Al Franken: “Thank you, Mr. President. I thank Senator Boxer and Senator Schatz and Senator Whitehouse for organizing this. I rise…”

“Thank you, Mr. President. I thank Senator Boxer and Senator Schatz and Senator Whitehouse for organizing this. I rise tonight to talk about climate change, along with 25 to 30 of my colleagues who will be speaking through the night. The recent extreme weather events we have experienced across the United States are our call to action. We in this body need not just to talk about climate change but to take action to address it. If we fail to act, the extreme weather events we have seen will only grow more extreme in the future. This winter has been exceptionally cold in many areas of the United States, including Minnesota. Some deniers have taken this as a sign that climate change isn't happening. They have pointed to the cold weather as evidence that global warming is not occurring. But they are missing the point. We already know that on average the Earth is warming. This isn't complicated. We have been using thermometers to make measurements around the globe for a long time. We know average temperatures have gone up significantly in recent years. But climate change isn't just about the average temperature. As the average temperature continues to rise, most experts agree we will see ever more frequent extreme weather events, including drought, storms, floods, and other extreme events. It is important to remember that we are not attributing any one event to climate change, but we can say there will be more extreme weather events as the Earth grows warmer.…”