global warming

President Obama continues to steam ahead in the beginning of his 2nd term. His State of the Union speech was really well-done, and followed on the tone he set in his Inaugural Address. Not all of the speech was about climate (full transcript), but it is clear that even in the face of sequestration, if you are concerned about the impacts of global warming, then now is the time to send a letter to your representative, senator, and even our president to let them know you support the forward-thinking policy. Here is a snippet of the part of the speech most relevant to addressing the impacts of global warming. I added links to points that verify or provide a more complete perspective on statements President Obama made.

Today, no area holds more promise than our investments in American energy. After years of talking about it, we’re finally poised to control our own energy future. We produce more oil at home than we have in 15 years. We have doubled the distance our cars will go on a gallon of gas and the amount of renewable energy we generate from sources like wind and solar, with tens of thousands of good, American jobs to show for it. We produce more natural gas than ever before, and nearly everyone’s energy bill is lower because of it. And over the last four years, our emissions of the dangerous carbon pollution that threatens our planet have actually fallen. But for the sake of our children and our future, we must do more to combat climate change.

Now, it’s true that no single event makes a trend. But the fact is, the 12 hottest years on record have all come in the last 15. Heat waves, droughts, wildfires, floods, all are now more frequent and more intense. We can choose to believe that Superstorm Sandy, and the most severe drought in decades, and the worst wildfires some states have ever seen were all just a freak coincidence. Or we can choose to believe in the overwhelming judgment of science and act before it’s too late.

Now, the good news is, we can make meaningful progress on this issue while driving strong economic growth. I urge this Congress to get together, pursue a bipartisan, market-based solution to climate change, like the one John McCain and Joe Lieberman worked on together a few years ago. But if Congress won’t act soon to protect future generations, I will. I will direct my cabinet to come up with executive actions we can take, now and in the future, to reduce pollution, prepare our communities for the consequences of climate change, and speed the transition to more sustainable sources of energy.

Now, four years ago, other countries dominated the clean-energy market and the jobs that came with it. And we’ve begun to change that. Last year, wind energy added nearly half of all new power capacity in America. So let’s generate even more. Solar energy gets cheaper by the year. Let’s drive down costs even further. As long as countries like China keep going all-in on clean energy, so must we.

Now, in the meantime, the natural gas boom has led to cleaner power and greater energy independence. We need to encourage that. That’s why my administration will keep cutting red tape and speeding up new oil and gas permits. That’s got to be part of an all-of-the-above plan. But I also want to work with this Congress to encourage the research and technology that helps natural gas burn even cleaner and protects our air and our water. In fact, much of our newfound energy is drawn from lands and waters that we, the public, own together. So tonight, I propose we use some of our oil and gas revenues to fund an Energy Security Trust that will drive new research and technology to shift our cars and trucks off oil for good. If a nonpartisan coalition of CEOs and retired generals and admirals can get behind this idea, then so can we. Let’s take their advice and free our families and businesses from the painful spikes in gas prices we’ve put up with for far too long. I’m also issuing a new goal for America: Let’s cut in half the energy wasted by our homes and businesses over the next 20 years.

I do feel like this part of his speech does make some concessions and perhaps side steps the simple fact that the USA has to lead a GLOBAL effort to eliminate carbon emissions. This does not mean using natural gas instead of coal in the USA is a good thing because coal is still being mined and sent elsewhere (Europe) and the long-term health/environmental costs on top of the costs of more carbon in the atmosphere (natural gas combustion still releases carbon even if it’s less than coal – good article here) are a powerful part of that equation that essentially are being neglected for the economy. Policy might simply be lagging the science, but the science is becoming more and more stark, while policy suffered from years of delay when action was needed. I know climate is not the only issue on the table, but it is the clearest issue when trying to understand the future. Every year we delay will make any level of action not only more difficult economically, but will also reduce the impact of that action.