Obama to Focus on Climate Change After He Leaves Office
Recently Underwater360 reported on Barack Obama expanding the Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument off the coast of Hawaii, creating the world’s largest marine protected area. Now the president – soon to be ex-president – has said that he hopes to bring attention to climate change after he leaves the White House in January
The subject of climate change has become one of the centre-points of Obama’s campaign as it gently drifts into its final stages. With the platform as “ex president”, he hopes to bring attention to the pressing issues of the environment.
“My hope is maybe as ex-president, I can have a little more influence on some of my Republican friends who, I think up until now have been resistant to the science…there’s no reason why this should be a partisan issue,” he said in an interview with The New York Times. “Maybe I get a little more of a hearing if I’m not occupying a political office.”
His time in office has seen him passing laws that have been heavily in favour of the environment. In addition to extending tax credits for wind, solar and other clean energy sources, he used his executive powers to reject the TransCanada’s Keystone XL pipeline project last November, despite intense lobbying from Canada’s federal government and attacks from a massive oil industry.
As ADEX 2017 is dedicating itself to climate change, and inviting many speakers to spread an awareness of the threats the climate currently faces, the news on Obama’s interest to promote sustainable action will be greatly received by those in the industry. Dedicating itself entirely to climate change and the impact that it is having, and will have, on our oceans, ADEX believes that the dive industry needs to face it head on. Backed by myriad conservationists, scientists and high-powered individuals, ADEX is confident that together we can help educate the wider public on what is really happening to our world.
The president’s remarks came as he toured Midway Atoll near Hawaii – a swing in which he has highlighted climate change.