"Well, I don't believe that climate change is just an issue that's convenient to bring up during a campaign. I believe it's one of the greatest moral challenges of our generation. That's why I've fought successfully in the Senate to increase our investment in renewable fuels. That's why I reached across the aisle to come up with a plan to raise our fuel standards… And I didn't just give a speech about it in front of some environmental audience in California. I went to Detroit, I stood in front of a group of automakers, and I told them that when I am president, there will be no more excuses — we will help them retool their factories, but they will have to make cars that use less oil."

As a student at Columbia University, Obama worked for three months as an environmental activist to promote recycling in Harlem. As a community organizer, before holding public office, he fought against environmental racism by helping public housing residents demand to have their apartments tested for asbestos and repaired.

He noted, "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."

* Supports implementation of a market-based cap-and-trade system to reduce carbon emissions by the amount scientists say is necessary: 80 percent below 1990 levels by 2050. Obama proposes a cap-and-trade system that will require all pollution credits to be auctioned. A 100 percent auction ensures that all polluters pay for every ton of emissions they release, rather than giving these emission rights away to coal and oil companies. Some of the revenue generated by auctioning allowances would be used to support the development of clean energy, to invest in energy efficiency improvements, and to address transition costs, including helping American workers affected by this economic transition.

* Proposes investing $150 billion over 10 years to advance the next generation of biofuels and fuel infrastructure, accelerate the commercialization of plug-in hybrids, promote development of commercial-scale renewable energy, invest in low-emissions coal plants, and begin the transition to a new digital electricity grid. A principal focus of this fund will be devoted to ensuring that technologies that are developed in the U.S. are rapidly commercialized in the U.S. and deployed around the globe.

* Proposes requiring 36 billion gallons of renewable fuels to be included in the fuel supply by 2022 and proposes increading that to at least 60 billion gallons of advanced biofuels like cellulosic ethanol by 2030. Proposes investing federal resources, including tax incentives, cash prizes and government contracts into developing the most promising technologies with the goal of getting the first two billion gallons of cellulosic ethanol into the system by 2013.

* Proposes expanding locally-owned biofuel refineries. Less than 10 percent of new ethanol production today is from farmer-owned refineries. New ethanol refineries help jumpstart rural economies. Obama would create a number of incentives for local communities to invest in their biofuels refineries. Proposes doubling science and research funding for clean energy projects including those that make use of our biomass, solar and wind resources.

* Proposes creating a Clean Technologies Venture Capital Fund to fill a critical gap in U.S. technology development. Obama will invest $10 billion per year into this fund for five years. The fund will partner with existing investment funds and our National Laboratories to ensure that promising technologies move beyond the lab and are commercialized in the U.S.

* Proposes creating an energy-focused Green Jobs Corps to connect disconnected and disadvantaged youth with job skills for a high-growth industry.

* Proposes establishing a 25 percent federal Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS) to require that 25 percent of electricity consumed in the U.S. is derived from clean, sustainable energy sources, like solar, wind and geothermal by 2025.

* Proposes significantly increasing the resources devoted to the commercialization and deployment of low-carbon coal technologies. Obama will consider whatever policy tools are necessary, including standards that ban new traditional coal facilities, to ensure that we move quickly to commercialize and deploy low carbon coal technology.

* Proposes establishing a National Low Carbon Fuel Standard to speed the introduction of low-carbon non-petroleum fuels. The standard requires fuels suppliers to reduce the carbon their fuel emits by ten percent by 2020.

* Proposes reducing oil consumption by at least 35 percent, or 10 million barrels per day, by 2030. This will more than offset the equivalent of the oil we would import from OPEC nations in 2030.

* Proposes doubling fuel economy standards within 18 years. His plan will provide retooling tax credits and loan guarantees for domestic auto plants and parts manufacturers, so that they can build new fuel-efficient cars rather than overseas companies. Also proposes investing in advanced vehicle technology such as advanced lightweight materials and new engines.

* Proposes establishing a goal of making all new buildings carbon neutral, or produce zero emissions, by 2030. He'll also establish a national goal of improving new building efficiency by 50 percent and existing building efficiency by 25 percent over the next decade to help us meet the 2030 goal.

* Proposes creating a competitive grant program to award those states and localities that take the first steps to implement new building codes that prioritize energy efficiency.

* Proposes pursuing a major investment in our utility grid to enable a tremendous increase in renewable generation and accommodate modern energy requirements, such as reliability, smart metering, and distributed storage

* Proposes creating a Global Energy Forum — that includes all G-8 members plus Brazil, China, India, Mexico and South Africa –the largest energy consuming nations from both the developed and developing world. The forum would focus exclusively on global energy and environmental issues.

"In the end, that's what this election is about," Obama stated. "Do we participate in a politics of cynicism or a politics of hope?"

Quotes like this from Obama inspire us, and that's why we choose Obama. We want to be inspired, we want to have hope, we want change, an historical change. We want to like being Americans again… we want to love who we are and to be proud of being Americans again… a united America.

"There is not a liberal America and a conservative America - there is the United States of America," Obama stated. "There is not a black America and a white America and latino America and asian America - there's the United States of America."

Just listen to the man. He inspires us, and we believe Barack Obama will take us there.

"It took a lot of blood, sweat and tears to get to where we are today, but we have just begun," Obama stated. "Today we begin in earnest the work of making sure that the world we leave our children is just a little bit better than the one we inhabit today."