President Obama began his second term with a clarion promise to address the climate crisis. As much of the nation rebuilds from horrific, fossil-fueled Superstorm Sandy, the need for the President to speak out about dangerous fossil fuel pollution is great. In his State of the Union address, the President explicitly mentioned Sandy as a reason for climate action, but stopped short of announcing bold steps needed to address the climate crisis. Check out our State of the Union scorecard here, and encourage the President to take bold climate action.
During his campaign for re-election, President Obama sprinkled his speeches with mentions of energy and climate, but remained stubbornly silent on the immediate and profound task of phasing out a carbon-based economy. His failure to connect the dots and do the math imperils our nation and prevents the development of a national and global plan to respond to the most urgent challenge of our era.
Our interactive graph depicts select major statements related to climate change by President Obama dating back to the 2008 presidential campaign. Please view the data page for a comprehensive list of his statements and our methodology.