[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 20 (Wednesday, February 3, 2021)]
[House]
[Page H314]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              {time}  1800
                       BUILDING A GREENER PLANET

  (Mr. CASTEN asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute.)
  Mr. CASTEN. Madam Speaker, climate change is an existential treat to 
our species. Atmospheric CO2 levels are now higher than at 
any point in the last 3 million years. Half of all those emissions were 
released since 1985. We are in trouble, and that trouble is 
accelerating, but addressing that trouble is a massive economic 
opportunity.
  Rather than being paralyzed by fear, let's inspire Americans toward 
that opportunity, because virtually anything we do to reduce 
CO2 emissions makes us wealthier. Making heat and power 
without burning fossil fuel means you don't have to pay for fossil 
fuel. Clean energy is cheap energy.
  For those who still like pollution, all that future generations ask 
you is to love being rich a little bit more. And that is why I was so 
heartened to see President Biden's recent executive orders procuring 
clean energy for the Federal Government, phasing out market-distorting 
fossil fuel subsidies, incorporating the social cost of carbon into our 
decisionmaking, to name just a few, and that is just the start.
  Madam Speaker, let us all in this body now build on that leadership. 
Let us build back better and build back greener. Let us leave our 
children a better planet than the one we inherited. Let us embrace 
science. But most of all, let us lead.

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