    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George W. Bush (2008, Book I)]
    [April 17, 2008]
    [Pages 509-511]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Remarks at the President's Environmental Youth Awards Ceremony
    April 17, 2008

        Thanks for coming. Please be seated, and welcome to the Rose Garden.
    And thanks for bringing such good weather. [Laughter]
        Laura and I are thrilled you're here, and we
    are thrilled to honor young Americans who are helping their communities
    by safeguarding the environment. I'm really pleased that Steve is with us too. Thanks for coming.
    Debbie, thanks for being here.
        I want to welcome your parents and your sponsors, and I know they're
    incredibly proud of you. I appreciate the dedication that you've shown
    to improve neighborhoods. I really thank the fact that you're a person
    who's willing to be a responsible citizen and take action.
        I'm pleased to have all the regional administrators here. It's good
    to see friends from around the country. Thanks for coming. Thanks for
    serving the country.
        I appreciate the fact that you know that we live in a country of
    unbelievable splendor and beauty. And no matter which State we call
    home, we can always find the work of the Almighty in our State. And
    today we honor 36 young men and women who

    [[Page 510]]

    have devoted their time, energy, and creativity to being good stewards
    of that creation. And we appreciate the work you're doing to preserve
    our beauty for generations to come.
        Students here today come from all across the country. And your
    accomplishments are as diverse as your home States. Steve will read out the accomplishments, but I'll just
    touch on a few.
        First, for the people from New York who collected used books that
    would have ended up in landfills and donated them to schools and nursing
    homes and homeless shelters.
        Got people here from Massachusetts who worked with local fishermen
    to switch from using lead weights to using substances that didn't have
    the potential to poison local birds.
        Virginia--the good folks from Virginia used--recycled electronic
    equipment so it wouldn't end up polluting the environment. Makes a lot
    of sense; it's a rational plan.
        Good people from Tennessee who led hundreds of members of the
    community to switch to more energy-efficient light bulbs, just like
    Laura insisted we did here at the White House.
    [Laughter]
        How about the good folks from Washington State who worked with the
    school district and helped save more than a half a million dollars by
    encouraging teachers to reduce their energy use in the classroom.
        These are practical ways to help protect our environment. And one
    way to thank you is to have the Administrator present awards to you. You set a great example for people
    around the country, and you set a great example for the Government.
    We're focused on conserving and protecting our environment. I don't know
    if you know this or not, but in--we created the Northwestern Hawaii
    Island Marine National Monument, which is the largest single
    conservation area in our Nation's history and the largest protected
    marine area in the world. And we did so because there are more than
    7,000 species in the monument, and a quarter of them exist nowhere else
    on the Earth. And the good news is, Laura went
    over to dedicate the monument and did a fabulous job.
        We're working hard to protect our wildlife. Through the principle of
    cooperative conservation, which means we bring together different
    stakeholders--conservationists and sportsmen and local leaders and
    Federal, State, and tribal authorities--to protect species that are at
    risk.
        We're protecting our--and strengthening our National Park System.
    One way to dedicate ourselves to conservation is to take that which is
    already in existence and make it better. And so last year, I announced
    the National Park Centennial Initiative, which is a great plan to
    enhance our national parks during the decade leading up to the 100th
    anniversary in 2016. This is an initiative that's going to allow the
    Park System to hire more park rangers and to increase the use of
    technology and upgrade its facilities and its historic buildings. I'm
    looking forward to working with Congress to make sure this effort's
    fully funded.
        And finally, we're working to ensure that America can develop
    alternative energy sources and develop new technologies so we can
    address global climate change without harming the economy. And I believe
    we can do both. I believe we can be good stewards of the environment,
    and I believe we can grow our economy, which we're going to have to do
    to be able to afford the technologies necessary to change.
        So yesterday I announced an important national goal, which is
    stopping the growth in U.S. greenhouse gases emissions by 2025. It's a
    goal we can achieve. It's important to set realistic goals and then work
    hard to achieve those goals.
        The key to keeping the--making this work is to unleash the
    entrepreneurial spirit of the country and to develop the new
    technologies that will allow us to utilize cleaner, more efficient
    energy sources, which, by the way, will have the beneficial

    [[Page 511]]

    effect of becoming--making us less dependent on oil, particularly oil
    that comes from parts of the world where the people may not exactly like
    us. So in other words, we're working on our national security and our
    economic security and, at the same time, having the beneficial effect of
    being wise stewards of the environment.
        But today you're tired of hearing about an old guy speak. We want to
    hear the stories of young people, young people who will be the future
    leaders of the country, young peoples who have laid out a strategy as to
    how to protect their local communities and have done so.
        And so I welcome you here. I ask Laura and
    Steve to join me here on the podium to
    present the awards. Congratulations. Welcome to the Rose Garden, and
    thanks for coming.

    Note: The President spoke at 10:03 a.m. in the Rose Garden at the White
    House. In his remarks, he referred to Stephen L. Johnson, Administrator,
    Environmental Protection Agency, and his wife Debbie.