The United States has withdrawn from the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, and Anne Hidalgo and William Peduto, the mayors of Paris and Pittsburgh, respectively, have taken to the op-ed page of The New York Times to voice their opinion. They write, “Last week, President Donald Trump tried to pit our two cities against each other when he announced, in pulling out of the Paris Agreement on Climate Change, ‘I was elected to represent the citizens of Pittsburgh, not Paris.’ As the mayors of Pittsburgh and Paris, we’re here to say that we’re more united than ever.”
Each city has demonstrated carbon-reduction approaches. Pittsburgh’s Rachel Carson Bridge is lit by more than 27,000 multicolored LEDs positioned along the bridge’s vertical cables. The power comes from 16 wind turbines attached to the bridge. Andrea Polli, an environmental artist, and Rod Gdovic, who works for Pittsburgh-based wind-turbine maker WindStax, collaborated on the Project.
In Paris, a two-mile stretch of the right bank have been closed to cars, creating a pedestrian park in an effort to reduce pollution. “We aren’t anti-cars, we’re anti-pollution. Long live life, long live Paris, and long live fresh air,” Hidalgo said at the unveiling of the park earlier this year.
In their Times column, Hidalgo and Peduto write, “In the absence of executive leadership in the United States, an unprecedented alliance is emerging among cities like ours to push progress forward. We are both members of the Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate and Energy, which represents more than 7,400 cities around the world committed to local climate action.”
They agree that they represent their respective cities—not each other’s city. But, they conclude, “…the only way to do right by Pittsburghers and Parisians is to abide by the principles of the Paris Agreement, which guarantees the future health and prosperity of both of our cities — and every other city in the world.”
