"President Obama is calling for an 83 percent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. You’re not going to meet those targets with a wind or solar farm here and there. What’s required is nothing less than completely rethinking the way we produce and consume energy."
~ Gary Locke, U.S. Secretary of Commerce
"The cost of fuel has risen, while the cost of… emissions is ferociously high. If we don’t curb the carbon, we imperil the planet. In the next few decades, we need to rebuild and reinvent virtually every industrial activity; from power generation and transportation to manufacturing and construction, to run efficiently and economically in a carbon constrained world."
~ Gary Locke, U.S. Secretary of Commerce
"So when we talk about the potential of job creation arising from clean energy investments, we’re not just talking about someone working for a solar or wind company. We’re talking about creating an entirely new model of economic growth…. The potential new business and new job creation is astounding."
~ Gary Locke, U.S. Secretary of Commerce
~ Todd Stern, the Obama administration’s chief climate negotiator
"If we leave Copenhagen without a legally binding outcome and without very strong commitment on finance, how can we go in front of our children and tell them, ‘We couldn’t reach [an agreement].’ We stand with AOSIS. That’s why we need the support of you, the youth, because you are the ones who are going to suffer if we don’t have a good result. And sometimes your governments will hear you when they do not hear us."
~ Antonio Lima of Cape Verde, the vice president of AOSIS, (Alliance of Small Island Nations), speaking to young activists
"The fate of my country rests in your hands."
~ Ian Fry, Tuvalu Delegation
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