Hope and change

June 2009: CLIMATE CHANGE: Obama Sounds Too Much Like Bush

Echoing general disappointment with the new U.S. administration, Karen Orenstein of Friends of the Earth U.S. said: "The election of President (Barack) Obama created tremendous hope worldwide that the U.S. would finally play a leadership role in solving the climate crisis that - more than any other nation on earth - it is responsible for causing.

"Unfortunately for the survival of people and the planet, the Obama administration's position at these UN negotiations sounds frighteningly similar to that of (former U.S. president) George Bush."

June 2008: Text of Obama's speech Tuesday

[Obama] ....this was the moment when the rise of the oceans began to slow and our planet began to heal...