ANCHORAGE, Alaska — Submerged countries, abandoned cities and floods of refugees await the world barring urgent action on climate change, President Barack Obama warned Monday, painting a doomsday scenario as he opened a historic visit to Alaska.
Obama brought the power of the presidential pulpit to Anchorage and called on other nations to take action as negotiations for a global climate treaty near a close. His speech to an Arctic climate summit set the tone for a three-day tour of Alaska that will put on display the state’s liquefying glaciers and sinking villages.
“On this issue — of all issues — there is such a thing as being too late,” he said. “And that moment is almost upon us.”
During his tour of Alaska, Obama planned to hike a glacier, converse with fishermen and tape a reality TV show with survivalist Bear Grylls — all part of an orchestrated White House campaign to illustrate how climate change has damaged Alaska’s stunning landscape.
Obama will become the first sitting president to travel north of the Arctic Circle when he visits Kotzebue — population 3,153 — to address the plight of Alaska Natives, who face dire economic conditions amid some of the worst effects of global warming.
Obama has two audiences in mind: Alaskans, who are hungry for more energy development to boost the state’s sagging oil revenues, and the broader public, whose focus Obama hopes to concentrate on the need for drastic action to combat global warming, including a climate treaty that he hopes will help solidify his environmental legacy.
Aboard Air Force One, the White House unveiled a new National Park Service map bearing the name Denali where Mt. McKinley used to be.
Obama announced Sunday that his administration was renaming the tallest mountain in North America and restoring its traditional Athabascan name.
The move drew applause from Alaska’s leaders but condemnations from Ohio politicians angry that Ohio native and former President William McKinley’s name will be erased from the famed peak.
“You just don’t go and do something like that,” said Ohio Gov. John Kasich, a Republican presidential candidate.
