President Obama’s climate change address: the Digest version, with 80% less fat
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The 12 warmest years in recorded history have all come in the last 15 years, ice in the Arctic shrank to its smallest size on record, sea levels in New York Harbor are now a foot higher than a century ago, midwest farms were parched by the worst drought since the Dust Bowl, drenched by the wettest spring on record. Western wildfires scorched an area larger than the state of Maryland.
Firefighters are braving longer wildfire seasons, farmers see crops wilted one year, washed away the next; and the higher food prices get passed on to you. Mountain communities worry about what smaller snowpacks will mean for tourism, families at the bottom of the mountains wonder what it will mean for their drinking water. Americans across the country are already paying the price of inaction in insurance premiums, state and local taxes, and the costs of rebuilding and disaster relief.
Last year, I took office – the year that I took office, my administration pledged to reduce America’s greenhouse gas emissions by about 17 percent from their 2005 levels by the end of this decade. We’re building the first nuclear power plants in more than three decades. For the first time in 18 years, America is poised to produce more of our own oil than we buy from other nations. And today, we produce more natural gas than anybody else.
We’ve got more to do.
Switching from coal to natural gas
Today, for the sake of our children, and the health and safety of all Americans, I’m directing the Environmental Protection Agency to put an end to the limitless dumping of carbon pollution from our power plants, and complete new pollution standards for both new and existing power plants.
But at the time when we passed the Clean Air Act to try to get rid of some of this smog, some of the same doomsayers were saying new pollution standards will decimate the auto industry. Guess what – it didn’t happen. Our air got cleaner. In 1990, when we decided to do something about acid rain, they said our electricity bills would go up, the lights would go off, businesses around the country would suffer – I quote – “a quiet death.” None of it happened, except we cut acid rain dramatically.
Recently, more than 500 businesses, including giants like GM and Nike, issued a Climate Declaration, calling action on climate change “one of the great economic opportunities of the 21st century.” Walmart is working to cut its carbon pollution by 20 percent and transition completely to renewable energy.
Sometimes there are disputes about natural gas, but let me say this: We should strengthen our position as the top natural gas producer because, in the medium term at least, it not only can provide safe, cheap power, but it can also help reduce our carbon emissions. The bottom line is natural gas is creating jobs. It’s lowering many families’ heat and power bills. And it’s the transition fuel that can power our economy with less carbon pollution.
Use more clean energy
And that brings me to the second way that we’re going to reduce carbon pollution – by using more clean energy. Countries like China and Germany are going all in in the race for clean energy. I want America to win that race, but we can’t win it if we’re not in it.
So the plan I’m announcing today will help us double again our energy from wind and sun. I’m directing the Interior Department to green light enough private, renewable energy capacity on public lands to power more than 6 million homes by 2020. The Department of Defense – the biggest energy consumer in America – will install 3 gigawatts of renewable power on its bases.
And because billions of your tax dollars continue to still subsidize some of the most profitable corporations in the history of the world, my budget once again calls for Congress to end the tax breaks for big oil companies, and invest in the clean-energy companies that will fuel our future.
Reduce waste
Now, the third way to reduce carbon pollution is to waste less energy. The fuel standards we set over the past few years mean that by the middle of the next decade, the cars and trucks we buy will go twice as far on a gallon of gas. And we built on that success by setting the first-ever standards for heavy-duty trucks and buses and vans. And in the coming months, we’ll partner with truck makers to do it again for the next generation of vehicles.
Our federal government also has to lead by example. Your federal government will consume 20 percent of its electricity from renewable sources within the next seven years. And by the end of the next decade, combined efficiency standards for appliances and federal buildings will reduce carbon pollution by at least three billion tons.
Prepare for climate change impact
I want to be honest – this will not get us there overnight. The hard truth is carbon pollution has built up in our atmosphere for decades now. So, we’re going to need to get prepared. We’ll partner with communities seeking help to prepare for droughts and floods, reduce the risk of wildfires, protect the dunes and wetlands that pull double duty as green space and as natural storm barriers. And we’ll also open our climate data and NASA climate imagery to the public
International agreements
The final part of our plan calls on America to lead – lead international efforts to combat a changing climate.
Though all America’s carbon pollution fell last year, global carbon pollution rose to a record high. Developing countries are using more and more energy, and tens of millions of people entering a global middle class naturally want to buy cars and air-conditioners of their own, just like us. Can’t blame them for that. But what we also have to recognize is these same countries are also more vulnerable to the effects of climate change than we are.
I’m calling for an end of public financing for new coal plants overseas – unless they deploy carbon-capture technologies, or there’s no other viable way for the poorest countries to generate electricity.I’m directing my administration to launch negotiations toward global free trade in environmental goods and services, and my administration will redouble our efforts to reach a new global agreement to reduce carbon pollution through concrete action.
What we need is an agreement that’s ambitious – because that’s what the scale of the challenge demands. We need an inclusive agreement – because every country has to play its part. And we need an agreement that’s flexible – because different nations have different needs.
Beyond partisanship
Climate change has become a partisan issue, but it hasn’t always been. Richard Nixon opened the EPA. George H.W. Bush declared – first U.S. President to declare – “human activities are changing the atmosphere in unexpected and unprecedented ways.” John McCain introduced a market-based cap-and-trade bill to slow carbon pollution.
We’ve got to move beyond partisan politics on this issue. I want to be clear – I am willing to work with anybody – Republicans, Democrats, independents, libertarians, greens – anybody – to combat this threat on behalf of our kids. I am open to all sorts of new ideas, maybe better ideas, to make sure that we deal with climate change in a way that promotes jobs and growth.
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