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| Ex- NFL guard, present mayor of the Hawaiian island of Kauai, Bernard Carvalho |
Bernard Carvalho might be the least jaded politician in the United States of America right now.
True, it might not seem too hard to keep a sunny disposition when you’re the mayor of a laid-back Hawaiian island that runs on tourism and surfing — especially one that’s making the transition to clean energy faster than just about anywhere else in the country.
But when President Trump made the announcement that he would pull the United States out of the Paris Climate Accord — an international agreement backed by 194 countries, with the goal of forestalling disastrous levels of global warming — Carvalho knew he had to do something.
A 6-foot-5-inch former NFL guard, Carvalho threw his weight behind the international agreement. In early June, Kauai’s mayor joined Hawaii Governor David Y. Ige and other Hawaiian state and county officials to independently sign support for the agreement, making Hawaii the first state to enact laws enforcing the treaty’s commitments in their own communities.
“Now, in football terms — sorry,” he interrupts himself, laughing, “it’s just how it is! I’m always telling my team, we’re on the 10-yard line! You gotta pass that ordinance or pass that policy, because climate change is coming!
“And a field goal is unacceptable, by the way,” Carvalho adds. “Only a touchdown!”
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