Obama gives unexpected nod to climate change

Linking climate change to devastating weather and fires, Obama said the country could grow its economy while protecting itself from the worst effects of a phenomenon scientists say is getting worse due to man-made pollutants.

“We will respond to the threat of climate change, knowing that the failure to do so would betray our children and future generations,” the president said, dedicating more than a minute of his roughly 20-minute address to the issue.

By pointing to the topic in detail in his second Inaugural Address, the Democratic president committed the White House to try to mitigate the emission of greenhouse gases — an area where he had uneven success during his first four years in office.

While Obama won a commitment from the auto industry to increase fuel efficiency standards in coming years, a more comprehensive plan to put a price on greenhouse gases fell flat in Congress.

Obama said in his address that the United States should be a leader in sustainable energy and framed the issue as a matter of national security and economic opportunity.

“We cannot cede to other nations the technology that will power new jobs and new industries — we must claim its promise,” he said.

“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,” Obama said.

Climate change activists said they were heartened by the president's words.

“My hope is renewed,” Larry Schweiger, president of the National Wildlife Federation, said in a statement. “Confronting climate change is not a cause of a president or a party but an imperative for the American people.”

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