Even Pittsburgh Not on Board With Trump's Climate Change Denial

Turns out cities and entire states are rising up against the whims of the climate change-denying, Twitter rage-fest prone septuagenarian who is currently the President of the United States.

The mayors of the 68 different cities—from major metropolises like New York City to Los Angeles to smaller towns like Little Rock, Arkansas and New Bedford, Massachusetts—signed an open letter on Thursday that promised to uphold the commitment outlined in the Paris Agreement.

Included in the list of cities that won’t opt out of the Paris Accord is none other than Pittsburgh, whose residents were singled out by President Donald Trump in a historic speech he delivered on Thursday announcing that the US would pull out of the climate accord.

“I was elected to represent the citizens of Pittsburgh, not Paris,” said Trump, seemingly unaware of two facts: 1) Other than being negotiated in Paris, the Paris Agreement has nothing to do with Paris and 2) That the majority of Allegheny County voted for Hillary Clinton.

Likely alarmed at the idea of his city being blamed for the end of the world, Pittsburgh Mayor William Peduto quickly tweeted out that the Steel City would in fact be complying with the requirements of the Paris Agreement.

Peduto in a statement on Thursday called Trump’s decision to withdraw the US from the Paris Agreement “disastrous” for the planet. Peduto himself travelled to Paris to attend a climate convention for hundreds of local leaders.

I’m appalled that the President used my city to justify his unacceptable decision, as most other Pittsburghers are. I was one of the nation’s mayors who went to Paris to fight for the accords, and my city, which has finally bounced back from decades of industrial carnage, will do all it can to promote its own environmental standards. I know cities around the nation and the world will do the same. This is not over. In Pittsburgh, we’ve rebuilt our economy on the future and our people, not on the past.

To add insult to injury? A cool 13,000 Pittsburgh residents work in the renewable energy industry.