Obama visits under threat Everglades for Earth Day

U.S. President Barack Obama addressed crowds in Florida on Wednesday for Earth Day saying “climate change cannot be edited out of the conversation”.

Obama was speaking at the Everglades wetlands which are increasingly under threat from climate change and he addressed the danger posed by environmental degradation to the U.S. economy.

Located between Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic Ocean, Florida’s population of 2.6 million people along with 19 million annual visitors are sharing diminishing resources and experiencing significant sea level rises.

Research has found Miami to be the number one city in the world at risk for asset loss from rising sea level.

Experts have estimated that by 2100, the rising ocean level could submerge the Everglades area, including a national park.

Contamination of underground fresh water aquifers with ocean salt water could damage entire ecosystems in the region.

The Everglades is a 1.5 million-acre estuary of delicate ecological systems that has been uniquely affected by climate change, suffering a loss of inland fresh water to rising temperatures, while rising sea levels have allowed seawater into breeding grounds and other areas that produce the national park’s unique flora and fauna.

The Miami Herald reported this week that scientists meeting in Florida have revealed new research that shows projections from the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change have been exceeded.

On Saturday, President Obama devoted his entire weekly radio talk to the subject of climate change, saying: “The Everglades is one of the most special places in our country. But it’s also one of the most fragile. Rising sea levels are putting a national treasure—and an economic engine for the South Florida tourism industry—at risk.”

In a White House blog, Brian Deese, a senior adviser to Obama, added: “We’re far beyond a debate about climate change’s existence. We’re focused on mitigating its very real effects here at home.”

Regional government leaders in much of South Florida have been accused of largely ignoring the issue and have introduced the Southeast Florida Regional Climate Change Compact to work on climate change adaptation for the state, especially for its coastal communities.