"Without bolder action, our children won’t have time to debate the existence of climate change -- they’ll be busy dealing with its effects."
In his last address to the nation while in office,
President Barack Obama warned Americans about several threats facing
democracy, including the threat partisan polarization poses to science
and reason.
Speaking to thousands of supporters in his hometown of Chicago, the
president cautioned that without agreement on a “common baseline of
facts” like the overwhelming evidence in support of man-made climate
change, “we’ll keep talking past each other, making common ground and
compromise impossible.”
“In just eight years, we’ve halved our dependence on foreign oil,
doubled our renewable energy and led the world to an agreement that has
the promise to save this planet,” Obama said. “But without bolder
action, our children won’t have time to debate the existence of climate
change. They’ll be busy dealing with its effects ― environmental
disasters, economic disruptions and waves of climate refugees seeking
sanctuary.”
Obama added that Americans can and should debate the best way to fight issues like climate change.
“But to simply deny the problem not only betrays future generations,” he said. “It betrays the essential spirit of innovation and practical problem-solving that guided our founders.”
Many Republican lawmakers in and out of Washington deny the link between human activity and climate change, despite overwhelming scientific evidence. Obama’s successor, President-elect Donald Trump, for example, has called climate change a hoax perpetrated by China.
Links
“But to simply deny the problem not only betrays future generations,” he said. “It betrays the essential spirit of innovation and practical problem-solving that guided our founders.”
Many Republican lawmakers in and out of Washington deny the link between human activity and climate change, despite overwhelming scientific evidence. Obama’s successor, President-elect Donald Trump, for example, has called climate change a hoax perpetrated by China.
Links
- Outgoing Obama Interior Department calls for major reform of federal coal program
- Obama’s Energy Dept. leaves behind a new 'scientific integrity' policy
- 25 smears, hoaxes, grifts and whoppers on climate and the environment in the Obama era
- A Historic Commitment to Protecting the Environment and Addressing the Impacts of Climate Change
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