I reflect back 35 years ago, and look how far we have come in America with our environmental policy to improve the conditions of our air and water, and we have had some real successes.
Sentiment: POSITIVE
I think people really understand that clean air and clean water and not having factories dumping their emissions into the atmosphere and into the rivers and into the sea has been a very good thing for America. EPA stands watch for very important principles that go all the way back to Teddy Roosevelt.
My efforts in Congress are guided by the belief that environmental preservation and restoration are a critical part of the legacy we leave to future generations.
We created the Cabinet Committee on the Environment to review the environmental implications of all government initiatives. I think what made us successful was the fact that it was a sustained approach. We did something new every year.
We had some major successes and we did so because the country embraced the spirit of Earth Day and embraced this concept that we have to have forward-looking, visionary environmental policy and energy policy in this country.
Our nation has abundant clean energy resources, and tapping them will generate jobs, make the air safer to breathe, and tackle climate change - the greatest environmental crisis of our time.
I believe the American people care a lot about the environment.
The U.S. has a proud history of cleaning up our air through technological innovation. We did it with leaded gas, acid rain and countless other pollutants, and we can do it with carbon pollution, too.
I really believe in the environmental movement right now - it only takes a little effort to make a big difference.
I tell my environmental friends that they have won. Every issue we look at from an energy perspective is now also looked at from an environmental perspective.
What I have found most surprising is the amount of damage we have done to environment in the course of my lifetime - not even five and a half decades.