Cincinnati Mayor Aftab Pureval’s Most Important Topic When Meeting the Dalai Lama: The Environment | Cincinnati News | Cincinnati

Cincinnati Mayor Aftab Pureval returned from his trip to India Dec. 7 where he met with His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama. A big talking point? The climate crisis.

Pureval, the best national ranking Tibetan-American officialTold CityBeat he “hung out” with the spiritual leader of Tibet for about an hour along with other American mayors.

“We had the opportunity to have a frank conversation about his thoughts on the world, his concerns, his hopes. And throughout, he prioritized instructing mayors to continue to show compassion and warmth and lead with love, and those are lessons I will continue to try to uphold,” Purval said. .

While the mayor said His Holiness’s broader themes of peace and compassion can be applied to all of his initiatives to lead Cincinnati, Pureval’s biggest policy takeaway has focused on the environment.

“He spent time on the existential threat of climate change,” Pureval said. “He was very concerned about its impact, not only on humanity, but on all sentient beings. He really rallied us to continue to care about this and make decisions accordingly. Cincinnati is home to the largest city-run solar array in the nation, and as we continue to think about how we can really take care of clean water and clean air, these are really on the minds after our visit.

The Dalai Lama is 87, but Pureval still extended an invitation to His Holiness to visit the Queen City. He says he hopes the Tibetan spiritual leader can pull through, even though traveling can be difficult due to his age.

“I made the pitch, and so they are thinking about it!” said Pureval. “If he came here, it would be very simple, and it would give him the opportunity to spread his message of love and compassion in the city.”

Follow CityBeat Editor Madeline Fening on Twitter and instagram.