WASHINGTON, DC.  – Yesterday, U.S. Senator Chris Coons (D-Del.) gave a speech on the U.S. Senate floor about how climate change is impacting Delaware with his colleagues, including Senator Whitehouse, who has been delivering “Time to Wake Up” floor speeches since 2012.

A link to the full speech can be found here: https://youtu.be/KoHc8p1pN5c

Full text of speech below:

Mr. President, this evening, inspired by the determined efforts of my colleague Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island.

My colleague, who has made clear by delivering his 200th floor speech on climate change is committed to raising awareness about, and urging action on, this very real threat to our environment.

Let me speak briefly, as someone who was trained in science as a chemist, I am troubled that – time and time again – I’m called to this chamber to defend and advocate for science.

We live in a time of unprecedented scientific advances.

Throughout our history, we’ve turned to science to help us solve both domestic and international crises. Science was there, for example to do battle against the Ebola outbreak, threats from hurricanes and other natural disasters, the dangers of cigarette smoke or lead exposure.

It was scientists who found a cure, who provided early warning, who educated us, and who influenced politics that that led to policies that led to stronger industry and consumer safety standards in facing all of these threats.

The scientific method has saved lives and insured our survival.

So why don’t we widely embrace the science of prediction, mitigation, and adaptation to the effects of climate change?

Climate change is real. We know climate change is already happening, although it’s slow, gradual, and often hard to perceive.

Its affects will impact human health, agricultural production, and national security, an unbelievable range of concerns that should motivate us together.

Yet I have colleagues either aren’t convinced – or don’t understand – that climate change is a real and pressing threat. 

Let me briefly cite one meta-study of scientific opinion. 

One surveyed 13,950 peer-reviewed articles and studies on climate change and found only 24 of them rejected global warming – less than ZERO POINT TWO PERCENT (0.2%).

So although there is not unanimous opinion, when there is 99.8 percent agreement in the scientific community we should agree that this degree of certainty is enough to take action.

“An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure” – is an aphorism that dates back to the early 1700s.

Why are we waiting? Let’s change our ways. Let’s work together to lower greenhouse gases, combat pollution, and slow the impact of climate change.

As someone who represents the state of Delaware, I’m passionate about this because we are the lowest mean elevation state in America. 

I’ve heard from folks up and down the First State, from my colleague Senator Carper, from our Governor, from our community leaders, from concerned citizens from Wilmington, to Rehoboth, to Middletown – that they are concerned about sea level rise and the likely impact on our state.

We need to do more. Because in my small state, sea level rise is happening at twice the national rate, and in about 100 years, everyone in Delaware will finally have a beach house. Just not the way they wanted. 

So let me conclude by saying we need to look forward, not backward when addressing climate change and sea level rise.

We need action, not reaction.

We need policy, not politics.

We should act today, not tomorrow.

Mr. President, I want to again say to Sen. Whitehouse, thank you. It was my pleasure to have him visit my home state of Delaware and see what we are doing to plan for and to combat sea level rise as a result of climate change.

It was my honor to join you this evening and lend my support to you, to our environment, and to the fight against climate change.

Mr. President, I yield to my senior colleague from our shared home state of Delaware.