President Obama has one word to describe the effects of climate change - "terrifying." He made the statement in Hawaii during a recent interview with the New York Times.


President Obama has one word to describe the effects of climate change - "terrifying."
He made the statement in Hawaii during a recent interview with the New York Times. 
In a video released to the news outlet’s website, Obama says, “My top science adviser, John Holdren, periodically will issue some chart or report or graph in the morning meetings, and they’re terrifying.” 
When he is asked about the possibility that climate change could contribute to the collapse of our civilization, the president says, in part, that “Historically, when you see severe environmental strains...the byproducts of that are unpredictable and can be very dangerous….If the current projections [and] the current trend lines on a warming planet continue, it is certainly going to be enormously disruptive worldwide.” 
He goes on to add that despite some resistance in Congress, his administration has “solidified, in popular opinion, the fact that climate change is real, that it’s important, and we should do something about it.” 
But he believes that “translating concern into action is the challenge, and part of what makes climate change difficult is that it is not an instantaneous, catastrophic event. It’s a slow moving issue that, on a day-to-day basis, people don’t experience and don’t see.”