“We embrace conservation because health and diverse lands and waters help us build resilience to climate change”.
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Obama’s Tahoe appearance was the first leg on a swing through the Pacific and China to address the threats posed by climate change. He will point to US carbon emissions that are at their lowest level in nearly two decades, the White House said. He says that shows that there’s no conflict between a healthy economy and a healthy planet.
Last week, Obama celebrated the 100th anniversary of the National Park Service by designating a new monument in ME and expanding the Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument off of the coast of Hawaii to create the largest marine protected area in the world. He says it’s a hallowed site that deserves to be treated as such and will now be preserved for future generations.
Reid, who leaves office next year and invited Obama to attend the summit’s 20th anniversary, said thanks to almost $2 billion in spending since 1997, Lake Tahoe is now “more pristine than it has been in decades”.
President Obama will headline the 20th annual Lake Tahoe Summit on water clarity on Wednesday. “Just as the health of the land and the people are tied together, just as climate and conservation are tied together, we share a sacred connection with those who are going to follow us…” Obama intends to return to Tahoe as a private citizen when he leaves office after this year. That’s the presidential helicopter that he boarded after the summit to fly back to Reno-Tahoe International Airport before he continues on to Hawaii.
“It’s not going to happen if we boast about how we’re going to scrap global treaties, or have elected officials who are alone in the world in denying climate change, or put our energy and environmental policies in the hands of big polluters”, Mr. Obama said.
The event, at Harvey’s Lake Tahoe Hotel and Casino Outdoor Arena on the Nevada side of the lake, is expected to draw a sellout crowd of 7,000 people.
Rep. Tom McClintock, a Republican from Elk Grove whose district includes the California side of the lake and who has called for less-expansive Tahoe funding, and is focused primarily on fire prevention, said he was not invited.
“This is really nice”, said the president with seemingly genuine delight, after laying eyes on the Tahoe Basin for the first time.
Obama will speak at the 20th Annual Lake Tahoe Summit and highlight his commitment to protecting the environment and addressing climate change.
“A single wildfire in the dangerously flammable Lake Tahoe basin can cause enough erosion to erase decades of progress on water quality”, Obama said.
Since the summit began two decades ago, almost $2 billion has been spent to protect and restore the lake.
“These investments that help drive down the cost of clean power, so it’s finally cheaper than a lot of dirty power in some places”, Obama said, noting that the effects of global warming have the potential to devastate serene natural environments, like Lake Tahoe.
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Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., Obama said, has been an invaluable partner in moving his agenda through the Congress.
