Political Quotes

“Mr. President, today is Earth Day, so I wanted to come to the floor and reflect on some of the changes our Earth is experiencing and to talk at some length about how those changes are affecting my home State of Delaware and how the Delaware community is studying, planning, and preparing to deal with these important changes. The recent National Climate Assessment has said that the last decade in the United States was the hottest on record, and that the last year was the hottest year ever recorded through the U.S. Government. We are waking up to fewer mornings with frost on our windshields, to less snow cover, to warmer oceans and freshwater sources, to more frequent and intense storms, to heat waves, to floods and droughts. These many changes are affecting human health, agriculture, transportation, our water supply, our ecosystem, wildlife, and many other aspects of our daily lives and our American heritage. On top of all of this, we are seeing higher water levels in our oceans and estuaries, including in and around my home State of Delaware. Sea level rises essentially for two different reasons. First, as the planet's ice sheets are melting, they are adding to the amount of water in the ocean. But second, saltwater actually expands as it warms. So as the planet's average temperature rises, so does the level of its saltwater seas. The fact that Earth's oceans are rising each year is not new information. It has been rising for as long as we have been keeping track.…”