Sunday, June 4, 2017

East Palo Alto has a Climate Action Plan

-->
Dealing with Climate Change
Talking with Henrietta - Taped February 13, 2011


The fact that Pres. Donald Trump pulled the United States out of the Paris Climate Accord has disturbed  millions of people throughout the world. It’s somewhat troubling to see that the U. S. now joins only two other countries, Nicaragua and Syria, which are not signatories to the agreement. It is  reported that Nicaragua did not sign the climate agreement because the agreement was not strong enough. Even North Korea has signed it.

In explaining his decision to withdraw the U.S. from the Paris agreement, Pres. Trump made his now famous remark that he was elected to "represent the citizens of Pittsburgh, not Paris." You can read the complete text of his speech here  on the whitehouse.gov website. However, Bill Peduto, the mayor of Pittsburgh, PA, issued a statement in which he wrote, “Pittsburgh stands with the world and will follow the Paris agreement.”

The day after making his statement, Peduto issued an executive order stating, “The City of Pittsburgh endorses and remains fully committed to our 2030 objectives, as announced during the Paris summit.”

As of today, 187 U.S. mayors, including Peduto, and 10 state governors denounced Trump’s decision and vowed to uphold the Paris agreement. You can see a partial list of their names here.   

Some U.S. cities already have Climate Actions Plans. It might be surprising to hear that the City of East Palo Alto is one of these cities. In fact, Russell Averhart, the former redevelopment manager for the City of East Palo Alto, wrote the city's Climate Action Plan more than five years ago. He discussed the city's plan on the Talking with Henrietta television show called, Dealing with Climate Change. Averhart appeared on the show on February 23, 2011 with two other guests, artist Michael Killen and NASA scientist Edwin Sheffner. You can see a video excerpt from the show at the top of this column or click here to see it directly on YouTube. 


Of course, now, there are people, who agree with Trump and one such group held a rally across from the White House on Sunday, June 4, 2017, holding signs saying, "Pittsburgh, not Paris." 

So, with whom do you agree, with most of the world or with President Trump and his supporters?

No comments: