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U.S. Department of Agriculture

Obama team talks climate change during Earth Day week

David Jackson
USA TODAY

President Obama and his team are marking Wednesday's Earth Day with a week-long promotion of their climate change policies.

"This Earth Day, we're far beyond a debate about climate change's existence," senior adviser Brian Deese wrote in a note to White House e-mail recipients. "We're focused on mitigating its very real effects here at home, preparing our communities where its impacts are already being felt, and leading an international effort for action."

Deese said that, on Monday, Obama will issue a proclamation "highlighting the impact of national parks on our local economies." Tuesday brings an announcement on "four landscapes throughout the country where we'll focus our conservation and climate resilience efforts," he said.

"Later in the week, we'll announce how we're investing millions in new funding to protect those parks, as well as new actions the Department of Agriculture will take in partnership with farmers, ranchers and forest land owners to reduce net greenhouse gas emissions," Deese wrote.

The White House is also asking social media users to make their own climate change suggestions, with the hash tag #ActOnClimate.

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The week is centered on Wednesday -- Earth Day itself -- when Obama travels to the Florida Everglades for what is being billed as a major speech.

Look for push back from Republicans who says Obama's climate change and pollution control plans are expensive, unnecessary, and harmful to businesses, especially in the energy industry.

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