President Obama recently gave one of the most important speeches of his presidency - and of our lives. Many people missed it because the media barely covered it, which is a shame, since this will affect you, and your families, profoundly, so I thought it was worth bringing back to the surface. The speech was about a plan of action for tackling climate change.
Anyone who pays attention to the huge scientific agreement, will be worried about the effects of climate change. Obama put himself firmly on that list. He said: "As a President, as a father, and as an American, I'm here to say we need to act. I refuse to condemn your generation and future generations to a planet that's beyond fixing."
There were two important elements in his speech - and a third issue that I want to add. First, Obama made it clear that climate is a moral issue. This is not grubby politics or pragmatic maneuvering. Climate change affects us all. Obama said: "We don't have time for debates of the Flat Earth Society." He's right.
Anyone who pays attention to the huge scientific agreement, will be worried about the effects of climate change. Obama put himself firmly on that list. He said: "As a President, as a father, and as an American, I'm here to say we need to act. I refuse to condemn your generation and future generations to a planet that's beyond fixing."
There were two important elements in his speech - and a third issue that I want to add. First, Obama made it clear that climate is a moral issue. This is not grubby politics or pragmatic maneuvering. Climate change affects us all. Obama said: "We don't have time for debates of the Flat Earth Society." He's right.
Second, Obama announced several initiatives that he will undertake right away. The most important is that he will put a cap, to be steadily reduced, on the amount of carbon pollution that power plants in American can emit. Since power plants are the largest source of US emissions, this will have a big impact.
I would add a third point: this is not an idealistic venture that is unachievable. Affordable new technologies are now on the market that make it feasible and affordable to slash carbon pollution in a profitable way. About 50% of carbon emissions can be reduced this way with no need for government subsidies or special programs. That's what Virgin Unite-incubated Carbon War Room helps entrepreneurs do. We just need to get busy doing more of this, creating jobs and profits while lowering emissions. In the energy world, that requires good policy, but many industries can and should be making more money right now, by doing the right thing - and don’t need new policy to do it.
Through the Carbon War Room and other organisations, we are determined to push for good energy policy from governments and massive scale up of clean technologies in business. It is time we got serious about saving this planet. What do you think? Is this the moment to finally turn climate change around?
Through the Carbon War Room and other organisations, we are determined to push for good energy policy from governments and massive scale up of clean technologies in business. It is time we got serious about saving this planet. What do you think? Is this the moment to finally turn climate change around?
Find out more about President Obama's Climate Action Plan and share your views.
By Richard Branson. Founder of Virgin Group
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