President Barack Obama will use his trip to Alaska later this month as the backdrop of a message to the world about climate change, he announced in a video message Thursday.
Obama plans to take his trip beyond the streets of Anchorage and will be the first sitting U.S. president to visit Alaska's Arctic, a White House official said today.
"In Alaska, glaciers are melting. The hunting and fishing upon which generations have depended -- for their way of life, and for their jobs -- are threatened. Storm surges once held at bay now endanger entire villages. As Alaskan permafrost melts, some homes are even sinking into the ground. The state's God-given natural treasures are at risk," Obama said in the video address.