Maybe it's because President Donald J. Trump's favorability ratings are in the basement. Maybe it's because he's likely being investigated for obstruction of justice. Or maybe it's because—like the polls show—people have a sentimental concern about leaving an inhabitable planet for their children. Whatever the reason, huge numbers of U.S. institutions, associations, and governing bodies are flat-out ignoring Trump's announced U.S. withdrawal from the Paris climate accord and declaring, "We are still in."

At the time of this writing, nine states, 177 cities, and 271 colleges and universities representing more than 120 million Americans had declared their determination to make sure that the United States remains a leader in the global effort to reduce carbon emissions. “Absent leadership from the federal government,” says Oregon governor and “Still-In” signatory Kate Brown, “Americans and particularly Oregonians still believe in the promise of the Paris Agreement. Our children deserve to inherit a world that they can thrive in, not one that plays politics and ignores the fact that our climate is changing.” Hawaii went even farther, with Governor David Ige signing a bill committing the state to meet its obligations under Paris.

“Cities and mayors have a unique opportunity to have a global impact by acting locally,” says Salt Lake City mayor Jackie Biskupski, a co-chair of the Sierra Club’s Mayors for 100% Clean Energy campaign. “I’m one of 200 fellow mayors pledging to stick with the goals and values of the Paris accord. We want to send a clear message to the world that America is still with you.” 

California governor Jerry Brown took a similar message on a visit to China, where he encouraged his hosts—and the rest of the world—to ignore President Trump and continue to chart their own clean energy future. “Nothing is more difficult. Nothing is more important,” he told a forum of his Under2 Coalition, so named because its members vow to keep global temperatures from rising more than 2 degrees Celsius. To that end, Brown signed a (nonbinding) agreement with China to expand cooperation on clean energy and zero-emission vehicles. (In a related development, rather than delivering official notice to the Chinese government of the U.S. withdrawal from the Paris accord, David Rank, acting head of the U.S. embassy in Beijing, chose to resign.) 

In conjunction with We Are Still In, former New York City mayor (and Sierra Club supporter) Michael Bloomberg announced that his charitable organization, Bloomberg Philanthropies, would be helping to fill the gap left by the U.S. departure from Paris by pledging $15 million to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. “As the White House drops the ball on climate change,” says Bloomberg Philanthropies’ Daniel Firger, “the rest of America is picking it up and running with it.”