Statement from Maggie L. Fox on the President's Climate Plan

Boulder, CO (June 25, 2013) – The Climate Reality Project applauds President Obama’s leadership in providing a plan to mitigate the major contributing factors to climate change. Just as the global threat of terrorism united our country in the last decade, it is imperative that the American people rally behind the President in supporting these initiatives to dramatically reduce the 90 million tons of carbon pollution that is dumped into our atmosphere each day–pollution that has already cost this nation hundreds of billions of dollars in direct costs to our businesses, our homes, and our way of life.

For too long, the American taxpayers have picked up the tab for the cost of carbon pollution in the form of increasingly frequent Dirty Weather events, including forest fires, crippling drought, floods, and Superstorms. It is time for the American public to contact their elected officials in Congress to support these actions, and for Congress to lead by putting a price on carbon. It is past time for the fossil fuel industry to pay their fair share.

The three main planks of President Obama’s plan—controlling emissions from coal plants, increasing energy efficiency, and increased development of renewable energy sources—removes the series of false choices that Big Oil and Big Coal have worked so hard to perpetuate. The President’s plan makes clear that a clean energy future, the performance of the American economy, and the protection of our planet are mutually reinforcing. Fortunately, the solutions and technology are already at our disposal, and the President’s plan will create the enabling environment to bring these solutions to scale.