Political Quotes

“I rise today for the 35th time to again bring the message to my colleagues that it is time to wake up to the threat of climate change. There is simply too much credible evidence that climate change is occurring, and there is too much at risk for us to continue sleepwalking. Our oceans face unprecedented challenges from climate change and carbon pollution. Oceans have absorbed more than 550 billion tons of our carbon pollution. As a result, they have become 30 percent more acidic. That is a measurement, not a theory. Ocean temperatures are also changing dramatically, again driven by carbon pollution. Sea surface temperatures in 2012, from the Gulf of Maine down to Cape Hatteras, were the highest recorded in 150 years. That is another measurement. Fish stocks are shifting northward with some disappearing from U.S. waters as they move farther offshore. Fishermen who have come here to talk to Senator Reed and myself have noted anomalies, and ``things are not making sense out there'' is the way they have described it. In my home State of Rhode Island, the Ocean State, we put our lives and hearts into our relationship with the ocean. The day-to-day life on the coast is a proud and rewarding tradition, but it is one that is now threatened by climate change. The waters of Narragansett Bay are getting warmer--4 degrees Fahrenheit warmer in the winter since the 1960s.…”