Mike Quigley: “2015 was a landmark year for global climate change, and that is not a good thing. According to the National Oceanic and…”

“2015 was a landmark year for global climate change, and that is not a good thing. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, 2015 was our planet's hottest year on record. Last year the global average land surface temperature was 1.33 Celsius above the 20th century average, and 10 of the last 12 months tied or broke existing records for highest monthly global temperatures. Despite the fact that climate science and research consistently display the reality of climate change, some of my colleagues still debate its validity in this very Chamber. What is there to debate? More than 12,000 peer-reviewed, scientific studies are in agreement that climate change is real and humans are significantly to blame. For those of you keeping track at home, there are zero peer-reviewed scientific studies that state the opposite. One of the primary concerns of these scientific studies is that climate change might trigger events that will dramatically alter the Earth as we know it. Scientists have discovered a number of tipping points where abrupt changes in climate could create a variety of national and global effects. It is hard to predict when these events could occur; but we know that when they do, we will have very little warning. Reaching these critical points could lead to abrupt changes in the ocean, snow cover, permafrost, and the Earth's biosphere. Alarmingly, many of these events are triggered by warming levels of less than 2 degrees.…”