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FOIA Number: 2017-1094-F
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This is not a textual record. This is used as an
administrative marker by the William J. Clinton
Presidential Library Staff.
Collection/Record Group:
Clinton Presidential Records
Subgroup/Office of Origin:
WH Task Force on Climate Change
Series/Staff Member:
Roger Ballentine; Paul Bledsoe; Julie Anderson
Subseries:
OA/ID Number:
41300
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Folder Title:
POTUS/VP Climate Remarks
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S
100
3
10
1
PRESIDENT CLINTON AND VICE PRESIDENT GORE
SPEAK OUT ON CLIMATE CHANGE
During 1999, President Clinton and Vice President Gore have
spoken out time and time again on global climate change. A few of
their remarks follow:
"But our most fateful new challenge is the threat of global warming. 1998 was the
warmest year ever recorded. Last year's heat waves, floods and storms are but a hint
of what future generations may endure if we do not act now. Tonight I propose a
new clean air fund to help communities reduce greenhouse and other pollution, and
tax incentives and investments to spur clean energy technology. And I want to work
with members of Congress in both parties to reward companies that take early,
voluntary action to reduce greenhouse gases."
-- President Clinton, January 19,1999, State of the Union Address.
"President Clinton and I are proposing significant new investments in fiscal year 2000
to accelerate our aggressive, common-sense efforts to meet the challenge of global
warming.
That is why President Clinton and I are proposing a record $4 billion for
expanded research and other programs to better understand and protect our climate,
and for tax incentives for consumers and businesses to purchase energy-efficient cares,
homes, and appliances."
-- Vice President Gore, January 25, 1999, Climate Change Budget Proposal
"We must do more to meet our most profound, common global environmental
challenge, the challenge of global warming. I have proposed a clean air partnership
fund to help communities reduce both greenhouse pollution and smog, as well as tax
and research incentives to spur clean energy technologies. I want to work with
members of Congress in both parties to reward companies that take early, voluntary
action to reduce greenhouse gases."
-- President Clinton , March 4, 1999, U.S. Interior Department 150th Anniversary
"I am directing all federal departments and agencies to take steps to markedly improve
the energy efficiency of our buildings. With new technologies and contracts with
private companies, the federal government will cut its greenhouse gas emissions by 30
percent. That is the equivalent of taking 1.7 million cars off the road. By taking these
steps, we will also save the taxpayers over $750 million a year when they are fully
implemented.
--- President Clinton, June 3, 1999, Issuing Federal Energy Efficiency
Executive Order
"For American families and consumers this legislation will mean lower energy costs
and the potential for new economic opportunities. For our nation, it will mean more
jobs, more innovation, increased competitiveness, and greater energy security. And
for our environment, the gains in energy efficiency will mean better air quality and
fewer emissions of the greenhouse gases contributing to global warming."
-- Vice President Gore, June 29, 1999, Administration's Energy Efficient Tax Incentives
Introduced Into Congress
"The evidence of global warming grows stronger every day, yet Congress is trying to
strangle common-sense programs that save energy, save consumers money, and
reduce global warming pollution. I urge Congress to work with us, not against us, to
meet the challenges of climate change.
-- Vice President Gore, August 2, 1999, Release of Declassified Arctic Images to Help
Research on Global Warming
"I'm establishing a Cabinet-level council to develop strategic plans to help to bring
bio-based technologies from farms, forests and labs to the marketplace.
In
addition, I am setting a goal of tripling America's use of bioenergy and bio-based
products by 2010. That would generate as much as $20 billion a year in new income
for farmers and rural communities, while reducing greenhouse gas emissions by as
much as 100 million tons a year -- the equivalent of taking more than 70 million cars
off the road."
-- President Clinton, August 12, 1999, Issuing BioEnergy Executive Order
"One of the big ideas the world has to abandon is the idea that the only way
to build a modern prosperous economy is with the industrial energy use patterns of a
former era. It is not true."
--President Clinton, September 12, Auckland, New Zealand.
"The overwhelming consensus of world scientific opinion is that greenhouse gases
from human activity are raising the Earth's temperature in a rapid and unsustainable
way. The five warmest years since the 15th century have all been in the 1990s; 1998
was the warmest year ever recorded, eclipsing the record set just the year before, in
1997. Unless we change course, most scientists believe the seas will rise so high they
will swallow whole islands and coastal areas. Storms, like hurricanes, and droughts
both will intensify. Diseases like malaria will be borne by mosquitoes the higher and
higher altitudes, and across borders, threatening more lives -- a phenomenon we
already see today in Africa."
-- President Clinton, September 15, 1999, Auckland, New Zealand
"All of us, developed and developing countries alike, should take action now to halt
global climate change
Does this mean developing countries then must sacrifice
growth to protect the environment? Absolutely not The challenge and opportunity
for developing countries is to skip the cost of the Industrial Age by using technologies
that improve the economy and the environment at the same time."
--President Clinton, September 21, 1999, UN General Assembly
TITE WILLTER HOUSE
THE WITTL HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary
(New Orleans, Louisiana)
For Immediate Release
September 27, 1999
STATEMENT BY THE PRESIDENT
I commend the hundreds of mayors and other local officials across
the country who today are committing themselves to the fight against
global climate change. The communities they represent understand
that the threat of global warming is real. They also understand that we
can begin to address this threat through actions that both help our
environment and save money for taxpayers, consumers, and
businesses. Today's pledge will help encourage other communities
across America to do their part to meet this global challenge.
Regrettably, even as ordinary citizens, local leaders, and a growing
number of leading corporations are taking action, many in Congress
are ignoring the mounting evidence of global warming and thwarting
common-sense efforts to address it. I urge Congress to fully fund my
proposed package of investments to accelerate the deployment of
clean energy technologies for the 21st century -- including the
proposed Clean Air Partnership Fund, which will provide grants to
state and local governments for projects that reduce both greenhouse
gases and pollutants like soot, smog, and air toxics. Finally, I call on
Congress to withdraw all appropriations "riders" aimed at strangling
programs that save energy, save consumers and businesses money,
and reduce global warming pollution.
I look forward to working with local leaders to meet this pressing
environmental challenge, and I applaud their leadership and
dedication.
30-30-30
Climate Change Technology Initiative
We are asking for another $100M ($95M for Energy Conservation and $5M for Forest Service)
over the current Interior conference report. It appears that the Energy Conservation account
(DOE's energy efficiency programs) are funded at $4M below FY99 levels. The CCTI funding
in the Interior bill breaks down as follows:
FY99
FY2000 Request
FY2000 Conf.
Energy Conservation
526
647
522
Fossil Energy
24
36
37
EIA
3
3
3
553
686
562
Forest Service
0
6
0
The following are descriptions of the programs at both DOE and the Forest Service that will be
funded with additional funding.
Appliance Standards. The Department has put in place an aggressive appliance standards
program that will provide significant near-term energy conservation savings. DOE is working on
appliance standard rules for four priority products (fluorescent lamp ballasts, clothes washers,
water heaters and central air conditioners) as well as providing support for the development of
state building energy codes. Lack of full funding will delay the standard setting process for these
appliances, thereby delaying the expected reduction of over 4 million metric tons of carbon
equivalent per year by 2010.
PNGV (Partnership for a New Generation of Vehicles). PNGV is a signature research
partnership between the Administration and the Big Three designed to produce affordable cars
that achieve triple fuel efficiency by 2004. It is the most important climate change initiative in
the transportation sector, which accounts for a third of our national greenhouse gas emissions.
Reduced funding will jeopardize our ability to meet the 2004 goal through critical research on
hybrid and fuel cell technologies. Specifically, DOE's PNGV funding is down between $9-13M
from FY99 and between $25-29M from our request.
Industrial Technologies. Black Liquor gasification technologies offer the potential to
achieve higher energy efficiencies and eliminate millions of metric tons of carbon equivalent
over conventional boilers. DOE's gasification technology R&D will ensure timely replacement
of older boilers. Replacement of these boilers not only improves efficiency but will reduce
carbon emissions by up to 30 million metric tons by the year 2020.
Forest Service. The Forest Service will develop and demonstrate ways to increase
carbon sequestration in biomass and soils; demonstrate management practices for crop
production with near zero net carbon release and work with DOE, industry, landowners and
universities to identify how farmers can grow trees for energy and carbon sequestration.
Guys-
THE WHITE HOUSE
any
Office of the Press Secretary
(Ottawa, Canada)
For Immediate Release
October 8, 1999
PRESS CONFERENCE BY THE PRESIDENT
AND PRIME MINISTER CHRETIEN
Parliament
Ottawa, Canada
12:05 P.M. EDT
(missing text)
Q Excuse me. I would like to say something. You've had a lot of disasters lately, and so has the
world. And I'm with Christian News, and I would like to ask you, have you thought that possibly
this is a message from above that there is moral decay, that there is abortion, that there is
violence? I was wondering if you had given it some thought.
THE PRESIDENT: Actually, I have. You know, we - particularly because of all the
millennial predictions. But I think the fact is that some of these natural disasters are part of
predictable weather patterns, and the others have been predicted for more than a decade now by
people who tell us that the climate is warming up. And I think that the real moral message here
is that as we all get richer and use more of the resources God has given us, we're being called
upon to take greater care of them. And I think that we have to deal seriously with the impact of
the changing climate.
I was just in New Zealand at the jumping-off place for 70 percent of our operations in
Antarctica, the South Pole, talking about the thinning of the polar ice cap there and the
consequences it could bring to the whole world.
So I believe that insofar as these natural disasters are greater in intensity or number than
previous ones, the primary warning we're getting from on high is that we have to keep - to use
the phrase of a person I know reasonably well we have to keep Earth in the balance. We have
to respond to this in an appropriate way.
Yes.
Kymberly M. Escobar
10/08/99 01:39:56 PM
Record Type:
Record
To:
Paul Bledsoe/WHCCTF/EOP@EOP Elliot J. Diringer/CEQ/EOP@EOP, Beth A. Viola/CEQ/EOP@EOP
cc:
Subject: POTUS on Climate
Excerpt from today's PRESS AVAILABILITY BY THE PRESIDENT AND PRIME MINISTER CHRETIEN
Parliament
Ottawa, Canada
October 8, 1999 12:05 P.M. EDT
Q
Excuse me. I would like to say something. You've had a lot of disasters lately, and so
has the world. And I'm with Christian News, and I would like to ask you, have you thought that possibly
this is a message from above that there is moral decay, that there is abortion, that there is violence? I
was wondering if you had given it some thought.
THE PRESIDENT: Actually, I have. You know, we -- particularly because of all the millennial
predictions. But I think the fact is that some of these natural disasters are part of predictable weather
patterns, and the others have been predicted for more than a decade now by people who tell us that the
climate is warming up. And I think that the real moral message here is that as we all get richer and use
more of the resources God has given us, we're being called upon to take greater care of them. And I
think that we have to deal seriously with the impact of the changing climate.
I was just in New Zealand at the jumping-off place for 70 percent of our operations in Antarctica,
the South Pole, talking about the thinning of the polar ice cap there and the consequences it could bring
to the whole world.
So I believe that insofar as these natural disasters are greater in intensity or number than
previous ones, the primary warning we're getting from on high is that we have to keep -- to use the
phrase of a person I know reasonably well -- we have to keep Earth in the balance. We have to respond
to this in an appropriate way.
President Clinton and Vice President Gore Speak Out on Climate Change
During 1999, President Clinton and Vice President Gore have spoken out time and again on
global climate change issues. A few of their remarks follow:
All of developed and developing countries alike should take action now to halt global
climate change Doe this deve countries then must sacrifice growth to
protectitheren aronment Absolutely.not The challenge and opportunity for
developing countries is to skip the cost of the Industrial Age by using technologies that
improve the economy and the environment at the same time. --President Clinton,
September 21, 1999, United Nations General Assembly
The overwhelming consensus of world scientific opinion is that greenhouse gases from
human activity are raising the Earth's temperature in a rapid and unsustainable way. The five
warmest years since the 15th century have all been in the 1990s; 1998 was the warmest year
ever recorded, eclipsing the record set just the year before, in 1997. Unless we change
course, most scientists believe the seas will rise so high they will swallow whole islands and
coastal areas. Storms, like hurricanes, and droughts both will intensify. Diseases like malaria
will be borne by mosquitoes the higher and higher altitudes, and across borders, threatening
more lives -- a phenomenon we already see today in Africa. -- President Clinton, September
15, 1999, Auckland, New Zealand
One of the big ideas the world has to abandon is the idea that the only way
to build a modern prosperous economy is with the industrial energy use patterns of a former
era. It is not true. --President Clinton, September 12, Auckland, New Zealand.
I'm establishing a Cabinet-level council to develop strategic plans to help to bring bio-based
technologies from farms, forests and labs to the marketplace.
In addition, I am setting a
goal of tripling America's use of bioenergy and bio-based products by 2010. That would
generate as much as $20 billion a year in new income for farmers and rural communities,
while reducing greenhouse gas emissions by as much as 100 million tons a year -- the
equivalent of taking more than 70 million cars off the road. -- President Clinton, August 12,
1999 - BioEnergy Executive Order
The evidence of global warming grows stronger every day, yet Congress is trying to
strangle common-sense programs that save energy, save consumers money, and reduce
global warming pollution. I urge Congress to work with us, not against us, to meet the
challenges of climate change. -- Vice President Gore, August 2, 1999, Release of
Declassified Arctic Images to Help Research on Global Warming
President Clinton and Vice President Gore Speak Out on Climate Change
For American families and consumers this legislation will mean lower energy costs and
the potential for new economic opportunities. For our nation, it will mean more jobs,
more innovation, increased competitiveness, and greater energy security. And for our
environment, the gains in energy efficiency will mean better air quality and fewer
emissions of the greenhouse gases contributing to global warming. -- Vice President
Gore, June 29, 1999 - Administration's Energy Efficient Tax Incentives Introduced Into
Congress
I am directing all federal departments and agencies to take steps to markedly improve the
energy efficiency of our buildings. With new technologies and contracts with private
companies, the federal government will cut its greenhouse gas emissions by 30 percent.
That is the equivalent of taking 1.7 million cars off the road. By taking these steps, we
will also save the taxpayers over $750 million a year when they are fully implemented. --
President Clinton, June 3, 1999, Federal Energy Efficiency Executive Order
We must do more to meet our most profound, common global
environmental challenge, the challenge of global warming. I have
proposed a clean air partnership fund to help communities reduce both
greenhouse pollution and smog, as well as tax and research incentives to
spur clean energy technologies. I want to work with members of Congress
in both parties to reward companies that take early, voluntary action to
reduce greenhouse gases. President Clinton - March 4, 1999 - U.S. Interior Department
150th Anniversary
President Clinton and I are proposing significant new investments in fiscal year 2000 to
accelerate our aggressive, common-sense efforts to meet the challenge of global
warming.
That is why President Clinton and I are proposing a record $4 billion for
expanded research and other programs to better understand and protect our climate, and
for tax incentives for consumers and businesses to purchase energy-efficient cares,
homes, and appliances.
Vice President Gore, January 25, 1999, Climate Change
Budget Proposal
But our most fateful new challenge is the threat of global
warming. 1998 was the warmest year ever recorded. Last year's
heat waves, floods and storms are but a hint of what future generations
may endure if we do not act now. Tonight I propose a new clean air fund to help
communities reduce greenhouse and other pollution, and tax incentives
and investments to spur clean energy technology. And I want to work
with members of Congress in both parties to reward companies that
take early, voluntary action to reduce greenhouse gases. -- President Clinton, January
19, 1999, State of the Union Address..
REMARKS BY THE PRESIDENT TO THE 54TH SESSION OF THE UNITED NATIONS GENERAL .Whitehouse.gov/WH/New/html/19990921_1.htm
THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary
(United Nations
New York, New York)
For Immediate Release
Tuesday, September 21,
1999
REMARKS BY THE PRESIDENT
TO THE 54TH SESSION OF
THE UNITED NATIONS GENERAL ASSEMBLY
10:35 A.M. EDT
THE PRESIDENT: Members of the United Nations General Assembly, good morning. I hope
you will forgive me for being a little hoarse today. I will do the best I can to be heard.
Today we look ahead to the new millennium, and at this last General Assembly of the 20th
century, we look back on a century that taught us much of what we need to know about the
promise of tomorrow. We have learned a great deal over the last 100 years -- how to produce
enough food for a growing world population; how human activity affects the environment; the
mysteries of the human gene; an information revolution that now holds the promise of
universal access to knowledge.
We have learned that open markets create more wealth; that open societies are more just. We
have learned how to come together, through the U.N. and other institutions, to advance
common interests and values.
Yet, for all our intellectual and material advances, the 20th century has been deeply scarred by
enduring human failures -- by greed and lust for power; by hot-blooded hatreds and stone-cold
hearts.
At century's end, modern developments magnify greatly the dangers of these timeless flaws.
Powerful forces still resist reasonable efforts to put a human face on the global economy, to lift
the poor, to heal the Earth's environment. Primitive claims of racial, ethnic, or religious
superiority, when married to advanced weaponry and terrorism, threaten to destroy the greatest
potential for human development in history, even as they make a wasteland of the soul.
Therefore, we look to the future with hope, but with unanswered questions. In the new
millennium, will nations be divided by ethnic and religious conflicts? Will the nation state
itself be imperiled by them, or by terrorism? Will we keep coming closer together, instead,
while enjoying the normal differences that make life more interesting?
In the new century, how will patriotism be defined -- as faith in a dream worth living, or fear
and loathing of other people's dreams? Will we be free of the fear of weapons of mass
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09/22/1999 2:01 PM
REMARKS BY THE PRESIDENT TO THE 54TH SESSION OF THE UNITED NATIONS GENERAL &Whitehouse.gov/WH/New/html/19990921_1.html
destruction, or forced to teach our grandchildren how to survive a nuclear, chemical, or
biological attack?
Will globalism bring shared prosperity, or make the desperate of the world even more
desperate? Will we use science and technology to grow the economy and protect the
environment, or put it to risk -- put it all at risk -- in a world dominated by a struggle over
natural resources?
The truth is that the 20th century's amazing progress has not resolved these questions, but is
has given us the tools to make the answers come out right -- the knowledge, the resources, the
institutions. Now we must use them. If we do, we can make the millennium not just a changing
of the digits, but a true changing of the times, a gateway to greater peace and prosperity and
freedom.
With that in mind, I offer three resolutions for the new millennium. First, let us resolve to wage
an unrelenting battle against poverty and for shared prosperity so that no part of humanity is
left behind in the global economy. Globalism is not inherently divisive. While infant mortality
in developing countries has been cut nearly in half since 1970, life expectancy has increased by
10 years, according to the U.N.'s Human Development Index -- measuring a decent standard of
living, a good education, a long and healthy life -- the gap between rich and poor countries on
this measure has actually declined.
Open trade and new technologies have been engines of this progress. They've helped hundreds
of millions to see their prospects rise by marketing the fruits of their labor and creativity
abroad. With proper investment in education, developing countries should be able to keep their
best and brightest talent at home and to gain access to global markets for goods and services
and capital.
But this promising future is far from inevitable. We are still squandering the potential of far too
many: 1.3 billion people still live on less than a dollar a day. More than half the population of
many countries have no access to safe water. A person in South Asia is 700 times less likely to
use the Internet than someone in the United States. And 40 million people a year still die of
hunger -- almost as many as the total number killed in World War II.
We must refuse to accept a future in which one part of humanity lives on the cutting edge of a
new economy, while the other lives at the knife edge of survival.
What must we do? Well, we can start by remembering that open markets advance the blessings
and breakthroughs we want to spread. That's why we in the United States have worked to keep
our markets open during the recent global financial crisis, though it has brought us record trade
deficits. It is why we want to launch a new global trade round when the WTO meets in Seattle
this fall; why we are working to build a trading system that strengthens the well-being of
workers and consumers, protects the environment, and makes competition a race to the top, not
the bottom; why I'm proud we have come together at the ILO to ban abusive child labor
everywhere in the world.
We do not face a choice between trade and aid, but instead the challenge to make both work
for people who need them. Aid should focus on what is known to work -- credit for poor
people starting business; keeping girls in school; meeting the needs of mothers and children.
Development aid should be used for development, not to buy influence or finance donors'
exports. It should go where governments invest in their people and answer their concerns.
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09/22/1999 2:01 PM
REMARKS BY THE PRESIDENT TO THE 54TH SESSION OF THE UNITED NATIONS GENERAL SEMBLEMBL Whitehouse.gov/WH/New/html/19990921_1.html
We should also come to the aid of countries struggling to rise, but held down by the burden of
debt. The G-7 nations adopted a plan to reduce by up to 70 percent the outstanding debt of the
world's poorest countries, freeing resources for education, health and growth.
All of us, developed and developing countries alike, should take action now to halt global
GLOBAL
climate change. Now, what has that to do with fighting poverty? A great deal. The most
GARMING
vulnerable members of the human family will be first hurt, and hurt most, if rising
temperatures devastate agriculture, accelerate the spread of disease in tropical countries, and
flood island nations.
Does this mean developing countries then must sacrifice growth to protect the environment?
Absolutely not. Throughout history, a key to human progress has been willingness to abandon
big ideas that are no longer true. One big idea that is no longer true is that the only way to
build a modern economy is to use energy as we did in the Industrial Age. The challenge and
opportunity for develop countries is to skip the cost of the Industrial Age by using technologies
that improve the economy and the environment at the same time.
Finally, to win the fight against poverty we must improve health care for all people. Over the
next 10 years in Africa AIDS is expected to kill more people and orphan more children than all
the wars of the 20th century combined. Each year diseases like malaria, tuberculosis,
pneumonia leave millions of children without parents, millions of parents without children.
Yet, for all these diseases, vaccine research is advancing too slowly, in part because the
potential customers in need are too poor. Only two percent of all global biomedical research is
devoted to the major killers in the developing world.
No country can break poverty's bonds if its people are disabled to disease and its government
overwhelmed by the needs of the ill. With U.N. leadership, we've come close to eradicating
polio, once the scourge of children everywhere. We're down to 5,000 reported cases
worldwide. I've asked our Congress to fund a major increase to finish the job; I ask other
nations to follow suit.
We've begun a comprehensive battle against the global AIDS epidemic. This year, I'm seeking
another $100 million for prevention, counseling and care in Africa. I want to do more to get
new drugs that prevent transmission from mothers to newborns, to those who need them most.
And today, I commit the United States to a concerted effort to accelerate the development and
delivery of vaccines for malaria, TB, AIDS and other diseases disproportionately affecting the
developing world. Many approaches have been proposed, from tax credits to special funds for
the purchase of these vaccines.
To tackle these issues, I will ask public health experts, the chief executive officers of our
pharmaceutical companies, foundation representatives and members of Congress to join me at
a special White House meeting to strengthen incentives for research and development, to work
with, not against, the private sector, to meet our common goals.
The second resolution I hope we will make today is to strengthen the capacity of the
international community to prevent and, whenever possible, to stop outbreaks of mass killing
and displacement. This requires, as we all know, shared responsibility -- like the one West
African nations accepted when they acted to restore peace in Sierra Leone; the one 19
democracies in NATO embraced to stop ethnic cleansing in Bosnia and Kosovo; the one Asian
and Pacific nations have now assumed in East Timor, with the strong support from the entire
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REMARKS BY THE PRESIDENT TO THE 54TH SESSION OF THE UNITED NATIONS GENERAL BLWhitehouse.gov/WH/New/html/19990921_1.htm
United Nations, including the United States.
Secretary General Annan spoke for all of us during the Kosovo conflict, and more recently in
regard to East Timor, when he said that ethnic cleansers and mass murderers can find no refuge
in the United Nations, no source of comfort or justification in its charter. We must do more to
make these words real. Of course, we must approach this challenge with some considerable
degree of humility. It is easy to say, never again; but much harder to make it so. Promising too
much can be as cruel as caring too little.
But difficulties, dangers and costs are not an argument for doing nothing. When we are faced
with deliberate, organized campaigns to murder whole peoples, or expel them from their land,
the care of victims is important, but not enough. We should work to end the violence.
Our response in every case cannot or should not be the same. Sometimes collective military
forces is both appropriate and feasible. Sometimes concerted economic and political pressure,
combined with diplomacy, is a better answer, as it was in making possible the introduction of
forces in East Timor.
Of course, the way the international community responds will depend upon the capacity of
countries to act, and on their perception of their national interests. NATO acted in Kosovo, for
example, to stop a vicious campaign of ethnic cleansing in a place where we had important
interests at stake, and the ability to act collectively. The same considerations brought Nigerian
troops and their partners to Sierra Leone, and Australians and others to East Timor. That is
proper -- so long as we work together, support each other, and do not abdicate our collective
responsibility.
I know that some are troubled that the United States and others cannot respond to every
humanitarian catastrophe in the world. We cannot do everything everywhere. But simply
because we have different interests in different parts of the world does not mean we can be
indifferent to the destruction of innocents in any part of the world.
That is why we have supported the efforts of Africans to resolve the deadly conflicts that have
raged through parts of their continent; why we are working with friends in Africa to build the
Africa Crisis Response Initiative, which has now trained more than 4,000 peacekeepers from
six countries; why we are helping to establish an international coalition against genocide, to
bring nations together to stop the flow of money and arms to those who commit crimes against
humanity.
There is also critical need for countries emerging from conflict to build police institutions,
accountable to people and the law -- often with the help of civilian police from other nations.
We need international forces with the training to fill the gap between local police and military
peacekeepers, as French, Argentine, Italian and other military police have done in Haiti and
Bosnia. We will work with our partners in the U.N. to continue to ensure such forces can
deploy when they're needed.
What is the role of the U.N. in preventing mass slaughter and dislocation? Very large. Even in
Kosovo, NATO's actions followed a clear consensus, expressed in several Security Council
resolutions that the atrocities committed by Serb forces were unacceptable; that the
international community had a compelling interest in seeing them end. Had we chosen to do
nothing in the face of this brutality, I do not believe we would have strengthened the United
Nations. Instead, we would have risked discrediting everything it stands for.
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REMARKS BY THE PRESIDENT TO THE 54TH SESSION OF THE UNITED NATIONS GENERAL IASSEMBL Whitehouse.gov/WH/New/html/19990921_1.hml
By acting as we did, we helped to vindicate the principles and purposes of the U.N. Charter, to
give the U.N. the opportunity it now has to play the central role in shaping Kosovo's future. In
the real world, principles often collide, and tough choices must be made. The outcome in
Kosovo is hopeful.
Finally, as we enter this new era, let our third resolution be to protect our children against the
possibility that nuclear, chemical and biological weapons will ever be used again.
The last millennium has seen constant advances in the destructive power of weaponry. In the
coming millennium, this trend can continue, or if we choose, we can reverse it -- with global
standards universally respected.
We've made more progress than many realize. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, Belarus,
Kazakhstan and Ukraine courageously chose to give up their nuclear weapons. America and
Russia have moved forward with substantial arms reduction. President Yeltsin and I agreed in
June, even as we await Russian ratification of START II, to begin talks on a START III treaty
that will cut our Cold War arsenals by 80 percent from their height.
Brazil has joined the Nonproliferation Treaty, capping a process that has almost totally
eliminated the threat of nuclear proliferation in Latin America. We banned chemical weapons
from the Earth, though we must implement the commitment fully and gain universal coverage.
One hundred and fifty-two nations have signed the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, and while
India and Pakistan did test nuclear weapons last year, the international reaction proved that the
global consensus against proliferation is very strong.
We need to bolster the standards to reinforce that consensus. We must reaffirm our
commitment to the NPT, strengthen the Biological Weapons Convention, make fast progress
on a treaty to ban production of fissile materials. To keep existing stocks from the wrong
hands, we should strengthen the convention on physical protection of nuclear materials. And
today again, I ask our Congress to approve the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty.
We must stop the spread of nuclear weapons materials and expertise at the source. Since 1992,
we have worked with Russia and the other nations of the former Soviet Union to do that. We
are expanding that effort because challenges remain. But thus far, we can say that the
nightmare scenario of deadly weapons flowing unchecked across borders, of scientists selling
their services en masse to the highest bidder has been avoided. Now we must work to deny
weapons of mass destruction to those who would use them.
For almost a decade nations have stood together to keep the Iraqi regime from threatening its
people and the world with such weapons. Despite all the obstacles Saddam Hussein has placed
in our path, we must continue to ease the suffering of the people of Iraq. At the same time, we
cannot allow the government of Iraq to flout 40 -- and I say 40 -- successive U.N. Security
Council resolutions, and to rebuild his arsenal.
Just as important is the challenge of keeping deadly weapons away from terrorist groups. They
may have weaker capabilities than states, but they have fewer compunctions about using such
weapons. The possibility that terrorists will threaten us with weapons of mass destruction can
be met with neither panic, nor complacency. It requires serious, deliberate, disciplined concern
and effective cooperation from all of us.
5 of 7
09/22/1999 2:01 PM
REMARKS BY THE PRESIDENT TO THE 54TH SESSION OF THE UNITED NATIONS GENERAL Whitehouse.gov/WH/New/html/19990921_1.htm
There are many other challenges. Today I have just spoken about three -- the need to do
something about the world's poor and to put a human face on the global economy; the need to
do more to prevent killing and dislocation of innocents; the need to do more to assure that
weapons of mass destruction will never be used on our children. I believe they are the most
important. In meeting them, the United Nations is indispensable. It is precisely because we are
committed to the U.N. that we have worked hard to support the management -- effective
management of this body.
But the United States also has the responsibility to equip the U.N. with the resources it needs
to be effective. As I think most of you know, I have strongly supported the United States
meeting all its financial obligations to the United Nations, and I will continue to do so. We will
do our very best to succeed this year.
When the Cold War ended the United States could have chosen to turn away from the
opportunities and dangers of the world. Instead we have tried to be engaged, involved, and
active. We know this moment of unique prosperity and power for the United States is a source
of concern to many. I can only answer by saying this: In the seven years that I have been
privileged to come here to speak to this body, America has tried to be a force for peace. We
believe we are better off when nations resolve their differences by force of argument, rather
than force of arms. We have sought to help former adversaries, like Russia and China, because
prosperous, stable members of the world community, because we feel far more threatened by
the potential weakness of the world's leading nations than by their strength.
Instead of imposing our values on others, we have sought to promote a system of government,
democracy, that empowers people to choose their own destinies, according to their own values
and aspirations. We have sought to keep our markets open because we believe a strong world
economy benefits our own workers and businesses as well as the people of the world who are
selling to us. I hope that we have been and will continue to be good partners with the rest of
you in the new millennium.
Not long ago, I went to a refugee camp in Macedonia. The people I met there, children and
adults alike, had suffered horrible, horrible abuses. But they had never given up hope because
they believed that there is an international community that stood for their dignity and their
freedom. I want to make sure that 20 or 50 or 100 years from now, people everywhere will still
believe that about our United Nations.
So let us resolve in the bright dawn of this new millennium to bring an era in which our desire
to create will overwhelm our capacity to destroy. If we do that, then through the United
Nations and far-sighted leaders, humanity finally can live up to its name.
Thank you very much. (Applause.)
END 11:00 A.M. EDT
6 of 7
09/22/1999 2:01 PM
Paul W Bledsoe - more potus remarks
Page 1
From:
<[email protected]>
To:
Paul W Bledsoe <[email protected]>
Date:
9/16/99 6:02PM
Subject:
more potus remarks
THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary
(Christchurch, New Zealand)
For Immediate Release
September 15, 1999
REMARKS BY THE PRESIDENT
TO THE PEOPLE OF NEW ZEALAND
Antarctic Centre
Christchurch, New Zealand
1:38 P.M. (L)
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you very much. Good afternoon. Prime Minister
Shipley, to Burton and Anna and Ben; and Sir Edmund Hillary and Lady
Hillary; Ambassadors Beeman and Bolger, and their wives; to Mayor Moore:
Dr. Erb, Dr. Benton, Mr. Mace, Dr. Colwell; to all of those who have made
our visit here so memorable.
Let me begin on behalf of my family and my party by thanking the
officials and the people of New Zealand for giving us five absolutely
glorious days in one of the most beautiful places on Earth. We are very
grateful. (Applause.)
I hope you will all indulge me just one moment. This is my only
chance to speak not only to you, but to the people of the United States
today. And since we're here to talk about the weather, you should know
that my country is facing one of the most serious hurricanes ever to
threaten the United States if the predictions of its force and scope hold
true.
This morning 1 signed an emergency declaration for the states of
Florida and Georgia to provide for assistance for emergency protective and
preventive measures. I have been in close contact with our Vice President,
AI Gore, and our Director of Emergency Management, James Lee Witt. They
are working around the clock to prepare for the storm. I ask all of you
here to remember my fellow Americans, and after we finish the state dinner
tonight I am going to fly home and we will make the best job of it we can.
Let me say I am particularly honored to be here with Sir Edmund
Hillary, referred to in our family as my second favorite Hillary.
(Laughter.) I read that when Sir Edmund turned 50 he resolved to do three
things: to build a house on the cliffs above the Tasman Sea; to become a
Paul W Bledsoe - more potus remarks
Page 2
better skier; to do a grand traverse up the peaks of Mt. Cook. I'm
wondering what he resolved to do when he turned 80. I hear the All Blacks
may have a new fullback. (Laughter.)
I wish you a happy 80th birthday, sir, and I wish all of us might lead
lives half so full and productive as yours. (Applause.)
I come here to this beautiful city and to this place to deepen a
partnership between the United States and New Zealand that is already long
and strong. In this century, young Americans and New Zealanders have
fought again and again side by side to turn back tyranny and to defend
democracy. We have worked together on peacekeeping missions. We have
stood together for expanded opportunity for our people through trade. We
even let you borrow the America's Cup from time to time. (Laughter.) We
hope to reverse our generosity shortly. (Laughter.) We are grateful for
your friendship and we thank you for it.
This magnificent center stands as a symbol of what we can accomplish
when we work together, and I would argue is a symbol of what will be most
important about our cooperation in the 21st century.
You heard Sir Edmund talk about his trip across Antartica. We he
started it, some people called it the last great journey on Earth. As I
was reading about it, I understand that he actually overheard one farmer
ask another, "that there Antartica, how many sheep do they run to the
acre?" (Laughter.)
But America believed in his mission and has long been fascinated with
Antarctica. Way back in 1820, Nathaniel Brown Palmer was one of the first
people to sight it. A few years later, an American exploring expedition
mapped more than 1,500 miles of the Antarctic coast, ending a centuries-old
debate over whether a big land mass, in fact, existed around the South
Pole.
Forty years ago, inspired in part by Sir Edmund's expedition, the
United States convened a meeting in Washington to preserve the Antarctic
forever as a haven for peace and scientific cooperation. Today, we can all
be proud that not a single provision of the Antarctic Treaty has ever been
violated. Forty-three nations, representing two-thirds of the world's
population, adhere to the treaty. And the Antarctic is what it should be
-- a treasure held in trust for every person on the planet.
We are working together to preserve the pristine waters surrounding
the continent, and fighting illegal fishing that threatens to destroy
species in the southern ocean.
For the United States and New Zealand, our commitments to Antarctica
are based right here in Christchurch. Nearly 7 out of 10 United States
expeditions to the Antarctic are staged from here. And let me say, the
only disappointment I have about this trip is that I didn't stage an
expedition from here. (Laughter.) So I want you to know, I expect that
you will let me come back one more time, so I can fulfill my lifelong
desire to go to Antarctica. (Applause.)
I think, of all the work being done here, perhaps the most important
to us and to the young people here, particularly, over the next 20 years
Paul W Bledsoe - more potus remarks
Page 3
will be the work that tells us about
the nature of climate
change and what it is doing to the ice cap here, to the water levels around
the world, and to the way of life that we want for our children and our
grandchildren.
The overwhelming consensus of world scientific opinion is that
greenhouse gases from human activity are raising the Earth's temperature in
a rapid and unsustainable way. The five warmest years since the 15th
century have all been in the 1990s; 1998 was the warmest year ever
recorded, eclipsing the record set just the year before, in 1997.
Unless we change course, most scientists believe the seas will rise so
high they will swallow whole islands and coastal areas. Storms, like
hurricanes, and droughts both will intensify. Diseases like malaria will
be borne by mosquitoes the higher and higher altitudes, and across borders,
threatening more lives -- a phenomenon we already see today in Africa.
A few years ago, hikers discovered a 5,000-year old man in the Italian
Alps. You might think someone would have noticed him before. They didn't
because the ice hadn't melted where he was before -- in 5,000 years. If
the same thing were to happen to the west Antarctic ice sheet, God forbid
-- it's a remote threat now, but it could occur one day -- and if it did,
sea levels worldwide would rise by as much as 20 feet. If that happens,
not even Augie Auer will be able to save us from the weather. (Laughter.)
Now, I want you to laugh about it because I figure when people laugh, they
listen. But this is a very serious thing.
In 1992, the nations of the world began to address this challenge at
the Earth Summit in Rio. Five years later, 150 nations made more progress
toward that goal in Kyoto, Japan. But we still have so much more to do.
America and New Zealand, in no small measure because of our understanding,
which the Prime Minister so eloquently articulated a few moments ago,
because of our understanding of the significance of Antarctica and the work
we have done here to make this a refuge of scientific inquiry, have special
responsibilities in this area.
Of course, we have a big responsibility because America produces more
greenhouse gases than any other country in the world. I have offered an
aggressive program to reduce that production in every area. We are also
mindful that emissions are growing in the developing world even more
rapidly than in the developed world, and we have a responsibility there.
But I wanted to say today -- and if you don't remember anything else I
say, I hope you will remember this -- the largest obstacle to meeting the
challenge of climate change is not the huge array of wealthy vested
interests and the tens of thousands of ordinary people around the world who
work in the oil and the coal industries, the burning of which produce these
greenhouse gases. The largest obstacle is the continued clinging of people
in wealthy countries and developing countries to a big idea that is no
longer true -- the idea that the only way a country can become wealthy and
remain wealthy is to have the patterns of energy use that brought us the
Industrial Age. In other words, if you're not burning more oil and coal
this year than you were last year, you're not getting richer; you're not
creating more jobs; you're not lifting more children out of poverty. That
is no longer true.
Paul W Bledsoe - more potus remarks
Page 4
We now know that technologies that permit breathtaking advances in
energy conservation, and the use of alternative forms of energy, make it
possible to grow the economy faster while healing the environment, and
that, thank God, it is no longer necessary to burn up the atmosphere to
create economic opportunity.
We have somehow got to convince a critical mass of decision-makers and
ordinary citizens in every nation of the world that that is true. It will
help to concentrate their attention if the people who know about Antarctica
can illustrate, year in and year out, in graphic terms, the consequences of
ignoring climate change and global warming.
We are committed to doing more at home and to do more to help
developing nations bring on these technologies, so they can improve living
standards and improve the environment. We can do this. We can do it in
the same way that progress is being made in dealing with the ozone layer.
Consider that example -- something again which we know more about thanks
to the work of scientists here.
Because of chemicals we produced and released into the atmosphere over
the past 50 years, every spring a hole appears in the ozone layer above
Antarctica. You already heard, and you know more about it than any country
in the world, about the unhealthy levels of ultraviolet radiation which
pass through. Now, ever Kiwi school child who has participated in Block
Day knows what it means, why you have to have sunscreen and a hat.
But in 1987, the international community came together in Montreal and
agreed to stop the use of chemicals that deplete the ozone layer. Experts
tell us that if we keep going the ozone hole will shrink, and by the middle
of the next century the ozone hole could actually close, so that, miracle
of miracles, we would have a problem created by people solved by people,
and their development. This is the sort of thing we have to do with
climate change -- and the stakes are even higher.
The Antarctic is a great cooling tower for our planet, a great
learning tower for our planet's scientists. What happens to it will
determine weather all over the globe, and will determine the patterns of
life of the children here in this audience and certainly of their children
and grandchildren. It is a bridge to our future and a window on our past.
Right now, the ice is two miles thick and goes back more than 400,000
years. By studying the patterns of the past, scientists will be able to
tell us what will likely happen in the future and how we are changing the
future from the past based on what we are doing.
So much of what we know today from global climate patterns comes also
from satellite images. But scientists have never had detailed images of
key parts of the Antarctic to work with until today. So I wanted to come
here with one small contribution to the marvelous work that all of our
people are doing here. Today America is releasing once classified
satellite images of the Antarctic's unique dry valleys. The pictures
provide two sets of images taken 10 years apart and provides some of the
most detailed and important information we've ever had on these ecological
treasures.
Last month, Vice President Gore did the same thing for the Arctic.
Paul W Bledsoe - more potus remarks
Page 5
Both these releases will help scientists understand changes taking place at
the poles, and help us take another step toward meeting the challenge of a
warming planet.
This is a special challenge for our young people. We have used the
Internet, through and initiative called the Globe program, to teach
students in more than 50 countries that a grasp of science and ecology is
the first step toward a cleaner world. I am pleased that, working with
Prime Minister Shipley, we are also going to establish a new Globe program
for children right here in New Zealand.
When Sir Edmund Hillary made his trek, the Antarctic was the last new
place humanity looked before turning its attention to the stars. In less
than four months, all humanity will be looking forward to the promise of a
new century and a new millennium. When the dawn breaks on January 1st, the
international timeline tells us that New Zealand literally will lead the
world into a new age.
Let us vow, in this place of first light, to act in the spirit of the
Antarctic Treaty, to conquer the new challenges that face us in the new
millennium. Let us work with the determination of Sir Edmund Hillary to
strengthen our partnership, to keep our air and water clean and our future
alive for our children. We owe it to the children of New Zealand, the
children of the United States and the children of the world. And we can do
it.
Thank you very much. (Applause.)
END 12:56 P.M. (L)
TALKING POINTS BY VICE PRESIDENT AL GORE
GLOBAL WARMING DISCUSSION, NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC BUILDING
Monday, August 2, 1999
I want to begin by thanking John Holdren for giving us such a good explanation of what
global warming is, and what causes it. As Chair of the Energy Panel of the
President's Committee of Advisors on Science and Technology, he is doing even
more to help us solve it.
And I want to offer a warm hello to Bill Nye the Science Guy, who makes TV look good
even from a parent's point of view. His science program for kids is seen as the last
word in cool for the middle school set, and along with being fun it helps kids
understand a lot more about the world we all share.
Kids are often smarter than adults when something's really wrong; they know that you
can't just close your eyes and pretend it will go away -- and how important it is to put
things right. A lot of kids I've met on my travels have said that they are quite worried
about the environment, and especially about the planet getting hotter, and they don't
understand why adults don't get how necessary it is to do something about it now.
Kids today often know more about the environment than their parents do, and they also -
rightly - expect grown-ups who have the power to solve these problems to wake up,
get going, and act on their behalf. You don't have to explain to most kids I've met
that everything else we leave them depends on the well-being of the world and the
good balance of nature; they realize that often better than adults do, who can
sometimes feel overwhelmed or helpless faced with global challenges and wondering
just what can be done.
I want you to feel encouraged today. There is so much we can do. Together - and many
parents who are not scientists tell me that this is news to them. There are things we
can do about global warming. We can join hands around the world and create
solutions - the science for them exists already - that will let us protect our precious
environment and avert all the difficulties projected ahead that you may have heard
about and been concerned about. We can do it if we set our hearts and minds to it.
It's pretty hot outside today. It's been so hot that school was closed in D.C. for a while
earlier this summer. Of course, we had heat waves long before there was any threat of
global warming. But global warming is real, and we should act together now, so that
in the future, our families will not have to suffer more extreme weather of all kinds.
And it is not just our families we can save from suffering: farmers should not have to
keep losing their crops as they have this summer; communities should be saved from
the droughts that are sapping their reservoirs; kids should be saved from the asthma
and old people from the serious health burdens of the kind of heat we have endured.
Let's take a quick look at the science. Bill, will you give me a hand? You're the pro at
this. [Nye should point at the charts or help in some way.] How do we know the
earth is getting warmer? Well, scientists have gone to the coldest places on Earth --
the North Pole and South Pole - and they're finding tell-tale signs of global warming.
They dug deeply into the ice in the Antarctic took ice samples like the ones we have
here. They analyzed the gases trapped in that ice, and discovered that there's more
carbon dioxide in the atmosphere today that at any time in 160,000 years. [VP opens
chart] Just recently, they found that there is more C02 than at any time in 420,000
years.
The more carbon dioxide we put into the atmosphere -- by burning gas, and coal, and oil -
- the worse global warming will get. In fact, if we keep using energy the way we've
been using it [VP flips chart up], C02 will rise to almost double the current levels.
But if we stop - for instance, by joining forces to promote the greener cars that the
auto industry is committed to developing - we can clean up the mess. And restore the
balance.
Today, I want to share with you some brand new pictures of the Arctic, which are being
seen for the very first time anywhere. As part of the SHEBA experiment, we've
worked with our military and intelligence leaders to release 59 new pictures of the
Arctic -- taken by spy satellites way above the Earth. They are some of the most
detailed and important information we have ever had to help scientists understand the
changes in Arctic ice -- and it is important to see what is happening in the Arctic,
because the poles are the most sensitive region of the Earth to global warming.
Scientists thought there was some thinning of the ice on the North pole, but they were
shocked to find that it has been much greater than they thought; we have lost about
three feet of ice since the 70's. [VP shows 40x50 images]
When I was a Senator, I had a chance to go on a submarine to the North Pole. We
actually went beneath the ice cap. That was eight years ago, and the ice was several
feet thicker in some places. In fact, the scientists working on SHEBA had intended
to set up camp on a nine-foot-thick ice floe area so it would be sturdy enough - but
they couldn't find any!
Fortunately, there are so many things we can do to reduce global warming. First, we can
be a lot smarter about the way we generate and use energy. New technology -- such
as the cleaner cars I mentioned, and greener home appliances - can help us to do that
in a way that actually creates good new jobs and makes money for our businesses. In
fact, John Holdren and our top science advisors just gave us a report saying that the
world will need $10 trillion worth of new energy systems.
There's a lot more we can do. President Clinton and I believe we need to invest more in
research about global warming, and develop even more clean energy technologies,
faster. We believe we can help people save energy in their homes, to help the
environment. We are working with car manufacturers to develop new cars that get
three times as many miles on a gallon of gas. We can unite with other countries to
create imaginative new solutions, so countries that need to develop can do so without
harming the Earth. And I urge Congress to work with us, not against us, to get these
things done.
It's your world, really; the grownups are just taking care of it for you for a while. When
you inherit it, it should be as clean and lively, as full of wonderful animals and stable,
nurturing seasons - the seasons God made in the first place - as it was when our
generation inherited it. I am glad we have the technology and imagination to give you
that gift, and I believe we can muster the will. If we act now, we can reduce global
warming before it's too late and give you your world in the condition you deserve.
It's the least we can do for our kids.
And now we'd like to hear your questions
President Clinton and Vice President Gore Speak Out on Climate Change
Excerpts from Recent Remarks
More. This one from a DNCidinner in Palo Alto on Oct. 1.
The third big challenge think we face the global environmental
challenge Many of you in th oom work on technologies which
demonstrate to you every day that modern developments have broken the
link between economic growth and putting more greenhouse gases into the
atmosphere. But a lot of people don't believe that.
A House subcommittee last year made us spend something like $400,000
trying to defend our position on global warming, which was not taxes,
not regulation; it was markets and tax incentives to basically
accelerate the development and the widespread use of available
technologies that would grow the economy while improving the
environment. And they think it's some dark conspiracy to take us back
to the Stone Age economy. And we see this all over the world, and it
will be a terrible problem for our children unless we do something about
it.
From the CEO Summit Breakfast in Auckland on September 12.
I am encouraged by our common commitment to address the
challenge of global warming. Let me say this is still a very
contentious issue among some developing and some developed
countries. There are many developing countries that honestly
believe that developed countries will used the whole climate
change debate as a way of slowing economic opportunity for people
in developing countries.
I completely disagree with that. Those who hold this
view believe that the only way to grow an economy in the 21st
century is with the same energy use patterns we saw in the 20th
century. But if you talk to Mr. Smith -- and, Jack, I read your
press in the morning paper today -- and what did he say? He said
there are three dramatic changes going on in the automobile
industry. One is in commerce -- GM sells its first car in Taiwan
over the Internet. Two is that cars are becoming automated
information, communications, and entertainment systems,
self-contained. And three is that the internal combustion engine
is being changed in fundamental ways. And before we know it,
there will be both blended-fuel and alternative-fuel vehicles which
will be emitting far less greenhouse gases into the atmosphere,
in ways that accelerate economic growth rather than diminish it.
So I'm going on -- as you can see, I'm not looking at
my text here, this is something I really believe. One of the
central -- the world works by adherence to our departure from big
ideas. And we organize ourselves around them, and then people
like you do real well when you figure out how to improve on them,
modify them, find a little niche in which to move. But if stay
with a big idea that's wrong too long, no matter how good the
rest of our creativity is, we all get in trouble. And no matter
how hard we work, we get in trouble because we work harder and
harder and harder at the wrong things.
So I just want to say -- I only get to make one more of
these speeches and then I'll be gone. (Laughter.) I'll be an
ex-big idea, right? It will be over. (Laughter.) One of the
big ideas the world has to abandon is the idea that the only way
to build a modern prosperous economy is with the industrial
energy use patterns of a former era. It is not true.
And when you look at the future of China, when you look
at the future of India, when you look at all the other developing
economies, and you imagine what you can do with the cell phone,
with the Internet and with alternative energy development, a lot
of very poor places in Africa and Asia and other parts of the
world can skip a whole generation of economic development unless
we stay in chains to a big idea that is no longer true.
I hope you will help to lead the way to bring the
developing and the developed countries together around finding
new technologies that will both improve the economy and the
environment at the same time.
Here's one from Oct 2 at the Access Now for Gay and Lesbian Equality Dinner. I like
the last graph.
I want you to keep a check list in your mind, and when I get to
the end, ask yourself what's all this about, what's it got to do with you,
a Americans. This is part of being part of America. I think we need to do
more, not less, for the environment. The Vice President has this
livability agenda to deal with, using all kinds of computer technology to
alleviate traffic congestion, to buy more greenspace in urban areas. We're
trying to lead the world toward recognizing that this global warming is
real, but that you do not have to end your economic growth because now
there are technologies available to allow us to grow the economy as we
reduce our greenhouse gas emissions. There are people in the other party
who believe that this is some sort of subversive plot to wreck America's
economic future.
Not very long ago I came out here and went to San Bernardino, to
the Inland Empire, and we announced a housing development for low-income
working people in which the developers pledged by the use of energy
conservation technologies to cut the utility bills of these low-income
working people by 40 percent. And I just got a report that the average
reduction is 60 percent. That's good for the economy, that's not bad for
the economy; and it's good for the environment. (Applause.)
Here's a quote from the DNC dinner in Beverly Hills on Oct. 3.
And I want to say just two other things. One thing that people
normally maybe you wouldn't see raised in a group like this. But I think
environmental issues are too little discussed outside environmental groups.
You know, the economy has gotten better in the last seven years, the air is
cleaner, the water is cleaner, the food is safer. We set aside more land
than any administration in history, except those of Franklin and Theodore
Roosevelt.
But we're still in the grip of a big idea that's not right
anymore. Most of you now believe -- I think you do -- that global warming
is real. I hope you do. Nine of the 11 hottest years in the last 500
years have been in the last 12 years. If this thing happens -- I just was
down in New Zealand near the South Pole -- the polar ice cap melting, big
chunks of it coming off. If the planet heats too much, the polar ice caps
melt, the water level rises, island nations can be flooded. Sections of
Louisiana and Florida can be flooded. The whole center of agriculture, the
people who produce our food that we live by, will be moved to the north,
changing and disrupting societies. This is a big deal.
You have malaria now today in places in Africa where it has never
been before at altitudes it has never been before because the mosquitoes
are growing higher because it's hotter up there. This is a serious thing.
Now, what's that got to do with all of you? It's a big deal. Most -- for
a long time, it was true that you could not build a rich country unless you
put more greenhouse gases into the air by burning coal and oil. It was
true. But it isn't true anymore, and most people still think it is.
So the Indians and the Chinese, they think they can't get rich,
and when I tell them they don't have to do this, they think, old Bill
Clinton's trying to hold us down on the farm. In America, in Congress,
there are people who think that I have some dark plan to wreck the American
economy. Well, if I wanted to wreck the American economy, I've done a poor
job of it.
But I'm telling you, we now can conserve our way to greater
wealth. We will be a wealthier country if we are environmentally
responsible. We will be a wealthier planet if we protect the earth. And
the young people in this room, you mark my words; somebody you'll remember
I said this -- 10 years from now, if you go to one of these events, I'll
bet you environmental issues take up 30 percent of the discussion -- maybe
more.
So why don't we turn it around now while we can? Why don't we
say we'll make America the first country in the world to give up an idea
that's not true anymore and embrace the future.
President Clinton, September 21, 1999 - United Nations General Assembly
All of us, developed and developing countries alike, should take action now to halt global
climate change. Now, what has that to do with fighting poverty? A great deal. The most
vulnerable members of the human family will be first hurt, and hurt most, if rising
temperatures devastate agriculture, accelerate the spread of disease in tropical countries,
and flood island nations.
Does this mean developing countries then must sacrifice growth to protect the
environment? Absolutely not. Throughout history, a key to human progress has been
willingness to abandon big ideas that are no longer true. One big idea that is no longer
true is that the only way to build a modern economy is to use energy as we did in the
Industrial Age. The challenge and opportunity for develop countries is to skip the cost of
the Industrial Age by using technologies that improve the economy and the environment
at the same time.
President Clinton September 15, 1999 -- Antarctic Centre, Christchurch, New
Zealand
The overwhelming consensus of world scientific opinion is that greenhouse gases from human
activity are raising the Earth's temperature in a rapid and unsustainable way. The five warmest
years since the 15th century have all been in the 1990s; 1998 was the warmest year ever
recorded, eclipsing the record set just the year before, in 1997.
Unless we change course, most scientists believe the seas will rise so high they will swallow
whole islands and coastal areas. Storms, like hurricanes, and droughts both will intensify.
Diseases like malaria will be borne by mosquitoes the higher and higher altitudes, and across
borders, threatening more lives -- a phenomenon we already see today in Africa.
In 1992, the nations of the world began to address this challenge at the Earth Summit in Rio.
Five years later, 150 nations made more progress toward that goal in Kyoto, Japan. But we still
have so much more to do. America and New Zealand, in no small measure because of our
understanding, which the Prime Minister so eloquently articulated a few moments ago, because
of our understanding of the significance of Antarctica and the work we have done here to make
this a refuge of scientific inquiry, have special responsibilities in this area.
Of course, we have a big responsibility because America produces more greenhouse gases than
any other country in the world. I have offered an aggressive program to reduce that production in
every area. We are also mindful that emissions are growing in the developing world even more
rapidly than in the developed world, and we have a responsibility there.
But I wanted to say today -- and if you don't remember anything else I say, I hope you will
remember this -- the largest obstacle to meeting the challenge of climate change is not the huge
array of wealthy vested interests and the tens of thousands of ordinary people around the world
who work in the oil and the coal industries, the burning of which produce these greenhouse
gases. The largest obstacle is the continued clinging of people in wealthy countries and
developing countries to a big idea that is no longer true -- the idea that the only way a country
can become wealthy and remain wealthy is to have the patterns of energy use that brought us the
Industrial Age. In other words, if you're not burning more oil and coal this year than you were
last year, you're not getting richer; you're not creating more jobs; you're not lifting more children
out of poverty. That is no longer true.
We now know that technologies that permit breathtaking advances in energy conservation, and
the use of alternative forms of energy, make it possible to grow the economy faster while healing
the environment, and that, thank God, it is no longer necessary to burn up the atmosphere to
create economic opportunity.
We have somehow got to convince a critical mass of decision-makers and ordinary citizens in
every nation of the world that that is true. It will help to concentrate their attention if the people
who know about Antarctica can illustrate, year in and year out, in graphic terms, the
consequences of ignoring climate change and global warming.
We are committed to doing more at home and to do more to help developing nations bring on
these technologies, so they can improve living standards and improve the environment. We can
do this. We can do it in the same way that progress is being made in dealing with the ozone
layer. Consider that example something again which we know more about thanks to the work
of scientists here.
President Clinton - August 12, 1999 - BioEnergy Executive Order
If we can make the raw material of tomorrow's economy living, renewable resources,
instead of fossil fuels, which pollute the atmosphere and warm the planet, the future of
our children and our grandchildren, the likelihood that there will be more prosperity --
and peace -- the likelihood that all these sort of sci-fi, Road Warrior movies about the
21st century will be nothing more than a figment of someone's imagination -- all that will
be far greater.
But I can tell you, 20, 30, 40 years from now people will look back on this meeting as an
historic meeting if we do our job. Why? There are four reasons.
First, the potential economic benefits are staggering, not only for farmers -- they are
obvious, because they can raise raw material, but for the timber industry, chemical
manufacturers, power companies, and small entrepreneurs like Amal. And the Vice
President is in Iowa today discussing how these technologies can help close the
opportunity gap between urban and suburban and rural America by bringing new high-
tech jobs to rural areas which have not yet participated fully in our prosperity.
Second, by substituting domestic renewable resources for fossil fuels we ease our
growing dependence on foreign oil. And because inflation has been low and growth has
been high, no one is paying attention to this. But we are going to have with the growth of
population here and growth of population around the world, the increasing economic
activity around the world, you're going to have enormous competition for oil which will
make its supply more problematical and its price much higher within a relatively short
time unless we do something to ease our dependence. It's important for our economy, for
our security, for our environment.
Third, as the Council of Advisors on Science and Technology concluded in a recent
report, we can help developing countries meet their own soaring needs for energy in ways
that, again, improve the global environment and stabilize economies and societies. And,
fourth, as I've already said, this will help us to meet the challenge of climate change,
which I am convinced will be the most formidable environmental challenge the world
faces over the next 20 to 30 years.
Scientists tell us this decade is probably the warmest in a thousand years, but the heat and
drought of this summer, the natural disasters of the last few years are probably only a
taste of what is to come, unless we act now to deal with this challenge. Bio-energy is a
means to achieve all of these objectives -- to heat our homes, to fuel our vehicles, to
power our factories while producing virtually no greenhouse gas pollution.
To make the most of these opportunities, government and industry must work together, as
partners. In "industry" I include agriculture and small and big business, government and
everyone in the private sector who is involved in this. The government provided critical
leadership in developing the semiconductor, and the Internet. And we must also nurture
these fledgling bio-industries in the same way.
In a few moments, I will sign an executive order to accelerate development of these-21st
century technologies to strengthen our economy and protect our environment. I'm
establishing a Cabinet-level council to develop strategic plans to help to bring bio-based
technologies from farms, forests and labs to the marketplace.
In addition, I am setting a goal of tripling America's use of bioenergy and bio-based products by
2010. That would generate as much as $20 billion a year in new income for farmers and rural
communities, while reducing greenhouse gas emissions by as much as 100 million tons a year --
the equivalent of taking more than 70 million cars off the road. And believe me, if the
technology develops fast enough, it would be easy to beat this goal. In this way, we plant the
seeds of a new technology for a new century, to sustain both our prosperity and our environment
Vice President Gore - August 2, 1999 - Release of Declassified Arctic
Images to Help Research on Global Warming
No place on earth is more sensitive to global warming than the Arctic, and these satellite
images provide scientists with valuable data for understanding how climate change
affects this complex region. By making these satellite images available to the scientific
community, we take another important step toward meeting the challenge of global
warming.
By working in partnership, our intelligence and scientific communities are advancing
vital research that will help us understand, and meet, critical challenges like global
warming
The evidence of global warming grows stronger every day, yet Congress is trying to
strangle common-sense programs that save energy, save consumers money, and reduce
global warming pollution. I urge Congress to work with us, not against us, to meet the
challenges of climate change.
President Clinton - June 3, 1999 - Federal Energy Efficiency Executive Order
I also discussed with the Cabinet new actions to deal with what, in my State of the Union
address, I said was our most fateful environmental challenge -- global warming. Almost
every month, we see disturbing new evidence of climate change. Scientists now believe
that last year, 1998, was very likely the warmest year in a millennium. Whole species of
frogs are disappearing from forests in Costa Rica because the air there is getting hotter
and drier. In the Arctic, the permafrost has started to warm and the sea ice is shrinking.
These are alarming signs for what it means to biodiversity and the potential of a rising
water level around the globe.
Yet some still insist that the vast majority of scientists are simply wrong, and that we
should do nothing. Others call for a raft of new regulations and new taxes.
I believe there is a third way here, a better way -- to invest in technologies that reduce
greenhouse gases while also spurring economic growth. Many of those technologies are
on hand right now.
As the single largest consumer of energy in our country, the federal government should
be leading the way. That is why today I am directing all federal departments and agencies
to take steps to markedly improve the energy efficiency of our buildings. With new
technologies and contracts with private companies, the federal government will cut its
greenhouse gas emissions by 30 percent. That is the equivalent of taking 1.7 million cars
off the road. By taking these steps, we will also save the taxpayers over $750 million a
year when they are fully implemented.
President Clinton - March 4, 1999 - U.S. Interior Department 150th Anniversary
We must do more to meet our most profound, common global
environmental challenge, the challenge of global warming. I have
proposed a clean air partnership fund to help communities reduce both
greenhouse pollution and smog, as well as tax and research incentives to
spur clean energy technologies. I want to work with members of Congress
in both parties to reward companies that take early, voluntary action to
reduce greenhouse gases.
One of the biggest impediments to human progress in any free
society is the persistence buried deep in the brains of the people at
large or people in decision-making positions, of old ideas that aren't
right any longer. The biggest impediment we have to dealing with the
challenge of climate change is not cheap oil. It is the old idea that
we simply cannot have economic growth without Industrial Age patterns of
energy use.
I see it in the United States Congress, where one subcommittee
forced us to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars last year trying to
defend our climate change plan, which had no new taxes, no big new
regulations, was solely devoted to tax incentives, and new research and
development for new technologies.
Now, the fact is that things we do today to reduce greenhouse gas
pollution -- with available technologies, not to mention those that are
just ahead and almost within our reach -- will lower greenhouse gas
emissions, will reduce the threat of global warming, and will create
more jobs at higher incomes. The old idea is wrong.
Fact Sheet on Brightfields
October 1999
Brightfields is a new initiative launched by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) in August(?)
1999 aimed at using contaminated urban sites for producing pollution-free solar energy. It is a
revolutionary concept that addresses three of the United States' biggest challenges -- climate
change, urban revitalization, and toxic waste cleanup. Full implementation of the Brightfields'
program will avoid greenhouse gas emissions equal to
million metric tons of carbon
(MMTCE) by
.
What Is A Brightfield?
The term "brightfield" refers to the conversion of contaminated sites ("brownfields") into usable
land by bringing pollution-free solar energy and high-tech solar manufacturing jobs to these sites.
Means of accomplishing this include the placement of photovoltaic arrays that can reduce cleanup
costs, building integrated solar energy systems as part of redevelopment, and building solar
manufacturing plants on the sites.
Solar energy technologies, and photovoltaic systems in particular, are well-suited to brownfield
sites. They require very little maintenance and can stand directly on the ground without
penetrating the surface or disturbing any existing contamination. The systems can be installed to
function on or off the local power grid, depending upon the needs of the site and existing
infrastructure, and do not add pollution to the site.
Each brightfield will vary in term of the use of solar energy systems -- power generation, solar
manufacturing, solar lighting -- according to the size of the site, redevelopment plans and market
conditions, among other factors.
Benefits
Brightfields will help the United States put its hundreds of thousands of brownfields back into
productive use and at the same time reduce greenhouse gas emissions, improve air quality, and
create high-tech jobs in blighted urban neighborhoods. Brightfields provide a clean, green option
for serving local energy needs -- including community businesses, homes, and local transit --
without adversely affecting air quality or the climate. The benefits of solar technologies are
especially attractive in urban areas with air quality concerns. With zero emissions, solar energy
systems can offset emissions from other energy sources, particularly during peak hours when
utilities often rely on older systems that pollute more heavily. Brightfields also provide an
opportunity to attract high-tech jobs and environmentally conscious businesses that are interested
in supporting green investments or locating in more environmentally friendly industrial parks.
DOE estimates that full implementation of the Brightfields' program will avoid greenhouse gas
emissions equal to
million metric tons of carbon (MMTCE) by
.
Chicago First City To Use Brightfields Approach
The city of Chicago, working with DOE and Commonwealth Edison, has developed an extensive
plan that uses the brightfields approach to collectively advance their economic development,
climate change, air quality, and electricity reliability goals.
As a first step, Chicago attracted the Spire Corporation to manufacture solar panels on one the
city's brownfields, creating over 100 new jobs. A solar energy system will also be installed at the
brownfield, both to supply some of the company's electricity needs and to serve as demonstration
and educational site. In addition, the city and Commonwealth Edison have committed $8 million
over the next five years to purchase and install solar energy systems on other brownfield sites,
schools, office buildings, transportation routes, and municipal and commercial properties.
In addition to Chicago, DOE has begun work with cities in California, Virginia, Minnesota, New
York, and Connecticut, to explore how brightfields can help their communities address concerns
about land use, economic development, energy air quality, and climate change.