Cross Posted from GreenEnergyTimes.org NOTE: All is paraphrased. I can type quickly, but not as fast as people talk, especially Bernie!
Intro: Phil Fiermonte, Sanders outreach coordinator Over 100 high school and college students here today.
Bernie is leading the fight in Washington - only member in Dem Caucus on both energy and environmental committees. He and Barbara Boxer introduced climate change legislation.
Bernie Sanders: [thank yous to those who helped organize the event] One of the privileges of being on these committees is that we get to sit down with some of the leading scientists in the entire world. The major point in the last year: Their projections about global warming were wrong. What they said was too conservative. The damages they now see and the speed is far more severe than they had previously thought. If we got you nervous before, you should be a lot more nervous today. No one can make predictions with 100% accurate, but it we don't get our act together, by the end of this century, the temp of earth will be 8 degrees f higher than today. That's only 85 years. In the lifetimes of students today, the temperature of the Earth can go up by 8 degrees. I hope you all understand what that means and the catastrophe.
CIA and DOD have this as one of the largest challenges. It means in our country that great cities like NO, NYC, Boston, etc. will be under water.
What it means is that extreme weather disturbances (scientists will tell you "we can't tell you this storm was caused by warming, but we can tell you that the likelihood of more of these is increasing. We'll see more of these with more severity, more frequently. If you saw the pictures of Sandy. We just spend 60 Billion dollars just to help NY and NJ rebuild. Billions were spent after Irene. Think of the implications of that if we have more severe and more frequent disturbances.
Think about drought - in the US and all over the world. Think not only of the farmers, but also of the food. Think what it does to food supply.
If you have droughts and floods leading to catastrophic changes - what do you think happens politically? War and political turmoil. Who's going to get the water? We talk about the Middle East struggle - don't underestimate the role of water in that.
Much more below the fold...