Obama's Brief, Bold Remarks on Climate Change

The contrast on scientifically-based concerns over global warming couldn't be greater between Presidents Barack Obama and George W. Bush, as President Obama illustrated today in his brief, bold speech at U.N. Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen.

Obama may be stumbling on health care reform legislation, but he scored resoundingly in his landmark remarks on the urgent international need for a climate change treaty, when the President insisted:

"... all major economies must put forward decisive national actions that will reduce their emissions, and begin to turn the corner on climate change.

"I'm pleased that many of us have already done so, and I'm confident that America will fulfill the commitments that we have made: cutting our emissions in the range of 17 percent by 2020... "

And in great historical contrast to President Bush, whose administration alternatively denied and ignored climate change altogether, President Obama orated:

"This is not fiction, this is science. Unchecked, climate change will pose unacceptable risks to our security, our economies, and our planet. That much we know. So the question before us is no longer the nature of the challenge - the question is our capacity to meet it."

President Bush, of course, famously refused to allow the U.S. to sign on to the Kyoto international pact to stem global warming.

Take a few minutes to savor President Obama's Speech at U.N. Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen, and to rejoice at the positive difference for our great country, and the world, that an election can make!

Quick Reading on Climate Change Basics

• What Is Global Warming?
• Global Warming Facts and Evidence
• The Causes of Global Warming
• The Effects of Global Warming
• Solutions to Stop or Slow Global Warming

(Photo taken on December 12, 2009 at the U.N. Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen: Miguel Villagren/Getty Images)