5:22 p.m. EDT April 18, 2015  President Obama plans to spotlight his climate change plans next week, saying Saturday that "there's no greater threat to our planet" than ever-rising temperatures.

The week will be built around a presidential trip to the Florida Everglades on Wednesday, which is Earth Day.

"The Everglades is one of the most special places in our country, but it's also one of the most fragile," Obama said in his weekly radio address. "Rising sea levels are putting a national treasure — and an economic engine for the South Florida tourism industry — at risk."

Overall, Obama called 2014 the planet's warmest year on record, and said that 14 of the 15 hottest years on record took place is this still-young century.

While skeptics like to point to the recent harsh winter in the United States, Obama said that "around the world, it was the warmest ever recorded."

The results include more violent storms, deeper droughts, and more intense wildfires, Obama said.

In response, the United States is cutting carbon pollution, and working on a global agreement with other nations on emissions cuts, Obama said. At the same, it is working on clean energy sources like wind power and solar power, and requiring better fuel efficiency standards in cars and trucks.

Republicans said Obama's climate change rules burden businesses, particularly in the coal industry, and have led to higher utility rates. Some carbon emission rules are being challenged in court.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., and other critics have said that global treaties put more of a burden on the United States than on major polluters, such as China and India.

Republicans climate change plans include increased hydro power, clean natural gas, and clean coal technology.

"Over the last seven years, President Obama's crusade against affordable American energy has hurt middle-class families and our economy," said Cory Fritz, a spokesman for House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio.

In his radio address, Obama said that climate is "an issue that's bigger and longer-lasting than my presidency." He said it is about "protecting our God-given natural wonders," and "shielding our cities and our families from disaster and harm" generated by global warming.

"This is the only planet we've got," he said. "And years from now, I want to be able to look our children and grandchildren in the eye and tell them that we did everything we could to protect it."