There are 392 “climate mayors” in America today, all dedicated to upholding the Paris treaty’s goals for reducing our carbon footprint. They represent nearly 70 million Americans, and their cities are making strides toward ambitious goals to reduce greenhouse emissions. South Miami mayor and wildlife biologist Philip Stoddard is one of the most outspoken and active among them. He’s the guy who said that Sen. Marco Rubio was “an idiot,” that Florida’s “sugar barons have bought themselves a government, and that Florida’s major utility, Florida Power & Light, was “ an evil genius.” He once stood in his jungle-green backyard talking about climate change to actor Jack Black for National Geographic’s “ Years of Living Dangerously.”

“Based on our dense population and location, Florida is the state most vulnerable to climate change in all of America,” says Stoddard. Cities on the Florida coast are already seeing streets flood at high tide and sewage burble up through street drains.

The energetic mayor has jumpstarted rooftop solar programs with cheap prices and rebates, has protected the region’s butterflies and bats from too much mosquito spraying, has spearheaded the use of genetically engineered mosquitos to prevent mosquito-borne outbreaks, and is finding new ways to prevent sewage and septic waste from coming up through street drains as sea levels rise. As a fearless David to a statewide Goliath — Florida Power & Light — he has fought the utility’s proposed high power transmission lines and their leaky cooling canals. This is all in his municipality of 12,000 residents, 20% of whom live below the poverty line and many of whom have electric bills nearing $200 per month.

Read more on Mayor Stoddard's plan for Florida by Gillian Neimark at GOOD Magazine