Georgetown University
Washington, D.C.
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you! (Applause.) Thank you, Georgetown!
Thank you so much. Everybody, please be seated. And my first
announcement today is that you should all take off your jackets.
(Laughter.) I’m going to do the same. (Applause.) It’s not that sexy,
now. (Laughter.)
It is good to be back on campus, and it is a great privilege to speak
from the steps of this historic hall that welcomed Presidents going
back to George Washington.
I want to thank your president, President DeGioia, who’s here
today. (Applause.) I want to thank him for hosting us. I want to
thank the many members of my Cabinet and my administration. I want to
thank Leader Pelosi and the members of Congress who are here. We are
very grateful for their support.
And I want to say thank you to the Hoyas in the house for having me
back. (Applause.) It was important for me to speak directly to your
generation, because the decisions that we make now and in the years
ahead will have a profound impact on the world that all of you inherit.
On Christmas Eve, 1968, the astronauts of Apollo 8 did a live
broadcast from lunar orbit. So Frank Borman, Jim Lovell, William Anders
-- the first humans to orbit the moon -– described what they saw, and
they read Scripture from the Book of Genesis to the rest of us back
here. And later that night, they took a photo that would change the way
we see and think about our world.
It was an image of Earth -– beautiful; breathtaking; a glowing marble
of blue oceans, and green forests, and brown mountains brushed with
white clouds, rising over the surface of the moon.
And while the sight of our planet from space might seem routine
today, imagine what it looked like to those of us seeing our home, our
planet, for the first time. Imagine what it looked like to children
like me. Even the astronauts were amazed. “It makes you realize,”
Lovell would say, “just what you have back there on Earth.”
And around the same time we began exploring space, scientists were
studying changes taking place in the Earth’s atmosphere. Now,
scientists had known since the 1800s that greenhouse gases like carbon
dioxide trap heat, and that burning fossil fuels release those gases
into the air. That wasn’t news. But in the late 1950s, the National
Weather Service began measuring the levels of carbon dioxide in our
atmosphere, with the worry that rising levels might someday disrupt the
fragile balance that makes our planet so hospitable. And what they’ve
found, year after year, is that the levels of carbon pollution in our
atmosphere have increased dramatically.
That science, accumulated and reviewed over decades, tells us that
our planet is changing in ways that will have profound impacts on all of
humankind.
The 12 warmest years in recorded history have all come in the last 15
years. Last year, temperatures in some areas of the ocean reached
record highs, and ice in the Arctic shrank to its smallest size on
record -- faster than most models had predicted it would. These are
facts.
Now, we know that no single weather event is caused solely by climate
change. Droughts and fires and floods, they go back to ancient times.
But we also know that in a world that’s warmer than it used to be, all
weather events are affected by a warming planet. The fact that sea
level in New York, in New York Harbor, are now a foot higher than a
century ago -- that didn’t cause Hurricane Sandy, but it certainly
contributed to the destruction that left large parts of our mightiest
city dark and underwater.
The potential impacts go beyond rising sea levels. Here at home,
2012 was the warmest year in our history. Midwest farms were parched by
the worst drought since the Dust Bowl, and then drenched by the wettest
spring on record. Western wildfires scorched an area larger than the
state of Maryland. Just last week, a heat wave in Alaska shot
temperatures into the 90s.
And we know that the costs of these events can be measured in lost
lives and lost livelihoods, lost homes, lost businesses, hundreds of
billions of dollars in emergency services and disaster relief. In fact,
those who are already feeling the effects of climate change don’t have
time to deny it -- they’re busy dealing with it. Firefighters are
braving longer wildfire seasons, and states and federal governments have
to figure out how to budget for that. I had to sit on a meeting with
the Department of Interior and Agriculture and some of the rest of my
team just to figure out how we're going to pay for more and more
expensive fire seasons.
Farmers see crops wilted one year, washed away the next; and the
higher food prices get passed on to you, the American consumer.
Mountain communities worry about what smaller snowpacks will mean for
tourism -- and then, 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.
So the question is not whether we need to act. The overwhelming
judgment of science -- of chemistry and physics and millions of
measurements -- has put all that to rest. Ninety-seven percent of
scientists, including, by the way, some who originally disputed the
data, have now put that to rest. They've acknowledged the planet is
warming and human activity is contributing to it.
So the question now is whether we will have the courage to act before
it’s too late. And how we answer will have a profound impact on the
world that we leave behind not just to you, but to your children and to
your grandchildren.
As a President, as a father, and as an American, I’m here to say we need to act. (Applause.)
I refuse to condemn your generation and future generations to a
planet that’s beyond fixing. And that’s why, today, I'm announcing a
new national climate action plan, and I'm here to enlist your
generation's help in keeping the United States of America a leader -- a
global leader -- in the fight against climate change.
This plan builds on progress that we've already made. 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. And we rolled up our
sleeves and we got to work. We doubled the electricity we generated from
wind and the sun. We doubled the mileage our cars will get on a gallon
of gas by the middle of the next decade. (Applause.)
Here at Georgetown, I unveiled my strategy for a secure energy
future. And thanks to the ingenuity of our businesses, we're starting
to produce much more of our own energy. We're building the first
nuclear power plants in more than three decades -- in Georgia and South
Carolina. 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. So we're producing energy.
And these advances have grown our economy, they've created new jobs,
they can't be shipped overseas -- and, by the way, they've also helped
drive our carbon pollution to its lowest levels in nearly 20 years.
Since 2006, no country on Earth has reduced its total carbon pollution
by as much as the United States of America. (Applause.)
So it's a good start. But the reason we're all here in the heat today is because we know we've got more to do.
In my State of the Union address, I urged Congress to come up with a
bipartisan, market-based solution to climate change, like the one that
Republican and Democratic senators worked on together a few years ago.
And I still want to see that happen. I'm willing to work with anyone to
make that happen.
But this is a challenge that does not pause for partisan gridlock.
It demands our attention now. And this is my plan to meet it -- a plan
to cut carbon pollution; a plan to protect our country from the impacts
of climate change; and a plan to lead the world in a coordinated assault
on a changing climate. (Applause.)
This plan begins with cutting carbon pollution by changing the way we
use energy -- using less dirty energy, using more clean energy, wasting
less energy throughout our economy.
Forty-three years ago, Congress passed a law called the Clean Air Act
of 1970. (Applause.) It was a good law. The reasoning behind it was
simple: New technology can protect our health by protecting the air we
breathe from harmful pollution. And that law passed the Senate
unanimously. Think about that -- it passed the Senate unanimously. It
passed the House of Representatives 375 to 1. I don’t know who the one
guy was -- I haven’t looked that up. (Laughter.) You can barely get
that many votes to name a post office these days. (Laughter.)
It was signed into law by a Republican President. It was later
strengthened by another Republican President. This used to be a
bipartisan issue.
Six years ago, the Supreme Court ruled that greenhouse gases are
pollutants covered by that same Clean Air Act. (Applause.) And they
required the Environmental Protection Agency, the EPA, to determine
whether they’re a threat to our health and welfare. In 2009, the EPA
determined that they are a threat to both our health and our welfare in
many different ways -- from dirtier air to more common heat waves --
and, therefore, subject to regulation.
Today, about 40 percent of America’s carbon pollution comes from our
power plants. But here’s the thing: Right now, there are no federal
limits to the amount of carbon pollution that those plants can pump into
our air. None. Zero. We limit the amount of toxic chemicals like
mercury and sulfur and arsenic in our air or our water, but power plants
can still dump unlimited amounts of carbon pollution into the air for
free. That’s not right, that’s not safe, and it needs to stop.
(Applause.)
So 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. (Applause.)
I’m also directing the EPA to develop these standards in an open and
transparent way, to provide flexibility to different states with
different needs, and build on the leadership that many states, and
cities, and companies have already shown. In fact, many power companies
have already begun modernizing their plants, and creating new jobs in
the process. Others have shifted to burning cleaner natural gas instead
of dirtier fuel sources.
Nearly a dozen states have already implemented or are implementing
their own market-based programs to reduce carbon pollution. More than
25 have set energy efficiency targets. More than 35 have set renewable
energy targets. Over 1,000 mayors have signed agreements to cut carbon
pollution. So the idea of setting higher pollution standards for our
power plants is not new. It’s just time for Washington to catch up with
the rest of the country. And that's what we intend to do. (Applause.)
Now, what you’ll hear from the special interests and their allies in
Congress is that this will kill jobs and crush the economy, and
basically end American free enterprise as we know it. And the reason I
know you'll hear those things is because that's what they said every
time America sets clear rules and better standards for our air and our
water and our children’s health. And every time, they've been wrong.
For example, in 1970, when we decided through the Clean Air Act to do
something about the smog that was choking our cities -- and, by the
way, most young people here aren't old enough to remember what it was
like, but when I was going to school in 1979-1980 in Los Angeles, there
were days where folks couldn't go outside. And the sunsets were
spectacular because of all the pollution in the air.
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.
See, the problem with all these tired excuses for inaction is that it
suggests a fundamental lack of faith in American business and American
ingenuity. (Applause.) These critics seem to think that when we ask
our businesses to innovate and reduce pollution and lead, they can't or
they won't do it. They'll just kind of give up and quit. But in
America, we know that’s not true. Look at our history.
When we restricted cancer-causing chemicals in plastics and leaded
fuel in our cars, it didn’t end the plastics industry or the oil
industry. American chemists came up with better substitutes. When we
phased out CFCs -- the gases that were depleting the ozone layer -- it
didn’t kill off refrigerators or air-conditioners or deodorant.
(Laughter.) American workers and businesses figured out how to do it
better without harming the environment as much.
The fuel standards that we put in place just a few years ago didn’t
cripple automakers. The American auto industry retooled, and today, our
automakers are selling the best cars in the world at a faster rate than
they have in five years -- with more hybrid, more plug-in, more
fuel-efficient cars for everybody to choose from. (Applause.)
So the point is, if you look at our history, don’t bet against
American industry. Don’t bet against American workers. Don’t tell
folks that we have to choose between the health of our children or the
health of our economy. (Applause.)
The old rules may say we can’t protect our environment and promote
economic growth at the same time, but in America, we’ve always used new
technologies -- we’ve used science; we’ve used research and development
and discovery to make the old rules obsolete.
Today, we use more clean energy –- more renewables and natural gas -–
which is supporting hundreds of thousands of good jobs. We waste less
energy, which saves you money at the pump and in your pocketbooks. And
guess what -- our economy is 60 percent bigger than it was 20 years ago,
while our carbon emissions are roughly back to where they were 20 years
ago.
So, obviously, we can figure this out. It’s not an either/or; it’s a
both/and. We’ve got to look after our children; we have to look after
our future; and we have to grow the economy and create jobs. We can do
all of that as long as we don’t fear the future; instead we seize it.
(Applause.)
And, by the way, don’t take my word for it -- 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. (Applause.) Walmart deserves a cheer for that. (Applause.)
But think about it. Would the biggest company, the biggest retailer in
America -- would they really do that if it weren’t good for business, if
it weren’t good for their shareholders?
A low-carbon, clean energy economy can be an engine of growth for
decades to come. And I want America to build that engine. I want
America to build that future -- right here in the United States of
America. That’s our task. (Applause.)
Now, one thing I want to make sure everybody understands -- this does
not mean that we’re going to suddenly stop producing fossil fuels. Our
economy wouldn’t run very well if it did. And transitioning to a clean
energy economy takes time. But when the doomsayers trot out the old
warnings that these ambitions will somehow hurt our energy supply, just
remind them that America produced more oil than we have in 15 years.
What is true is that we can’t just drill our way out of the energy and
climate challenge that we face. (Applause.) That’s not possible.
I put forward in the past an all-of-the-above energy strategy, but
our energy strategy must be about more than just producing more oil.
And, by the way, it’s certainly got to be about more than just building
one pipeline. (Applause.)
Now, I know there’s been, for example, a lot of controversy
surrounding the proposal to build a pipeline, the Keystone pipeline,
that would carry oil from Canadian tar sands down to refineries in the
Gulf. And the State Department is going through the final stages of
evaluating the proposal. That’s how it’s always been done. But I do
want to be clear: Allowing the Keystone pipeline to be built requires a
finding that doing so would be in our nation’s interest. And our
national interest will be served only if this project does not
significantly exacerbate the problem of carbon pollution. (Applause.)
The net effects of the pipeline’s impact on our climate will be
absolutely critical to determining whether this project is allowed to go
forward. It’s relevant.
Now, even as we’re producing more domestic oil, we’re also producing
more cleaner-burning natural gas than any other country on Earth. And,
again, 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.
Federally supported technology has helped our businesses drill more
effectively and extract more gas. And now, we'll keep working with the
industry to make drilling safer and cleaner, to make sure that we're not
seeing methane emissions, and to put people to work modernizing our
natural gas infrastructure so that we can power more homes and
businesses with cleaner energy.
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 even as our businesses work
to develop and then deploy more of the technology required for the even
cleaner energy economy of the future.
And that brings me to the second way that we're going to reduce
carbon pollution -- by using more clean energy. Over the past four
years, we've doubled the electricity that we generate from zero-carbon
wind and solar power. (Applause.) And that means jobs -- jobs
manufacturing the wind turbines that now generate enough electricity to
power nearly 15 million homes; jobs installing the solar panels that now
generate more than four times the power at less cost than just a few
years ago.
I know some Republicans in Washington dismiss these jobs, but those
who do need to call home -- because 75 percent of all wind energy in
this country is generated in Republican districts. (Laughter.) And that
may explain why last year, Republican governors in Kansas and Oklahoma
and Iowa -- Iowa, by the way, a state that harnesses almost 25 percent
of its electricity from the wind -- helped us in the fight to extend tax
credits for wind energy manufacturers and producers. (Applause.) Tens
of thousands good jobs were on the line, and those jobs were worth the
fight.
And countries like China and Germany are going all in in the race for
clean energy. I believe Americans build things better than anybody
else. I want America to win that race, but we can't win it if we're not
in it. (Applause.)
So the plan I'm announcing today will help us double again our energy
from wind and sun. Today, 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. (Applause.)
The Department of Defense -- the biggest energy consumer in America
-- will install 3 gigawatts of renewable power on its bases, generating
about the same amount of electricity each year as you'd get from burning
3 million tons of coal. (Applause.)
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. (Applause.)
Now, the third way to reduce carbon pollution is to waste less energy
-- in our cars, our homes, our businesses. 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. That
means you’ll have to fill up half as often; we’ll all reduce carbon
pollution. 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.
Meanwhile, the energy we use in our homes and our businesses and our
factories, our schools, our hospitals -- that’s responsible for about
one-third of our greenhouse gases. The good news is simple upgrades
don’t just cut that pollution; they put people to work -- manufacturing
and installing smarter lights and windows and sensors and appliances.
And the savings show up in our electricity bills every month --
forever. That’s why we’ve set new energy standards for appliances like
refrigerators and dishwashers. And today, our businesses are building
better ones that will also cut carbon pollution and cut consumers’
electricity bills by hundreds of billions of dollars.
That means, by the way, that our federal government also has to lead
by example. I’m proud that federal agencies have reduced their
greenhouse gas emissions by more than 15 percent since I took office.
But we can do even better than that. So today, I’m setting a new goal:
Your federal government will consume 20 percent of its electricity from
renewable sources within the next seven years. We are going to set
that goal. (Applause.)
We’ll also encourage private capital to get off the sidelines and get
into these energy-saving investments. And by the end of the next
decade, these combined efficiency standards for appliances and federal
buildings will reduce carbon pollution by at least three billion tons.
That’s an amount equal to what our entire energy sector emits in nearly
half a year.
So I know these standards don’t sound all that sexy, but think of it
this way: That’s the equivalent of planting 7.6 billion trees and
letting them grow for 10 years -- all while doing the dishes. It is a
great deal and we need to be doing it. (Applause.)
So using less dirty energy, transitioning to cleaner sources of
energy, wasting less energy through our economy is where we need to go.
And this plan will get us there faster. But 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. And even if
we Americans do our part, the planet will slowly keep warming for some
time to come. The seas will slowly keep rising and storms will get more
severe, based on the science. It's like tapping the brakes of a car
before you come to a complete stop and then can shift into reverse.
It's going to take time for carbon emissions to stabilize.
So in the meantime, we're going to need to get prepared. And that’s
why this plan will also protect critical sectors of our economy and
prepare the United States for the impacts of climate change that we
cannot avoid. States and cities across the country are already taking
it upon themselves to get ready. Miami Beach is hardening its water
supply against seeping saltwater. We’re partnering with the state of
Florida to restore Florida’s natural clean water delivery system -- the
Everglades.
The overwhelmingly Republican legislature in Texas voted to spend money
on a new water development bank as a long-running drought cost jobs and
forced a town to truck in water from the outside.
New York City is fortifying its 520 miles of coastline as an
insurance policy against more frequent and costly storms. And what
we’ve learned from Hurricane Sandy and other disasters is that we’ve got
to build smarter, more resilient infrastructure that can protect our
homes and businesses, and withstand more powerful storms. That means
stronger seawalls, natural barriers, hardened power grids, hardened
water systems, hardened fuel supplies.
So the budget I sent Congress includes funding to support communities
that build these projects, and this plan directs federal agencies to
make sure that any new project funded with taxpayer dollars is built to
withstand increased flood risks.
And 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, to make sure that cities and states assess risk under
different climate scenarios, so that we don’t waste money building
structures that don’t withstand the next storm.
So that's what my administration will do to support the work already
underway across America, not only to cut carbon pollution, but also to
protect ourselves from climate change. But as I think everybody here
understands, no nation can solve this challenge alone -- not even one as
powerful as ours. And that’s why the final part of our plan calls on
America to lead -- lead international efforts to combat a changing
climate. (Applause.)
And make no mistake -- the world still looks to America to lead.
When I spoke to young people in Turkey a few years ago, the first
question I got wasn't about the challenges that part of the world
faces. It was about the climate challenge that we all face, and
America's role in addressing it. And it was a fair question, because as
the world's largest economy and second-largest carbon emitter, as a
country with unsurpassed ability to drive innovation and scientific
breakthroughs, as the country that people around the world continue to
look to in times of crisis, we've got a vital role to play. We can't
stand on the sidelines. We've got a unique responsibility. And the
steps that I've outlined today prove that we're willing to meet that
responsibility.
Though all America's carbon pollution fell last year, global carbon
pollution rose to a record high. That’s a problem. 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. And when you have conversations with poor countries, they'll say,
well, you went through these stages of development -- why can't we?
But what we also have to recognize is these same countries are also
more vulnerable to the effects of climate change than we are. They
don’t just have as much to lose, they probably have more to lose.
Developing nations with some of the fastest-rising levels of carbon
pollution are going to have to take action to meet this challenge
alongside us. They're watching what we do, but we've got to make sure
that they're stepping up to the plate as well. We compete for business
with them, but we also share a planet. And we have to all shoulder the
responsibility for keeping the planet habitable, or we're going to
suffer the consequences -- together.
So to help more countries transitioning to cleaner sources of energy
and to help them do it faster, we're going to partner with our private
sector to apply private sector technological know-how in countries that
transition to natural gas. We’ve mobilized billions of dollars in
private capital for clean energy projects around the world.
Today, I'm calling for an end of public financing for new coal plants
overseas -- (applause) -- unless they deploy carbon-capture
technologies, or there's no other viable way for the poorest countries
to generate electricity. And I urge other countries to join this
effort.
And I'm directing my administration to launch negotiations toward
global free trade in environmental goods and services, including clean
energy technology, to help more countries skip past the dirty phase of
development and join a global low-carbon economy. They don’t have to
repeat all the same mistakes that we made. (Applause.)
We've also intensified our climate cooperation with major emerging
economies like India and Brazil, and China -- the world’s largest
emitter. So, for example, earlier this month, President Xi of China and
I reached an important agreement to jointly phase down our production
and consumption of dangerous hydrofluorocarbons, and we intend to take
more steps together in the months to come. It will make a difference.
It’s a significant step in the reduction of carbon emissions.
(Applause.)
And finally, my administration will redouble our efforts to engage
our international partners in reaching a new global agreement to reduce
carbon pollution through concrete action. (Applause.)
Four years ago, in Copenhagen, every major country agreed, for the
first time, to limit carbon pollution by 2020. Two years ago, we
decided to forge a new agreement beyond 2020 that would apply to all
countries, not just developed countries.
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. And
if we can come together and get this right, we can define a sustainable
future for your generation.
So that’s my plan. (Applause.) The actions I’ve announced today
should send a strong signal to the world that America intends to take
bold action to reduce carbon pollution. We will continue to lead by the
power of our example, because that’s what the United States of America
has always done.
I am convinced this is the fight America can, and will, lead in the
21st century. And I’m convinced this is a fight that America must
lead. But it will require all of us to do our part. We’ll need
scientists to design new fuels, and we’ll need farmers to grow new
fuels. We’ll need engineers to devise new technologies, and we’ll need
businesses to make and sell those technologies. We’ll need workers to
operate assembly lines that hum with high-tech, zero-carbon components,
but we’ll also need builders to hammer into place the foundations for a
new clean energy era.
We’re going to need to give special care to people and communities
that are unsettled by this transition -- not just here in the United
States but around the world. And those of us in positions of
responsibility, we’ll need to be less concerned with the judgment of
special interests and well-connected donors, and more concerned with the
judgment of posterity. (Applause.) Because you and your children, and
your children’s children, will have to live with the consequences of
our decisions.
As I said before, climate change has become a partisan issue, but it
hasn’t always been. It wasn’t that long ago that Republicans led the
way on new and innovative policies to tackle these issues. 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.” Someone who never shies away from a
challenge, John McCain, introduced a market-based cap-and-trade bill to
slow carbon pollution.
The woman that I’ve chosen to head up the EPA, Gina McCarthy, she’s
worked -- (applause) -- she’s terrific. Gina has worked for the EPA in
my administration, but she’s also worked for five Republican governors.
She’s got a long track record of working with industry and business
leaders to forge common-sense solutions. Unfortunately, she’s being
held up in the Senate. She’s been held up for months, forced to jump
through hoops no Cabinet nominee should ever have to –- not because she
lacks qualifications, but because there are too many in the Republican
Party right now who think that the Environmental Protection Agency has
no business protecting our environment from carbon pollution. The
Senate should confirm her without any further obstruction or delay.
(Applause.)
But more broadly, 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.
Nobody has a monopoly on what is a very hard problem, but I don’t
have much patience for anyone who denies that this challenge is real.
(Applause.) We don’t have time for a meeting of the Flat Earth
Society. (Applause.) Sticking your head in the sand might make you
feel safer, but it’s not going to protect you from the coming storm.
And ultimately, we will be judged as a people, and as a society, and as a
country on where we go from here.
Our founders believed that those of us in positions of power are
elected not just to serve as custodians of the present, but as
caretakers of the future. And they charged us to make decisions with an
eye on a longer horizon than the arc of our own political careers.
That’s what the American people expect. That’s what they deserve.
And someday, our children, and our children’s children, will look at
us in the eye and they'll ask us, did we do all that we could when we
had the chance to deal with this problem and leave them a cleaner,
safer, more stable world? And I want to be able to say, yes, we did.
Don’t you want that? (Applause.)
Americans are not a people who look backwards; we're a people who
look forward. We're not a people who fear what the future holds; we
shape it. What we need in this fight are citizens who will stand up,
and speak up, and compel us to do what this moment demands.
Understand this is not just a job for politicians. So I'm going to
need all of you to educate your classmates, your colleagues, your
parents, your friends. Tell them what’s at stake. Speak up at town
halls, church groups, PTA meetings. Push back on misinformation. Speak
up for the facts. Broaden the circle of those who are willing to stand
up for our future. (Applause.)
Convince those in power to reduce our carbon pollution. Push your
own communities to adopt smarter practices. Invest. Divest.
(Applause.) Remind folks there's no contradiction between a sound
environment and strong economic growth. And remind everyone who
represents you at every level of government that sheltering future
generations against the ravages of climate change is a prerequisite for
your vote. Make yourself heard on this issue. (Applause.)
I understand the politics will be tough. The challenge we must
accept will not reward us with a clear moment of victory. There’s no
gathering army to defeat. There's no peace treaty to sign. When
President Kennedy said we’d go to the moon within the decade, we knew
we’d build a spaceship and we’d meet the goal. Our progress here will
be measured differently -- in crises averted, in a planet preserved.
But can we imagine a more worthy goal? For while we may not live to see
the full realization of our ambition, we will have the satisfaction of
knowing that the world we leave to our children will be better off for
what we did.
“It makes you realize,” that astronaut said all those years ago,
“just what you have back there on Earth.” And that image in the
photograph, that bright blue ball rising over the moon’s surface,
containing everything we hold dear -- the laughter of children, a quiet
sunset, all the hopes and dreams of posterity -- that’s what’s at
stake. That’s what we’re fighting for. And if we remember that, I’m
absolutely sure we'll succeed.
Thank you. God bless you. God bless the United States of America. (Applause.)
