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Article snippet: MIAMI BEACH — Meeting in a city confronted daily with the issues of rising seas and Paris climate agreement and to redouble their own efforts to combat climate change and commit to renewable energy. “If the federal government doesn’t act, it doesn’t mean we don’t have a national policy; the federal government doesn’t occupy the only place on this,” Mitch Landrieu, the mayor of New Orleans and the new president of the conference, said before the vote on the nonbinding resolutions. “Mayors have to respond to circumstances. We have to keep moving no matter what.” On the closing day of the conference’s annual meeting, Republican and Democratic mayors came together to push their agendas on improving infrastructure, responding to gun violence and curbing opioid abuse. But it was the climate change debate that provided the sharpest contrast between the priorities of the mayors here — many of whom have focused on renewable energy and ways to deal with global warming — and the skepticism of the Trump administration on the issue. The mayors showcased the issue with panels on climate resiliency, and with committee and conference votes. In one resolution, they supported a commitment to run their cities 100 percent on renewable energy, like wind or solar, by 2035. Mayor Philip Levine of Miami Beach also led a tour of a neighborhood here and described how the city raised sidewalks and installed pumps to push rising oceans back out to sea. Miami Beach, one of the cities most vu... Link to the full article to read more