[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 71 (Tuesday, May 2, 1995)]
[Senate]
[Pages S6001-S6002]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   THE 25TH ANNIVERSARY OF EARTH DAY

  Mr. DASCHLE. Mr. President, more than a hundred years ago, Sitting 
Bull, chief of the Lakota Sioux Indians, implored Americans: ``Let us 
put our minds together and see what life we can make for our 
children.''
  I thought of that plea again on Saturday, April 22, the 25th 
anniversary of Earth Day.
  Much has changed since the first Earth Day.
  More and more, Americans recognize that conserving our natural 
resources and safeguarding a clean environment is in everyone's best 
interests. It is, as Theodore Roosevelt said, the patriotic duty of 
every American.
  Congress has attempted to fulfill that responsibility by passing laws 
such as the Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act, Safe Drinking Water Act, 
and the Federal Land Policy Management Act. As a result of these and 
other protections, the water Americans drink and the air we breathe is 
cleaner than it was 25 years ago.
  We also understand much more about how the delicate Earth system 
works and about the effects of human actions on the environment. For 
example, earth scientists have come to recognize that the Earth's 
climate is changing 
[[Page S6002]]  because of human actions that alter the composition of 
the atmosphere. Geologists tell us that global climate change could 
increase the frequency of droughts and floods.
  We now appreciate that these events can have direct socioeconomic 
consequences for individuals and communities.
  We need to build on this knowledge and our successes, not undo them.
  Clearly, we cannot and will not tolerate laws and rules that 
frustrate businesses and justify redtape. We must be willing to heed 
the lessons of the last 25 years and adjust our environmental laws to 
be more efficient and less burdensome.
  But, we must not exploit the current frustration with Government to 
gut all laws protecting our environment.
  Those who claim we must eviscerate environmental rules in order to 
sustain our economy are at best disingenuous. They know--we all know--
that we cannot strengthen our economy if we destroy our environment. In 
fact, establishing policies for a sustainable environment is an 
economic necessity. We must develop policies using balance, reason, and 
good science.
  We will debate many important environmental issues in this Congress. 
Let us hold ourselves to those standards: balance, reason, and good 
science.
  Pollution does not respect ideological boundaries. So our efforts to 
prevent pollution, to clean up mistakes from our past, and to plan 
thoughtfully for the future on this delicate planet must transcend 
those boundaries.
  In my lifetime, the world population has doubled, and the U.S. 
population has soared from 150 million to 260 million people. At 
current growth rates, it's projected that the U.S. population will 
double--to 522 million people--just 60 years from now.
  The cold, hard truth is that the Earth cannot supply the resources to 
sustain such a large human population unless we change our consumption 
and conservation practices now.
  Earth Day reminds us that the Earth is not an infinitely bountiful 
cornucopia. Rather, it is a planet of finite resources from which comes 
the materials for our food, clothing, and shelter. We must learn to 
live within its geological and biological limits.
  Environmental issues are often expressed in by scientists in 
complicated, technical terms. But the essential issue is really quite 
simple and critical for all of us to embrace. President Theodore 
Roosevelt put it best early in this century when he said: ``A nation 
behaves well if it treats its natural resources as assets which it must 
turn over to the next generation increased--not impaired--in value.''
  We have an obligation to our children and our children's children to 
safeguard their future, to preserve the water, soil, air, minerals, 
rivers, and oceans that are the resource base of this diverse planet 
and the many life forms that inhabit it.
  Last week, students at the Grandview Elementary School in Rapid City 
spoke with me about pressing environmental problems and possible 
solutions.
  Let us not disappoint our children. Let us, Democrats and Republicans 
alike, heed Sitting Bull's plea to ``put our heads together,'' to work 
together, ``to see what life we can make for our children.''


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