Confirming weeks of speculation, President Barack Obama said in a web video released Saturday that he is ready to unveil his “national plan” to address the threat of climate change.
Obama said he will lay out his strategy in a speech this Tuesday at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. The speech is scheduled to begin at 1:35 p.m. ET.
“This is a serious challenge, but it’s one uniquely suited to America’s strengths,” Obama said in the video. “We’ll need scientists to design new fuels, farmers to grow them. We’ll need engineers to devise new sources of energy. And businesses to make and sell them. We’ll need workers to build the foundation for a clean energy economy. And we’ll need all of our citizens to do our part to preserve God’s creation for future generations.”
Obama’s energy and climate adviser, Heather Zichal, said Wednesday that the President was readying plans to take on global warming. He has reportedly been telling Democratic donors that he is eager to address the environment in his second term, saying at a fundraiser last month that he doesn’t “have much patience” for climate change deniers. Speaking Wednesday at the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin, Obama hailed Germany and Europe for leading on climate change.
“There’s no single step that can reverse the effects of climate change,” Obama said, closing the minute-and-a-half long video. “But when it comes to the world we leave our children, we owe it to them to do what we can.”
