    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: WILLIAM J. CLINTON (2000, Book I)]
    [June 12, 2000]
    [Pages 1129-1132]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Remarks at a Millennium Matinee at the White House
    June 12, 2000

    [The First Lady opened the program
    and introduced the event's featured speakers: Marcia McNutt, president and chief executive officer, Monterey Bay
    Aquarium Research Institute; and Neil de Grasse Tyson, associate astronomer and Frederick P. Rose director, Hayden Planetarium. Dr. McNutt then
    discussed ocean exploration, and Dr. Tyson discussed space exploration.]

        The President.  Well. [Laughter] I have a hundred questions. Before
    I open the floor to questions, I just would like to make a couple of
    points.
        First, I want to thank Dr. Tyson
    and Dr. McNutt for truly fulfilling the spirit
    of this wonderful old room. It was in this room, on this floor, with
    maps and books on animal skins, that Thomas Jefferson and Meriwether
    Lewis planned the Lewis and Clark expedition. They were exploring the
    far reaches of North America, looking for an ocean no one believed at
    that time you could reach by land. Today our speakers have taken us on a
    very different journey of discovery. They have shown us that new
    evidence is emerging from both the seas and space about so many things
    but, as you have heard, among other things, about the challenge of
    global climate change.
        Just this morning some of our leading scientists released a draft
    report that provides some of the most detailed information yet about the
    potential impacts of global warming on our Nation. Some of its findings,
    because it's a draft, may be revised, but essentially this report pulls
    together an enormous amount of scientific analysis, and as our previous
    speakers have done, it paints quite a sobering picture of the future. It
    suggests that changes in climate could mean more extreme weather, more
    floods, more droughts, disrupted water supplies, loss of species,
    dangerously rising sea levels.
        Now, I have tried for several years to get the United States to
    respond to do our part. We are the largest emitter of greenhouse gases
    in the world. In the next couple of decades, China and India will
    surpass us, unless we all take advantage of the fundamental changes in
    the nature of the economy to prove that we can have economic growth and
    reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
        So it is--if you'll forgive me, I want to make one earthly plea,
    which is that the Congress stop blocking our commonsense efforts to
    combat global warming. We need a climate change on Capitol Hill on this
    issue. And it should not be a partisan issue. This is about science.
    This is about evidence. This is about things that are bigger than all of
    us and very much about our obligation to these children here to give
    them a future on this planet. We are not yet

    [[Page 1130]]

    prepared to live under the sea, as we have just been told.
        I'd also like to make one other announcement about ocean
    exploration. In spite of all that we learn today and all that is known,
    more than 95 percent of the underwater world remains unknown and unseen.
    And what remains to be explored could hold clues to the origins of life
    on Earth, to links to our maritime history, to cures for diseases. The
    blood of the horseshoe crab, for example, provides a vital antibacterial
    agent. A potential anticancer drug may come from a deep sea sponge.
        Two years ago today we held the first National Oceans Conference in
    Monterey, to bring experts together to chart a common agenda for the
    21st century. Among the key recommendations that grew out of that
    Conference was the need to establish a national ocean exploration
    strategy.
        One of the success stories that has come out so far occurred half a
    world away on the Navy vessel, the Trieste, which you saw in the video.
    In 1960 the Trieste went to an area called the Challenger Deep in the
    Pacific, the deepest spot in any ocean, nearly 7 miles down. Only two
    people have been there. One of those brave explorers was a young officer
    named Don Walsh. President Eisenhower gave him the
    Legion of Merit here in the White House more than 40 years ago. He's
    here today, and I'd like to ask him to stand up. Mr. Walsh. [Applause] I
    might say, he looks fit enough to make the journey again. [Laughter]
        I would also like to recognize the man who discovered the wreckage
    of the  Titanic  is here, Dr. Bob Ballard.
    Can you stand up? [Applause]
        I want to announce some new steps we're taking. First, three new,
    first-of-their-kind expeditions off the Atlantic, Pacific, and gulf
    coasts, voyages led by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric
    Administration in partnership with major research institutions. These
    expeditions will allow the first detailed exploration of the Hudson
    Canyon off New York--it's an underwater version of the Grand Canyon,
    only larger; the Middle Grounds and Big Bend areas off Florida, which
    include some of the oldest life forms on Earth, giant tube worms--you
    saw some on the film--up to 250 years old; and the Davidson Seamount, an
    inactive ocean floor volcano off Monterey. In each expedition,
    researchers will use cutting-edge deep sea diving technologies and share
    their discoveries with schools and the public through the Internet.
        Second, to ensure that these voyages are the start of the new era of
    ocean exploration, I'm directing the Secretary of Commerce to assemble a
    panel of leading ocean explorers, educators, and scientists to develop
    recommendations for a national ocean exploration strategy and to report
    back to me in 120 days. These steps could bring about, quite literally,
    a sea change in our understanding of the oceans.
        We must continue as a nation to set out for new frontiers, whether
    under the sea or into the heavens. We must continue to try to conquer
    the seemingly impossible, to discover the unimaginable, to find out more
    about what's out there and, in the process, about ourselves and what's
    here.
        I would like to ask the first question, and then we'll turn it over
    to the regular process and the many thousands of questions that must be
    out there in this room and beyond here. I'd like to ask Dr.
    McNutt and Dr. Tyson what they think the most likely discovery in the next
    10 years in their field is that would have a significant impact on how
    we live on Earth or what our understanding of our system is.
        Thank you.
        You go first. [Laughter]

    [Dr. McNutt responded that the most important
    discovery within the next decade, hopefully, would be to learn to
    preserve the oceans, keeping them healthy and productive rather than
    depleting them.]

        The President.  If I could just emphasize one thing. The point you
    just made is related not only to pollution, to additional pollution of
    the ocean and overfishing but also to climate change. When I was in
    Monterey Bay, I saw small creatures right in the bay that just 20 years
    ago were 20 miles south. They had made their way 20 miles in 20 years,
    these minuscule creatures, because before that it was too cold in
    Monterey for the creatures to exist.
        This is real, and we have got--I hate to keep beating on this, but
    you know what kids used to say several years ago, that denial is not
    just a river in Egypt. [Laughter] We have got to come to grips with
    this. And you were terrific, what you said about it in your
    presentation. Thank you.
        Dr. Tyson.

    [[Page 1131]]

    [Dr. Tyson responded that possibly
    within the next decade, exploration on Mars or Europa might produce
    confirmable evidence of extraterrestrial life. White House Millennium
    Council Director Ellen Lovell then led the
    question-and-answer portion of the program. The First Lady read an Internet question asking the President
    if sending a manned mission to Mars before 2030 would be an appropriate
    national priority.]

        The President.  Well, let me say, one of the interesting things to
    me was--about the previous discussion--were the comments that were made
    by both our speakers about the importance of robotic exploration of the
    deep sea and outer space and about what could be done now with the
    technology.
        So I would leave the question of that first to the space program.
    But if Dan Goldin told me that we needed to
    send a man to Mars to find out what we need to know, then I would
    strongly support it, because I think the United States would make a
    terrible mistake to weaken either its space exploration or its undersea
    exploration. I think we should accelerate it. I think we should invest
    more money in it, and I think we should keep pushing the frontiers of
    knowledge.
        We just went through a very wrenching period where NASA had to
    basically learn to do more with less. We were trying to get rid of this
    terrible deficit. Now we've got a surplus. We're paying down our
    national debt. We're investing in our future. And I think a big part of
    that investment ought to be the broadest possible commitment to science
    and technology, including vigorous, vigorous exploration of outer space
    and the depths of the ocean.
        That's what I believe, and I hope that that will be a commitment the
    American people will extract from their candidates in this election
    season and in every one for the foreseeable future, because it's very,
    very important.

    [Dr. Sylvia Earle, explorer in residence,
    National Geographic Society, and director, Sustainable Seas Expedition,
    asked about the possibilities for a 21st century focus on further ocean
    exploration in contrast to the 20th century focus on space exploration.
    Dr. McNutt responded that the ocean budget was
    a tenth of the space budget and could not sustain much of an exploration
    program at its present level.]

        The President.  If I could just say one word to complement that. My
    Science Adviser, Dr. Neal Lane, is here. We
    have tried very hard to increase the entire budget for science and
    technology and especially the research budgets. And basically, what
    happens is, we get in this debate with Congress. They are more than
    happy to invest more money in the National Institutes of Health, and
    that's good. We all want to live forever, even though we're not.
    [Laughter] But there is a--one of the things that I think needs to be
    addressed, and we're trying to right it a little here in this last
    budget process I'll be a part of--but I've been fighting this for 3
    years now. It's a terrible mistake to think that the only kind of
    scientific research we need to be healthy on this planet is in
    biomedical research. It's very important, but to have just that and to
    neglect what we should be doing in space, what we should be doing in the
    oceans, what we should be doing with nanotechnology, what we should be
    doing with a whole range of other technology-related issues, all of
    which in the end have to be developed if we're going to know as much as
    we can about how to live as long and well as we'd like to on this
    Earth--it's a huge debate. So if any of you can make any contribution to
    righting that balance, I for one would be very grateful. It's a major,
    major intellectual challenge that we face in the congressional debate.
        Again, I say this should not be a partisan issue. This is a question
    of what is the right way to do the most for our people in the new
    century.

    [The question-and-answer portion of the program continued. After a final
    question about the possibility of discovering Earth-like planets
    associated with other solar systems, Ms. Lovell
    asked the President to conclude the program.]

        The President.  Well, I don't know what to say. [Laughter] You know,
    if they're all out there, I hope they have the best of what we have and
    fewer headaches. [Laughter]
        Let me say, Hillary and I have enjoyed every one of these, but this
    has been very, very special. I think our guests were both terrific and
    all of you who asked questions. Albert Einstein once said, ``The
    important thing is to not stop questioning,'' which is just what they
    said. So you don't have to stop questioning, but you do have to stop
    doing it right here because we're out of time.

    [[Page 1132]]

        And I would like to invite all of you to join us in the State Dining
    Room for a reception in honor of our guests and all the students and
    everyone else who is here. Let's go in there, and you can continue your
    questions. Thank you very much.

     Note:  The White House Millennium Matinee, entitled ``Exploration:
    Under the Sea, Beyond the Stars,'' the ninth in a series of Millennium
    programs, began at 2:37 p.m. in the East Room at the White House. The
    transcript released by the Office of the Press Secretary also included
    the remarks of the First Lady, Dr. Tyson, Dr. McNutt, Ms. Lovell, and
    the participants in the question-and-answer portion of the program. The
    program was cybercast on the Internet.