WASHINGTON— U.S. Barack Obama did not mince words about climate change, calling the issue the greatest threat to the planet this week in his weekly address to the American people. On Wednesday, Obama traveled to the ecologically sensitive Florida Everglades National Park to highlight the real impact climate change is making on the environment, people’s health, their livelihoods and the local economy.
The White House says rising sea levels have caused shoreline erosion and increased flooding with salty ocean water threatening the freshwater ecosystem of the Everglades - also a primary source of drinking water for more than a third of Florida’s population.
Christy Guldfuss, managing director of the White House Council on Environmental Quality, calls the park “ground zero” and says the president wants to see firsthand the implications of climate change and how local residents are being affected.
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Some endangered or threatened species in the Florida Everglades
“They are changing their lives, they are adapting the way they manage Everglades National Park, they are dealing with the flooding around the coast continuously,” said Guldfuss. The park is also a major component of Florida’s $82 billion tourism economy.
The president’s trip coincides with Earth Day and comes as the U.S. leader has advanced plans to cut carbon emissions by nearly a third by 2025 as part of a joint pledge with China. China has set a goal of leveling its rising emissions in 2030, perhaps before. The two countries are the world’s largest polluters.
At home, facing a Republican-majority Congress that is fighting his plans, President Obama has gone it alone, using executive authority, for example, to require U.S. federal agencies to factor in environmental sustainability when they design new international development programs.
On Wednesday, the White House announced new measures aimed at calculating the risk and impact of climate change, including a mapping tool to determine how local populations along the U.S. East Coast and the Gulf of Mexico would be affected under various flood scenarios. The U.S. Department of Agriculture is also announcing new measures to work with farmers, ranchers and land owners in order to reduce net greenhouse emissions by at least 26 percent by the year 2025.
White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest says the president is traveling to the Everglades to help foster a public dialogue on climate change.
“We do need to acknowledge that climate change is a reality and there is a responsibility that we have to confront it. And failing to do so is doing a great disservice to the next generation that will inherit this planet, but it’s also a failure of leadership.”
Earnest hit back at some Republicans who say measures to fight climate change hurt the economy. He says the president has spent the last 61 months taking steps to fight climate change, and over that same time period, the U.S. set a record of the longest streak of private sector job growth in the country’s history.
“We can do both. Those people who want to say that trying to cut carbon pollution or fight climate change is bad for the economy. Those people are just making excuses,” said the White House spokesman.
“If you approach this smartly, not only is cutting carbon pollution good for the planet and good for the United States, it can be good for the economy, if we are making smart investments in the kinds of energy sources that are going to be so critical to our future,” added Earnest.
Sam Adams, former mayor of Portland, Oregon, and now a director of the U.S. Climate Initiative at the Washington-based World Resources Institute says climate change should not be a political issue.
“There is no Republican Sea level rise and Democratic sea level rise. There is just sea level rise. Same with the drought, it’s not a partisan drought - it’s a drought. Same with the anemic snow pack in the Pacific Northwest,” said Adams. “Regardless of the reasons for why people might think that’s happening, the Democrats, Republicans, conservatives, and liberals should come together to address those issues and what causes them in the first place.”
The White House says rising sea levels have caused shoreline erosion and increased flooding with salty ocean water threatening the freshwater ecosystem of the Everglades - also a primary source of drinking water for more than a third of Florida’s population.
Christy Guldfuss, managing director of the White House Council on Environmental Quality, calls the park “ground zero” and says the president wants to see firsthand the implications of climate change and how local residents are being affected.
x
Some endangered or threatened species in the Florida Everglades
“They are changing their lives, they are adapting the way they manage Everglades National Park, they are dealing with the flooding around the coast continuously,” said Guldfuss. The park is also a major component of Florida’s $82 billion tourism economy.
The president’s trip coincides with Earth Day and comes as the U.S. leader has advanced plans to cut carbon emissions by nearly a third by 2025 as part of a joint pledge with China. China has set a goal of leveling its rising emissions in 2030, perhaps before. The two countries are the world’s largest polluters.
At home, facing a Republican-majority Congress that is fighting his plans, President Obama has gone it alone, using executive authority, for example, to require U.S. federal agencies to factor in environmental sustainability when they design new international development programs.
On Wednesday, the White House announced new measures aimed at calculating the risk and impact of climate change, including a mapping tool to determine how local populations along the U.S. East Coast and the Gulf of Mexico would be affected under various flood scenarios. The U.S. Department of Agriculture is also announcing new measures to work with farmers, ranchers and land owners in order to reduce net greenhouse emissions by at least 26 percent by the year 2025.
White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest says the president is traveling to the Everglades to help foster a public dialogue on climate change.
“We do need to acknowledge that climate change is a reality and there is a responsibility that we have to confront it. And failing to do so is doing a great disservice to the next generation that will inherit this planet, but it’s also a failure of leadership.”
Earnest hit back at some Republicans who say measures to fight climate change hurt the economy. He says the president has spent the last 61 months taking steps to fight climate change, and over that same time period, the U.S. set a record of the longest streak of private sector job growth in the country’s history.
“We can do both. Those people who want to say that trying to cut carbon pollution or fight climate change is bad for the economy. Those people are just making excuses,” said the White House spokesman.
“If you approach this smartly, not only is cutting carbon pollution good for the planet and good for the United States, it can be good for the economy, if we are making smart investments in the kinds of energy sources that are going to be so critical to our future,” added Earnest.
Sam Adams, former mayor of Portland, Oregon, and now a director of the U.S. Climate Initiative at the Washington-based World Resources Institute says climate change should not be a political issue.
“There is no Republican Sea level rise and Democratic sea level rise. There is just sea level rise. Same with the drought, it’s not a partisan drought - it’s a drought. Same with the anemic snow pack in the Pacific Northwest,” said Adams. “Regardless of the reasons for why people might think that’s happening, the Democrats, Republicans, conservatives, and liberals should come together to address those issues and what causes them in the first place.”
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