change - At U.N., Obama Calls Global Warming Threat 'Urgent'

[spanone]

the united states wouldn't even be attending this climate summit if bu$h* were president


President Obama called Tuesday for the world's leaders to fashion a "flexible and pragmatic" response to the challenge of global warming by the end of 2009, saying if he and others fail to do so, "we risk consigning future generations to an irreversible catastrophe."

Speaking at the United Nations' climate summit in New York, Obama announced the start of "a new era" in the U.S., which had resisted mandatory curbs on greenhouse gas emissions during the Bush administration. He detailed the steps his administration has already undertaken to curb America's carbon footprint, including major investments in clean energy, new fuel economy standards for vehicles and House passage of a bill that would cap and trade global warming pollution.

"These steps represent an historic recognition on behalf of the American people and their government," Obama said. "We understand the gravity of the climate threat. We are determined to act. And we will meet our responsibility to future generations.

Obama's comments came as international leaders, including U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon, declared the world has a moral and scientific obligation to reach a new global warming agreement in December, when years of climate talks will culminate at a meeting in Copenhagen.

Rajendra K. Pachauri, who chairs the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, took the podium just before Obama and detailed the threats human-generated greenhouse gas emissions pose to the planet: melting sea ice, severe drought and more intense tropical cyclones, to name a few.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/09/22/AR2009092201137_pf.html

[bdamomma]

1. Global warming is our greatest threat.