Political Quotes

“Madam President, I am here again--I think it is the 36th time--to speak as I do every week on global climate change, to remind us that it is time for us to wake up and to take action to protect our communities. The risks that we ignore will not go away on their own. The longer we remain asleep, the greater the challenges we leave for our children and grandchildren. The changes we are already seeing--rising sea levels, floods, and erosion, more powerful storms-- are taking their toll in particular on our aging infrastructure which I would like to talk about today--our roads, our bridges, our sewers and water pipes. This kind of infrastructure is designed to operate for 50 to 100 years and to withstand expected environmental conditions. So what happens if expected weather and climate patterns change? Well, they are. According to the Draft National Climate Assessment: U.S. average temperature has increased by about 1.5 degrees Fahrenheit since 1895; more than 80% of this increase has occurred since 1980. The most recent decade was the nation's hottest on record. We are also getting more precipitation with more and more of our rain coming in big, heavy downpours. Between 1958 and 2011, the amount of rain that fell during individual rainstorms increased in every region of the country--up to 45 percent in the Midwest and 74 percent in our northeast. Last month the Government Accountability Office issued a report revealing the risks posed to U.S. infrastructure by climate change.…”