Bernie Sanders: “as a member of the Senate environmental committee, and also on the Energy Committee, it is my view that the time is long…”

“as a member of the Senate environmental committee, and also on the Energy Committee, it is my view that the time is long overdue for Congress to go beyond deal-making and politics as usual in addressing the crisis of global warming. The droughts, the floods, and the severe weather disturbances our planet is already experiencing will only get worse, potentially impacting billions of people, if we do not take bold and decisive action in the very near future. While the Lieberman-Warner cap-and-trade bill is a strong step forward--and I applaud both Senators and I applaud Senator Barbara Boxer for her entire leadership on global warming--it is my view that legislation as currently written does not go anywhere near far enough in creating the policies the scientific community says we must develop in order to avert a planetary catastrophe. This legislation is also lacking in paving the way for the transformation of our energy system, away from fossil fuels into energy efficiency and sustainable energy technologies. Here are some of my concerns about the Lieberman-Warner bill. These are concerns I will be working on in the next number of weeks, trying to improve that legislation. First, virtually all the scientific evidence tells us, at the least, we must reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 80 percent by the year 2050, if we stand a chance to reverse global warming.”