In leading up to today’s unveiling of President Barack Obama’s signature climate change regulation that limits carbon emissions from coal-fired power plants, the commander-in-chief (pushing aside mentions of military buildups and aggressive actions by North Korea and China, among others) on Wednesday told the West Point graduating class they will be forced to respond to the effects of --- global warming, notes Grumpy Editor.
Along with foreign policy remarks to the more than 1,000 graduating cadets, the president called for energizing the global effort to combat climate change which he termed “a creeping national security crisis that will help shape your time in uniform, as we are called on to respond to refugee flows and natural disasters and conflicts over water and food, which is why next year I intend to make sure America is out front in putting together a global framework to preserve our planet.”
Obama, two days later at another event, warned storms like 2012’s Hurricane Sandy will become more frequent as climate change intensifies and urged the public to prepare now for this year's hurricane season.
The president said changes in climate mean that storms “could end up being more common and more devastating…and that’s why we’re also going to be doing more to deal with the dangers of carbon pollution that help to cause this climate change and global warming.”
Meanwhile, after one of the quietest hurricane seasons in decades last year, forecasters with The Weather Channel predict a below-average 2014 Atlantic hurricane season that runs from June 1 to Nov. 30.
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