Ed Markey — Markey on Pope Francis' US Visit & Action on Climate Change

thank you Mr President Mr President last year I had the opportunity to travel to the Vatican during my visit I had the chance to overlook St Peter's Square from a Vatican balcony as I took in the view of that historic Square the sun glinted off the future across the square I saw the rooftop of Pope Paul the 6th audience Hall on the Vatican grounds covered with solar panels it was clear from that view that the Vatican takes climate change very seriously and had long been preparing to have a profound impact on this generational issue that touches every living creature on the planet I was at the Vatican as the only United States Representative of a group of highlevel legislators from around the world who are all all working to address climate change in their own countries we met with Cardinal petro paralin and Cardinal Peter turksen the Vatican leaders responsible for writing the initial draft of Pope Francis historic environmental and cyclical and shared the impact of climate change in our own home countries with them with the two cardinals who were were going to be writing this in cyclical and so the conversations then turn to what was happening in the countries of the legislators who were visiting the lawmaker from the Philippines discussed the destruction that typhoon hyan brought to parts of her country legislators from South Africa and Mexico shared the challenges that their countries and regions face from drought the representatives from Europe pointed to the damage from extreme heat waves and rainfall I relay my concern for the rising levels temperature and acidity of the ocean and the impacts on Coastal communities rising sea levels are a our Shores in Massachusetts and New England and across our country in increasing the damage in New England of nor easers in recent years ocean temperatures in our part of the Atlantic Ocean have been the hottest ever recorded in one case off of Cape Cod it was 21° warmer than normal this January in Massachusetts off of our Coastline but for all of us who had gathered at the Vatican we we were in agreement that the world's poorest people are suffering the worst consequences of climate change extreme poverty famine disease and displacement which is why it should be no surprise that Pope Francis a Jesuit trained in chemistry who is devoted to the poor and ensuring a just and better future for all mankind would be the only Pope to devote an entire encyclical to Humanity's relationship with the environment in releasing his encyclical and giving us his message to protect what he calls our common home Pope Francis has also given us a common goal we must act now to stop climate change but make no mistake this Pope is looking for leadership Pope Francis is looking for results he is looking for all of us to lead to solve this problem next week we will have the honor of Hosting Pope Francis here in Washington DC and to hear him address a joint session of the United States House of Representatives and unprecedented and the entire Nation will be watching the pope as he speaks because we all need to hear Pope Francis message of Love of compassion of justice and action and we need to join in the conversation that he is calling the world to engage in about protecting people and our planet the science of climate change has been clear for decades global temperatures are warming Glaciers are melting sea levels are rising extreme downpours and weather events are increasing the ocean is becoming more dangerously acidic last year was the warmest year ever recorded today Noah announced that this summer was the hottest summer since 1880 increasing temperatures increase the risk for bad air days and turning the atmosphere the air that we breathe into increased asthma attacks and worse for people who actually have lung disease global warming is also a Public Health crisis the economic and security costs are now dangerously evident climate change is aggravating tensions around the world World especially where food and water security are at the heart of the conflicts it is spawning new crises that are displacing millions of people and creating an era of refugees this will require action by our diplomats and Aid organizations but every nation must do its fair share Pope Francis address to Congress next week will offer us the opportunity to examine our own policies their impact on not only the people of our nation but on the entire planet and our duty as leaders and as human beings to take action Pope Francis has brought this moral imperative to act on climate change just as the nations of the world are working to forge an international agreement in Paris this December as the world Gathers to deal with this issue the United States must lead this effort the United States must heed the message of Pope Francis the United States must be the nation in Paris in December saying to the rest of the world that we can and must do something to solve this problem we know that clean energy will be at the heart of the meeting of any of the goals which we have to establish here and across the planet in order to cut pollution we must continue to improve the fuel efficiency of the Automobiles of the trucks that we drive here in the United States we must deploy more wind and solar energy and renew tax breaks for those projects s by making a commitment to reduce the pollution imperiling our plan planet we can engage in job creation that is good for all of creation the United States can be the leader in the technological Revolution to reduce the pollution imperiling our planet and then we can partner with other nations to share this technology and protect the most vulnerable around the world said in his encyclical today in the view of the common good there is an urgent need for politics and economics to enter into a Frank dialogue in the service of life especially life we know that to agree on a course of action is no easy task in this chamber but if we harness the ambition of the moon landing the technological power of our workers the moral imper ative of leave the world a better place and we found it we have done it before we have the tools to do it again and now we need to forge the political will in order to accomplish those goals we need more solar we need more winds we need the batteries for the vehicles which we drive in order to reduce the amount of polluting fossil fuels that we send up into the atmosphere we need to invent we need to be the technological giant we need to un unleash the same kind of revolution in the energy sector as we did in the Telecommunications sector in the 1990s no one on the planet had a device like this on their person just 15 years ago but the United States reinvented telecommunication ations reinvented the way in which people not just here in America but all across the Planet Africa Asia South America communicate with these wireless devices we can do the same thing in energy we can do the same thing with wind and solar we can reinvent the kind of vehicles which we drive whether they be cars or trucks or buses we can do it we have to have the will though we have to Pope we have to play the role that the United States is expected to lead by the rest of the world in order to meet this moral imperative and we can do it by creating millions of new jobs here in the United States so this is our challenge the pope is arriving next week and for me as a boy who grew up going to the Immaculate Conception grammar school and Malden Catholic and Boston College and Boston College Law School catholic school every day for 19 years this this is just an incredible thrill knowing that in a way when he is standing up on that Podium it's going to be a Latter-Day Sermon on the Mount that he delivers to us telling us what our job is today to save this beautiful planet that God has created while also avoiding the worst consequences for the poorest people on the planet if we do not solve the problem so let us work together in a bipartisan fashion in order to heed the message of Pope Francis Mr President um I yield back the balance of my time