“We congratulate Barack Obama on his historic election as President of the United States. He has demonstrated the once-in-a-generation ability to unite America behind a common vision. It is a vision that the United States urgently needs now to solve the triple challenge of the energy, economic and global warming crises.
“In tough economic times, voters backed the candidates for president and congress who favor big action on climate and energy. Global warming is one of the biggest challenges our country faces, and the American people supported candidates who ran on clear platforms of taking bold, science-based action needed to solve that crisis.
“Americans weren’t fooled by the millions of dollars the oil and coal companies spent during the election to derail a solution, or by last-minute scaremongering about the financial costs of cleaning up our economy. President-Elect Obama said that the change we need includes putting people back to work by solving global warming and investing in a clean energy future and Americans responded to that vision in historic numbers.
“For eight years, the international community tried to solve global warming while this country’s leadership sat on the sidelines. We look forward to showing a waiting world that America is back and ready to lead.
Obama Supports Strong Domestic Action on Global Warming
Obama has committed to 80 percent reductions in global warming pollution by 2050. (Obama-Biden New Energy for America Plan, http://my.barackobama.com/
The Obama campaign has committed to using executive action to regulate global warming pollution, if necessary. (Bloomberg News, October 16, http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/
Obama Supports International Action on Global Warming
“Obama and Biden will re-engage with the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC)—the main international forum dedicated to addressing the climate problem.” (Obama-Biden New Energy for American plan,http://my.barackobama.com/
Obama has committed to attend or send a personal representative to the next UN climate talks in Poland this December. ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?
Obama Supports Major Investments in Clean Energy
Obama has committed to helping create five million new green jobs by investing $150 billion in clean energy over the next ten years, requiring that we get 10 percent of our electricity from clean sources by 2012, and putting at least a million ultra-efficient plug-in hybrid vehicles on the road. (Obama-Biden New Energy for America Plan, http://my.barackobama.com/
Solving the Global Warming Crisis is Essential to Getting the Economy Back on Its Feet
Extreme weather, sea level rise, flooding, and other impacts associated with global warming will cause a $271 billion annual drag on the economy by 2025 and a whopping $3.8 trillion by 2100. We can’t afford not to fight global warming. (http://www.nrdc.org/
VVPR info: Contact: Michael Crocker, 202-215-8989
