I would like to share a personal insight into where I am coming from with regard to this legislation. The scientists tell us that the 1990s was the hottest decade of the entire millennium. If we fail to reduce the emission of greenhouse gases that comes from burning fossil fuel deadly heat waves and droughts will become more frequent, coastal areas will flood, and economies will be disrupted. That is going to happen, unless we act. But just because the President declared it so does not necessarily make it so.
Science surrounding climate change is very complex.
In fact, NASA has found through satellite data that the upper atmosphere has not warmed at all over the last 20 years. But, regardless of that, we don't know what is happening out there. Change is always about. The notion that our coastlines will flood or that heat waves will plague the world is a view that is shared by a lot of radical environmentalists, non-growth people in this country and around the world. Some scientists have actually studied the matter, however, and concluded that there are many beneficial changes that occur when carbon dioxide levels increase.