Tom Udall: “I rise with my colleagues to talk about this urgent issue that faces us: climate change. Climate disruption is an…”

“I rise with my colleagues to talk about this urgent issue that faces us: climate change. Climate disruption is an existential threat to our planet--an existential threat. Scientists recognize this, so do the American people, and so does the international community. One hundred ninety- four countries and the European Union have signed the Paris Agreement, and so did the United States. Quite frankly, we shouldn't even have to argue this anymore, but for those who still don't see the evidence of climate change, it is all around us: a warming climate; recordbreaking hurricanes off the Atlantic, the Gulf of Mexico, and in the Caribbean; unprecedented flooding in the Midwest; Native villages in Alaska actually falling into the sea; and drought and the most severe wildfires in the West we have ever seen. This is from a 2003 fire near the Taos Pueblo in New Mexico. We in New Mexico are on pins and needles every fire season now. We don't know what disaster will hit us. We know this climate catastrophe is caused by human activity. Report after report tells us we don't have any time to waste; that we need to act now. Even this administration's most recent climate analysis finds that global warming ``is transforming where and how we live and presents growing challenges to human health and the quality of life, the economy, and the natural systems that support us.'' The report concludes we must act now ``to avoid substantial damages to the U.S.…”