Obama: It's almost too late to stop climate change

President Obama made an ever-more-urgent plea for nations to take action to address climate change Monday, repeatedly telling representatives of Arctic nations meeting in Alaska that "we're not moving fast enough" to address the challenge.

Kicking off a three-day Alaska trip meant to focus attention on how the Arctic climate affects the rest of the world, Obama used near apocalyptic imagery to drive home his call to action. The result of inaction will be catastrophic in economic and security terms, he said, as more drought, wildfires, floods, leads to more refugees, more conflict and scarce resources.

In Alaska, he said, raging wildfires are helping to thaw the permafrost, releasing carbon dioxide trapped underneath into the atmosphere — "a negative feedback loop, a cycle, warming leading to more warming, that we don't want to be a part of," Obama said.

"On this issue — of all issues —there is such a thing as being too late," Obama said. "And that moment is almost upon us." He called on nations to make commitments to reduce carbon emissions at a climate summit later this year. "This year in Paris has to be the year that the world finally acts to protect the one planet that we have while we still can," he said.

As he has done over the past week, Obama also escalated his criticism of "people who are denying the science of climate change."

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"The time to heed the critics and the cynics and the deniers of climate change is past," he said. "The time to plead ignorance is surly past. Those who want to ignore the science are increasingly alone. They're on their own shrinking island."

That was one of the few applause lines as Obama spoke to the Conference on Global Leadership in the Arctic, also known as the Glacier Conference, where foreign ministers and top leaders of Arctic nations met in Anchorage to discuss climate issues.

The rest of his Alaska trip will be devoted to touring remote areas of the state, talking to Alaska Natives about how their livelihoods are changing with the environment. On Tuesday, he'll visit Seward, Alaska, where he'll hike to Exit Glacier with reality television host Bear Gryllis. Wednesday, he'll visit the villages of Dillingham and Kotzebue.

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