President Barack Obama scolded political opponents of his global warming agenda in his farewell address Tuesday night, warning inaction on the issue will imperil future generations.
“Our children won’t have time to debate the existence of climate change. They’ll be busy dealing with its effects,” Obama said in his Chicago speech.
Obama said that to “deny the problem not only betrays future generations, it betrays the essential spirit of this country,” clearly taking aim at the incoming Trump administration.
President-elect Donald Trump promised to rollback Obama administration energy and environment regulations he sees as hampering U.S. competitiveness, including signature global warming rules for power plants.
Trump also pledged to “cancel” a United Nations agreement to cut greenhouse gas emissions the Obama administration spearheaded.
Democrats and environmentalists attacked Trump for appointing “climate deniers” to top administration posts. They’ve taken special aim at Trump’s pick to head the EPA, Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt; there’s no evidence he ever “denied” global warming.
