Buttigieg Proposes 'Pittsburgh Summit' To Address Climate Change

Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg is proposing a "Pittsburgh Summit" bringing together representatives of cities from around the world to address climate change concerns. Buttigieg, the mayor of South Bend, IN, proposed the idea during Thursday's Democratic presidential candidates in Miami.

Buttigieg said the federal government should look to local and regional leaders for ideas on how to reverse climate change's detrimental effects, noting that Middle America is being greatly impacted by it.

"In Indiana, I had to activate the emergency operation center of our city twice in less than two years," he said. "The firsttime was a thousand year flood and the next time was a 500 year flood.

This is not just happening on the arctic ice caps. This is happening in the middle of the country."

Buttigieg said the leadership of local leaders already are taking the lead in seeking solutions to the problem.

"There's networks of mayors and cities from around the world who've come together, not even waiting for our national governments to catch up. We should have a Pittsburgh Summit where we bring them together, as well as rejoining the Paris climate agreement."

There's reason to believe the city would be open to hosting such a summit. Buttigieg's remarks came as Pittsburgh Mayor Bill Peduto was returning from Paris. Peduto was there attending the annual board meeting of the Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate & Energy, a global organization of more than 9,000 local government fighting climate change.

Peduto also announced the city would follow the Paris agreement guidelines when President Trump pulled the United States out of it two years ago.

Photo: Democratic presidential candidate former vice president Joe Biden, right, speaks during the Democratic primary debate hosted by NBC News at the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts, Thursday, June 27, 2019, in Miami, as South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg listens.