Mayors leading the way

Within the climate negotiations taking place in Paris, there is a noticeably strong presence from local leaders across the world. Their cities are the ones where people live, where pollution occurs, and they are taking action. While nearly 500 mayors were in attendance at the Paris meetings and met Paris with the Paris Mayor at City Hall, there are thousands of mayors throughout the world. Why didn't more of them attend? More than 60% of the world population will live in cities in future years and mayors play a key role in the city. Whether the city is large or not is irrelevant as smaller cities and suburbs that surround larger ones are directly connected to it. The phrase, think globally, act locally was a key phrase throughout Paris. Local actions are already taking place on multiple levels. People care about their local environment and neighborhood. Mayors should be leaders in the climate change fight as their citizens will be directly affected.