Obama, Four More Years: what does that mean for the environment

Late Tuesday night, November 6th, 2012, President Obama was re-elected for his second term over Governor Mitt Romney. This was a big success for democrats throughout the country. Now that Obama has been re-elected, the questions are pilling up about what Obama will do with four more years in the White House. For Environmentalists, Climate Scientists, and numerous other American’s, one of the most important questions raised is what will President Obama do for climate change. In his first four years, he attempted to pass climate legislation that was shut down in 2010 due to the recession. Also, during his entire campaign, nothing about climate change was mentioned until Hurricane Sandy destroyed the East Coast. Now that he has more time in the government, do you think he will be able to make head-way into dealing with the climate change issue?

In President Obama’s acceptance speech, he noted the importance of acting on climate change. He states:

We want our children to live in an America that isn’t burdened by debt, that isn’t weakened by inequality, that isn’t threatened by the destruction power of a warming planet [...] freeing ourselves from foreign oil.”

So, one thing is for sure, the President is not a climate change denier and it is one of the top issues he wants to focus on. He realizes that there is a big problem here, especially after Sandy hit. Post-Sandy, Mayor Bloomberg endorsed Obama because Bloomberg realized the President wants to curb climate change and put more focus on clean-energy. In Obama’s first term, he had a few successes that benefit the environment like increasing fuel-economy standards for vehicles, increasing restrictions on cardon dioxide emissions, and he supported stimulus money for clean energy companies.

What’s next for climate change then? It is obvious that the President believes what is going on, so does that mean that environmentalists can hope for an even greater change in his second term? With a plethora of new Senate members being huge supporters of clean water, air, and energy, there is hope that whatever legislation Obama proposes can get passed in the Senate, but the House might hold it up. Only time will tell the possibilities of making a change to our environment in Obama’s second term.

Source: LA Times Obama finally talks climate change; green industry wants more