[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. Con. Res. 22 Introduced in Senate (IS)]
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116th CONGRESS
1st Session
S. CON. RES. 22
Expressing the sense of Congress that there is a climate emergency
which demands a massive-scale mobilization to halt, reverse, and
address its consequences and causes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
July 17, 2019
Mr. Sanders (for himself, Mr. Merkley, Ms. Klobuchar, Mr. Booker, Mrs.
Gillibrand, Ms. Warren, and Ms. Harris) submitted the following
concurrent resolution; which was referred to the Committee on
Environment and Public Works
_______________________________________________________________________
CONCURRENT RESOLUTION
Expressing the sense of Congress that there is a climate emergency
which demands a massive-scale mobilization to halt, reverse, and
address its consequences and causes.
Whereas 2015, 2016, 2017, and 2018 were the 4 hottest years on record and the 20
warmest years on record have occurred within the past 22 years;
Whereas global atmospheric concentrations of the primary heat-trapping gas, or
greenhouse gas, carbon dioxide--
(1) have increased by 40 percent since preindustrial times, from 280
parts per million to 415 parts per million, primarily due to human
activities, including burning fossil fuels and deforestation;
(2) are rising at a rate of 2 to 3 parts per million annually; and
(3) must be reduced to not more than 350 parts per million, and likely
lower, ``if humanity wishes to preserve a planet similar to that on which
civilization developed and to which life on Earth is adapted,'' according
to former National Aeronautics and Space Administration climatologist, Dr.
James Hansen;
Whereas global atmospheric concentrations of other greenhouse gases, including
methane, nitrous oxide, and hydrofluorocarbons, have also increased
substantially since preindustrial times, primarily due to human
activities, including burning fossil fuels;
Whereas current climate science and real-world observations of climate change
impacts, including ocean warming and acidification, floods, droughts,
wildfires, and extreme weather, demonstrate that a global rise in
temperatures of 1 degree Celsius above preindustrial levels is already
having dangerous impacts on human populations and the environment;
Whereas the 2018 National Climate Assessment found that climate change due to
global warming has caused, and is expected to cause additional,
substantial interference with and growing losses to infrastructure,
property, industry, recreation, natural resources, agricultural systems,
human health and safety, and quality of life in the United States;
Whereas the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has determined that
climate change is already increasing the frequency of extreme weather
and other climate-related disasters, including drought, wildfire, and
storms that include precipitation;
Whereas climate-related natural disasters have increased exponentially over the
past decade, costing the United States more than double the long-term
average during the period of 2014 through 2018, with total costs of
natural disasters during that period of approximately $100,000,000,000
per year;
Whereas the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have found wide-ranging,
acute, and fatal public health consequences from climate change that
impact communities across the United States;
Whereas the National Climate and Health Assessment of the United States Global
Change Research Program identified climate change as a significant
threat to the health of the people of the United States, leading to
increased--
(1) temperature-related deaths and illnesses;
(2) air quality impacts;
(3) extreme weather events;
(4) numbers of vector-borne diseases;
(5) waterborne illnesses;
(6) food safety, nutrition, and distribution complications; and
(7) mental health and well-being concerns;
Whereas the consequences of climate change already disproportionately impact
frontline communities and endanger populations made especially
vulnerable by existing exposure to extreme weather events, such as
children, the elderly, and individuals with pre-existing disabilities
and health conditions;
Whereas individuals and families on the frontlines of climate change across the
United States, including territories, living with income inequality and
poverty, institutional racism, inequity on the basis of gender and
sexual orientation, poor infrastructure, and lack of access to health
care, housing, clean water, and food security are often in close
proximity to environmental stressors or sources of pollution,
particularly communities of color, indigenous communities, and low-
income communities, which--
(1) experience outsized risk because of the close proximity of the
community to environmental hazards and stressors, in addition to colocation
with waste and other sources of pollution;
(2) are often the first exposed to the impacts of climate change; and
(3) have the fewest resources to mitigate those impacts or to relocate,
which will exacerbate preexisting challenges;
Whereas, according to Dr. Robert Bullard and Dr. Beverly Wright, ``environmental
and public health threats from natural and human-made disasters are not
randomly distributed,'' therefore a response to the climate emergency
necessitates the adoption of just community transition policies and
processes available to all communities, which include policies and
processes rooted in principles of racial and socio-economic equity,
self-determination, and democracy, as well as the fundamental human
right of all people to clean air and water, healthy food, health care,
adequate land, education, and shelter;
Whereas climate change holds grave and immediate consequences not just for the
population of the United States, including territories, but for
communities across the world, particularly those communities in the
Global South on the frontlines of the climate crisis, which are at risk
of forced displacement;
Whereas communities in rural, urban, and suburban areas are all dramatically
affected by climate change, though the specific economic, health,
social, and environmental impacts may be different;
Whereas the United States Department of State, Department of Defense, and
intelligence community have identified climate change as a threat to
national security, and the Department of Homeland Security views climate
change as a top homeland security risk;
Whereas climate change is a threat multiplier--
(1) with the potential to exacerbate many of the challenges the United
States already confronts, including conflicts over scarce resources,
conditions conducive to violent extremism, and the spread of infectious
diseases; and
(2) because climate change has the potential to produce new,
unforeseeable challenges in the future;
Whereas, in 2018, the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
projected that the Earth could warm 1.5 degrees Celsius above
preindustrial levels as early as 2030;
Whereas the climatic changes resulting from global warming above 1.5 degrees
Celsius above preindustrial levels, including changes resulting from
global warming of more than 2 degrees Celsius above preindustrial
levels, are projected to result in irreversible, catastrophic changes to
public health, livelihoods, quality of life, food security, water
supplies, human security, and economic growth;
Whereas, in 2019, the United Nations Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform
on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services found that human-induced climate
change is pushing the planet toward the sixth mass species extinction,
which threatens the food security, water supply, and well-being of
billions of people;
Whereas, according to climate scientists, limiting warming to no more than 1.5
degrees Celsius above preindustrial levels, and likely lower, is most
likely to avoid irreversible and catastrophic climate change;
Whereas, even with global warming up to 1.5 degrees Celsius above preindustrial
levels, the planet is projected to experience--
(1) a significant rise in sea levels;
(2) extraordinary loss of biodiversity; and
(3) intensifying droughts, prodigious floods, devastating wildfires,
and other extreme weather events;
Whereas, according to climate scientists, addressing the climate emergency will
require an economically just and managed phase-out oil, gas, and coal to
keep fossil fuels in the ground;
Whereas the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has
determined that limiting warming through emissions reduction and carbon
sequestration will require rapid, and immediate, acceleration and
proliferation of ``far-reaching, multilevel, and cross-sectoral climate
mitigation'' and ``transitions in energy, land, urban and rural
infrastructure (including transport and buildings), and industrial
systems'';
Whereas, in the United States, massive, comprehensive, and urgent governmental
action is required immediately to achieve the transitions of those
systems in response to the severe existing and projected economic,
social, public health, and national security threats posed by the
climate crisis;
Whereas the massive scope and scale of action necessary to stabilize the climate
will require unprecedented levels of public awareness, engagement, and
deliberation to develop and implement effective, just, and equitable
policies to address the climate crisis;
Whereas failure to mobilize to solve the climate emergency is antithetical to
the spirit of the Declaration of Independence in protecting
``unalienable Rights'' that include ``Life, Liberty and the pursuit of
Happiness'';
Whereas the United States has a proud history of collaborative, constructive,
massive-scale Federal mobilizations of resources and labor in order to
solve great challenges, such as the Interstate Highway System, the
Apollo 11 Moon landing, Reconstruction, the New Deal, and World War II;
Whereas the United States stands uniquely poised to substantially grow the
economy and attain social and health benefits from a massive
mobilization of resources and labor that far outweigh the costs of
inaction;
Whereas millions of middle class jobs can be created by raising labor standards
through project labor agreements and protecting and expanding the right
of workers to organize so that workers in the United States and the
communities of those workers are guaranteed a strong, viable economic
future in a zero-emissions economy that guarantees good jobs at fair
union wages, with quality benefits;
Whereas frontline communities, Tribal governments and communities, people of
color, and labor unions must be equitably and actively engaged in the
climate mobilization and prioritized through local climate mitigation
and adaptation planning, policy, and program delivery so that workers in
the United States, the communities of those workers, are guaranteed a
strong, viable economic future;
Whereas a number of local jurisdictions and governments in the United States,
including New York City and Los Angeles, and across the world, including
the United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland, Portugal, and Canada, have
already declared a climate emergency, and a number of State and local
governments are considering declaring a climate emergency in response to
the massive challenges posed by the climate crisis;
Whereas State, local, and Tribal governments must be supported in efforts to
hold to account actors whose activities have deepened and accelerated
the climate crisis and who have benefitted from delayed action to
address the climate change emergency and to develop a fossil fuel-free
economy;
Whereas a collaborative response to the climate crisis will require the Federal
Government to work with international, State, and local governments,
including with those governments that have declared a climate emergency,
to reverse the impacts of the climate crisis; and
Whereas the United States has an obligation, as a driver of accelerated climate
change, to mobilize at emergency speed to restore a safe climate and
environment not just for communities of the United States, including
territories, but for communities across the world, particularly those on
the frontlines of the climate crisis who have least contributed to the
crisis, and to account for global and community impacts of any actions
it takes in response to the climate crisis: Now, therefore, be it
Resolved by the Senate (the House of Representatives concurring),
That it is the sense of Congress that--
(1) the global warming caused by human activities, which
increase emissions of greenhouse gases, has resulted in a
climate emergency that--
(A) severely and urgently impacts the economic and
social well-being, health and safety, and national
security of the United States; and
(B) demands a national, social, industrial, and
economic mobilization of the resources and labor of the
United States at a massive-scale to halt, reverse,
mitigate, and prepare for the consequences of the
climate emergency and to restore the climate for future
generations; and
(2) nothing in this concurrent resolution constitutes a
declaration of a national emergency for purposes of any Act of
Congress authorizing the exercise, during the period of a
national emergency or other type of declared emergency, of any
special or extraordinary power.
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