MTV Breaks Obama's Climate Silence

http://climatesilence.org/ 10/26/12: MTV's Sway Williams breaks the climate silence, asking President Barack Obama a tough question about global warming. Obama says he's "surprised it didn't come up in the debates."

Transcript:

When MTV Breaks The Climate Silence, Obamas Says 'We're Not Moving As Fast As We Need To,' Says He's 'Surprised' By Climate Silence, Portrays Climate Change As Threat For 'Future Generations' And 'It's Going To Have A Severe Effect.'

TRANSCRIPT:

Q: Until this year global climate change has been discussed in every presidential debate since 1988. It was a big part of your previous campaign but pushed back on the back burner. Given the urgency of the threat, do you feel that we're moving quickly enough on this issue, number one, and Samantha from New Jersey wants to know what will you do to make it a priority?

OBAMA: The answer is number one, we're not moving as fast as we need to. And this is an issue that future generations, MTV viewers, are going to have to be dealing with even more than the older generation. So this is a critical issue. And there is a huge contrast in this campaign between myself and Governor Romney. I am surprised it didn't come up in one of the debates. Gov. Romney says he believes in climate change. That's different than a lot of members of his own party that deny it completely. But he's not sure that man-made causes are the reason. I believe scientists who say we are putting too much carbon emissions into the atmosphere and it's heating the planet and it's going to have a severe effect. There are a lot of things we have done a lot of things in the last four years. We have already doubled the fuel efficiency standards on cars and trucks. That's the first increase in 30 years in the fuel mileage standards. As a consequence we will be taking huge amounts of carbon out of the atmosphere, even as we're also saving folks money at the pump and reducing our dependence on foreign oil. We have doubled clean energy production -- wind, solar, biofuels -- and that means that increasingly people are getting electricity, companies are generating power, without the use of carbon-producing fuels. And that's helping as well. The next step is to deal with buildings and really ramp up our efficiency in buildings. If we had the same energy efficiency as Japan, we would cut our energy use by about 20 percent, and that means we'd be taking a whole lot of carbon out of our atmosphere. And if we do those things, we can meet the targets that I negotiated with other countries in Copenhagen, to bring our carbon emissions down by about 17 percent, even as we're creating good jobs in these industries. In order for us to solve the whole problem though, we're gonna have to have some technological breakthroughs. Because countries like China and India, they're building coal-power plants and they feel that they have to prioritize getting people out of poverty ahead of climate change. So what we have to do is help them and help ourselves by continuing to put money into research and technology about how do we really get the new sources of power that are going to make a difference.

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  People & Blogs

[Imogen Karen]

oh dear oh dear. he thinks energy efficiency will "take huge amounts of carbon out of the atmosphere". could someone give him a little science lesson please? >.< . still, better than romney.

[Sage Radachowsky]

It sounds good, what he says, but he's still a candidate for natural gas and oil -- the fossil energy sources. His plan does not address the core -- the need to include the true cost of fossil energy in the price of energy through a carbon tax. That would do it, but that is highly resisted by the fossil energy industry. Otherwise it's window dressing around business as usual.

[kaizermartey]

they feel like they have to prioritize.....

[Alan Decker]

problem not solved alot more needs done than that there needs to be serious moves to stop emissions within the next 5 years or everyone is dead

[Daniel Richards]

Such a pathetic answer. Well done Obama, slightly lower emissions from cars, problem solved!

[Wilson Tsang]

Is that a religious head wear?

[lareneg72]

global warming is joke

[lareneg72]

take off your fucking hat you disrespectful piece of shit.

[cbrhawk1]

I do value this planet, but your failure to see the real problems that do deserve our tax dollars is what makes you a bad keeper of it, not my acknowledgement of a non-problem by comparison.

Littering, deforestation, soot, overfishing, and waste in our oceans are among the real problems. These aren't radical alarmist theories that 'could' happen. They are already happening. Your climate scare, however, has gone on for decades and nothing has happened that was predicted.

[Sage Radachowsky]

Unfortunately, there is no exit door from the planet Earth. So i'm not leaving and you will have to deal with my intention to be one of the many who value this planet and will stand in the way of unethical carbon emission. If the United States will not institute a carbon tax, then the people who care will do so.

[cbrhawk1]

Scares like this have persisted for many, many decades. There was nothing to those, just like there's nothing to the current scare. It's there for politics and agendas.

If you can't live with me, then don't let the door hit your ass on the way out. I live in the United States, and we will not have a carbon tax here. Period. Even those who are lukewarm to AGW will not tolerate such a gigantic tax. No, I can't live with more taxes and subsidies. I think green subsidies have failed enough.

[Sage Radachowsky]

Sorry but i'm not going to let my planet Earth be destroyed so you can save a few bucks on your electric bill. Seriously, we can have a carbon tax that provides subsidies for low income people on their electric bills. Those who can afford it can pay the true cost. If you can't live with that, then i can't live with you.