As a city, Los Angeles is a global leader, culture creator and trendsetter.

Now and even more so in the coming years, the city of Los Angeles and the surrounding cities in Los Angeles County, anticipate being affected by more frequent, longer-lasting and hotter heat waves, a year-round fire “season,” rising sea levels and precipitation changes that could lead to both flooding and mudslides or extreme drought, depending on the year and conditions.

As a leader, Mayor Garcetti has supported the rights of the people. I am calling him to take his support to the next level.

California, and the Los Angeles Basin in particular, will be devastatingly affected by further increases in global average temperature and the resulting changes in climate. Everyone in the Los Angeles area has a right to a habitable climate.

It is time for our city to declare a climate emergency until Los Angeles is compliant with the Paris Accord and the recommendations from the 2018 special report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

In this state of emergency, we can prioritize the behavior and policy improvements that we will need to make in order to most comfortably adjust to the changes, stop the increase in temperature and begin to reverse it.