Obama says heads of state not willing to fight climate change are 'not fit to lead'
In a sobering speech on Monday, President Obama said no one is "moving fast enough" to combat climate change and soon we will "condemn our children to a world they will no longer have the capacity to repair."
Obama was in Anchorage for the Global Leadership in the Arctic: Cooperation, Innovation, Engagement, and Resilience (GLACIER) conference, and told his fellow world leaders if they don't act quickly the world can expect more drought, refugees, and conflict. "Any leader willing to take a gamble on a future like that, any leader who refuses to take this issue seriously or treats it like a joke, is not fit to lead," he added.
He said the United States "recognizes our role in creating this problem and embraces our role in solving it," and said those who say climate change isn't happening are "on their own shrinking island." Obama urged everyone at the conference to return to their countries ready to act. "It's not enough just to talk the talk," he said. "We've got to walk the walk."
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Catherine Garcia is night editor for TheWeek.com. Her writing and reporting has appeared in Entertainment Weekly and EW.com, The New York Times, The Book of Jezebel, and other publications. A Southern California native, Catherine is a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.
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