EPA chief: Obama has ‘changed the dynamic’ on climate change

President Obama will leave behind a strong legacy on climate change, according to the head of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

Gina McCarthy told Bloomberg BNA in an interview that while Obama has done a lot to crack down on air and water pollutants, it’s his actions on climate change, including the first regulations limiting greenhouse gas emissions, that stand out.

{mosads}“I’m pretty excited about the legacy that he is going to leave behind,” McCarthy said in the interview published Friday.

“He has completely changed the dynamic about climate change by being so clear and vocal about its implications, about how the U.S. is positioned to be a leader and what that can mean for the country moving forward,” she said.

McCarthy said the nation has reached a key moment in the environmental protection fight, with a “second wave” of activism on par with the 1960s, when the movement first took hold.

“I think we’re at a really pivotal moment,” she told BNA. “I was around in the 1960s. I saw environmental pollution then and it was very visible and it led to a big wave of environmental improvements that we’ve enjoyed. I think we’re on the verge of a second wave.”

She argued the public is starting to recognize that protecting the environment is about more than just controlling pollution. A main example, she said, is the move to effectively reintegrate waste such as food, a recent focus for the EPA.