Obama is of course well known for his speeches–his soaring rhetoric and eloquent phrasing are what helped him win the election (and what led to much of his criticism). His recent speech on health care reform was widely seen as a success, though time will tell if it had any long lasting practical impact on the debate. So far, it’s helped unite Democrats towards the goal of reform. 

Could such a speech do the same for climate action? We’ll have to see, I suppose, but considering Obama is still relatively popular (though not as much so as he once was), and that his speeches are still respected, this can only be a boon for the climate bill and for climate action advocates supporting it.

E&E News Reports:

President Obama will speak on global warming later this month during a special U.N. summit in New York where world leaders will try to jump-start talks on a deal that succeeds the Kyoto Protocol. . . Obama’s role in the U.N. session is sure to spark widespread international attention, especially after eight years of resistance to significant steps on climate change under former President George W. Bush’s administration.

While the international community will be glad to see a change of heart expressed vocally from the US on its stance towards climate change, there’s obviously much that still needs to be done at home. And Obama should certainly be speaking up more on the issue–it is, after all, one he trumpeted often in his presidential campaign. Hopefully the speech will be well publicized enough to entice Americans to tune in, and the debate will be reinvigorated.

HIT FROM: Treehugger.com