Political Quotes

“Mr. President, on the day of the news reporting the World Meteorological Organization is declaring that 2016 was the hottest year ever recorded, and further declaring that the planet is now in what they call, ``truly uncharted territory,'' I rise for my 161st ``Time to Wake Up'' speech, in this case to update my colleagues on the state of our oceans. I am from the Ocean State. In January, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration released a report with the U.S. Geologic Survey, the Environmental Protection Agency, researchers at Rutgers University, Columbia University, and the South Florida Water Management District. The report updates global sea level rise estimates--perhaps not a big issue for Colorado but a big issue for Rhode Island. It made region- specific assessments for our American coastline. Based on updated peer- reviewed scientific literature, the report raised the previous upper range, or extreme, scenario for average global sea level in the year 2100 by an additional half a meter. NOAA and its partners then tailored their findings to the U.S. coastline based on regional variations in ocean circulation and gravitational pull and local land conditions like erosion, subsidence, and groundwater depletion, all of which affect the local impacts of global sea level rise. They found that under the higher scenarios, all regions in the United States, except Alaska, can expect sea level rise higher than the global mean average.…”