De Blasio: The Earth Was My First Real Cause

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio addressed an international luncheon on climate change at Columbia University Monday and took some time afterward to talk about his view of environmental issues – and world leaders.

Critics had worried about his commitment to the environment, but de Blasio said the earth was his first real cause.

“Even though I may be associated with other issues, this was the first issue I worked on as an activist,” said de Blasio.

At the end of the 1970s, after the oil crisis, he was part a group at New York University dedicated to alternative energy and reducing dependence on fossil fuels. He said the movement struggled to gain traction – even though leaders have understood the threat for decades. He quoted President John F. Kennedy on the vulnerability of the planet from more than 50 years ago. “It’s 2014 and that vision was not realized,” the mayor added.

In a rare moment, de Blasio praised his predecessor, former Mayor Michael Bloomberg, for reducing carbon emissions by 19 percent since 2005.

But the new mayor wants to make his own mark, which is why his administration set a new target of reducing emissions 80 percent by 2050, a target in keeping with United Nations recommendations.

“I felt we had to speed up the pace,” de Blasio said. “I felt we had to do something dramatic and material. Again for our own needs and for the role we play in the world.”

He dismissed the idea that this was his international coming out week, but de Blasio is clearly enjoying the new company he keeps. When asked what it was like to meet Anne Hidalgo, the Mayor of Paris earlier that morning, he said, “she was really cool.”

The mayor added that he's finding an important new "peer group" — both domestically and abroad — that's helping him figure out “how high to aim.”

“Whether it’s early childhood education or climate change, I think folks who share a certain philosophy [are] trying to verify with each other that we’re actually finding a path that works,” said de Blasio

His path this week leads through the United Nations climate summit and then to Manchester, England to deliver a keynote address at the Labour Party's annual conference on Wednesday.