Political Quotes

“Mr. President, I appreciate so much the comments of my colleague from Maine, bringing his insights and his expertise through the years and his stories about how the land and waters of his home State are being impacted and our responsibilities to the broader planet. I am reminded of the comment that Henry David Thoreau said, which is, ``What is the use of a house if you haven't got a tolerable planet to put it on?'' His comment now seems very much ahead of the time and the context of the issue we are discussing tonight. Then we have the insight from Theodore Roosevelt, who said, in terms of our responsibility, ``Of all the questions which can come before this Nation, short of the actual preservation of its existence in a great war, there is none which compares in importance with the great central task of leaving this land even a better land for our descendents than it is for us.'' But right now we are failing that challenge. Carbon pollution is a direct threat to our resources on this planet, a direct threat to our forests, to our fishing, and to our farming. So I am going to take a little bit of time tonight to talk about those aspects. I would like to start by taking a look at our forests. Indeed, if there is something that symbolizes some of the dramatic impacts carbon pollution is making, it is the spread of the pine beetle. This is a picture of a forest devastated not by fire, not by drought, but by the spread of the pine beetle.…”