Climate of Hope ─ How Cities, Businesses, and Citizens Can Save the Planet

In 2006, the documentary An Inconvenient Truth set off a heated political debate when it threatened that inaction on climate change would lead to a dark and frightening future by 2016.

Well, that ten year window has closed—and we have neither resolved the threats to our climate, nor gone past the point of no return. To Mayor Bloomberg and Carl Pope, it's clear that to treat climate change as either a lost cause or a non-issue is the wrong approach. Global leaders are stymied by the enormity of the doom-and-gloom scenarios. So what happens when you tell leaders that they can definitely—right now, this year—reduce the number of children who have asthma attacks, save thousands of Americans from dying of respiratory disease, cut energy bills, increase the security of our energy supply, make it easier for everyone to get around town, increase the number of jobs in their community—all while increasing the long-term stability of the global climate? That is actionable. That future is within our grasp.

The changing climate should be seen as a series of discreet, manageable problems that should be attacked from all angles, each with a solution that can make our society healthier and our economy stronger. It’s time for a new type of conversation about climate change, one that mayors, business leaders, and citizens have already begun to lead. By lowering the temperature of the debate, we can raise the bar for what we can accomplish. Cooler heads can produce a cooler world.

Micheal Bloomberg and Carl Pope have come together to bring their vision to the leaders of the world. They don’t agree on every point—what Californian and New Yorker do?—but they share a strong sense of responsibility for taking on this fight, and a deep sense of optimism that we can win it.

MICHAEL R. BLOOMBERG is the founder of Bloomberg LP, a Philanthropist, the UN Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for Cities and Climate Change, and three-term mayor of New York City. His charitable foundation, Bloomberg Philanthropies, employs a unique data-driven approach, often focused on cities, to its five main focus areas: public health, education, the environment, the arts, and government innovation. A passionate supporter of action on climate change, Bloomberg is involved in multiple climate efforts, including partnering with the Sierra Club’s Beyond Coal Campaign, which aims to close half of America’s coal-powered energy production, and supporting state efforts to transition to renewable energy sources. He has served as Chair of the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board, the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures.

A veteran leader in the environmental movement, CARL POPE is the former Executive Director and Chairman of the Sierra Club. He's now the principal adviser at Inside Straight Strategies, looking for the underlying economics that link sustainability and economic development. He serves as a Senior Climate Adviser to former NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg. He was a founder of the Blue-Green Alliance and America Votes. He has served on the Boards of Ceres, the California League of Conservation Voters, As You Sow, the National Clean Air Coalition, and California Common Cause. He is currently a member of the US-India Track II Climate Diplomacy project of the Aspen Institute. He writes regularly for Bloomberg View and Huffington Post. Mr. Pope is also the author of three books: Sahib, An American Misadventure in India; Hazardous Waste In American and co-author along with Paul Rauber Strategic Ignorance: Why the Bush Administration Is Recklessly Destroying a Century of Environmental Progress, which the New York Review of Books called "a splendidly fierce book."