Political Quotes

“Mr. President, it was 1986, a third of a century ago. Six U.S. Senators wrote a letter to the Office of Technology Assessment, the office then charged with providing technical and scientific advice to Congress. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that their letter be printed in the Record. There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in the Record, as follows: United States Senate, Committee on Environment and Public Works, Washington DC, December 23, 1986. Dr. John Gibbons, Executive Director, U.S. Congress, Office of Technology Assessment, Washington, DC. Dear Dr. Gibbons: The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee has held three days of hearings this year on the massive and, to some degree irrevocable, alterations in the stratosphere commonly referred to as the ``greenhouse affect'', as well as ozone depletion. The testimony convincingly portrayed a fundamentally altered planet, with shifts in ocean circulation and climate zones; altered precipitation and storm patterns; more frequent and extreme weather events such as droughts, monsoons, and lowland floods. Individually and collectively, these changes bring about others, ranging from disruption of forest, crop, and ocean productivity to shifts in populations. Witnesses before the Committee testified that the Earth is now committed to a substantial greenhouse warming, projected to be about 2 degrees Centigrade, as well as an ozone layer depletion.…”