IV 112th CONGRESS 2d Session H. RES. 835 IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES December 18, 2012 Mr. Kucinich submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce, and in addition to the Committee on Foreign Affairs, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned RESOLUTION Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that the United States should adopt a target of 350 parts per million of atmospheric carbon dioxide by which to evaluate domestic and international climate change policies, and for other purposes.

Whereas the average concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere was 392 parts per million in 2011; Whereas the effects of climate change are already being felt around the world in the form of extreme weather, encroaching disease, water shortages, acidifying oceans, species loss, and increasing atmospheric temperatures; Whereas the scientific consensus is that climate change is caused by increases in concentrations of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases in the atmosphere from human activity; Whereas the atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide before the industrial revolution was 275 parts per million; Whereas a scientifically derived target concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere provides predictability, accountability, and consistency; Whereas it may be impossible to know when a tipping point will pass until it has already passed; Whereas ecological changes which could contribute to or constitute tipping points include the amount of reflective surface area on the Earth now provided primarily by ice and snow; the release of gigatons of methane deposits, which have well over 15 times the warming capacity of carbon dioxide, in permafrost or at the bottom of the ocean; and the growing acidification of the ocean and loss of forest cover due to deforestation and forest fires, which is hindering their ability to continue to absorb atmospheric carbon dioxide; and Whereas prominent earth scientists such as James Hansen of NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies and Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Chair and Nobel Laureate Rajendra Pachauri, as well as global leaders and Nobel Laureates such as Al Gore and Archbishop Desmond Tutu support a target concentration of 350 parts per million of atmospheric carbon dioxide: Now, therefore, be it

That it is the sense of the House of Representatives that— (1)the United States should adopt a target of 350 parts per million of atmospheric carbon dioxide by which to evaluate domestic and international climate change policies; and (2)the United States should develop domestic and international policies that are sufficiently flexible to accommodate advancing science in the event that a change in the target of 350 parts per million of atmospheric carbon dioxide becomes warranted.