The Record: President Obama on Climate and Energy

And since I
took office, I have been
proud to build on the work
of all those giants who came
before me to support our
natural resources and to
help all Americans get out
into the great outdoors.
We've protected more than
265 million acres of public
lands and waters.

(applause)

That's more
than any administration
in history.

We've seen more victories
under the Endangered Species
Act than any previous
administration.

We're restoring vulnerable
ecosystеms like the Mariposa
Grove of Giant
Sеquoias, right here.

We've designated new
monuments and historic sites
that better reflect the
story of all our people.
So, along with those famous
sites like Gettysburg, we
can also see monuments to
Cesar Chavez or Pullman
Porters in Chicago.

So, as we look back over the
last hundred years, there's
plenty to celebrate about a
National Parks system that
is the envy of the world.

But when we look to the next
century, the next hundred
years, the task of
protecting our sacred spaces
is even more important.

And the biggest challenge
we're going to face in
protecting this place and
places like it is
climate change.

One of the reasons I ran
for this office was to make
America a leader
in this mission.
And over the past eight
years, we've done just that.

In 2009, we salvaged a
chaotic climate summit in
Copenhagen, establishing the
principle that all nations
have a role to play in
combating climate change.

And at home, we led by
example with historic
investments and growing
industries like wind and
solar that created a
steady stream of new jobs.

We set the first ever
nationwide standards to
limit the amount of carbon
pollution that power plants
can dump into the air
our children breathe.

From the cars and trucks
we drive, to the homes and
businesses in which we live
and work, we've changed,
fundamentally, the
way we consume energy.

Now, keep in mind, the
skeptics said these actions
would kill jobs.
And, instead, we saw -- even
as we were bringing down
these carbon levels, the
longest streak of job
creation in
American history.

We drove economic output to
new highs and we drove our
carbon pollution to its
lowest levels in two decades.

And by sending a signal that
this is going to be our
future -- a clean energy
future, it opens up the
floodgates for businesses
and scientists and engineers
to unleash high-tech, low
carbon investment and
innovation at a scale that
we've never seen before.

So, this gives us the best
possible shot to save the
one planet we've got.

That's our most important
mission, to make sure our
kids and our grandkids have
at least as beautiful a
plant, and hopefully even
more beautiful than the one
that we have.