Although President Barack Obama was largely silent about the issue of climate change in his campaign, he took up the topic during his inaugural address Jan. 21 in Washington, D.C.
As Buzzfeed’s Andrew Kaczynski put it:
In his speech, Obama acknowledged that there are those who “deny the overwhelming judgment of science” but ultimately stated his intentions to “respond to the threat of climate change” during this term. This is also the first inaugural address where the words “climate change” were actually used. In his first address in 2009, Obama stated it as the need to “roll back the specter of a warming planet.”
Here’s the paragraph from Obama’s prepared remarks, which he delivered just after noon on Monday:
We, the people, still believe that our obligations as Americans are not just to ourselves, but to all posterity. We will respond to the threat of climate change, knowing that the failure to do so would betray our children and future generations. (Applause.) Some may still deny the overwhelming judgment of science, but none can avoid the devastating impact of raging fires and crippling drought and more powerful storms.
The path towards sustainable energy sources will be long and sometimes difficult. But America cannot resist this transition, we must lead it. We cannot cede to other nations the technology that will power new jobs and new industries, we must claim its promise. That’s how we will maintain our economic vitality and our national treasure — our forests and waterways, our crop lands and snow-capped peaks. That is how we will preserve our planet, commanded to our care by God. That’s what will lend meaning to the creed our fathers once declared.
Naturally those on the Twittersphere have taken to the mention of climate change in the speech with a variety of opinions:
Let us know what you think of Obama’s full paragraph devoted to global warming in the comments section below.
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Comments (100)
searcher619
Jan. 21, 2013 at 1:19pmMore like the warmists whom continue to deny the fact that GLOBAL temps have been in a cooling trend for the past 15 years. Even though atmospheric CO2 have continued it’s steady climb…
http://www.c3headlines.com/2013/01/satellites-confirm-atmospheric-global-cooling-reigns-not-the-ipccs-predicted-co2-global-warming.html
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Joe_The_Patriot
Jan. 21, 2013 at 2:18pmGet ready to have cap and trade RAMMED down our throats… I hope everybody can afford another 100% increase in fuel prices and let’s not forget electricity prices necessarily skyrocketing…
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jhrusky
Jan. 21, 2013 at 2:37pmYou know what … the more I research and see what “clean coal” is about and how the unsightly tar fields up north look after working them, the more I am for clean energy and putting a stop to this polluting and destroying the face of our earth in places. I want as cheap of energy as anyone as I don’t like paying those bills. But, we must move to a more environmentally clean fuel and we must preserve the face of this earth and its beauty for later generations to enjoy.
That said, I am NOT for a stupid Cap and Trade scheme because all that is going to do is enrich a few people’s bank accounts all the while NOT stopping fossil fuel burning at all. I AM for putting dollars into research to get the cost of clean energy down to bearable levels … and using tax dollars for that INSTEAD OF giving those tax dollars to corporations who are friends of people in government as they have in the past.
My only wonder in clean energy is if research can get solar and wind energy efficiency upwards of 70% where it would be affordable to many, how are they going to allow so many of us to solarize our homes and go off grid? That will take a huge bite out of the power companies and they are not going to allow that without a tremendous fight. And then, I suspect, We The People will lose again because nearly all congresspeople represent huge corporate america, not We the People.
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searcher619
Jan. 21, 2013 at 3:09pm@jhrusky:
“You know what … the more I research and see what “clean coal” is about and how the unsightly tar fields up north look after working them, the more I am for clean energy and putting a stop to this polluting and destroying the face of our earth in places. I want as cheap of energy as anyone as I don’t like paying those bills. But, we must move to a more environmentally clean fuel and we must preserve the face of this earth and its beauty for later generations to enjoy. ”
that’s all well and good but guess what? “Green” energy is a scam. We are not going to be moving away from oil until we find another source which can provide as much power as fossil fuels do at a reasonable cost. Solar and wind are pip-dreams for the foreseeable future. We do not have he technology needed to make either anything more than supplemental energy source. There’s a reason modern power plants are constantly generating power and we don’t store the excess during non-peak usage hours to use later. We do not have the technology needed to store vast amounts of power for later use. Our current understanding of physics an the materials we currently have are what is keeping us dependent on fossil fuels for the foreseeable future. you desire to get away from using coal and other fossil fuels does not change the fact. Oil/Coal/Natural Gas are here to stay for a very long time to come.
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jhrusky
Jan. 21, 2013 at 4:02pm@ searcher619
You must have missed this part of my post:
” I AM for putting dollars into research to get the cost of clean energy down to bearable levels”
Research tends to find answers, sometimes fast, sometimes slow, but answers nonetheless.
Instead of places like Solyndra, our tax dollars should have been given true research companies out to make clean energy more affordable.
I agree with you that our current form of storage is not the best … I can store 3-4 days worth of electricity in a battery bank, but that cost of that battery bank is not inexpensive. I am certain there is a better way, just that we have not yet found it. Of course, research may shed some light.
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Obama_In_PeePee_Is_Becks_Art
Jan. 21, 2013 at 4:04pm“President Jabs Climate Skeptics Who ‘Still Deny the Overwhelming Judgment of Science’ in Inaugural Address”
How can you tell if Barack Hussein Obama (AKA Barry Obama, AKA Barry Soetoro) is lying?
His lips move. *cymbal hit*
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Maji
Jan. 21, 2013 at 4:45pmCritics agree about fast and furious though.
He’s a liar and a screw ball gun runner… aka the prez.
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Distress
Jan. 21, 2013 at 10:54pmI agree with what JRHusky is saying. I think the government shouldn’t purposely meddle with the energy industry to push an unsustainable agenda. We should make it possible for cheap energy and use the increased revenue to do smart investing in alternative energy research. As a conservative I dream of a day when our homes are finally free from the grid or at least not as dependent on it.
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Cavallo
Jan. 22, 2013 at 12:45amhttp://www.washingtonsblog.com/2013/01/nasa-we-may-be-on-the-verge-of-a-mini-maunder-minimum.html
Global cooling on the way? Maybe we are headed back to the 70s in just about everything.
BTW JHRusky, unfortunately green energy is more of a scam than just its efficiency. Wind turbines and solar panels are actually quite eco-unfriendly, not to mention electric vehicles. It is all a scam. You don’t get to hear about how dirty it is to operate and construct, that’s just not politically correct.
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riseandshine
Jan. 21, 2013 at 1:16pmI wonder why we don’t hear much about rainforest depletion any more…well…no I don’t.
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jhrusky
Jan. 21, 2013 at 2:58pmYou do know that the rain forest doesn’t grow back anywhere near as fast as they cut it down, don’t you? If you do, then you also do know that there must come a point where too much has been cut down?
I’m not saying we have hit that point, but one certainly must acknowledge that point is there somewhere. I don’t profess to know where that point is either, but I do know that we need to be better stewards of the land in many ways, perhaps in the Amazon as well. Many of us like to be keyboard warriors and claim to have some superior knowledge about we know we’re not cutting too many trees out of a particular forest, or sending too many noxious fumes into the atmosphere, or burying too much radioactive waste in some other state’s caverns, or dumping too much garbage into the sea, yet the vast majority of those making those claims don’t have a clue as to how these things can and do affect the environment.
At the very least people should try to show SOME level of honesty and say, “I don’t agree with this, but I don’t know for certain”. I’m so sick of everyone thinking they have absolute facts on everything they want to comment on when the absolute fact is many are just too damn stubborn to admit they do not.
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The_Cabrito_Goat
Jan. 21, 2013 at 5:40pmUm, I think we’ll be fine without the rainforest. Most of the oxygenation is done by bacteria and viruses on the open ocean. So far, there is no profitability to be gained from sea water or aquatic microbes.
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jhrusky
Jan. 21, 2013 at 5:52pm@ the_cabrito_goat
“Um, I think we’ll be fine without the rainforest. Most of the oxygenation is done by bacteria and viruses on the open ocean. So far, there is no profitability to be gained from sea water or aquatic microbes.”
I do not [yet] know if your statement is factual, but assuming it is, I still must ask, why would you want to eventually remove such a large part of the world’s environment? I would hate to lose this beauty of our earth just as much as I would hate to lose the Redwood forest, or the grand canyon, or Crater Lake, or any beauty of nature. It’s crazy to care so little about what God placed on this earth for a few dollars. I like earning money as much as the next guy, but I refuse to accept the destruction of a non-renewable resource for that money.
These things are why people hate corporations … (not all, mind you, but the large ones … the ones that lobby and run our congress people — who’s ONLY obligation is to make more money to give investors NO MATTER WHAT THE COST.). I am NOT anti-corporation (I own one) or anti-business (I own several), but I am anti anyone who puts greed over livelihood.
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riseandshine
Jan. 22, 2013 at 2:23am@JRHUSKY…. I think depletion of rainforests DOES have an impact on climate….but it isn’t talked about much because “climate change” is more about world government/socialism than about “saving the planet”.
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tothepoint
Jan. 21, 2013 at 1:15pmThe ignorance of Obama knows no bounds.
Please, someone, anyone, help this man to gain an education.
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searcher619
Jan. 21, 2013 at 2:57pmEducation is worthless to a man who willingly uses lies to further his agenda regardless of the facts.
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AZgirl9000
Jan. 21, 2013 at 4:13pmCan he get further education without any transcripts?
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IMCHRISTIAN
Jan. 21, 2013 at 1:14pmAccording to the weather channel, astroids could hit in millions or who knows for sure attitude. Most of us has already done our share of protecting the earth now how about the Presidents and all his footprints. I will continue doing what I have always done so lets have faith in God and live life the way it was intended and quit with the scare tactics whether economics or things that will in the end be against our control.
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IMCHRISTIAN
Jan. 21, 2013 at 1:20pmcorr .. millions of years
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pdw
Jan. 21, 2013 at 1:49pmBut it is harder to get the money you want for your friends if you cannot scare the public into looking the other way while they steal our tax dollars.
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chips1
Jan. 21, 2013 at 1:13pmOrdinarily I would call him a one man Cluster, except, he is the pivot man for a circle of Clusters.
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Snowleopard {gallery of cat folks}
Jan. 21, 2013 at 1:13pmObama is a complete radical, communist, and insane to boot. He wants to force this fallacy of global warming down our throats when it is a completely debunked theory.
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FISH_BONE
Jan. 21, 2013 at 1:56pmIts all about taxes. Take the money from those who are productive and dish it out to those who are not.
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jhrusky
Jan. 21, 2013 at 5:44pmSnow, is it ‘global warming’ or ‘climate change’ (or both) that you say is a complete fallacy? And, why? Do you not believe the climate is changing? If it is, is it not possible that man is causing some part of it?
Personally, it appears like everything else nowadays, the truth is rather elusive. If you’re on the right, you’ll say there is no climate change. If on the left, you’ll say man is causing it and everyone will be dead in 100 years. If you check the research, you first have to see who funded the research as the “answers” seem to always agree with those that are doing the funding (imagine that!).
Where in hell did everyone’s honesty and integrity go? It’s not just the crazy progressives any more, the right is radical crazy just as much only on the opposite side. Can someone, somewhere, PLEASE get back to honesty even if that honesty doesn’t not jive (can I use that word without being labeled a ‘racist’?) with your side’s mantra? So many of us just want honesty … nothing less, nothing more.
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TheGreatSociety
Jan. 21, 2013 at 1:09pmYou may take my climate you cold-hearted-POS. but you’ll never, ever take my guns. I will not comply.
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Advection
Jan. 21, 2013 at 1:08pmWelcoming scientific skepticism is evidence of healthy scientific inquiry. Attacking scientific skeptics is evidence of fraudulent science.
When you add to these personal attacks, corruption of the peer review process, faking data, and the globalist political agendas, the Anthropogenic Global Warming Theory is seen for what it is.
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NILAP
Jan. 21, 2013 at 1:08pmClimate Change is good cover to spread the nation’s wealth to friends and cronies aka Solyndra etc.
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freedoc
Jan. 21, 2013 at 1:07pmOverwhelming scientific evidence? Really? Where? Show me.
The lies slide from his maw like chicken droppings thru a tin horn.
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Justan Noyence
Jan. 21, 2013 at 1:06pmClimate change is liberal double speak for tax the crap out of business, and blame them for passing the cost on to the “middle class”. Cause that fraction of a degree over a decade is a government goldmine.
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Justan Noyence
Jan. 21, 2013 at 1:11pm*Cause = Because
*Decade = Century
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mrunner
Jan. 21, 2013 at 1:06pmOverwhelming “judgement” of science??? I thought the role of science was to provide fact and imperical evidence- Not “judgement”. Judgement = opinion. And you know what opinions are like…
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randy
Jan. 21, 2013 at 1:18pmNo, he said….. In his speech, Obama acknowledged that there are those who “deny the overwhelming judgment of science”
JUDGEMENT……. is NOT FACT!
They used to use the word CONSENSUS, which is also NOT FACT.
Go away OBAMA, you POS! We’re not buying your BS!
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chips1
Jan. 21, 2013 at 1:24pmAND Obama has two of them!!!!
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Blueface
Jan. 21, 2013 at 1:06pmThe right-wing nutjobs are always denying science and reality..
carl1000
Jan. 21, 2013 at 1:11pmYea, and the left is the answer. It is to laugh.
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mrunner
Jan. 21, 2013 at 1:21pmComing from a progressive (read socialist) I will take it as a compliment. Conservatives have learned to be skeptical from the lessons in history. Take for instance the “indisputable” evidence of “global cooling in the ’70′s that had all the libs running around screaming that the sky is falling. Nope we learned to ask the questions and be skeptical- not libs. You guys will believe anything- take for instance your belief that Socialism and Communism are viable systems- while any person whose head is not firmly implanted in their rectum can see that every attempt at socialism and communism has ended in human misery and failure. Keep drinking the koolaid pal. Leave the thinking to the conservatives.
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00100111
Jan. 21, 2013 at 1:27pmThere is neither science nor reality in the farce of “climate change”.
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FISH_BONE
Jan. 21, 2013 at 2:04pmBLUEFACE (Member Since: January 21, 2013), the latest mindless dolt to buy into the ridiculous fantasy of global warming. Hey genius, if you send OBOZO or MANBEARPIG a big check, you will help save the world from higher temperatures. In fact, if you will send the check to me, I promise to forward it on to one of them (although I prefer cash). Moron.
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mrunner
Jan. 21, 2013 at 2:17pm@Fish_Bone- LMAO! Thanks for the manbearpig reference! I had forgotten about that. You brightened my monday! Excelsior!!
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Clownzilla
Jan. 21, 2013 at 1:06pmInterpretation:
Hmm…Al Gore is really making some cash off of this overblown global warming talk so how can I use my presidency to make some of that cash myself?
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TheGreatSociety
Jan. 21, 2013 at 1:04pmThis is truly, truly a sad, sad day. Forgive them Father, for they know not what they do.
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Clownzilla
Jan. 21, 2013 at 1:15pmSo true. We have to remember that a LOT of the people on the left are good people but they are absolutely brainwashed into thinking that this global socialist #$%# is actually good for them. Remember, a lot of the people that exterminated Jews in Europe and slammed babies against trees in Cambodia were at one time upstanding citizens that were so heavily brainwashed that they were able to perform such horrendous acts.
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woodyee
Jan. 21, 2013 at 1:03pmObama just shat his shirt, as he purged the blackness within himself to pepper the audience with bodacious pseudo-nonsense; and this, The Capt. of the Ship of Fools AND Hero-of-the-Stupid, was drowned with applause from his subjects…
The Teleprompter Has Spoken.
‘Bama-phone!’
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pap pap
Jan. 21, 2013 at 1:02pmThis is all about redistributing tax dollars to his green weenie friends. I guess we now have an Al Gore Jr. I’t only 17 degrees in Pittsburgh today. Where is that global warming ?
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TheGreatSociety
Jan. 21, 2013 at 1:06pmIn the ‘burgh m’self Pap… feels more like -17
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Shasta
Jan. 21, 2013 at 1:09pmThis is why they renamed it to ‘Climate Change’. Now, no matter what the weather does, they are covered…in our money.
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FISH_BONE
Jan. 21, 2013 at 1:59pmI wish the temp would get up to 17 degrees here!
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IMCHRISTIAN
Jan. 21, 2013 at 1:02pmOh. he is so thoughtful of the future generations now after burying them with a huge debt crisis and more to come with Obamacare and all other regulations.
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chips1
Jan. 21, 2013 at 1:31pmIf he was so thoughtful about future generations, why does he promote murdering them? It’s his form of child pornnography.
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justangry
Jan. 21, 2013 at 1:01pmAnd the overwhelming judgement of science once branded Galileo a heretic.
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RANGER1965
Jan. 21, 2013 at 1:00pmHis phraseology is pretty good. I doubt there is one scientist or even intelligent person that would deny that Climate Changes.
Whether any of it is caused by man, what direction the change is going in, and whther anything can or should be done about it…there’s plenty of debate.
He will use the spectre of climate change to hand over US Power to international bodies. He’s such a transparent little flim flam man.
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Advection
Jan. 21, 2013 at 1:20pmC.S. Lewis warned about the unholy union politicians and scientists. It never ends well.
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huey6367
Jan. 21, 2013 at 1:00pmObie knows nothing of science or it would not called it ‘science’. In science, you do not start with a conclusion and then look for evidence to support it.
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RJJinGadsden
Jan. 21, 2013 at 12:59pmOh yeah, don’t forget that today is National Squirrel Appreciation Day. Think that I will step outside in a little while a plug a couple of them for the cats.
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GhostOfJefferson
Jan. 21, 2013 at 12:58pmScience doesn’t judge. He’s making the same mistake most on the Left make, they attribute science as being an authority on questions with closed answers. Science is the opposite, it’s always open to questioning, even for the most ironclad theories. The moment a supposed scientist tells you a scientific question is settles, is the moment he stops being a scientist and starts being a political advocate and hack.
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huey6367
Jan. 21, 2013 at 1:09pmAgred. There are those out there that still insist the world is flat.
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Cavallo
Jan. 21, 2013 at 1:54pmGlobal Warming is a religion. It’s a doomsday cult, and a staple of a larger religion of The State. Their priests were white coats rather than robes, but their authority is treated as paramount. Despite violation of scientific principles, conscious manipulation of data, hidden data, contrary observations discounted, contrary observations of their theories given as evidence of proof. It all has one end, and one end only. To empower THE STATE to control our business, our lives, and our associations and standards.. all with the religious zeal of the Jim Jones Socialists.
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RJJinGadsden
Jan. 21, 2013 at 12:57pm“OBAMA JABS CLIMATE SKEPTICS WHO ‘STILL DENY THE OVERWHELMING BULLSH/T OF SCIENCE’ IN INAUGURAL ADDRESS”
There, I’ve interpreted his comment to now make sense.
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Al J Zira
Jan. 21, 2013 at 12:51pmBen Dover. Here it comes.
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