Speaking at the 20th anniversary of the annual Lake Tahoe Summit, Obama did not refer to Donald Trump directly, but accused climate sceptic Republicans of denying scientific reality.
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Over 7,000 people gathered at the Harvey’s Resort to hear Senators Boxer, Feinstein, Reid, Governor Brown and President Obama announce new initiatives to protect the health of Lake Tahoe and its surroundings.
Obama stressed the importance of conserving the environment. Jerry Brown, Wednesday’s environmental summit also served as a long farewell for Reid, who is retiring after three decades in the Senate. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif. “You have to read or listen to scientists”, he said. A major tourist attraction along with the area’s casinos and ski resorts, the lake has been a major source of concern for environmentalists for decades, as underwater visibility began sharply receding.
Lake Tahoe’s loss of clarity has been fueled by housing construction, soil erosion, storm-water runoff, air pollution, automobiles and invasive aquatic species.
Obama said reversing or slowing of the effect of climate change, “is not going to happen if we pretend a snowball in winter means nothing is wrong”.
Unveiling modest new steps to preserve the lake and its region, the White House said the Interior Department would spend almost $30 million on wildfire prevention in the area, while other agencies would work on storm-water management, algae monitoring and geothermal energy exploration.
Mr. Obama said climate change is real, and that global temperature trends are proving it annually.
“I saw President Obama in 2008, and both of our parents are really into politics”, said Norris.
Malmed, who is originally from France, said that it is good that people are listening to the facts about climate change.
Obama’s conservation tour comes at the start of a busy trip to Asia, Obama’s final as president and one of his last opportunities to lock in his administration’s seven-year effort to expand USA engagement with Asia, including trade ties and cooperation on climate.
President Barack Obama waves to the crowd before delivering a speech on new conservation efforts from his administration that seek about $10 billion per year in funding to fight the effects of climate change.
Thousands of people are crowding into an outdoor arena in a casino parking lot at Lake Tahoe where President Obama is to give the keynote address at the 20th annual environmental summit addressing the lake’s ecological challenges.
The speech comes at the beginning of a trip that will eventually take him to Asia, where a top focus with leaders of the G20 nations will be implementing the Paris climate deal that Obama helped negotiate past year. He’ll then head to Hangzhou, China, for the Group of 20 summit.
From Hawaii, Obama will head to China, where he’ll discuss formally ratifying the Paris climate agreement with President Xi Jinping.
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The White House earlier in the day also unveiled a strategy to boost private and philanthropic investment in USA conservation efforts, which it said have grown from $230 million a year when Obama took office in 2009 to about $1 billion a year today. AP material published by LongIsland.com, is done so with explicit permission. Forest Service report found more than 60 million trees in the Sierra Nevada either dead or dying.
