Obama to Senate on Climate, Energy: "We cannot be afraid of the future"

categories: Clean Energy, Fossil Energy, Greenhouse Gas, Imagining the Future, Jobs & Economy, Policy & Legislation

Published June 29, 2009 @ 08:32AM PT

Above: President Obama used the whole of his latest weekly address to laud the passage of the House climate and clean energy bill. This video by AP left off the final, forward-looking words of his statement:

Now my call to every Senator, as well as to every American, is this: We cannot be afraid of the future. And we must not be prisoners of the past. Don’t believe the misinformation out there that suggests there is somehow a contradiction between investing in clean energy and economic growth. It’s just not true.

We have been talking about energy for decades. But there is no longer a disagreement over whether our dependence on foreign oil is endangering our security. It is. There is no longer a debate about whether carbon pollution is placing our planet in jeopardy. It’s happening. And there is no longer a question about whether the jobs and industries of the 21st century will be centered around clean, renewable energy.

The question is, which country will create these jobs and these industries? I want that answer to be the United States of America. And I believe that the American people and the men and women they sent to Congress share that view. So I want to congratulate the House for passing this bill, and I want to urge the Senate to take this opportunity to come together and meet our obligations – to our constituents, to our children, to God’s creation, and to future generations.

Full transcript on whitehouse.gov.

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