[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 38, Number 16 (Monday, April 22, 2002)]
[Pages 649-651]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks at the President's Environmental Youth Awards Ceremony

April 18, 2002

    Welcome to the Rose Garden, and thanks for coming. Congratulations 
on what you've done for our country. I know you're proud to be here, and 
I know your moms and dads are proud that you're here too. And I want to 
thank your teachers that are here with you as well. Teaching is a noble 
profession, and we appreciate your care for the country and the future 
of our country. So, welcome. The Rose Garden really is a fitting place 
to honor people who care about our environment. As you can see, it's a 
really beautiful place.
    I want to thank so much the award winners for turning idealism into 
action, for taking

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a great spirit and love for our country and doing something about that 
spirit and love for our country. Communities are better as a result, but 
as importantly, you're providing a really good example of service. 
You're showing other people that people can make a difference in 
people's lives, and that's really important.
    I want to thank Christie Todd Whitman for being such a great 
Administrator of the EPA. You know, she and I were Governors together. 
She was the Governor of New Jersey, and I was the Governor of Texas. And 
I got to know her well as a great Governor. I knew that when I picked 
her, she'd be really good at this job, and I want to thank her for her 
service.
    I want to thank the Members of the Congress who are here. We've got 
a Senator here today; Senator Specter is here. We're pleased. Zach Wamp 
and Rob Simmons and Jeff Flake from Tennessee, Connecticut, and Arizona, 
I want to thank you all for coming as well. I want to thank the regional 
administrators of the EPA for being here. I want to thank you for your 
hard work and appreciate your dedication to the country.
    You know, America has learned a lot about ourself in the last 7 
months--we really have. We've seen the unity and public spirit of our 
country. We've seen a great good that can come out of a terrible, 
terrible evil. And we've rediscovered the importance of taking a stand, 
of serving something greater than ourself. It's a really important 
lesson of September the 11th, that in order to fight evil, you can do so 
by doing some good.
    I've asked Americans to dedicate 4,000 hours, the equivalent of 2 
years of your lives, to serving your neighbors and your Nation. As part 
of joining the war against terror, dedicate 4,000 hours to help somebody 
or some cause or some community.
    Our winners today have gone a long way toward meeting that goal 
already. I may have to assign you another 4,000 hours here pretty soon. 
[Laughter] You've developed the good habits of service, and you're 
making a big difference in a very important area, and that's our 
Nation's environment.
    Good stewardship begins with the simplest of things. That's what's 
interesting about the environmental movement. What may appear to be a 
small act is really important, cleaning up a park or recycling or 
encouraging people and showing people how to conserve energy. Good 
stewardship means understanding the consequences of our actions and 
convincing others to not needlessly destroy our environment. A good 
steward also understands that we share this Earth with other creatures, 
and we have a responsibility to provide them places to live and areas to 
roam.
    In serving others, I think you've shown good works don't have to be 
these huge projects. What may seem like a small act when taken alone can 
produce tremendous results when combined with the efforts of others.
    Thirty young Americans are going to receive an award today. And if 
you multiply their works by a hundred or a thousand or a million, you've 
got more than just projects; you've got a movement. When citizens take 
responsibility for our environment, there's no limit for the good they 
can do.
    The Federal Government has got responsibilities, as well, to protect 
the environment. America's experience with environmental protection 
really makes me optimistic about our future. The modern environmental 
movement was born in America, born right here in our country. And we've 
made tremendous progress since its birth.
    Since 1970, we've reduced emissions of six key air pollutants by 29 
percent. That's significant progress, but more significant given the 
fact that our economy grew by more than 160 percent. We've shown that 
you can grow your economy so people can work and, at the same time, be 
better stewards of the environment.
    Some problems such as lead emissions from automobiles have been 
virtually eliminated--1970, that wouldn't have been the case. Kind of 
hard for some of us to remember back to 1970; some of you weren't even 
born. The Administrator and I, we were born then--[laughter]--well, it 
might have been a little bit before then. [Laughter] So we remember. Not 
only do we have a better economy, the world's strongest economy, but we 
have significantly cleaner and healthier air. We've got better water. 
And our land is better protected and better managed and more accessible 
to more Americans.

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    And we can do more, and we will do more. We're promoting the 
development of cleaner fuels and new technologies. We're supporting 
conservation efforts in order to use our resources more wisely. We work 
with Congress to improve our laws so more brownfields will be cleaned up 
and redeveloped and more communities can be revitalized. Our clean--our 
Clear Skies Initiative would improve air quality by dramatically cutting 
power emissions--emissions from power plants. Our Global Climate Change 
Initiative commits our Nation to significantly reducing greenhouse gas 
intensity. And last week, I sent to the Senate legislation necessary to 
implement a global treaty to control the worst environmental pollutants, 
in order to reduce air, land, and water pollution around the world. I'm 
confident the Senate will act.
    Stewardship is the calling of Government, and it is the calling of 
every citizen. In my Inaugural Address, I urged Americans to act as 
citizens, not as spectators, in building communities of service and a 
nation of character. You each shown us the way by your own example. I 
hope that in the years ahead you'll never lose the idealism we honor 
today. Your communities need it, and your country needs it.
    And now, I'd like to welcome back Administrator Whitman to highlight 
this year's winners of the Presidential--of the President's 
Environmental Youth Awards. Congratulations.

Note: The President spoke at 10:25 a.m. in the Rose Garden at the White 
House.