana@smdailyjournal.com or by phone: (650) 344-5200 ext. 106.