'George Bush didn't believe in climate
change. I do...'
'we're
going to turn off all the lights and everybody is going to stop
driving...'
Climate Change and environmental issues have not been center stage on US President Barak Obama's diplomatic, economic (G20) and defense (NATO) tour of Europe. The Climate issue has been ever-present, however, in the more informal sessions and Town Halls, many having younger demographics.
These remarks came in response to questions from the audience at Obama's Town Hall in Istanbul, TURKEY, Tuesday, April 7th, 2009
Responding to how he is different than Pres. Bush:
OBAMA: When it comes to climate change, George Bush didn't believe in climate
change. I do believe in climate change, I think it's important. That
doesn't mean that suddenly the day I'm elected I can say, OK, we're
going to turn off all the lights and everybody is going to stop
driving. Right? All I can do is to start moving policies that over time
are going to obtain different results.
He also responded to a question specifically about what he will do about Climate Change:
OBAMA: As many of you know, I think the science tells us that the
planet is getting warmer because of carbon gases that are being sent
into the atmosphere. And if we do not take steps soon to deal with it,
then you could see an increase of three, four, five degrees, which
would have a devastating effect, the oceans would rise; we don't know
what would happen to the beauty of Istanbul if suddenly the seas rise.
Changing weather patterns would create extraordinary drought in some
regions, floods in others. It could have a devastating effect on human
civilization. So we've got to take steps to deal with this.
When the Kyoto Protocol was put forward, the United States opted out
of it, as did China and some other countries, and I think that was a
mistake, particularly because the United States and, is the biggest
carbon, has been the biggest carbon producer. China is now becoming
the biggest carbon producer because its population is so large. And so
we need to bring an international agreement together very soon.