Climate ‘Alarm Bells’ Are Ringing, Obama Says Ahead of Arctic Summit

US President Barack Obama will use an upcoming conference on Arctic leadership to highlight the effects of climate change already felt by US residents, he announced last week.

The Conference on Global Leadership in the Arctic:  Cooperation, Innovation, Engagement and Resilience, dubbed GLACIER, will be attended by officials from China, Russia, India and the European Union at the end of the month.

In a video message, Obama said he would meet with Alaskan citizens and underline the impact climate change is having on lives and jobs in the state.

Obama said the effects of warming in the state should serve as a "wake-up call" for action, warning that melting glaciers in the northernmost US state were causing homes to sink into the ground and threatening the jobs of hunters and anglers.

"Later this month, I'm going to Alaska and I'm going because Alaskans are on the front-lines of one of the greatest challenges we face this century:  climate change," he said.  "In Alaska, glaciers are melting.  The hunting and fishing on which generations have depended for their way of life and their jobs are being threatened."

The president also drew attention to the effects of climate change felt elsewhere across the country, noting that warming temperatures have led to "deeper droughts, longer wildfire seasons" and floods at high tide.

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