Obama's Tour of Alaska Focuses on Climate Change

Frequent commenter Peter writes:

Craig, thought you would like to see if you had not – strong words – a lot late – but finally the words match the situation.

President Obama kicked off a three-day climate-centric  tour of Alaska on Monday with a speech that had him sounding more apocalyptic than ever.  Appropriately apocalyptic. Here’s a bit from that  speech, delivered at the GLACIER Conference in Anchorage:

If we were to abandon our course of action, if we stop trying to build a clean-energy economy and reduce carbon pollution, if we do nothing to keep the glaciers from melting faster, and oceans from rising faster, and forests from burning faster, and storms from growing stronger, we will condemn our children to a planet beyond their capacity to repair: Submerged countries. Abandoned cities. Fields no longer growing. Indigenous peoples who can’t carry out traditions that stretch back millennia. Entire industries of people who can’t practice their livelihoods. Desperate refugees seeking the sanctuary of nations not their own. Political disruptions that could trigger multiple conflicts around the globe.

The man is on a roll vis-à-vis the environment.  And you’re exactly right, i.e., a) these are strong words and b) it’s a shame they came so late in his presidency.

What’s an even greater shame is the fact that, at this time, words like these cannot come from someone running for office, only one leaving.  I hope U.S. voters will force the next president to maintain the same pressure with respect to this subject; our civilization really can’t stand much more vacillation here.