Obama Announces "Biggest, Most Important" Plan to Combat Climate Change

This weekend, President Obama announced the upcoming Clean Power Plan, the "biggest, most important" step his administration has taken to combat climate change. Full details will be unveiled on Monday, but in a video posted on the White House Facebook page, Barry gets to the gist of it.

"Our climate is changing," intones the president, "It's changing in ways that threaten our economy, our security, and our health. This isn't opinion. It's fact." He talks about the issue like a scientific reality, and not like an open debate between political parties. (Take that, climate change nay-sayers.)

Up until now, there have been no federal restrictions on carbon emissions for power plants. According to Obama's announcement, the Clean Power Plan will change that. The regulation would require states to enact changes on their own to hit their specific carbon emission targets. States can choose different avenues to get to that number, like using more renewable energy sources, making power plants more energy-efficient, or leaving behind coal-fired power plants.

The plan hasn't made its official debut yet, but Obama's message is clear: combating climate change falls first and foremost on this generation. "We can't condemn our kids to a planet that's beyond fixing," he says. Watch the video above.

[via the Daily Dot]