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Wat? L.A. Mayor Garcetti Flies to Argentina to Fight Climate Change 

 Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti joined a “global coalition of mayors” at a summit on climate change this week in Buenos Aires, Argentina, burning fossil fuels on an international flight rather than attending remotely and attending to pressing issues at home.

In a press release, Garcetti’s office said:

Mayor Eric Garcetti this week attended the C40 World Mayors Summit – joining mayors, climate experts, youth activists, and business leaders from around the world to advance global action to combat the climate crisis.

The C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group is an international network of nearly 100 of the world’s largest cities committed to concrete action to combat climate change. Mayor Garcetti served as Chair of C40 from 2019 to 2021, and was succeeded by London Mayor Sadiq Khan.

“When it comes to fighting the climate crisis, our commitments as cities, states, and countries are only as strong as the size and ambition of our global coalition,” said Mayor Eric Garcetti. “The C40 World Mayors Summit is more than just another chance to recognize the magnitude of this make-or-break decade for climate action – it’s a chance to elevate the solutions cities are deploying at a neighborhood level that have a real impact on people’s daily lives. It’s also an opportunity to help national governments better understand the steps we can take together to chart a path toward a more livable and prosperous future.”

Garcetti joined a U.S. Department of Transportation presentation on “high-quality urban transportation infrastructure,” though L.A.’s infrastructure is not widely considered “high-quality.” A proposed high-speed rail between L.A. and San Francisco has been largely canceled, and current passenger rail service from L.A. to San Diego has been suspended because of a potential landslide hazard.

In his opening address to the climate summit, according to the mayor’s office, he “laid out how Los Angeles is transitioning to clean energy sources and delivering on our climate justice commitments.” Garcetti’s “Green New Deal” calls for shuttering natural gas plants; it has been opposed by public works unions, and lost the only serious electoral challenge it faced in a 2019 city council race.

White Garcetti was away, Los Angeles continued to struggle with the high crime and homelessness that have come to define his legacy, as well as a crisis in the City Council triggered by racist comments from City Council members within Garcetti’s party.

According to the ICAO Carbon Emissions Calculator, Garcetti’s trip would have burned 1275.6 kg of carbon if he flew economy class, and twice as much if he flew business or “premium” class (assuming a stop in Atlanta). That is one-fourth (economy) or one-half (premium) the global average per capita use of carbon per year. It is not clear why the conference could not be held remotely.

Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of the recent e-book, Neither Free nor Fair: The 2020 U.S. Presidential Election. His recent book, RED NOVEMBER, tells the story of the 2020 Democratic presidential primary from a conservative perspective. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.

Photo: file

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