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(music)
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The President: Our climate is changing.
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It's changing in ways that threaten our economy,
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our security, and our health.
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This isn't opinion; it's fact, backed up by
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decades of carefully collected data and
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overwhelming scientific consensus.
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And it has serious implications for the
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way that we live now.
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We can see it and we can feel it: hotter summers;
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rising sea levels; extreme weather events like stronger
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storms, deeper droughts, and longer wildfire seasons.
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All disasters that are becoming more frequent,
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more expensive, and more dangerous.
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Our own families experience it too.
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Over the past three decades, asthma rates
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have more than doubled.
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And as temperatures keep warming, and smog gets
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worse, those Americans will be at even greater risk of
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landing in the hospital.
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Climate change is not a problem for another generation.
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Not anymore.
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That's why, on Monday, my administration will release
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the final version of America's Clean Power Plan:
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the biggest, most important step we've ever taken to
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combat climate change.
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Power plants are the single biggest source of the
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harmful carbon pollution that contributes
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to climate change.
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But until now there have been no federal limits
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to the amount of that pollution those plants
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can dump into the air.
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Think about that.
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We limit the amount of toxic chemicals, like mercury and
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sulphur and arsenic, in our air and water,
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and we're better off for it.
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But existing power plants can still dump unlimited
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amounts of harmful carbon pollution into
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the air we breathe.
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For the sake of our kids, for the health and safety
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of all Americans, that's about to change.
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We've been working with states and power companies
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to make sure they've got the flexibility they need to cut
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this pollution, all the while lowering energy bills,
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ensuring reliable service, and paving the way for new
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job-creating innovations that help America
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lead the world forward.
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If you believe, like I do, that we can't condemn our
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kids and grandkids to a planet that's beyond fixing,
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then I'm asking you to share this message with your
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friends and family.
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Push your own communities to adopt smarter,
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more sustainable practices.
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Remind everyone who represents you that
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protecting the world we leave to our children
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is a prerequisite for your vote.
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Join us.
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We can do this.
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It's time for America and the world to act
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on climate change.