Statement at the Sierra Club Press Conference 1-15-15

Here's the statement I made at the Sierra Club's press conference prior to the EPA hearing in Oklahoma City yesterday regarding haze pollution in National Parks in Arkansas, Oklahoma, and Texas caused by dirty coal fired power plants in Texas:

I support the EPA's efforts to restrict the amount of carbon released into the atmosphere and thereby reduce the haze and pollution that is impacting national parks and wilderness areas like the Wichita Mountains. 

I believe that reducing green house gas emissions from dirty coal plants and other sources of haze and pollution comprise the most important ethical issue of our time.  Man made pollution not only has an impact on the environment it also has an impact on our health.  My wife is a diabetic with a heart condition and asthma.  When the air is hazy, she has a hard time breathing.

That is one of the reasons why I believe it is a moral imperative that we do whatever we can to preserve an environment that will sustain life as we know it -- whether we are perfectly healthy or not.

Another reason is that I want my children and grandchildren to experience a quality of life that is as good or better than my own. I have no desire to see life made harder and more difficult for them. Climate change threatens to make the world my grandchildren inherit completely different from the world we live in today.

Increasingly extreme weather events – droughts and floods, tornadoes and hurricanes – are making life treacherous for people around the world. With ever increasing regularity, extreme weather events are destroying our homes, schools, lives and livelihoods.

We have a moral obligation to to do everything possible to mitigate the emissions that are fueling these extreme weather events.

We are all part of an ecosystem. In one way or another, all the forms of life on this planet are connected.  Scientists tell us that global warming is going to cause a lot of extinctions. The destruction of biodiversity is dangerous for our entire ecosystem.

Each one of us has a responsibility to do whatever we can do to reduce our own greenhouse gas footprint.  Do whatever you can to stop contributing to climate change.

We need to work both individually and collectively to support efforts to address this issue both nationally and internationally. 

Make this a burning issue when you are in the voting booth to elect leaders.

The future of life on this planet depends on it.