Obama and nature conservation

The election of Barack Obama as President of the United States has been hailed by environmentalists worldwide. He has always been concerned about environment. As a student at Columbia University, Obama worked for three months as an environmental activist to promote recycling in Harlem. He cosponsored a bill which requires that 10% of electricity in the state come from renewable sources by 2012. He has introduced multiple pieces of legislation to reduce mercury and lead poisoning. Obama fought efforts to drill in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and voted to prohibit the use of funds to construct new roads in Alaska's Tongass National Forest. He led a spirited campaign to remove asbestos. He wants Detroit to design and build more fuel efficient cars.

In election speeches Obama had promised progressive environmental policies if elected. Policies with accent on reducing greenhouse emission and dealing with the perils of climate change. Obama had said “if we create a new energy economy, we can create five million new jobs, easily”. He had emphasized the need for being good stewards of the land and said we've got to be less wasteful both as a society and in our own individual lives. Obama's Environmental Protection Agency will strictly regulate pollution and believes in the credo the polluter pays. His words "Environmentalism is not an upper-income issue, it's not a black issue, it's not a South or a North or an East or a West issue, it's an issue that all of us have a stake in." has been widely welcomed.

Yes, environmentalists’ world wide has something to cheer about. We wish him Godspeed.