Barack Obama Quotes

I've long believed the environmental issue is an economic issue and a political issue. The three are entwined. You can't build prosperity on any basis other than a long-term basis, and you can't do that if you don't have a healthy environment.

After all, sustainability means running the global environment - Earth Inc. - like a corporation: with depreciation, amortization and maintenance accounts. In other words, keeping the asset whole, rather than undermining your natural capital.

We learned that economic growth and environmental protection can and should go hand in hand.

I think its time to change and balance the environment and growth. If we don't do that, we're going to suffer a hard landing one day very soon.

It's obvious that the key problem facing humanity in the coming century is how to bring a better quality of life - for 8 billion or more people - without wrecking the environment entirely in the attempt.

There is not enough money in Washington for the subsidies we will need to solve the global warming problem. The money must come from Wall Street.

There are real and growing dangers to our simple and most precious possessions: the air we breathe, the water we bring, and the land which sustains us.... If we do not act, the world of the year 2000 will be much less able to sustain life than it is now.

The nation that leads the clean energy economy will lead the global economy.

The key thing is to get off our reliance on fossil fuel.

There is only one possible route of action, Greenhouse gases have to be radically reduced and it has to happen worldwide. Until now, the US has kept its eyes shut to this emergency. Americans make up a mere 4 percent of the population, but are responsible for close to a quarter of emissions.

With the growing urgency of climate change, we cannot have it both ways. We cannot shout from the rooftops about the dangers of global warming and then turn around and shout even louder about the "dangers" of windmills.

If we don't change, our species will not survive... Frankly, we may get to the point where the only way of saving the world will be for industrial civilization to collapse.

Climate change is a real thing that is happening in the Maldives. It is not something in the future… We are only 1.5 meters above sea level. Fossil fuel technology is obsolete; it has been around for too long.

The biggest drag on global growth in the coming decade will be the impact of energy on the environment.

We should tax what we burn, not what we earn.

China may achieve its goal of reducing the carbon intensity of its economy (the ratio of carbon dioxide emissions per unit of output) by 45 percent below its 2005 level by 2020. But the country is growing so fast that its coal consumption and greenhouse gas emissions are expected to continue to increase. China is expected to add the equivalent of a new 500-megawatt coal-fired electric plant every 10 days for the next decade...

The only way we can hope to combat climate change, protect our precious land and water, and prevent future extreme weather disasters is to cut the carbon pollution that’s warming our planet, and replace dirty energy sources with clean, renewable sources.

As the former administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency and former governor of New Jersey, I have witnessed the impact of climate change firsthand.

If we are serious about our human wellbeing - from local communities to the global world economy - we need to now reconnect our entire world to the planet.

Climate change is the environmental challenge of this generation, and it is imperative that we act before it's too late.

It would be a mistake to believe that environmental protection and economic growth are mutually exclusive.

Most times, Mother Earth's resources are used up without the realisation that these thoughtless actions might just be the root cause for the hardships future generations may face. It is everyone's responsibility to hand over a green, clean, and healthy environment to them.

I fear for the future of the planet. But in a funny way, I'm even sanguine about that.

I refuse to condemn your generation and future generations to a planet that's beyond fixing.

You can't just do one of the things, because it won't be enough to combat the climate change that we're already starting to experience. It will only get worse.