Years of Living Dangerously Concludes with Obama Slamming Climate Deniers

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onJun 9, 2014 @ 09:54 PDT

This is a guest post by Brandon Baker, originally published on EcoWatch.

Youโ€™re not the only one who gets frustrated whenย John Boehner,ย Marco Rubioย andย others in Congressย turn a blind eye to devastating, scientific evidence regardingย climate change.

In an interview withย Thomas L. Friedmanย scheduled to air tonight as part of the final episode ofย Years of Living Dangerously, President Barack Obama revealed that heโ€™s really no different than many of us when it comes to climateย deniers.

Does he ever just want to โ€œgo offโ€ on those who ignoreย extreme weather,ย rainforestsย getting steadily less greenย and more, Friedman, an author andย New York Timesย columnist, asked. Does he ever feel like asking, โ€œWhat is wrong with youย people?โ€

โ€œAbsolutely,โ€ Obama said with a smile. โ€œLook, itโ€™s frustrating when the science is right in front ofย us.โ€ย 

Theย president went on to challenge the leadership of deniers because they overlookย reality.

โ€œIf you profess leadership in this country at this moment in our history, then youโ€™ve got to recognize this is going to be one of the most significant long-term challenges, if not the most significant long-term challenge, that this country faces and that the planet faces,โ€ heย said.

The full interview will include Obamaโ€™s views on why we โ€œwonโ€™t be able to burn it allโ€ when it comes to fossil fuels and what we can learn about climate change from incidents inย Syria.

Friedman visited with Obama weeks ago, before the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency rolled out his proposal toย decrease carbon emissions by 30 percent by 2030, compared to 2005ย levels.

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