Problems aren't solved by delaying action

If you were mortally ill and the doctors had diagnosed the illness and prescribed a treatment, would you ignore them?

It’s very clear that our planet is warming -- warming is unequivocal. The odds are nine out of ten, that most of the warming is from increasing greenhouse gases. Greenhouse gases are coming mainly from burning fossil fuel.

All life on earth is carbon based. You, me, the trees, the fishes and the birds -- everything. When oil or coal is burned and combined with oxygen, carbon dioxide is released. This is science, not politics.

Climate change and global warming isn't only about a few polar bears. It is about rainfall and snowfall and water supplies and irrigation and agriculture and food. A 10 or 20 percent change in rainfall is life or death for agriculture. So particularly in very dry areas, places like Africa where there isn’t much in the way of irrigation, it’s basically rain-fed or it doesn’t happen. Changes in rainfall will have potentially a very, very large impact. Last year, the Australian droughts have had a significant impact on their wheat production. American farmers, particularly in the West, are seeing similar trends.

Recently, more than 1,700 of the nation's most prominent scientists and economists released a joint statement calling on policy makers to require immediate, deep reductions in heat-trapping emissions that cause global warming. You can read their statement here.

The statement notes that acting quickly to cut global warming pollution would be the most cost-effective way to limit climate change. If the U.S. delays taking action, future cuts would have to be more drastic and would be more expensive. Smart reduction strategies now would allow the economy to grow, generate new domestic jobs, protect public health, and strengthen energy security.

As clear as the science is, our representatives in the Senate turn it into politics, and have delayed for another year any action.