[House Hearing, 116 Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
VOICES LEADING THE NEXT GENERATION ON THE GLOBAL CLIMATE CRISIS
=======================================================================
HEARING
BEFORE THE
SUBCOMMITTEE ON EUROPE, EURASIA, ENERGY, AND THE ENVIRONMENT
OF THE
COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN AFFAIRS
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
ONE HUNDRED SIXTEENTH CONGRESS
FIRST SESSION
__________
September 18, 2019
__________
Serial No. 116-62
__________
Printed for the use of the Committee on Foreign Affairs
[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
Available: http://www.foreignaffairs.house.gov/, http://
docs.house.gov,
or http://www.govinfo.gov
______
U.S. GOVERNMENT PUBLISHING OFFICE
37-705 PDF WASHINGTON : 2019
COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN AFFAIRS
ELIOT L. ENGEL, New York, Chairman
BRAD SHERMAN, California MICHAEL T. McCAUL, Texas, Ranking
GREGORY W. MEEKS, New York Member
ALBIO SIRES, New Jersey CHRISTOPHER H. SMITH, New Jersey
GERALD E. CONNOLLY, Virginia STEVE CHABOT, Ohio
THEODORE E. DEUTCH, Florida JOE WILSON, South Carolina
KAREN BASS, California SCOTT PERRY, Pennsylvania
WILLIAM KEATING, Massachusetts TED S. YOHO, Florida
DAVID CICILLINE, Rhode Island ADAM KINZINGER, Illinois
AMI BERA, California LEE ZELDIN, New York
JOAQUIN CASTRO, Texas JIM SENSENBRENNER, Wisconsin
DINA TITUS, Nevada ANN WAGNER, Missouri
ADRIANO ESPAILLAT, New York BRIAN MAST, Florida
TED LIEU, California FRANCIS ROONEY, Florida
SUSAN WILD, Pennsylvania BRIAN FITZPATRICK, Pennsylvania
DEAN PHILLIPS, Minnesota JOHN CURTIS, Utah
ILHAN OMAR, Minnesota KEN BUCK, Colorado
COLIN ALLRED, Texas RON WRIGHT, Texas
ANDY LEVIN, Michigan GUY RESCHENTHALER, Pennsylvania
ABIGAIL SPANBERGER, Virginia TIM BURCHETT, Tennessee
CHRISSY HOULAHAN, Pennsylvania GREG PENCE, Indiana
TOM MALINOWSKI, New Jersey STEVE WATKINS, Kansas
DAVID TRONE, Maryland MIKE GUEST, Mississippi
JIM COSTA, California
JUAN VARGAS, California
VICENTE GONZALEZ, Texas
Jason Steinbaum, Staff Director
Brendan Shields, Republican Staff Director
------
Subcommittee on Europe, Eurasia, Energy, and The Environment
WILLIAM KEATING, Massachusetts, Chairman
ABIGAIL SPANBERGER, Virginia ADAM KINZINGER, Illinois, Ranking
GREGORY MEEKS, New York Member
ALBIO SIRES, New Jersey JOE WILSON, South Carolina
THEODORE DEUTCH, Florida ANN WAGNER, Missouri
DAVID CICILLINE, Rhode Island JIM SENSENBRENNER, Wisconsin
JOAQUIN CASTRO, Texas FRANCIS ROONEY, Florida
DINA TITUS, Nevada BRIAN FITZPATRICK, Pennsylvania
SUSAN WILD, Pennsylvania GREG PENCE, Indiana
DAVID TRONE, Maryland RON WRIGHT, Texas
JIM COSTA, California MIKE GUEST, Mississippi
VICENTE GONZALEZ, Texas TIM BURCHETT, Tennessee
Gabrielle Gould, Staff Director
INFORMATION REFERRED TO FOR THE RECORD
Information referred from Mr. Graves............................. 8
WITNESSES
Thunberg, Ms. Greta, Founder, Fridays for Future................. 11
Margolin, Ms. Jamie, Co-Founder, This is Zero Hour, Plaintiff,
Piper v. State of Washington................................... 14
Barrett, Mr. Vic, Fellow, Alliance for Climate Education,
Plaintiff, Juliana v. United States............................ 20
Backer, Mr. Benji, President, American Conservation Coalition.... 47
APPENDIX
Hearing Notice................................................... 65
Hearing Minutes.................................................. 66
Hearing Attendance............................................... 67
STATEMENTS FOR THE RECORD SUBMITTED FROM COMMITTEE MEMBERS
Statement submitted for the record from Representative Costa..... 68
ADDITIONAL MATERIALS SUBMITTED FOR THE RECORD
Summary of Policymakers.......................................... 69
Court case....................................................... 92
Submission for the record from Representative Carter............. 100
VOICES LEADING THE NEXT GENERATION ON THE GLOBAL CLIMATE CRISIS
Wednesday, September 18, 2019
House of Representatives,
Subcommittee on Europe, Eurasia,
Energy, and the Environment,
Committee on Foreign Affairs, Joint With the
Select Committee on the Climate Crisis,
Washington, DC
The committees met, pursuant to notice, at 10:11 a.m., in
room 2172, Rayburn House Office Building, Hon. William R.
Keating (chairman of the subcommittee) presiding.
Mr. Keating. The hearing will come to order. Chairman Engel
is joining us. We are here joined by the Select Committee on
Climate Crisis and an esteemed panel of witnesses for this
hearing on ``The Voices Leading the Next Generation on the
Global Climate Crisis.''
I know a few of our witnesses have a hard stop at 11:30 in
order to get to their next event advocating on these issues, so
I will just ask that all the members keep their questioning to
5 minutes or less so we can fit in as many members as possible.
Without objection, all the members may have 5 days to
submit statements, questions, extraneous materials for the
record, subject to the length limitation in the rules.
And I would just like to call on the chairman of the full
committee, who has a few words to offer.
Chairman Engel.
Mr. Engel. Good morning, everyone. I just wanted to invite
everyone to come to the Foreign Affairs Committee, and by the
looks of it, you are all here. I want to welcome everybody.
Climate change is certainly something that is so important,
and the aggravating thing about it is that there are so many
who still deny it. So I look forward to listening to what our
young people are saying today because the world is really their
future, and we owe it to them to do what we can now to make
sure that the world is saved.
And climate change is certainly something that is
happening, and if we do not do anything about it, it will
certainly imperil future generations.
And I am just happy to welcome everybody to the Foreign
Affairs Committee room. Thank you.
Mr. Keating. I would like to thank the chairman.
I would just like to recognize myself for 5 minutes for an
opening statement.
Our panel represents the next generation of leaders, and so
naturally, we are speaking to the future. However, let us be
clear, we are also speaking to the present. We are witnessing
the effects of climate change daily, whether it is storms,
forest fires, floods, and other disasters occurring with
increasing intensity and frequency, increased migration due to
sea level rise, threats to food and water safety. This is the
reality we are facing right now because of climate change.
Regardless of where we live, we all see it when we go home.
I see it every time I go home. My district is in southeastern
Massachusetts and has one of the longest coastlines in the
country and includes island communities. On Cape Cod, we are
anticipating a sea level rise of 1 to 2 meters by 2100 and 3 to
12 meters in the next few hundred years. Erosion and storm
damage cost families and businesses trying to live with more
than they can afford as every storm approaches, and with each
storm we are also worried about the cost to lives as well.
Our historic fishing and lobster industries are threatened
by increasing ocean acidification and rising ocean
temperatures. Our State and local governments are under immense
pressure to address not only sea level rise but air quality
issues. And in spite of having some of the best scientists and
researchers right in that area, in UMass and Woods Hole, it is
an incredible challenge.
There have been efforts spanning generations now in my
district to diversify our energy supply, offshore wind, solar
power that will bring in new jobs, yet there are still major
gaps in access for our communities and a real struggle to
overcome the political and bureaucratic obstacles that go with
making necessary changes to how things are currently.
There must be leadership in addressing climate change
because we, and especially your generation, cannot afford for
things not to change. This is a global issue, and the biggest
polluters are going to be needed to make big changes to do
their part.
But we need to be honest with ourselves as leaders. So far,
our generation has failed to adequately address our climate
crisis. This failure is not fatal, yet our failure to change
will be.
Change happens through leadership. We would not be in this
situation right now, our witnesses would be safely and happily
in school pursuing their dreams and not protesting and pushing
their government to act if everyone was doing their part.
America knows how to lead in a crisis, and it is high time
we pick ourselves up and get back to this fight to bring the
rest of the world with us, because waiting for other countries
to do the right thing is making a bad bet on our future.
There is so much we could and should do right now in our
country. We have bright minds to engineer solutions to the
future. America has shaped revolutions in industry time and
time again, and it has made our country better off every time.
Now the stakes are so much higher, and in spite of all our
resources and ingenuity, the one thing we do not have is time.
The IPCC report warns us that without cuts in carbon emissions,
the world could see an average sea level rise of 62 centimeters
over the course of a lifetime of people born today. That is
over 2 feet. And scientists are gravely concerned that sea
level rise in the next 100 years could be even faster than in
the hundreds of years that preceded it.
I would like to thank our witnesses, extraordinary young
leaders fortified with scientific research, for being here. It
is regrettable they have to be. The Paris agreement should have
been reached decades ago, and we should have been well on our
way by now toward far more aggressive targets, giving
communities and industries the time to adapt and giving you a
much more hopeful outlook on the future.
But here we are, and I hope your testimony today will
galvanize us to act now before we are truly out of time.
Ranking Member Adam Kinzinger for his opening statement.
Mr. Kinzinger. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Thank you all for being here. We appreciate it.
Given the high level of interest in this hearing, the late
start, and the many people that have questions, I will be
brief.
Climate change is real, and the best way to combat it is by
reducing not only our Nation's carbon emission, but that of the
rest of the world.
The changes we are seeing in the climate pose both short-
and long-term challenges, and I believe they can addressed in
two major ways.
First, we need diversity in our energy sources. Energy
diversity is energy security. Similar to one's own personal
investment strategies, this Nation cannot afford to put all its
eggs in one basket. If you are looking to invest, you do not
put all your savings into one stock and let it ride. You
diversify your investments in mutual funds, bonds, real estate,
et cetera.
Second, we need to support market-driven innovations to
develop new clean energy technologies that will put the United
States at the forefront of environmental technology.
Illinois' 16th congressional District is a great example of
what this market-driven strategy would look like. My district
is home to four nuclear reactors which serve--actually, it is
eight reactors, four plants--which serve as the most abundant,
clean, and stable energy source on the planet, as well as
hundreds of wind turbines, solar panels, and geothermal
sources. These diverse sources not only provide year-round
reliable clean energy, but also have produced high-paying jobs
for my constituents.
Around the world, many nations are implementing strategies
to combat climate change, and nuclear must be part of that
strategy. Unfortunately, some of our closest allies are taking
their nuclear reactors offline at a time when we need low
carbon energy sources.
Meanwhile, as the West looks at options to combat climate
change, we all know that China's global emissions continue to
rise. For every ton of carbon dioxide reduced by the United
States, China adds nearly four times as much. Today, the
Chinese account for 30 percent of global emissions.
While some may say that the United States needs to be the
leader of combating climate change, I would say that we already
are. Since 2005, global emissions have increased by 20 percent,
but the United States' emissions have decreased by more than
the next 12 emission-reducing countries combined.
While reducing global emissions is vital, it is also
important to note that there are over one billion people living
without access to electricity. That is one billion people
burning coal and wood for heat, one billion people living with
increased risk for food-borne pathogens, one billion people
living without access to basic sources of information like the
radio.
From a foreign policy standpoint, this should not be
overlooked. The next global health crisis or conflict could
easily come from these communities living in poverty. We must
encourage other developed nations to reduce emissions while
understanding that for economies just getting off the ground it
is not entirely possible, at least not without substantial help
from the United States and our allies.
It is going to take major innovation and breakthroughs to
not only reduce our emissions here at home, but also provide
clean reliable power to those currently living without it.
All Americans want to be good stewards of their
environment. Tesla does not sell cars because of the sound
system, and people do not put solar panels on their roof
because they look good. Consumers, especially young people like
we have today on our panel, want to know that policymakers
share their values. I believe we do and that we will continue
to see market-driven solutions that combat climate change and
provide clean energy to the world.
With that, I yield back the balance of my time.
Mr. Keating. I thank the gentleman for his comments.
The chair now recognizes the chair of the Select Committee
on the Climate Crisis, Ms. Castor.
Ms. Castor. Well, thank you, Chairman Keating, for hosting
this hearing today. Thank you for including the members of the
House Select Committee on the Climate Crisis. We are thrilled
to be here.
The youth climate movement has grabbed the attention of the
world, and it is due to the hard work of many of the students
in this room and many young people all across the planet.
Did you all know that Congress' first major hearing on the
climate crisis was in 1988? Congress has had plenty of
opportunity to understand that burning fossil fuels warms the
planet and alters the Earth's climate. Yet, scientists tell us
that more than half of the carbon pollution that has been
emitted into the atmosphere has occurred since that hearing in
1988.
I have been in Congress since 2007, and we have done some
good things since then. We have raised auto efficiency
standards. We have supported the dramatic expansion of wind and
solar power. We have started to fund the kind of climate
resilience to protect the places that we know and love. But it
is not enough, not by a long shot.
This year, under Speaker Pelosi's leadership, we passed our
first major piece of climate legislation in 10 years. A
bipartisan vote sent H.R. 9, Climate Action Now, to the Senate,
where it awaits action. That Bill takes a commonsense approach
of keeping the United States in the Paris climate agreement,
because the U.S., we should not back down, we should not
surrender, not in the face of the climate crisis. We need to
take bold action now.
Seventy percent of young people in America say they worry
about climate change. I do not blame them. They are doing more
than paying attention in science class. This generation is the
most well-informed and connected generation in history, and
everything they are learning has driven them to a new level of
engagement.
And students are asking policymakers a very powerful
question: What is the point of going to school to learn about
the climate crisis when your elected officials are not doing
enough to act on it?
The climate strike movement has united young people in all
countries, all across the globe. They are cooperating to demand
climate action, and they are asking us to cooperate with allies
to cut carbon pollution and protect our communities.
It is not lost on us that the United States is responsible
for the biggest share of carbon pollution accumulated in the
atmosphere to date, so we have a very serious responsibility to
lead.
But we are also the world's greatest engine of innovation,
and we can do this. We have the solutions. Local communities
and States have acted boldly, but a strong national climate
action plan has been missing.
We have heard from scientists in the select committee
hearings, as we will hear from these young people today, that
we must do more and that we do not have time to waste. Our
answer has to be more than a promise to do better. Our
solutions must equal the challenge before us.
And I bet that 10 or 20 years from now, young people
marching and striking today will be serving in the Congress,
and we need to take bold action now because we cannot leave it
up to them to clean up the mess that Congress has made.
People say this next generation gives us hope, but that is
not quite right, is it? This generation is giving us a job to
do. The job is addressing the climate crisis. If we do our job,
then we will be worthy of their hope because that means we will
have started to create the future that they are fighting for.
The select committee has a mandate to come up with an
action plan for Congress, and we need your ideas. We want the
ideas to come from all corners of this country and beyond. You
can go to climatecrisis.house.gov/inforequest and tell us what
your ideas are to solve the climate crisis. Not all good ideas
emanate from Washington, DC. I think you know that.
But it is only through cooperation, through coming together
in our democracy that we can address the climate crisis. These
young people are rising to the challenge, and we need to rise
with them.
Thank you, and I yield back.
Mr. Keating. Thank you.
The chair now recognizes the ranking member of the select
committee, Mr. Graves.
Mr. Graves. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
And I want to thank you all for being here today. Most
importantly, I want to thank you for engaging in your
government. Most young folks choose to not do that until many
years later.
I have three kids, and we often talk about some of the
impacts that we have seen from climate change and sea rise in
my home State of Louisiana where some of the sea rise impacts
have exacerbated the loss of 2,000 square miles of our coast--
2,000 square miles. To put that in perspective, if that were
the State of Rhode Island, we would have 49 States today in the
United States, meaning the size of an entire State would be
gone.
I agree that we need to take aggressive action. I agree
that we need to ensure that we move forward in a sustainable,
rational manner. But I think it is also important that we
ensure that we are moving forward based on facts.
As Mr. Kinzinger said a few minutes ago, contrary to
popular belief, the United States--the United States--is the
country that has led the world in greenhouse gas reductions. As
stated, we have reduced greenhouse gases more than the next 12
countries combined. We have reduced them more than the next 12
countries combined.
Just last year, we stepped in and made more progress on
adaptation and mitigation strategies than I believe any other
year in this Nation's history, committing more dollars, moving
toward establishing a resiliency standard, ensuring as we are
rebuilding after disasters that we are building to a newer,
higher standard, truly thinking about the future, ensuring that
we are putting record dollars toward proactive efforts to
ensure that our coastal communities and our river-based
communities can be resilient, and continuing to move in this
direction of greenhouse gas reductions.
But I also think that we have got to stop this
ridiculousness of operating myopically or operating as though
the United States is in a vacuum. It is important to keep in
mind that the Energy Information Administration projects that
by 2030, 80 percent of global energy demands--80 percent--are
going to be addressed using fossil fuels. This is the Energy
Information Administration, not some type of partisan hack
group. Eighty percent.
Yet, just last week we had three bills designed to stop
energy production in the United States. Over the weekend, we
had attacks in Saudi Arabia. All that does is increase our
reliance upon energy sources from other countries that have a
lower safety standard and have a lower environmental standard.
Records show, it is crystal clear, that when we import
energy from other places, we actually increase the risk to the
environment, increase the risk of spills, than when we have
domestic energy production.
I hear people talking about how we need to stop all fossil
fuel utilization and stop all these emissions. Right now, as
was stated, for every one ton of carbon emissions we produce in
the United States, China has increased by four tons, more than
offsetting all the reductions that we have had in the United
States.
Moving forward, even under the Paris Accords that folks are
sitting here giving accolades to and saying is a great idea--
and I want to be clear, I support the U.S.' target in the Paris
Accord--I think that signing onto an agreement and agreeing to
something that allows for China to come in and have a 50
percent increase, adding another 5 gigatons of greenhouse gas
emissions annually by 2030, is inappropriate. It is moving in
the wrong direction, not in the right direction.
I also remain confounded reading letters like this one that
says that we need to pressure the Organization of Petroleum
Exporting Countries and cooperating countries to increase world
oil supplies in order to lower prices at the pump. The impact
of rising fuel prices on our economy and on family budgets is
significant and widespread.
This letter goes on to say the current run-up in world oil
prices is effectively a tax on all American families'
discretionary budget, except that the money goes to OPEC as
opposed to the United States Treasury.
So let me say again, this letter is advocating for
increased world oil production because prices are too high. Who
do you think signed this letter? Who do you think signed this
letter? Think about it just a minute. Put a name in your head.
This letter was sent by Senator Cantwell, Senator Menendez,
Senator Chuck Schumer, and Senator Ed Markey just last year.
I remain so confused by what it is that we are doing. What
is our policy?
And, Mr. Chairman, I ask unanimous consent that this be
included in the record.
Mr. Keating. Any objection?
[The information referred to follows:]
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Mr. Graves. Look, my home State is at risk of its existence
moving forward with sea rise, but we have got to make sure that
we are moving forward in a rational manner that builds on
successes and corrects failures rather than these confounding
policies that make no sense.
Yield back.
Mr. Keating. Thank you.
I will now introduce our witnesses.
Greta Thunberg is from Sweden. She is a climate activist
who helped build the Fridays for Future movement, where she
began going on strike from school outside the Swedish
Parliament on Fridays. She has spoken on the climate crisis
before the EU Parliament.
Welcome.
Ms. Jamie Margolin is from Seattle, Washington. She is co-
founder and co-executive director of the Zero Hour, an
international youth climate organization, founded in the summer
of 2017. She is also a plaintiff in Piper v. State of
Washington.
Mr. Vic Barrett is from White Plains, New York. He is a
fellow with the Alliance for Climate Education and a plaintiff
in Juliana v. United States.
Welcome.
Mr. Benji Backer is from Appleton, Wisconsin. He is the
president of the American Conservation Coalition, a nonprofit
organization to educate and engage conservatives on climate
change.
All of you are here. We welcome all of you. We appreciate
your efforts. Please limit your testimony to 5 minutes. And
without objection, your prepared written statements will be
made part of the record.
I will now go to Ms. Thunberg for her statement.
STATEMENT OF GRETA THUNBERG, FOUNDER, FRIDAYS FOR FUTURE
Ms. Thunberg. My name is Greta Thunberg. I have not come to
offer any prepared remarks at this hearing. I am instead
attaching my testimony. It is the IPCC Special Report on Global
Warming of 1.5 degrees Celsius, the SR 1.5, which was released
on October 8th, 2018.
I am submitting this report as my testimony because I do
not want you to listen to me. I want you to listen to the
scientists, and I want you to unite behind science, and then I
want you to take real action.
Thank you.
[The prepared statement of Ms. Thunberg follows:]
[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
Mr. Keating. Tack sa mycket.
Ms. Margolin.
STATEMENT OF JAMIE MARGOLIN, CO-FOUNDER, THIS IS ZERO HOUR,
PLAINTIFF, PIPER V. STATE OF WASHINGTON
Ms. Margolin. My name is Jamie Margolin, and I am a 17-
year-old climate justice activist from Seattle, Washington. I
am missing a lot of school to be here. It is my senior year of
high school. I have college applications deadlines looming over
me, and to be honest, I have barely even started because I am
too busy fighting to make sure that I am actually going to have
the future I am applying to study for.
You are here spending a few moments with me. But that is
nothing compared to the hours that Members of Congress have
spent with lobbyists from corporations that make billions of
dollars off of the destruction of my generation's future.
I want the entirety of Congress, in fact, the whole U.S.
Government, to remember the fear and despair that my generation
lives with every day, and I want you to hold on to it.
How do I even begin to convey to you what it feels like to
know that within my lifetime the destruction that we have
already seen from the climate crisis will only get worse?
What adds insult to injury is the fact that we keep getting
promised what is not there. On college applications, I keep
getting asked: What do you want to be when you grow up? The
media, pop culture, businesses, and the whole world tells me
that I and my whole generation will have something to look
forward to that we just do not.
You are promising me lies. Everyone who will walk up to me
after this testimony saying that I have such a bright future
ahead of me will be lying to my face.
It does not matter how talented we are. It does not matter
how much work we put in, how many dreams we have. The reality
is my generation has been committed to a planet that is
collapsing.
The fact that you are staring at a panel of young people
testifying before you today pleading for a livable Earth should
not fill you with pride. It should fill you with shame. Youth
climate activism should not have to exist.
We are exhausted because we have tried everything. We have
built organizations, organized marches, and worked on political
campaigns. I sued my State government in a lawsuit called Piper
v. The State of Washington, along with 12 other plaintiffs, for
contributing to the climate crisis and denying my generation's
constitutional rights to life, liberty, and property.
The lawsuit is also arguing that the natural resources of
my State are protected as a right under the Washington State
Constitution. The shellfish, salmon, orcas, and all of the
beautiful wildlife of my Pacific Northwest home is dying due to
ocean acidification caused by the climate crisis. And
communities all over Seattle are suffering from the new fossil
fuel infrastructure being built to lock in decades more of
climate destruction into my State.
My friends and I were warned to stay inside the last two
summers because our city was shrouded in a suffocating smoke
from wildfires that gave me such bad headaches for so long, and
my friends with respiratory illnesses had to go to the ER.
Is this the future that we have to look forward to? Well,
we youth are working as hard as we can to make sure that it is
not.
On July 21 of 2018, after an entire year of nonstop
organizing, despite being full-time high school students with a
lot of homework to do, my organization, Zero Hour, marched on
Washington, DC, in a pouring rainstorm and in 25 cities around
the world demanding urgent climate action from you and all of
our leaders. And that was only the beginning.
By 2030, we will know if we have created the political
climate that will have allowed us to salvage life on Earth or
if we acted too late. By then, we must be well on the path to
climate recovery.
But this must start today. In fact, it should have started
yesterday.
By 2030, I will be old enough to run for Congress and be
seated right where you guys are sitting right now. By then, we
need to have already achieved net zero greenhouse gas emissions
and be rapidly on the path to climate recovery.
I cannot wait until I am sitting in your seats to change
the climate crisis. You have to use the seats that you have now
because by the time I get there, it is going to be way too
late.
The good news is that experts agree that there are multiple
pathways to decarbonize the United States energy system and
that doing so is both technologically and economically viable
and beneficial.
The most frustrating thing is that the U.S. Government
cannot even begin to imagine the massive political shift that
has to happen in order for us to solve this issue. The politics
just has not been invented yet.
Solving the climate crisis goes against everything that our
Country was, unfortunately, built on, colonialism, slavery, and
natural resource extraction. This is why the youth are calling
for a new era altogether.
As Greta mentioned, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate
Change report that we only have a few months left in order to
create the massive political shift needed to transition our
world to an entirely renewable energy economy. This needs to
happen within the next 10 years, which is our deadline to save
life as we know it.
People call my generation Generation Z as if we are the
last generation. But we are not. We are refusing to be the last
letter in the alphabet. I am here before the whole country
today announcing that we are instead Generation GND, the
Generation of the Green New Deal.
The only thing that will save us is a whole new era. The
Green New Deal is not just about the specific plans laid out in
resolutions, it is about a new chapter in American history and
transforming our culture into one that celebrates, encourages,
and enables radical climate action.
It is right here testifying before you that I am proud to
announce that history is being made. You have heard of the
Reagan era, the New Deal era. Well, the youth are bringing
about the era of the Green New Deal.
[The prepared statement of Ms. Margolin follows:]
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Mr. Keating. Thank you.
Mr. Barrett.
STATEMENT OF VIC BARRETT, FELLOW, ALLIANCE FOR CLIMATE
EDUCATION, PLAINTIFF, JULIANA V. UNITED STATES
Mr. Barrett. My name is Vic Barrett. I am 20 years old. And
I am one of the 21 youth plaintiffs in the Juliana v. United
States constitutional lawsuit, suing the executive branch of
the Federal Government for knowingly causing climate change. I
would like to recognize my fellow co-plaintiffs in this room
sitting behind me.
I am a first-generation Garifuna American. My people are an
afro-indigenous community originally from the island of St.
Vincent in the Caribbean. In the 18th and 19th centuries, we
were pushed from our homeland on St. Vincent by British
colonial power, settling on the eastern coast of Central
America in Honduras and Belize. Despite overwhelming adversity,
we organized our community and emancipated ourselves to protect
our future as a people.
However, the struggle continues for me and my people. As
temperatures increase, sea levels rise, storms become more
intense and frequent, and the coral reefs and fisheries upon
which we depend disappear, the ocean-front land that my family
has inhabited for generations, that I am supposed to inherit,
will be under water if the U.S. Federal Government continues to
promote a fossil fuel-based energy system.
It is not just me and my people in Honduras being harmed by
climate change. Frontline communities around the country and
around the world are already feeling the effects of the climate
crisis from the dispossession of land to the grave public
health threats that are disproportionately affecting myself and
other young people.
These frontline communities are made up of people who look
like me--young, black and brown, LGBTQ, indigenous--identities
which place them at a significantly higher risk to experience
the impacts of climate change than the general populace due to
their marginalized status in our society.
I, myself, have felt the consequences of climate change
directly. Growing up in New York, I was impacted by the climate
change-fueled Hurricane Sandy which left my family and school
without power for days. I still experience grave anxiety about
experiencing another climate-driven disaster like Superstorm
Sandy and the harm that these storms will have on myself and my
family.
As someone who already struggles with anxiety and struggles
with depression from my understanding of climate change and
what I experience, watching our government knowingly perpetuate
the climate crisis is extremely overwhelming. I wrestle with
this anxiety every day from the moment that I wake up in the
morning to the moment I fall asleep at night.
If we keep going on with business as usual, both Honduras
and New York, the places where my family and I are from, will
forever be lost to the sea. That is one of my greatest fears,
that climate change is going to take these places away from us.
My co-plaintiffs also experience both the mental and
physical health impacts of climate change. My co-plaintiffs
with asthma and allergies have suffered from the prolonged
wildfire and allergy seasons in the West, limiting their
ability to participate in certain activities or even go
outside. Many of them, like me, are also struggling with
psychological harms from climate change.
The medical community now recognizes climate change as a
grave public health threat. One of our experts describes
climate change as a public health emergency which is
disproportionately impacting children and youth in a myriad of
ways. He lists specific health threats exacerbated by climate
change, including heat stress, extreme weather events,
wildfires, decreased air quality, and infectious disease, all
of which pose a disproportionate threat to children and youth.
Another one of our experts, Dr. Lise Van Susteren, a
psychiatrist known nationally for her work on climate change,
explains that, quote, ``With continued government actions that
exacerbate the climate crisis, the plaintiffs and those they
represent will suffer catastrophic emotional injuries.'' She
goes on to state that the Federal Government's, quote,
``sanctioning of climate change as lawful in Federal law and
policymakes the psychological injuries suffered by individuals,
including the plaintiffs, particularly harmful and insidious.''
She warns that without immediate action by the Federal
Government to address climate change the mental health impacts
will worsen and be lifelong.
Just as my Federal Government sanctioned discrimination in
schools and housing until the middle of the last century, a
policy that harmed children, my Federal Government has also
orchestrated and sanctioned a system of fossil fuel energy that
is harming children in another way, irreversibly threatening
our health, our personal security, our homes, and our
communities by creating a dangerous climate system.
Like youth who have come before us in the civil rights
movement and other social justice movements, it is often the
youth that must shine a light on systems of injustice. So in
2015, 21 young people, myself included, filed a lawsuit against
the United States and agencies of the executive branch to
safeguard our constitutional right to life, liberty and
property, including our rights to personal security, bodily
integrity, and a stable climate system that sustains our lives
and liberties.
I was born into a world in which my future and my past are
uncertain, born into a world where my culture and inheritance
are literally slipping into the sea, born into a world where my
people are going extinct.
Show children everywhere that you care about our future and
the future of all generations to come. Now is your time to
stand in solidarity with me and my co-plaintiffs, America's
youth, and communities around the world to fight for a just
future, free from catastrophic climate change.
Thank you.
[The prepared statement of Mr. Barrett follows:]
[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
Mr. Keating. Thank you.
Mr. Backer.
STATEMENT OF BENJI BACKER, PRESIDENT, AMERICAN CONSERVATION
COALITION
Mr. Backer. Good morning. My name is Benji Backer,
president and founder of the American Conservation Coalition, a
nonprofit focused on bolstering conservative voices in
environmental discussions.
I am also a 21-year old senior at the University of
Washington in Seattle, and I would like to thank Chairman
Keating, Ranking Member Kinzinger, Chairman Castor, and Ranking
Member Graves for holding this very important hearing.
I am also honored to share this panel with Greta, Vic, and
Jamie.
Each of you have played a critical role in generating
worldwide awareness around this issue of climate change. So
thank you.
I am a lifelong conservative activist, but like most of my
generation, regardless of political affiliation, I believe
climate change is real. I believe humans are making an impact.
And with global emissions rising 1.7 percent last year, we are
at a crossroads in history.
My generation does not care about the politics around
climate change. We want productive discussions, realistic
answers, and sound policies.
Most importantly, I believe America plays a vital role in
solving this problem and that we must lead by example. Between
2005 and 2017, as already mentioned, we led the world in
emissions reductions, more than the next 12 countries combined.
However, while our contribution to greenhouse gas emissions is
declining, we still contribute nearly 15 percent of global
greenhouse gas emissions, which is second most in the world.
However, Americans have been told that one-size-fits-all
approaches, such as the Green New Deal, are the only solution.
Such policies advocate for an economic transformation that
increases government control, spending, and regulation. These
approaches inhibit innovation and are not an effective way to
reduce emissions.
In fact, countries with highly restrictive and government-
controlled economies, like Venezuela, have disastrous
environmental records, and while on the other hand, countries
leading in emissions reductions have some of the freest
economic systems in the world.
We cannot ignore this reality, and the fact of the matter
is we cannot regulate our way out of climate change. Markets
and competition reduce emissions far more than heavy-handed
regulation.
A truly effective climate plan will capitalize on America's
strengths: technological advancements, empowered consumers,
entrepreneurial businesses, effective government, and bold
global leadership. We need to decarbonize fossil fuel
emissions, increase the number of nuclear and hydropower
plants, continue developing solar and wind, and encourage
research and development into other clean energy technologies.
It is easier to export innovative American technologies
than burdensome regulations to developing nations.
We must also understand the privilege Americans bring into
this conversation. Across the globe, those who can most easily
adapt to climate change are wealthy and live in developed
countries. It is unfair to ask someone to make choices based on
sustainability when they are struggling to survive.
As we transition to cleaner energy landscapes in the United
States and abroad, we need to consider the most vulnerable in
our world. There are still over one billion people without
electricity worldwide. Transitioning to clean energy needs to
happen, but it cannot happen overnight.
Climate change conversations are often dominated by
hopelessness and despair. In reality, fighting climate change
is an opportunity to improve human health, lift people up, and
grow the economy.
And I see promising signs. Many bipartisan climate-related
bills have been introduced and passed in the last 2 years. We
are reducing emissions and creating remarkable new
technologies. More Republicans are speaking up than ever
before.
This innovation-based approach is not limited to the United
States either. Just yesterday, the British Conservation
Alliance, a group inspired by my organization, the ACC, was
launched by students in the United Kingdom to advocate for
market-based environmental reforms. We are making strides in
the right direction, but we must do more.
Each of us play a critical role in tackling climate change.
To my fellow conservatives: The climate is changing. It is
time to claim our seat at the table and develop smart, limited
government policies to establish American leadership on this
issue. There is a reasonable conservative approach to climate
change, and we need to embrace it.
To those on the left: Without your leadership, this would
not be receiving the attention that it deserves. But now it is
time for solutions. Politicizing climate change has deepened
the partisan divide and delayed real action. If you truly want
to address climate change, work with conservatives who want to
champion reforms.
To Congress: On climate change, it is not about Republicans
or Democrats. It is about those who are taking effective action
and those who are not. Our conversations on climate change
should be about cutting global greenhouse gas emissions, not
about political pandering.
To President Trump: Climate science is real. It is not a
hoax. It is accepted that humans are having a negative impact
on our climate. As a proud American, as a lifelong
conservative, and as a young person, I urge you to accept
climate change for the reality it is and respond accordingly.
We need your leadership.
And last, to young people: You have remarkable power. The
four of us testifying up here today are all under the age of
22. The world is listening with open ears and hearts to our
voices and voices just like yours. Stand for what you believe
in, uplift the world, and do not back down. Climate change is
about our future, and people need to hear you and us.
In conclusion, I grew up on the shores of Lake Minocqua in
northern Wisconsin where I connected with the outdoors early in
life. Nature is where I find the most peace and calm within
myself. That is why I founded the American Conservation
Coalition, to fight for wild places and stop climate change
from destroying them.
The health of the environment affects all of us, regardless
of where we live, our background, or our political affiliation.
It is time for Americans to join together, find solutions on
climate change, and protect our planet for generations to come.
Thank you.
[The prepared statement of Mr. Backer follows:]
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Mr. Keating. I thank all the witnesses for their testimony,
and their urgency came through in all of your testimony.
And I now recognize myself for less than 5 minutes so that
we can get as many people to ask questions as possible. I will
start just with Ms. Thunberg.
You chose to submit the IPCC report in lieu of your written
testimony. Could you expand on why it is so important to listen
to the science?
Ms. Thunberg. Well, I do not see a reason to not listen to
the science. It is just such a thing that we should be taking
for granted that we listen to the current best available united
science. It is just something that everyone should do. This is
not political opinions, political views, or my opinions, this
is the science. So, yes.
Mr. Keating. Thank you.
In all of your testimony, not just urgency came through
when I was listening to what you had to say, but as someone
from another generation listening, the last thing we would want
for the generations to follow, for our children, grandchildren,
and other people's children and grandchildren, is to hear in
some of your remarks actual fear and anxiety being expressed.
Could you, each of you, you can jump right in as you see
fit, comment on what that is like? I think that that message
should be heard by all of us, not just urgency, but what are we
doing to the next generation? How are their lives impacted by
what we are not doing and what we are doing?
So if you could, I will let you just choose among
yourselves. Each of you will have a chance to answer that
question.
Ms. Margolin. For me, it has really been affecting because,
similar to Vic, I already have, underlying issues of, anxiety,
and it is just really hard to grow up in a world full of
``ifs.''
You know, I do not think a lot of people in Congress
understand the conversations that are happening in everyday
American high schools, but we are constantly asked: Prepare for
your future, study for your future, do this for your future.
But our world is full of ``ifs.''
I will be talking to my best friend, and she will say,
``Yes, you know, I really want to see this natural place
sometime if it is going to still be around. I really want to
study to be this if that is still going to be a possibility.''
And it is just, this constant looming uncertainty. And it
is a weird form of nihilism and weird just fear that has been
existing in my generation where kids are joking, what is even,
is the point? The world is ending. What are we studying for?
What are we doing?
And it is this kind of depression, it is this fear that is
not just among me or my panelists here but everyone, and that
anxiety is something that no child should ever have to fear.
Because if you think about it, if you go back to what is
the purpose of a parent down to just the biological purpose, it
is to give their child the best future and the best life that
they can possibly have and the supposed American Dream is to
make sure that children have a better future than the adults.
But right now, it is, some members of government and some
corporations are actively pointing a gun to children's futures
and actively making it worse, actively going out of their way
to support corporations and poison us and destroy our future.
And that is horrifying, and it feels like a betrayal, it is
like a knife to the heart, to know that people who have kids,
they will go around in these campaign ads and they will be,
holding these babies, ``Oh, you should vote for me, look at me
interacting with a small child,'' while they actively poison
and choose their wallets over their children.
So it is very devastating and scary, but also it feels like
we have been betrayed.
Mr. Keating. In less than a minute, would anyone else like
to comment on that?
Mr. Barrett. Young people are in the midst of their
development. Adolescence is not characterized as being easy
without also dealing with the greatest existential threat of
our time.
Mr. Backer. I definitely understand and agree with the
panelists that this is something that a lot of young people
stress about, and actually that is why I got into this movement
to begin with in 2016. It was because I thought that it was
something that Americans needed to tackle and the movement that
I associated with, the conservative movement, needed to tackle
as well.
But the more that I have gotten into this movement, the
climate change movement, the more that I have seen that this is
actually a positive, that there is actually a lot of
opportunity here, that we have time. Science says so.
That does not mean we do not have to act, but we do have
time. And we have an opportunity and a chance for people to
come together on this issue and work across party lines and
generate economic growth to solve this issue. So I feel
hopeful.
Mr. Keating. Great.
I now yield to the ranking member, Mr. Graves.
Mr. Graves. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
And I want to thank you all for your testimony, all of you.
It really was impressive, and I very much appreciate it.
Ms. Thunberg, you said let's unite behind the science.
Could not agree with you more. Let's unite behind the science.
And I think we actually need more science, not less.
Mr. Backer, you said that we need to stop this partisan
fighting and actually work together to yield solutions that
make sense.
So let me say it again. You have folks that proposed this
Green New Deal, yet when it is brought up for a vote, nobody
votes for it. No one.
You have efforts like last week to stop energy production,
yet you have letters going out saying, hey, we want you to
produce more oil in Middle Eastern countries and other nations
that do not share American values and that have dirtier energy,
that have higher emissions than in the United States.
This whole thing is a charade.
When you actually look at science, Ms. Thunberg, when you
look at facts, the facts are it was not Waxman-Markey
legislation here that was designed to require emissions
reduction that yielded the United States leading the world in
emissions reduction. It was actually folks doing the right
thing, stepping in and actually reducing emissions through
innovation, through energy efficiency, through conservation, to
where we are leading the world. And in fact, we have beat the
projections under Waxman-Markey, the mandatory legislation, and
we have done it with cheaper energy prices. Those are the
facts.
Next, going to Mr. Backer. When you look at where we have
actually made progress, once again, talking about last year,
worked together, Mr. Sires and I and others on the
Transportation Committee, where we developed the first
resiliency standard, bipartisan unanimous bill passed out of
the committee, where we dedicated record funding to resiliency
and mitigation.
And in the United States today, we are spending more
climate science, technology, and energy solutions than anywhere
else in the world.
Those things have been done in a bipartisan manner and are
actually yielding results, not the charades. These things are
not yielding anything.
Ms. Thunberg, let me ask you a question. If you are sailing
across the ocean and you are picking up trash along the way,
and every one piece of trash that you pick up there is a boat
right next to you dumping out five pieces, how would that make
you feel?
Ms. Thunberg. First of all, we were going so fast, we would
not be able to pick up any trash.
Mr. Graves. All right. Well, if you were a slow sailor like
me, how would that make you feel?
Ms. Thunberg. Well, first of all, if you use that logic,
then I am also dumping a lot of trash in the ocean. And then I
would stop dumping my trash in the ocean and tell the other
boat to stop dumping their trash in the ocean as well.
Mr. Graves. And that is the important point here. I think
that what we need to be doing is we need to be focusing on the
countries that are dumping trash in the ocean. Of course, that
is a metaphor.
The fact that China is--here we are talking about reducing
emissions, yet China, under the Paris Accords, are going to be
increasing their emissions by nearly 50 percent, 5 gigatons
annually.
So while in the United States we need to continue investing
in innovative solutions and exporting clean energy
technologies, it makes no sense for us to be doing it if we are
simply watching for increases in China.
Mr. Backer, the IPCC report talks about numerous solutions
moving forward, including clean energy and others. Under IPCC,
does it contemplate only renewable energy sources moving
forward?
Mr. Backer. Thank you.
It actually does not, and I think that it shows a strong
trend that we need to generate more clean energy going into the
future, there is no doubt about that, and reduce emissions via
clean energy technologies. But there is no statement in the
IPCC report that says that we need to go 100 percent clean to
reduce emissions at the level that we need to to fix this
problem.
Mr. Graves. So moving on from there, if moving forward,
even under IPCC, it does not contemplate not using any
conventional fuels moving forward, for the next few decades
anyway.
Do you think it makes sense to utilize the fuels from the
Nation that has the cleanest energy? Or do you think that it
makes more sense to, for example, use Russian gas that releases
13 percent greater emissions as we move forward? Which makes
more sense? Or do you think it makes sense to perhaps get fuels
from Nigeria that just a few years ago had 2,000 ongoing
spills?
Mr. Backer. I think it is important for Americans to
understand that we do generate fossil fuels cleaner than
anywhere else in the world. And while the rest of the world
still relies on fossil fuels, that is an important thing to
note, I do think while we continue to generate power for the
rest of the globe and uplift people, we as a Country also start
transitioning more and more to clean technologies, which I
think we are starting to do.
But I do believe that making sure that the rest of the
world is generating fossil fuels safely is important because it
is going to be a part of our future, especially today. And the
United States does do it cleaner than anywhere else in the
world. That is a fact, and it is something that we have to
think about.
Mr. Graves. Thank you. I yield back.
Mr. Keating. All right.
Chairwoman Castor.
Ms. Castor. Mr. Becker, in your testimony you point out
that the United States must lead by example. And despite recent
emissions reductions, the United States is currently the second
highest emitting country in the world annually. And although we
rank No. 2 now, the United States is responsible for the most
carbon pollution accumulated in the atmosphere.
Some people say that the United States should not
dramatically reduce our emissions because China and other
countries are not doing enough. I would like to have your view
on that and have each of the witnesses comment on that briefly.
Mr. Backer. Yes. I think that is a false approach because
we have never in history looked at a problem that we contribute
in the United States and said, well, if it is happening
somewhere else, then we should not fix it. So I do not think
that that is a reasonable excuse.
But I also do think it is important to note that other
countries are emitting and that we must hold them accountable
as we hold ourselves accountable.
America has led on lots of initiatives in the past. You
have people in Hong Kong waving their flags and singing the
American National Anthem right now because we inspire them. We
can do the same thing on climate change.
Mr. Barrett. Yes. I would say what you said is totally
correct. The United States contributes to 25 percent of
historic emissions in the world. And if we are the country that
we say we are, if we are the leaders that we say we are, we
need to lead by example here and work on what we are doing here
so that the rest of the world can follow our lead.
Ms. Margolin. I have a question. When your children ask
you, ``Did you do absolutely everything in your power to stop
the climate crisis, when the storms are getting worse and we
are seeing all of the effects of the climate crisis?'' when
they ask you, ``Did you do everything?'' can you really look
them in the eye and say, ``No, sorry, I could not do anything
because that country over there did not do anything, so if they
are not going to do it, then I am not''?
That is shameful, and that is cowardly, and there is no
excuse to not take action, to not improve as much as we can in
the United States.
And how can we call ourselves the city on a hill or be an
example for the world if we are going to be coward and hide
behind waiting for other people, saying that, ``I am not going
to do this because they did not''?
I want you to think about this is all about being able to
look your children in the eye and say, ``I did absolutely
everything I could for you. I know that we are up against a lot
of pressure. I know that the time is running out, but, honey,''
however you call your kids, ``I did everything I could.''
And so I just do not understand as a parent how can you
look your kid in the eye and say, ``There is this impending
crisis, everything is at stake, but I stood back and I did not
really do anything. I did not take action. I did not act like
it was an emergency because our neighbors over there weren't
doing it, so I am just not going to.'' How can you tell your
children that?
Ms. Thunberg. I just--I think I do not need to add anything
but just another perspective. I am from Sweden, a small
country, and there it is the same argument: Why should we do
anything? Just look at the U.S., they say.
So, just so you know, that is being used against you as
well.
Mr. Keating. The chair recognizes Representative Miller.
Mrs. Miller. Thank you to Chairman Castor and Ranking
Member Graves as well as to our Foreign Affairs counterparts,
Chairman Keating and Ranking Member Kinzinger, for hosting us
today, and I want to say a very special thank you to all of you
for being here today and for caring so much about our Earth.
Throughout our work on this committee, I have long said that
any recommendations that the Select Committee on the Climate
Crisis makes must ensure that we provide for innovation and not
taxation. Solutions should work to reduce our carbon footprint
but not come at the detriment of increased cost for consumers.
Mr. Backer, I want to thank you for your leadership and
your candor. We all must do whatever we can and do our part to
take care of our beautiful world. In your testimony, you
discussed how we cannot regulate our way out of climate change.
What are some of the ways that we can better utilize technology
and increase innovation?
Mr. Backer. Thank you. If we really want to focus on
reducing emissions, which I think we all agree is the end goal
that we are talking about here today, it needs to be about the
results, and the results can come from innovation like you are
alluding to. If you look at the technologies that we can have
around carbon capture, taking carbon emissions out of the air
from fossil-fuel-emitting plants and being able to put that
into the Earth or reuse it for another type of product or you
look at the shifts in the transportation sector to transition
to cleaner cars and cleaner technologies, that is the example
of things that we can do across the globe and continue
innovating because innovation, like I mentioned in my
testimony, is something that we can export to other countries
very, very easily because it creates jobs, it is more
efficient, and it ends up helping the economy. A great example
of this is 194 of the world's largest companies have pledged to
go 100 percent renewable by 2030, 2040, or even sooner than
that. They are doing that because it is more cheap, it is more
efficient, and it helps their consumers. It has done that
because of innovation. And if we put regulations on different
industries, we are not going to be solving the problem. We need
to work on decarbonizing fossil fuel and reducing emissions
now, and we cannot do that with regulation. We can only do that
through innovation. We need to innovate our way out of the
climate change problem.
Mrs. Miller. Thank you.
I yield back my time.
Mr. Keating. Vice Chairwoman Spanberger.
Ms. Spanberger. Thank you very much. Thank you all for
being here. I hold your commitment to fighting for the future
generations of this planet in the highest esteem, and I am
grateful for the attention you are bringing to these critical
issues throughout your advocacy. Ms. Thunberg, in your speech
to U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres on climate change,
you said, we are facing an existential threat, and I agree.
The scientific consensus is clear, climate change is real.
Its affects, including changes to rainfall and farmers' growing
seasons, sea-level rise along our coasts, and exacerbation of
conflicts abroad are a threat to us all. In fact, our
intelligence community and two former Secretaries of Defense
have cited climate change as a root cause and driver of
instability and global threats, making it not just a moral
imperative, but a national security imperative as well. I am
curious, in your travels as an activist and as an advocate,
have you heard stories, or have you engaged with those who are
focused on the issues of how climate change and the instability
it causes internationally are impacting security issues and how
those might impact our future generations?
Ms. Thunberg. I have, of course, met many people who have
experienced environmental and climate-related disasters and who
try to help people to come back from that, and I have not been
meeting so much with people who have told me stories about it
being a national security threat because I simply have not had
enough time to do that. There are so many people to meet and so
many stories to hear, so I cannot listen to them all. But I
imagine maybe one of the others have.
It does not seem like they have either. So maybe then you
should talk to someone who is an expert in that area.
Ms. Spanberger. And you mentioned, apart from the security
aspect of things, that you have spoken with many who have faced
disasters at home due to global climate change. Could you,
perhaps, give a couple of examples just for the committee to
hear, of the stories you have heard?
Ms. Thunberg. Yes. I have met people whose communities were
simply--whose neighborhoods were destroyed by natural
disasters, who were amplified by the climate crisis. I have met
people whose food and water supply is being threatened by
environmental or climate-related catastrophes. And it is just--
it is so sad that I--it is so incredibly many people, so
incredibly many examples, that it is just horrible because so
many who have experienced this and so many who are suffering
from this today. And, I mean, we are already seeing the
consequence--unacceptable consequences of this today, and it
will only get worse the longer we delay action, unless we start
to act now.
Ms. Spanberger. Thank you very much.
Ms. Margolin. I would also look like to add, answering that
question, I would like to acknowledge that we have some Amazon
protectors in the room right now, who are fighting to protect
the Amazon rainforest, and that is a place in the world where
people are gravely suffering, not exactly from climate change
itself, but from the causes of the climate crisis. The animal
agriculture industry is behind--and the collusion of the animal
agriculture industry with the governments of Brazil and other
countries that would rather make a short-term profit than
protect the lungs of our planet. The Amazon rainforest is the
lungs of our planet, and that is why we are seeing these
massive fires, and it is indigenous protectors like the ones
here sitting, who have been fighting, literally putting their
bodies on the line and suffering from these fires, and I want
to speak for them, because I do not know their own stories, but
I encourage you, talk to them later.
But I think it is also very important that, as we speak
from an American perspective, we also realize that the climate
crisis is global and that, even though maybe--you know, for me
personally, I have Latin American roots in that my family is
from Colombia, but even if you do not have those roots in Latin
America, the Amazon rainforest is the lungs of our planet. And
so it burning down, we must unite with Latin America, and we
must unite with the indigenous activists and listen to them and
give them a platform. And also not perpetuate the same systems
of oppression that have been pushing them down because it is--
and I do not want to speak for this, and I do not know if you
have anything to add, but it is the same systems of oppression
that are causing the climate crisis that are making people feel
the worst effects.
To add to something that I heard earlier, I just want to
say real quick--I realize my time is running out--but Albert
Einstein defined insanity as trying to solve an issue with the
same thinking that caused it. And right now something that has
been disturbing me a lot is seeing the way that we are trying
to colonize and buy and sell our way out of a problem caused by
colonization and buying and selling.
Ms. Spanberger. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
I am over time. I yield back.
Mr. Keating. Representative Burchett.
Mr. Burchett. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
I really do not have any prepared notes. I was sitting
there just thinking, in 1977, I was confronted with a problem.
I was--my father used to grow tomatoes--oh, Mr. Chairman, I
appreciate you and the vice chairman and everybody for allowing
us to be here. I meant to do the protocol first, I apologize,
but--and I was--my father used to grow these tomatoes. He would
get about a half a dozen tomatoes, and he would put about $20
in chemicals and all kinds of nasty stuff. And I thought to
myself, you know, I am putting that stuff in my body. And I
thought, there has got to be a better solution, and I stopped
a--it is called KUB, Knoxville Utility Board. They used to cut
all the trees that were growing on the power lines, and they
would grind them up, usually about 6 o'clock in the morning and
wake us all up. And I stopped and asked one of those guys one
time, I said: Hey, what do you you all do with that stuff?
And they said: Well, we take--you got to realize this is
1977, OK? I was in--I was in between my seventh and eighth
grade years. And he said: We take it to the landfill.
And I said: Well, how much do they pay you for it?
And they said: We do not. We pay them to take it.
And so the wheels started turning in my head. And at that
point, I became a capitalist. I realized that there was money
to be made. You could save the environment. At that time, it
saved about 25 percent of the landfill space in our community,
and I got into that business. But I want--and I have realized
now that, of our trash stream, about 85 percent of that is
compostable. It does not have to go into a landfill. And when
it goes into landfill, everybody just--a lot of people think it
just goes away. It does not go away. It creates all kinds of
bad things for the environment. The gases, one of the most
feared gases is methane, is when something decomposes in an
anaerobic, or in the absence of oxygen. So, if we could compost
those things, 85 percent of that waste stream could be turned
back into soil, which would be utilized, I think, in a
capitalist manner.
And you wonder about capitalism. Well, I had the
opportunity, I was sitting there with AOC, and I was pitching
to her capitalism. I do not really know if it caught on with
her or not, but my point was this. I said: You want to do away
with airplanes--well, airplane engines that put out gases that
are harmful to the environment. And I said: MIT right now has
an airplane engine that has no moving parts and allegedly puts
nothing harmful into the environment. No moving parts. And to
me, that is just Buck Rogers, but I got on YouTube, and I
watched the video, and I watched it--you all could probably
understand it, but my 55-year-old brain just does not
understand it. But it is fascinating to me. But, granted, all
it did was fly a glider about the length of a football field.
Well, I got to thinking, this little cell phone right here, 20
years ago, according to my friends at Oak Ridge National
Laboratory, was a hundred million dollar computer. Twenty years
ago. Capitalism brought this, now everybody basically has a
television studio, can get to all the information in the world,
can contact anybody in the world for about, I do not know,
about a hundred bucks a month, and it is a pretty good deal,
and that was through capitalism. And I would encourage you all
to explore that, that realm of our economy. I have a piece of
legislation, and I would encourage you all, I would like to
hear from each one of you all, what you all think about it. It
is called carbon capture. It is a capitalist view of capturing
carbon and utilizing it. And it is House Resolution 3861, and I
would encourage you all, not now, look it up, get on your
little computers, you all know how to use them better than I
do. Somebody will show me when I get your email, and I would
encourage you all to read that and see what it is. And I
applaud you all for being here, I applaud your enthusiasm and I
am incredibly proud that you are this concerned about our
environment and our world, and thank you all so much for being
here.
Mr. Chairman, I yield back the remainder of my 55 seconds.
Mr. Keating. Well, thank you.
Representative Lujan.
Mr. Lujan. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman, and to all of
the chairs and ranking members for bringing us together today,
to all of the panelists who are witnesses who are here with us
today, I want to thank you as well. Before I begin my
questions, though, I just want to remind my colleagues that
those mobile phones that were once too big or a desktop that
weighed thousands of pounds, they got smaller because of a
Federal taxpayer investment by the United States of America,
investing in the research. So I hope that there is an openness
and a willingness that we take the same step. Let's put our
money where our mouth is. Let's make sure that we are investing
those dollars and we are answering this call.
And, Ms. Thunberg, I appreciate the power of your
testimony. You laid it out in a document right in front of us,
a document where experts and scientists have laid out the path
in the road for the world to take policy action. It is simple.
The work has been done for us. We just have to follow that
path. So I want to thank you for that.
Now, I do not want to have to defend one of my colleagues
as well, she can defend herself, as we all know. Congressman
Cortez--or Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has not said
that she wants to stop air travel. Her policies have said:
Let's do better. Let's act.
And I think that is what we are here to do. So I apologize;
I took a little bit of my time to respond to some of the
statements that were said earlier, but I thought it was
important.
So, Ms. Thunberg, when I was your age, the concentration of
CO2 in the atmosphere was 350 parts per million. This year, we
eclipsed 415 parts per million. I am going to try to make some
sense out of this. What many scientists have said is that we
only can get to 430 parts per million to get to an increase of
1.5 degrees or to be able to even hold at 1.5 degrees increase.
If we get to 450 parts per million, again we are at 415
already, that gets us to two degrees. Let me share what that
means. With 1.5 degrees, 14 percent of the global population
will face extreme heat. At 2 percent, it is 37 percent. At 1.5
degrees, we will see an ice-free Arctic once every hundred
years. At two degrees, we see it every 10 years. At 1.5
degrees, our fisheries decline by 1.5 million tons, and our
coral reefs decline by at least 70 percent. At 2 degrees, our
fisheries will decline by twice that, and we will lose 99
percent of our coral reefs. We see the difference between what
is devastating and what is even beyond what devastating can
even be described as.
Ms. Thunberg, the science could not be more clear. If we
wait, the climate crisis will only be more devastating. Just a
year ago, you were protesting outside the Swedish Parliament.
Now you are part of an international coalition of young people
demanding action. I asked a few students that I had the honor
of working with in New Mexico, and one of them responded. Her
name is Marina Weber Stevens. She is one of the founding
members of the Global Warming Express. Anyone that is
interested can find them at theglobalwarmingexpress.org. And
she asked a very important question, but one that I think you
have an answer to, and it is this: What is the best way to get
the younger generations, teens and students, involved in
advocacy to address the climate crisis? And I would add to
that, adults. What can we be doing? How can we get more young
people involved?
Ms. Thunberg. How we can get more young people involved, I
think to just tell them the truth, tell them how it is and--
because when I found out how it actually was, that made me
furious so I was--I wanted to do something about it. And that
is the--at least I have spoken to many, and I think that is the
experience many others have. Because as it is now, people in
general do not seem to be very aware of the actual science and
how severe this crisis actually is. So I just think we need to
inform them and start treating this crisis like the existential
emergency it is. Then I think people will understand and want
to do something about it.
Mr. Lujan. And that is powerful. Tell them the truth.
With that, I yield back.
Mr. Keating. Mr. Carter.
Mr. Carter. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
And let me begin by thanking all four of you for being
here. I cannot tell you how much this builds up my confidence
in the younger generation, having you involved in this. It is
extremely important that you be involved in the process, and I
applaud you for being here, and I thank you for being here.
I am going to start with you, Mr. Backer. It is really good
to see someone who is interested in such an important project,
or such an important topic, I should say, and also who
understands that we need to factor in the economy in this and
the economic impact that something like this could have. Do you
think that the state of our economy and the need to maintain a
robust economy--because, after all, you are all going to be
participating in our economy. In a way you already are, but in
the future, you will be even more. It is important that we have
a robust economy so that we will be able to provide jobs for
young people and for all of our citizens. But do you think it
is important to consider that when we are considering climate
change?
Mr. Backer. Thank you, Mr. Carter, and also thank you for
being a member of the Roosevelt Conservation Caucus. It is a
caucus started by Republicans focused on bringing Conservatives
back to environmental discussions. It is a major step forward,
so thank you.
So the economy definitely needs to be a part of this
conversation because if we do not take the economy into
consideration, we are leaving the people who are at the most
risk at--we are keeping them at the most risk. We are allowing
people who are in the lower poverty levels to be affected the
most by our policies. There is an opportunity, a strong
opportunity, to be economically sensible and environmentally
sensible. Economic sustainability and environmental
sustainability do go hand in hand. And I think a lot of people
who are on this issue and believe that this is a topic that is
of importance, believe that the agricultural industry,
corporations, and fossil fuels, are a lot of times the enemy.
But they are part of our society. And they are today, and they
will be for the next--at least for the short-term. And so, if
we want to lower emissions and we want to have a clean-air
economy, we have to work with people, instead of against
people. Because the only way that we are going to truly reduce
emissions is to do that. And that is true with the economy.
Because we cannot have a strong environment without a strong
economy, and the worldwide statistics show, as I mentioned
earlier, that the most free economies are the cleanest in the
world. Does that mean that they are done and that they do not
have to do more? Not in the slightest, but economic success and
environmental success go hand in hand.
Mr. Carter. OK. If I could--and I will let you in just a
second. I want to show you something on the screen, if we can
get it up. It is a chart that the EPA has put out--are we going
to be able to do it? Just hold it up. You want me to hold it
up. OK. All right. Are you going to be able to get this? OK.
Well, unfortunately, you cannot see it very well, but it is a
chart that the EPA put out in 2018, and it shows the growth of
our economy since 1970. And the United States has actually
grown our economy. Our gross domestic product has grown almost
300 percent. Our vehicles miles traveled has grown almost 200
percent. Population has grown. Energy consumption has grown.
But our carbon output has decreased over that period of time.
So it is possible to do. We can grow our economy and decrease
our carbon output. We have done that since 1970. In fact, if
you look, we have actually decreased the six common pollutants
almost a hundred percent since 1970, while growing our economy.
So it can be done. One thing I want to make sure we understand
is that, look, look, listen to me: This is not a Republican-
Democratic issue. This is an American issue. This is a world
issue. It is not United States versus China versus India. All
of us have to work on this together.
I have always--I believe in climate change. I believe the
climate's been changing since day one. I am old enough to
remember--you are not--but I am old enough to remember the
early 1970's when we thought we were headed for another Ice
Age. Well, does man have an impact on that? Yes, we do have an
impact. How much? That might be debatable. However, we should
do something. And that is one of the things that I am so
excited about.
And, Mr. Backer, you mentioned this about the opportunities
that exist here because I have always said, we have got to have
three things. We got to have innovation. We have got to have
mitigation. And we have got to have adaptation. And that
innovation, the greatest innovators, the greatest scientists in
the world are right here in the United States of America. That
is why I am excited about us leading the way. And I think we
can lead the way. Yes, we have got much to be done; there is no
question about that.
You also mentioned about agriculture. I represent a very
rural area in south Georgia. The rural community is going to
play a big part in this. We cannot leave them behind. That is
going to be very important as well. We have to be very careful.
My message is simple. And that is that, yes, this is something
we have to deal with, but we cannot destroy our economy when we
are dealing with it. We have to keep that in mind. We have to
have affordable, reliable, clean energy.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and I yield back.
Mr. Keating. Well, thank you. As we said before, we have a
hard stop. So here is what I want to just do in closing--there
will be no closing statements, which will allow whatever time
is limited. I do want to recognize Representative Brownley who
has been here, paying great attention throughout the whole
hearing; Representative Levin; Representative Titus;
Representative Omar, in the case that we may not have the
opportunity because you do have to leave. So I will now
recognize Representative Meeks.
Mr. Meeks. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you for this
very, very timely and important hearing. Climate change is
undoubtedly an economic threat--that is true; a national
security threat--that is true; and, ultimately, and most
importantly, an existential threat. It has battered our coasts
and set our forests ablaze. In my home State, Mr. Barrett's
home State of New York, Superstorm Sandy destroyed the property
and uprooted the lives of thousands of New Yorkers, including
many living in my district.
If left unabated, climate change will displace world
populations. Islands, Mr. Barrett, you are correct, will be
gone, where people currently live. And it will continue to
wreak havoc on our own, costing billions in damage. That is
economics if we are not prepared. It will be billions of
dollars that will cause economic damage if we do not do
something about climate change. It will also--climate change
threatens to undue the last 50 years of progress in
development, in global health, and poverty reduction. So we
have got to do something, urgently.
If the world that we leave behind--and we all hold this
world in trust for the next generation. So I look at it, the
world that I leave behind for my new baby granddaughter, will
look dramatically different if we do nothing today. Indeed, a
drastic reduction in our carbon footprint will be one of, if
not the most, important missions of our time.
I also want to say--and I heard Ms. Margolin say this a
number of times--I just want to let you know that anxiety
research, indeed, shows that young people have high levels of
anxiety. It is not, though, just because of climate change.
Everything from the economics to health disparities to student
loans, et cetera. Of course, climate change is compounding that
problem. But what you are doing by being here and leading does
make a difference. And I just used the example of one of my
colleagues who, at 16 years old, helped change and shape a
Nation. His name was John Lewis. He put his life on the line.
He had a lot of anxiety if you talk to him. But by doing this
with that anxiety and turning that anxiety into something that
you are going to lead, to change, it makes the world a better
place for all of us. So I compliment you on how you are using
your anxiety to make a difference in the world. That is
something that is so important, and, indeed, yes, all young
folks--I am old enough to remember the civil rights movement,
when it was led by students, and high school students, who
said, I am sick and tired of being sick and tired. And they
changed things. So believe this: that each and every one of
you--Mr. Backer, I have been listening to you. You are part of
a change that is going to make us all better, make this Nation
and this world better. One of the things--we will fight back
and forth, but guess what, I still bet on America. We will go
through some of the bad times, because Lord knows I have seen
bad times, and I have seen us come through it.
So I want to say to each and every one of you: Do not give
up on America because what America is all about is that, if we
stand up and fight, if we stand up for what we believe in, we
will change things. It does make a difference.
It is the reason why I can sit here, Mr. Barrett, because I
have seen my father go through some terrible times as an
African American, and then I saw Barack Obama become President
of the United States. Not just for Black folks, but for all
folks. Keep up your work; you will make this place we call
Earth not only exist but thrive and be a better place, and I
yield back.
Mr. Keating. Well, thank you. Thank you for your
extraordinary testimony. It makes a difference. It will make a
difference, and, by the way, it is bipartisan and based on
science. Thank you for being here.
We also want to thank Representative Costa who has been
here, too, as well. So you stayed later than you agreed to. I
know how hard pressed you are. So, if we could just ask those
in the audience and the press, allow the witnesses to go to the
anteroom, where we came in from, so that you can get to your
next place more quickly. So, please, remain seated, allow the
witnesses to go to the ante room so that they can have an
expedited way back to their next meeting which they agreed to
stay longer to hear our testimony.
With that, I adjourn this hearing. Thank you.
[Whereupon, at 11:37 a.m., the committees were adjourned.]
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