“No matter what the political climate may be, no one can break the resolve of these bold leaders.” Photo: C40 Climate Leadership Group
Now that Donald Trump is President-elect, he’s doing a couple of things that are more than a little troublesome to a very large group of people. Despite the fact that nearly every research group on earth agrees that we’ve got a hand in speeding up naturally occurring climate change, Trump and his cabinet still vehemently deny that we’ve got anything to do with it. In the face overwhelming evidence, the orange-faced, pussy-grabbing President is hiring climate change deniers to head up the Environmental Protection Agency, slashing NASA funding, and promising to open up as much of the US to fossil fuel related businesses. But leaders all around the world aren’t too happy about it, and they’re not giving up the fight. According to Scientific American, nearly 100 mayors from cities all over the world are banding together to do what’s necessary.
“Mayors…have never waited for Washington to act here in the United States,” said New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg to reporters in Mexico City. “Mayors have never waited for an international treaty to take steps to protect their citizens and improve public health, and whatever happens, mayors will continue leading by example.”
Bloomberg made his statements at the C40 Mayors Summit, an annual conference that “brings together C40 mayors from all over the world and hundreds of urban and sustainability leaders to advance urban solutions to climate change and highlights the leadership role of cities in addressing climate change.”
The event, which was the sixth annual, featured roundtable discussions on “city driven climate actions and their impacts,” using data collected over the last year. Experts share low carbon projects and green growth policies that were successful or promising.
The conference featured a plan to cut carbon emissions across 90 cities with a population of 3 million or more or with a strong economy. According to a report called Deadline 2020, for each of the cities included to install and low-carbon infrastructures over the next four years, it will cost upwards of $375 billion. Deadline 2020’s eventual goal is cap greenhouse gas emissions and force a rapid decline by 2020.
It’s not an easy goal to hit. “Every city needs to diverge considerably from its current business as usual pathway,” the report says.
So although the Trump presidency looks to be a disaster for the environment, the rest of the world–including American Mayors–is still intent on doing what needs to be done. For years now, a rallying cry has been something along the lines of “residents of the planet need to work together,” and it appears that it might actually begin to happen. Wouldn’t it be ironic if it took a President like Trump to unite the rest of the world?
