Thank you for allowing me to testify before you today. I am here to speak in support of the proposed endangerment finding that greenhouse gases in the atmosphere threaten the public health and welfare of current and future generations, and in support of the proposed cause or contribute finding that new motor vehicles and their engines spew greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.
What a pleasure and a relief that science is once again being used to set national policy! I am trained as scientist with a PhD from MIT. But it doesn’t take a PhD to know that proposing to find that greenhouse gases created by our activities endanger us is like proposing to find that a clear sky is blue, that things fall when you drop them, or that the earth is round.
In my testimony today I wish to emphasize that by the Technical Support Document’s own admission, its proposed findings understate the risk to public health and welfare because sections 7 through 14 of the TSD are, by design, not informed by section 6(f) relating to abrupt climate change. In simple English, none of the scientific studies and modeling that the TSD relies upon model or account for the abrupt climate change that could be brought about by the positive feedback loops in the climate system. These are frightening changes with devastating consequences for human health and welfare, whose probabilities of occurring are ignored in your analysis. This means that your proposed findings are conservative, very conservative. Not only do I support your proposed findings, I urge you to put regulations into effect as soon as possible to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions.
You will note that I am not testifying before you today as a member of any political, environmental, or lobbying group. But that does not mean I am not here to represent others. Indeed, I am here to represent my son Nathan, age 16, my nephew Eli, age 6, my nephew Benjamin, age 2, and my niece Nina, aged 17. I am here to represent all those of the youngest generation, who run the risk of the devastation caused by actions or inactions. On their behalf, I beseech you, finalize these proposed findings, and then implement whatever is required and legally permissible to give them a future at least as promising as our past.
Thank you for finally addressing the biggest problem humanity has ever faced. Even as we meet here, methane is bubbling from the thawing permafrost. Time is of the essence.