Obama: Climate change not problem for another generation

US President Barack Obama has called on Republicans to take action on climate change, saying it is not a problem for another generation.

“This is not a problem for another generation. Not anymore,” Obama said in a speech in the southern US state of Florida on Wednesday. “This is a problem now. It has serious implications for the way we live right now.”

 “If we take action now, we can do something about it. This is not some impossible problem that we cannot solve. We can solve it,” he added.

Obama slammed his Republican opponents, especially those who oppose his plans for potentially a better environment, saying that “challenges can be met if we have some political will.”

“Climate change is threatening this treasure and the communities that depend on it, which includes almost all of South Florida. And if we don’t act, there may not be an Everglades as we know it,” he said.

The United States is one of the top two countries in the world, with the highest rate of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, which are the result of burning fossil fuels, and greenhouse emissions.

Obama, during his address, proposed plans to restrict carbon and greenhouse emissions by promoting green energy, such as the wind and solar energy.

“In places like this, folks don’t have time, we don’t have time, you don’t have time to deny the effects of climate change. Folks are already busy dealing with it,” he stressed.

“I don’t just want Malia and Sasha to enjoy this amazing view,” Obama said referring to his daughters and the view of the Everglades National Park where he was making his speech. “I want my grandchildren – a way, way long time from now – to enjoy this amazing view.”

Many Americans, in fact, don’t believe in the concept of climate change and think that any change in the climate, whether positive or negative, is just nature taking its course and not the direct impact of the mankind’s growing use of fossil fuels such as oil and coal.

Recently, the issue has become a hot topic in the US and is gaining momentum across the country.

Even world-renowned philosopher and leading American political analyst Noam Chomsky believes that the world is racing toward what he called a “precipice”.

“One [threat to humankind] is environmental catastrophe which is imminent and we don’t have a lot of time to deal with it and we are going the wrong way, and the other has been around for 70 years, the threat of nuclear war, which is in fact increasing. If you look at the record it is a miracle we have survived,” Chomsky said in an interview with Euronews last week.

HDS/GJH

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