U.S. President Barack Obama (Photo : REUTERS/MIKE THEILER)
President Barack Obama chose the opportunity of Earth Day to slam the global warming skeptics by saying that climate change "can't be edited out." The President was visiting Everglades National Park on Wednesday where he spoke at length about environmental conservation.
"Simply refusing to say the words 'climate change' doesn't mean that climate change isn't happening," said the President while standing on a podium at the edge of the River of Grass, Miami New Times reported. The comment was made in reference to Florida Gov. Rick Scott, who had allegedly banned the state employees from using global warming and other related terms in official communications and documentation.
The President said that the concern over environmental protection and global warming is the need of the hour and not a problem for another generation. Obama also jabbed at Republican politicians who have either denied or questioned human-driven global warming on multiple occasions.
The President took the occasion to warn those in South Florida that their drinking water could be at risk without the Everglades. Florida is also home to Sen. Marco Rubio, who has announced his candidacy, and former Gov. Jeb Bush, who is yet to announce the same. Both Rubio and Bush are known skeptics about global warming and it seems that the President is banking on the issue to attack Republicans in the 2016 political campaigns.
Florida's large population is sharply divided into progressive urban areas and increasingly conservative rural ones, due to which it will become the playground of environment issue related political jabbing in 2016.
However, it is also a fact that Florida is a frontrunner in U.S. when it comes to the evident effects of global warming. According to Inside Climate News, the state is facing nine inches rise in sea level across its nearly 1,200 miles of coastline which in turn is creeping into the freshwater reserve and porous rock underlining, posing a huge threat to drinking water for millions of residents.
