Subscribe free to our newsletters via your
. 24/7 Space News .




CLIMATE SCIENCE
Obama vows climate push for 'future generations'
by Staff Writers
Washington (AFP) Nov 14, 2012


President Barack Obama on Wednesday vowed a new push for action on climate change, saying the United States had a duty to come together to curb emissions in the wake of megastorm Sandy.

In his first news conference since his decisive re-election on November 6, Obama said he planned a "conversation across the country" in the coming months to find common ground after a failed effort on climate change at the start of his term.

"I am a firm believer that climate change is real, that it is impacted by human behavior and carbon emissions. And as a consequence, I think we've got an obligation to future generations to do something about it," Obama said.

Obama acknowledged that his stance on climate change would require an "education process" and "tough political choices" but insisted that his push was compatible with efforts to bring more jobs to the still-wobbly US economy.

If "we can shape an agenda that says we can create jobs, advance growth and make a serious dent in climate change and be an international leader, I think that's something that the American people would support," Obama said.

"You can expect that you'll hear more from me in the coming months and years about how we can shape an agenda that garners bipartisan support and helps move this agenda forward," he said.

After Obama's first election, much of the rival Republican Party adamantly opposed proposals on climate change, saying they would hurt the economy.

Some lawmakers took issue with the view of most scientists that industrial emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases are causing the planet to warm.

Climate change played little role in the election campaign until days before the vote, when massive storm Sandy tore through the East Coast and the Caribbean, killing more than 110 people in the United States alone.

New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, an independent, made a last-minute endorsement of Obama due to his stance on climate change. Obama's Republican rival, Mitt Romney, had earlier mocked Obama for trying to "heal the planet."

Obama declined to attribute Sandy to climate change, but noted that average temperatures were rising and Arctic ice was melting at rates that are even faster than predicted in recent years.

"There have been an extraordinarily large number of severe weather events here in North America, but also around the globe," Obama said.

Obama's top allies in Congress have backed calls on climate change.

Nancy Pelosi, the top Democrat in the House of Representatives, on Wednesday welcomed statements by Obama and called climate "a priority for me."

With Democrats in control in 2009, the House approved the first nationwide "cap-and-trade" plan that, similar to a system in place in Europe and recently launched in California, would restrict carbon emissions and offer a market incentive for cuts.

But the plan died in the Senate, even with Democrats in charge.

Obama, who also vowed to fight climate change in his Election Day victory rally in Chicago, has not made clear his future initiatives.

After the defeat of cap-and-trade, the Obama administration used regulatory power to tighten standards for power plants and vehicles, leading the White House to insist that the United States is on track to meet its pledges to a UN body to cut emissions by 17 percent by 2020 from 2005 levels.

One proposal that has gained traction in think tank circles is to set an outright tax on carbon, which could also assist the United States find a solution in a politically charged dispute over its debt.

Mark Muro and Jonathan Rothwell of the Brookings Institution recently proposed a $20-per-ton tax on carbon emissions -- slightly less than a tax recently adopted in Australia -- that would raise an estimated $150 billion annually over 10 years.

Of the revenue, the government would invest $30 billion each year to green energy and development, with the rest going to tax cuts, deficit reduction and rebates to low-income people most affected by potentially higher energy bills.

While conventional wisdom has long held that new taxes would be political suicide in Washington, the conservative American Enterprise Institute held an event Tuesday on the idea and called for more discussion, with one speaker arguing that a carbon tax could reduce corporate taxes elsewhere.

.


Related Links
Climate Science News - Modeling, Mitigation Adaptation






Comment on this article via your Facebook, Yahoo, AOL, Hotmail login.

Share this article via these popular social media networks
del.icio.usdel.icio.us DiggDigg RedditReddit GoogleGoogle








CLIMATE SCIENCE
Future warming likely to be on high side of climate projections
Boulder CO (SPX) Nov 14, 2012
Climate model projections showing a greater rise in global temperature are likely to prove more accurate than those showing a lesser rise, according to a new analysis by scientists at the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR). The findings, published in this week's issue of Science, could provide a breakthrough in the longstanding quest to narrow the range of global warming expected in ... read more


CLIMATE SCIENCE
China's Chang'e-3 to land on moon next year

Moon crater yields impact clues

Study: Moon basin formed by giant impact

NASA's LADEE Spacecraft Gets Final Science Instrument Installed

CLIMATE SCIENCE
Rover's 'SAM' Lab Instrument Suite Tastes Soil

Survey At 'Matijevic Hill' Wrapping Up

Mars orbiter back online after system swap

What Arctic Rocks Say About Mars: An Interview with Hans Amundsen

CLIMATE SCIENCE
SciTechTalk: All work and no play?

Get some bed rest - all 21 days of it

Latest China military hardware displayed at airshow

Obama Win Keeps NASA's Space Plans on Course

CLIMATE SCIENCE
Mr Xi in Space

China plans manned space launch in 2013: state media

China to launch manned spacecraft

Tiangong 1 Parked And Waiting As Shenzhou 10 Mission Prep Continues

CLIMATE SCIENCE
Russia restores space contact after cable rupture

Russia loses contact with satellites, space station

Cut in Russian link to space station not serious: NASA

Crew Prepares for Spacewalk After Progress Docks

CLIMATE SCIENCE
Arianespace's fourth Spaceport mission with Soyuz ready for fueling

Ariane 5's sixth launch of 2012

Ariane 5 is poised for Arianespace's launch with the EUTELSAT 21B and Star One C3 satellites

Ariane 5 orbits EUTELSAT 21B and Star One C3 satellites

CLIMATE SCIENCE
Lost in Space: Rogue Planet Spotted?

Lowell Astronomer, Collaborators Point The Way For Exoplanet Search

Lonely planet: Orphan world spotted in deep space

Discovery of a Giant Gap in the Disk of a Sun-like Star May Indicate Multiple Planets

CLIMATE SCIENCE
Raytheon submits Space Fence proposal to the USAF

Larger version of Kindle Fire tablet unleashed

Lockheed Martin Submits Space Fence Radar Proposal to USAF to Detect and Track Orbital Objects

Chinese LED firm plans record investment in Taiwan




The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2014 - Space Media Network. AFP, UPI and IANS news wire stories are copyright Agence France-Presse, United Press International and Indo-Asia News Service. ESA Portal Reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement,agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by Space Media Network on any Web page published or hosted by Space Media Network. Privacy Statement