Mayor Ed Murray issued the following statement in reaction to Pope Francis’ encyclical on care for our common home:
“I applaud the Pope for adding his powerful voice to the call for action to address climate change. Climate change is environmental injustice on a global scale. In Seattle, as around the world, the impacts will be felt most by those who have the fewest resources to respond to it: lower-income families and communities of color. These are the very people in our community most affected by the worst environmental and health outcomes.
“My Equity & Environment Initiative establishes a vision that all people and communities benefit from Seattle’s environmental progress. We will partner with Seattle’s communities most impacted by environmental injustice to help define solutions that work best for them.
“We must heed the Pope’s call to lead boldly. By the end of this year, we will have a plan in place to enhance resilience to climate impacts throughout Seattle. We will prioritize communities that are at greatest risk to changing conditions.
“Today, I join mayors across the country in calling on President Obama to fight for the strongest possible climate agreement at the upcoming United Nations climate conference, as well as cap carbon pollution in the United States. Seattle will continue to reduce our own carbon pollution and urge action by state and federal officials, even as we grow our city and our local clean-energy economy.”