Volume 157, No. 73 covering the 1st Session of the 112th Congress (2011 - 2012) was published by the Congressional Record.
The Congressional Record is a unique source of public documentation. It started in 1873, documenting nearly all the major and minor policies being discussed and debated.
“SEE NO CLIMATE CHANGE” mentioning the Environmental Protection Agency was published in the House of Representatives section on pages H3413-H3414 on May 25, 2011.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
SEE NO CLIMATE CHANGE
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Oregon (Mr. Blumenauer) for 5 minutes.
Mr. BLUMENAUER. Mr. Speaker, it has been my privilege to work on issues of reduction of greenhouse gases for over 25 years. I was Portland's commissioner of public works when we became the first American city with a comprehensive approach to deal with greenhouse gases. For 4 years I was pleased to serve on Speaker Pelosi's Select Committee on Global Warming and Energy Independence, where we had an opportunity to work with people around the world looking at climate impacts, dealing with dozens of hearings, hundreds of experts concerned with the challenge, the even greater problems that we are facing in the future.
Yet, I would say that in the years that I have been working on this issue, I have never seen a better, more effective statement than what appeared in yesterday's Washington Post, an essay by Bill McKibben entitled ``See no climate change.'' He said, you should not wonder, is this somehow related to the tornado outbreak 3 weeks ago in Tuscaloosa, or the enormous outbreak a couple weeks before with the most active tornado season in America's history. You should not connect in your mind the fires burning across Texas, fires that have burned more of America at this point this year than any wildfires in previous years. Or that the adjoining parts of Oklahoma and New Mexico are drier now than they have ever been, much worse than during the Dust Bowl. You should not wonder whether this year's record snowfalls and rainfalls across the Midwest, resulting in record flooding along the Mississippi, could somehow be related.
There have been tornadoes before. There will be tornadoes again. That's the important thing. Be careful to make sure you don't let yourself wonder while all these record-breaking events are happening in such proximity. Wondering why there have been unprecedented megafloods in Australia, New Zealand, and Pakistan in the last year. Why it's just now that the Arctic has melted for the first time in thousands of years.
He goes on, because if you ask yourself what it meant that the Amazon has just gone through its second hundred-year flood in 5 years, or that the pine forests across the West of this continent have been obliterated by bark beetles, you might have to ask other questions. It's better to join with the U.S. House of Representatives, who voted 240-184 this spring to defeat a resolution saying simply that climate change is occurring, caused largely by human activities, and poses significant risks for human welfare.
Propose your own physics. Ignore physics altogether. Just don't start asking yourself whether there might be some relationship among last year's failed grain harvest in the Russian heat wave and Queensland's failed grain harvest from its second flood, and Germany and France's current drought-related crop failures. It's important, Bill says, to remain calm. If the worst ever did come to worst, it's reassuring to remember that the U.S. Chamber of Commerce told the Environmental Protection Agency in recent filings that there's no need to worry because populations can acclimate to warmer climates via a range of behavioral, physiological, and technological adaptations. Bill says, I'm sure that's what the residents in Joplin, Missouri, are telling themselves today.
Mr. Speaker, I couldn't agree more. It is important for Americans to think about how these pieces fit together. And Members of Congress should ask themselves two questions. First, even if you don't believe the experts on the danger of climate change, shouldn't we be taking extraordinary steps to stop wasting more energy than anybody in the world and exporting billions of dollars overseas to other countries for our energy? That's question one. The second question that I hope Members of Congress will ask themselves, what if 99.9 percent of the scientists are right and we are doing it to ourselves?
See No Climate Change
(By Bill McKibben)
Caution: It is vitally important not to make connections. When you see pictures of rubble like this week's shots from Joplin, Mo., you should not wonder: Is this somehow related to the tornado outbreak three weeks ago in Tuscaloosa, Ala., or the enormous outbreak a couple of weeks before that
(which, together, comprised the most active April for tornadoes in U.S. history). No, that doesn't mean a thing.
It is far better to think of these as isolated, unpredictable, discrete events. It is not advisable to try to connect them in your mind with, say, the fires burning across Texas--fires that have burned more of America at this point this year than any wildfires have in previous years. Texas, and adjoining parts of Oklahoma and New Mexico, are drier than they've ever been--the drought is worse than that of the Dust Bowl. But do not wonder if they're somehow connected.
If you did wonder, you see, you would also have to wonder about whether this year's record snowfalls and rainfalls across the Midwest--resulting in record flooding along the Mississippi--could somehow be related. And then you might find your thoughts wandering to, oh, global warming, and to the fact that climatologists have been predicting for years that as we flood the atmosphere with carbon we will also start both drying and flooding the planet, since warm air holds more water vapor than cold air.
It's far smarter to repeat to yourself the comforting mantra that no single weather event can ever be directly tied to climate change. There have been tornadoes before, and floods--that's the important thing. Just be careful to make sure you don't let yourself wonder why all these record-breaking events are happening in such proximity--that is, why there have been unprecedented megafloods in Australia, New Zealand and Pakistan in the past year. Why it's just now that the Arctic has melted for the first time in thousands of year. No, better to focus on the immediate casualties, watch the videotape from the store cameras as the shelves are blown over. Look at the news anchorman standing in his waders in the rising river as the water approaches his chest.
Because if you asked yourself what it meant that the Amazon has just come through its second hundred-year drought in the past five years, or that the pine forests across the western part of this continent have been obliterated by a beetle in the past decade--well, you might have to ask other questions. Such as: Should President Obama really just have opened a huge swath of Wyoming to new coal mining? Should Secretary of State Hillary Clinton sign a permit this summer allowing a huge new pipeline to carry oil from the tar sands of Alberta? You might also have to ask yourself: Do we have a bigger problem than $4-a-gallon gasoline?
Better to join with the U.S. House of Representatives, which voted 240 to 184 this spring to defeat a resolution saying simply that ``climate change is occurring, is caused largely by human activities, and poses significant risks for public health and welfare.'' Propose your own physics; ignore physics altogether. Just don't start asking yourself whether there might be some relation among last year's failed grain harvest from the Russian heat wave, and Queensland's failed grain harvest from its record flood, and France's and Germany's current drought-related crop failures, and the death of the winter wheat crop in Texas, and the inability of Midwestern farmers to get corn planted in their sodden fields. Surely the record food prices are just freak outliers, not signs of anything systemic.
It's very important to stay calm. If you got upset about any of this, you might forget how important it is not to disrupt the record profits of our fossil fuel companies. If worst ever did come to worst, it's reassuring to remember what the U.S. Chamber of Commerce told the Environmental Protection Agency in a recent filing: that there's no need to worry because ``populations can acclimatize to warmer climates via a range of behavioral, physiological, and technological adaptations.'' I'm pretty sure that's what residents are telling themselves in Joplin today.
____________________
Alerts Sign-up