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Obama has said he sees addressing climate change
as an urgent national security issue. With less than two years
left in his presidency, he wants to finalize U.S. rules to curb
greenhouse gas emissions from power plants, and marshal support
for a global deal to limit climate-changing carbon pollution.
The Everglades will give Obama a vivid backdrop for talking
about his goals, the White House said, noting rising sea levels
and shrinking freshwater in the unique ecosystem are killing
grasses and threatening groundwater supplies for a third of the
people who live in the state.
"This is really ground zero," said Christy Goldfuss, a top
environmental adviser to Obama, in a briefing with reporters.
The day trip also gives Obama a chance to draw a contrast with
Republicans fighting his plans.
Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has warned
other countries that a future Republican president could reverse
Obama's regulations.
Florida Senator Marco Rubio, who has entered the race to be the
Republican presidential nominee in 2016, has said humans are not
responsible for climate change.
Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush, who also is considering a 2016
run, has said his concerns about the economy outweigh his
concerns about climate.
Many Americans are "psychologically distant" from climate
change, seeing it as a far-off problem affecting distant lands,
and do not share Obama's sense of urgency, said Anthony
Leiserowitz, director of the Yale Project on Climate Change
Communication, which surveys Americans on their climate views.
"It's like a famine in Africa: people basically say, 'I don't
like it, I wish somebody would do something about it, but I
don't see what I can do and how it directly relates to my
life,'" he said.
To try to bring the issue closer, the White House has started a
social media campaign, encouraging people to post photos of
parks and nature they care about.
The idea could be effective, Leiserowitz said, noting only four
percent of Americans say they hear people they know talking
about climate change.
"We don't talk about it. No wonder it's a low priority," he
said, explaining people place more trust in what they hear from
family and friends than what politicians say.
(Reporting by Roberta Rampton; Editing by Bernard Orr)
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