“Many said they weren’t scientists,” Rhode Island Senator Sheldon Whitehouse says in his 79th Senate floor speech on climate change. It was a direct shot across the bow to one of the craziest climate deniers in Congress, who will also soon chair the Senate committee on the environment.
If you’re looking to make lemonade out of Democrats devastating defeats in Congress, you can do a lot worse than watch our own Senator Whitehouse really start to go on the offensive when it comes to calling out climate deniers.
“If you’re not a scientist, check it out,” Whitehouse implores. “Ask the responsible scientists ask the leading scientific societies. If you don’t believe them measurements, measurements confirm what the scientists know. Sea level is rising, and the rise is accelerating. You measure that. With a glorified yard stick. It’s already up nearly 10 inches at the Newport Naval Station… The ocean is warming. You measure that. With a thermometer. Narragansett Bay is nearly 4 degrees Fahrenheit warmer, mean winter water temperature, than 50 years ago. That is an ecosystem shift.”
15:41 if you want to fast forward to Sheldon quoting Micheal Corleone. He also quotes Pope Francis. But the best line is his: “Friends don’t let friends deny climate change.”
“And just so you know, I’m not going anywhere,” he closes. “My state is small and coastal, and worse, bigger storms put us in serious danger. I am not going to ignore that.”