On the recordSeptember 18, 2014
When it comes to climate change, we are facing a stark choice in America. We can do nothing and see if it happens or we can do something, protect our children, and actually grow jobs and our economy. If you believe climate change is not happening, if you are a denier of climate change, you do not need to listen any further. But I do have a wall that I would like to put your name on. I call it the Wall of Climate Denial. Heck, let's put this wall on the National Mall. And I would like to invite all my colleagues across the aisle to put their names on it. And that way our children and grandchildren can visit this wall decades from now and see for themselves who acted on climate change and who stood in the way. If we act, we can start to change course, and that wall would only be a monument to a way of thinking that was on the wrong side of science. If we do not act, it will be a monument to those responsible for the massive loss of human life and economic productivity. It will also be, if we do not act, likely, a wall that is underwater. Global climate change is one of the greatest challenges that we face. And I agree with the previous speaker: there is no question one of the most immediate threats that we face in our country right now is defeating and wiping from this Earth ISIL. But one of the longest-term threats to our own energy security and our existence is global climate change.…





