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Feb. 8 (UPI) -- Vice President Kamala Harris traveled to Atlanta on Wednesday, one day after the president's State of the Union address, to discuss climate change with Georgia Tech students, while calling it a "moment of great opportunity." Harris participated in a moderated discussion at the Ferst Center for the Arts, where she called on students to help solve the climate crisis and help those communities disproportionately affected.
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"This is the planet we've got, it is a precious place," Harris said. "It is a place that we have the responsibility for taking care of. There is a whole lot of work that can be done."
Harris credited the Biden administration's Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and the Inflation Reduction Act for helping to fund solutions to the climate crisis and working to reduce carbon emissions by the end of the decade.
"We're looking at at least a trillion dollars to hit the streets of America to address some of these issues," Harris said. "And that's very exciting."
The administration released infrastructure funding statistics for Georgia, in conjunction with Harris' visit Wednesday, which identified more than 154 projects to be paid with $4.9 billion. The money is slated for the state's roads, bridges, public transit, ports, airports, and clean water, the administration said, as Harris focused on jobs.
"For the students who are here, whether you are studying to be in human resources or to be an engineer or in the school of communications, what it is going to require," Harris told the crowd, "is to think of these traditional occupations and skills through the lens of what we will do about sustaining and growing and thriving in a new clean-energy economy."
"The clock is not ticking, it is like banging," the vice president warned. "It is requiring us to move quickly, but there is so much to be excited about in terms of what we can do."
When asked what she was most excited about in terms of the administration's work to solve the climate crisis, Harris said "water issues."
"Access to clean water should be a right and not just a privilege for those who can afford it," Harris said. "And that's everything from getting rid of lead in pipes, which is a big area of focus for our administration."
"Our goal with the infrastructure money is to get rid of all lead pipes and service lines within the next nine years. You look at Flint, Mich., you look at so many other places that have suffered where our babies have been drinking water that is toxic," Harris said, five days after announcing $500 million in infrastructure funds to remove lead pipes in Philadelphia.
Harris added she is excited about electric fuels and the $5 billion being spent to build electric school buses in the United States, which will provide jobs and prevent public health issues surrounding diesel fuel and the air school children breathe.
On Thursday, Harris will head to Minnesota to promote electric vehicles.
In response to Harris' visit to Atlanta Wednesday, the Republican National Committee called her comments "out of touch."
"While hardworking Georgians, alongside families across the country, are burdened by the high cost of everyday goods, Kamala Harris' visit today proves just how out of touch this administration is," RNC Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel said in a statement.
"Instead of spewing more of the same empty rhetoric that Biden delivered last night, Democrats need to take accountability for their failures on everything from rising prices to skyrocketing crime."
