[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 160 (2014), Part 3]
[House]
[Pages 4351-4352]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                          SAFE CLIMATE CAUCUS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from 
California (Mrs. Capps) for 5 minutes.
  Mrs. CAPPS. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to call attention to a critical 
issue that is hurting our communities, it is hurting our economy and 
our environment, and that issue is climate change.
  Climate change is already having real impacts, affecting real people 
and real communities with more extreme storms, severe droughts, heat 
waves, and more. We are beginning to see long-term and serious impacts 
on public health, on agriculture, and natural resources.
  Of course, climate change not only impacts us here onshore, but 
offshore as well. Ocean acidification, one of the most serious impacts 
of climate change, is changing the chemistry of our oceans and 
threatening the economic future of our coastal communities.
  As our oceans absorb more and more carbon from the atmosphere, they 
grow more and more acidic, threatening many marine organisms and the 
communities that depend upon them.
  Experts are telling us that today's rate of ocean acidification may 
be unprecedented in the Earth's history. It is estimated to be 
increasing 10 to 100 times faster than any time in the past 50 million 
years.
  Ocean acidification threatens everything from the tiny plankton to 
form

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the foundation of marine food webs, to the larger shellfish that we all 
enjoy. These impacts will not only hurt our ocean ecosystems and 
environment, but they will significantly hurt our economy as well.
  The oceans support one in every six American jobs; so without healthy 
oceans, we stand to lose a lot of American jobs and economic 
opportunities, not to mention the cultural, ecological, and 
recreational losses to our coastal communities.
  In my district, there is a diverse array of fishermen, scientists, 
and nongovernmental organizations who are all seriously concerned about 
this issue. They are coming together to find ways to better understand 
and mitigate the effects of ocean acidification on key fisheries and 
ecosystems.
  While the initial costs may be felt locally, the long-term costs of 
ocean acidification will be felt around this globe. We simply can't 
afford to continue ignoring this critical problem. While we certainly 
must cut the greenhouse gas emissions that are driving climate change 
and ocean acidification, we must also prepare for the inevitable 
impacts.
  That is why I am working with my colleagues to find bipartisan 
solutions to increase our understanding of ocean acidification and to 
develop adaptation strategies.
  That means supporting efforts to increase research and to monitor a 
better understanding of the problem, and it means coordinating and 
planning on a local level to prepare communities for changing coastal 
landscape. That means forming strategic partnerships to increase our 
capacity to find creative solutions.
  There are many things we can do to help, but there is one thing we 
must all agree upon: inaction is not an option.
  Mr. Speaker, we have a responsibility to help prepare our communities 
and our economy from the impacts of climate change. We cannot afford to 
sit on our hands and do nothing.
  I urge my colleagues to join me in taking action to save our oceans 
to combat global climate change.

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