Mike Quigley: “There has been a lot going on around here lately. We have been conducting investigations, holding hearings, and some of…”

“There has been a lot going on around here lately. We have been conducting investigations, holding hearings, and some of us have even tried and failed to fundamentally change the way we provide health care in this country. It has been easy to get distracted by the dozens of different headlines and breaking news stories we see each week. But no matter what else is going on here in Washington, one thing continues unabated: each day, the United States, like every other country on Earth, continues to release tons and tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, and now we are starting to see the effects. Over the last couple of years, the U.S. has joined 20 other countries from around the world in growing its economy while reducing its annual emissions into the atmosphere. This is not a small feat, and decoupling emissions from growth is the first step toward the substantive action needed to address the growing climate crisis. But I find this concept of reducing emissions can sometimes be a little misleading. In the last few years, the U.S. has reduced the rate that it emits greenhouse gases. But even if we are doing it more slowly, we are still emitting harmful pollution into our air. Imagine, Mr. Speaker, standing at the edge of an empty swimming pool with a garden hose. For a while, water was spewing out of that hose at a torrent; and each year, the volume got greater and greater. Now, the water is still running, but we have begun to turn the speed down.…”