Obama promises to reveal climate-change plan (VIDEO)

GlobalPost

President Barack Obama took to YouTube on Saturday, promising to soon reveal a plan to combat climate change.

He plans to make the announcement at Georgetown University in Washington on Tuesday afternoon.

“This is a serious challenge, but one that’s uniquely suited to America’s strengths,” Obama says in the video, also available on the White House website.

The president said scientists, farmers, engineers and businesses must combine to develop and foster a green economy.

“And we’ll need all of our citizens to do their part to preserve God’s creation for future generations,” Obama said, including America’s forests, crops and “snow-capped peaks.”

The president didn’t divulge specifics in the 90-second video, but White House aides have suggested the steps will include renewable energy and energy-efficient appliances and buildings, The Canadian Press reported.

The plan is also expected to involve the Environmental Protection Agency using its authority under the Clean Air Act to regulate heat-trapping pollution from coal-fired power plants, CP said.

“There’s no single step that can reverse the effects of climate change. But when it comes to the world we leave our children, we owe it to them to do what we can,” Obama says.

Environmentalists pushing Obama for greater action will watch the speech closely, Reuters reported.

Some have said the White House must address 1,400 coal-fired burners producing electricity in the United States today.

Climate adviser Heather Zichal said Obama understands that challenge.

“In the near term, we are very much focused on the power plant piece of the equation,” she said recently, according to Reuters.

The Canadian Press contributed to this report.

More from GlobalPost: NASA says climate change will increase extreme weather

Sign up for our daily newsletter

Sign up for The Top of the World, delivered to your inbox every weekday morning.