[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 159 (2013), Part 3]
[House]
[Page 3368]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                 LET'S GET SERIOUS ABOUT CLIMATE CHANGE

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Oregon (Mr. DeFazio) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. DeFAZIO. Madam Speaker, today, I rise as a member of the Safe 
Climate Caucus to talk about an important new report on climate change. 
Of late, the discussion over global warming has focused on temperatures 
in the last 118 years, when standardized record-keeping began. 
Primarily, the best and most comprehensive research on temperatures has 
gone back only as far as 2,000 years.
  Climate change deniers are complaining these studies have been 
shortsighted, that they haven't taken into account that warming going 
on today could have happened naturally thousands of years ago. Climate 
change impacts today are a result of natural fluctuations, they say.
  There is some scientific basis to that claim. Variations in how the 
Earth is tilted in its orbit around the Sun make for a pattern of 
planetary warming and cooling phases over thousands of years. During 
some phases the Earth heats up; in others it cools down.
  Last week, scientists from Oregon State University, including two 
constituents of mine, Shaun Marcott and Alan Mix, joined with our 
colleagues from Harvard University and published a study in the journal 
Science, peer reviewed, that provides new context on today's climate 
and rising temperatures.
  Instead of looking at temperatures from the last 118 years or even 
2,000 years, Marcott, Mix, and their colleagues examined temperatures 
going back a little further, 11,300 years--the entire Holocene period. 
The findings are sobering and a wake-up call, and should be a wake-up 
call to the Members of this institution.
  We already knew the Earth is warmer than it was over much of the last 
2,000 years. That has been confirmed by a mountain of scientific 
evidence. But thanks to the work of Marcott, Mix, and their colleagues, 
we know it is warmer on Earth presently than over much of the past 
11,300 years. In fact, we have experienced almost the same range of 
temperature change over the last 100 years, coinciding with the 
invention and widespread use of engines and turbines powered by fossil 
fuels, as over the previous 11,000 years of Earth history. I want to 
repeat that for emphasis. Rising temperatures over the last century 
have been greater than the temperature increases over the previous 
hundred centuries combined.
  It shows that human activity reversed a cooling pattern of 5,000 
years of 1.3 degrees Fahrenheit in 100 years. It is extraordinary. And 
their projections for the future are also very sobering.
  Climate deniers are running out of excuses. They said, 118 years not 
enough, 2,000 years not enough. Well, how about 11,300 years of 
certified research? They say it is biased by region. This was done in 
73 sites around the entire planet.
  We have heard about solar insolation. Well, according to this claim, 
we should be now at the bottom of a long-term cooling trend. Whoops, 
that is not happening. That shows that this solar insolation theory 
doesn't hold up either.
  In short, this confirms what those of us who believe in science 
already know: manmade climate change is real, it is progressing 
quickly, and we must take action. But that is not happening in the 
House of Representatives. During the last Congress, House Republicans 
voted 53 times to block action on climate change. Time and time again, 
they voted to know nothing and do nothing. They argued that science 
isn't settled, but they vote to cut funding for climate science.
  Here are a few of my favorite quotes from my colleagues on the other 
side of the aisle:

       Human-induced global climate change is one of the great 
     hoaxes perpetuated out of the scientific community.

  Another colleague: Media conspiracy to promote climate change.
  Yet another one: Shady scientists.
  And then my favorite:

       Better known, however, is global warming movement's 
     commitment to severely restrict the use of private 
     automobiles. The rich will still have their limos, and, of 
     course, their private jets. Carbon offsets will cede to that. 
     The rest of us will not be able to travel by plane and will 
     be stuck sitting at home or sitting next to a gang member on 
     public transportation.

  Yes, that was actually said on the floor of the House of 
Representatives.
  Madam Speaker, it's time to stop the nonsense and the blather and get 
serious about climate change. The evidence is in. The only question is 
whether the United States House of Representatives will listen and act.

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