[Congressional Record Volume 154, Number 84 (Wednesday, May 21, 2008)]
[Senate]
[Pages S4614-S4615]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      SOLUTIONS TO CLIMATE CHANGE

  Mr. BARRASSO. Mr. President, earlier this spring, I introduced 
legislation to address the challenge of how to deal with greenhouse 
gases. The bill is called the Greenhouse Gas Emissions Atmospheric 
Removal Act, or the GEAR Act.
  Members of this body have discussed various proposals to regulate the 
output of greenhouse gases. Some advocate doing it through a cap-and-
trade approach. Others have advocated a carbon tax. Such proposals are 
aimed at limiting future carbon output into the atmosphere. Many 
proposals have been introduced and debated using this approach of 
dealing with carbon output.
  We want to protect our environment and we want a strong economy. The 
way to have both is by thinking anew and acting anew. It is time to use 
our untapped human potential and the American spirit to develop the 
technologies we need.
  The Senate will soon be debating climate legislation. I believe we 
should identify solutions through imagination, innovation, and 
invention, not through limits.
  It is my hope and my goal that the GEAR Act will foster the kind of 
solutions that we need to address the concerns about climate change.
  Recently, there was a very thoughtful editorial which was printed in 
``Wyoming Agriculture,'' which is published by the Wyoming Farm Bureau 
Federation.
  The editorial was written by Ken Hamilton. Ken is the executive vice 
president of the Wyoming Farm Bureau. I believe he does a terrific job 
of summing up the feelings of Wyoming people on the need to find 
practical ``real'' solutions to climate change.
  I recommend it to my colleagues and ask unanimous consent that it be 
printed in the Record.
  Ther being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in 
the Record as follows:

                You Can't Have Your Cake And Eat It Too

            (By Ken Hamilton, WyFB Executive Vice President)

       One of the first little sayings you probably heard when you 
     were growing up was that you can't have your cake and eat it 
     too. Generally everyone will agree that this is self evident, 
     but that doesn't stop Americans (and probably people in other 
     countries) from always trying to have it both ways.
       This is never more evident than the actions surrounding 
     global warming. We are continually being bombarded by 
     pronouncements about man caused global warming (it's hovering 
     around 4 degrees with a 25 mph breeze blowing as I write 
     this). When I was discussing this global warming issue with a 
     friend, he said what people need to do is stop arguing with 
     the activists over whether there is man caused global warming 
     and start asking them what their solutions are going to be.
       The more I thought about it the more I realized the whole 
     global warming debate is absent any discussion of real 
     solutions. We hear vague pronouncements about a greenhouse 
     gas tax, but not much else. And none have enough details to 
     fully analyze what the impact will be on people. There are 
     numerous shows on television where people are talking about 
     reducing their ``carbon footprint'', but most of these 
     solutions revolve around still living the lifestyle you want 
     while feeling good about using a material someone has 
     pronounced as ``green.''
       For instance, one of the new ``green'' materials for 
     flooring in houses now is bamboo. Why someone feels this is 
     greener than oak or pine is beyond me, but nevertheless 
     apparently it is. The interesting thing is that while 
     everyone is talking green, they are busy building a house 
     that's twice the square footage of a generation ago. Our 
     grandparents lived in a house where one or two rooms had heat 
     part of the time. In today's modern homes there is heat 
     running to every room, plus a television set in half of them, 
     a minimum two-car garage (heated of course) and appliances 
     that grandma couldn't even dream about. All of these, of 
     course have some ``green'' marketing gimmick attached to 
     them, so, you guessed it, people can live in even bigger 
     houses while feeling good about doing their part.
       But if meaningful curbs in greenhouse gases must occur as 
     they profess, then there shouldn't be houses with two-car 
     garages. You don't find those sorts of things in third world 
     countries where the people's carbon footprint is less than 
     here. Dishwashers must go as well as washing machines, 
     dryers, and central heating. In third world countries where 
     they don't have such a big carbon footprint, health clubs are 
     not needed, nor are double ovens.
       Arnold Schwarzenegger, who is in a panic over global 
     warming, should stop driving around in his Humvee. In fact, 
     to adequately address this issue, he should stop driving 
     period.
       But we don't see any of this happening and probably won't 
     in the future. The people worried about global warming are 
     still driving to work every day. They come home to heated and 
     air conditioned homes, turn on

[[Page S4615]]

     their 42-inch flat panel television while getting their meal 
     delivered by a college freshman in a fuel-efficient \3/4\-ton 
     four-wheel drive vehicle so they don't have to crank up one 
     of those double ovens and hear the latest news about climate 
     change. Recently a weather event caused a power outage in 
     Arnold's state and not once did I hear him say, ``thank 
     goodness, now we can start to do something meaningful about 
     man caused global warming.''
       Politicians and proponents of global warming only want to 
     personally do something about global warming if it doesn't 
     mean a cold house in the winter or a hot one in the summer. 
     Health clubs will still be needed because people won't walk 
     to work and will need to get some exercise somewhere. And 
     pine forests will grow old, die and burn while folks feel 
     good about their bamboo floors. Thinking all along that they 
     are getting their cake and eating it too.

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