“No challenge poses a greater threat to future generations than climate change,” said Obama in his State of the Union speech Tuesday.
His statement was met with scattered, muted applause.
The United States should lead in international efforts to protect “the one planet we’ve got,” he said.
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Warming and warning
Since 1880, the Earth’s average surface temperature has warmed by about 1.4 degrees Fahrenheit (0.8 degrees Celsius), according to NASA scientists. Most of the warming has occurred in the past three decades.
“The best scientists in the world are all telling us that our activities are changing the climate, and if we do not act forcefully, we’ll continue to see rising oceans, longer, hotter heat waves, dangerous droughts and floods, and massive disruptions that can trigger greater migration, conflict, and hunger around the globe,” Obama said. “The Pentagon says that climate change poses immediate risks to our national security. We should act like it.”
