Political Quotes

“this marks the 58th consecutive week we have been in session where I have come to the floor to seek to wake up this Congress to the threat of climate change. Carbon pollution from the burning of fossil fuels is altering the climate. The consensus around this fact within the scientific community--and in fact the reality-based community--is overwhelming. Since the industrial revolution, humans have dumped 2 trillion metric tons of carbon dioxide into the air and oceans--and counting. The EPA estimates that in 2011, the United States alone emitted more than 5.6 billion tons of carbon dioxide. We know the concentration of carbon in the atmosphere is higher than it has been in the history of mankind. We know that when we put more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, it warms up the planet. This has been understood science since Abraham Lincoln was President. We know the ocean absorbs 90 percent of the excess heat and 30 percent of the carbon in the air. As water warms, it expands, and sea levels go up. This is called the law of thermal expansion. We know that when carbon dissolves in water, it increases the levels of carbonic acid in the water. This is a law of chemistry. We know from simple measurements that seawater is acidifying at a rate we haven't seen at any time in the past 50 million years. We are a species of homo sapiens who have been on the planet for a little over 200,000. So 50 million takes us back a way.…”