Highlighted remarks by Jerry Brown, Governor of California, to the Democratic National Convention, Wednesday, July 27, 2016:
Climate change is unlike any other threat we humans face. It is overarching and affects the entire earth and all living things. It is slow. It is relentless. And it is subject to irreversible tipping points and vast unknowns.
Combating climate change, the existential threat of our time, will take heroic effort on the part of many people and many nations. Make no mistake, climate change is REAL.
The vast majority of world leaders and climate scientists, like those at NASA and the Department of Defense – indeed, almost anyone who chooses to think – believes in the science of climate change and sees the moral imperative to take action. But you wouldn’t know it by listening to Donald Trump.
Last week at the Republican Convention, for 76 long and painful minutes, Trump conjured up a host of dark threats, but never once mentioned the words “climate change” or “global warming.” What do you expect? Trump represents a party with officials that have banned state employees from even using these words in Florida, and who knows where else.
Trump says global warming is a hoax. I say Trump is a fraud. Trump says there’s no drought in California. I say Trump lies. So, it’s not surprising that Trump chose as his running mate a man who denies that there’s such a thing as evolution.
Rarely in American history have two parties diverged so profoundly. Even the Know-Nothing, anti-immigrant party of the 1850s did not stray this far into sheer ignorance and dark fantasy as have the Republicans and their leader Donald Trump.
Our candidate, Hillary Clinton, couldn’t be more different. While Trump talks, and talks, and talks, Hillary gets stuff done. She fights for us on big issues. As Secretary of State, she paved the way for the historic Paris Climate Agreement, an agreement which 200 nations, including China and India, enthusiastically embraced. And Mr. Trump, he says: The world be damned; I’m tearing it up.
Hillary is the one who launched the Climate and Clean Air Coalition, a group of nations taking action to reduce black carbon and other super climate pollutants, which cause severe lung and heart damage. And from her first day in office, President Hillary Clinton will do what’s needed to combat climate change and lead the clean energy revolution.
We know something about this in California. We have solar, wind, zero-emission cars, energy efficiency, and yes, a price on carbon. We’re proving that even with the toughest climate laws in the country, our economy is growing faster than almost any nation in the world.
Mr. Trump and those who live in climate denial say otherwise. They tell us we have to choose between saving the economy and saving the planet. Donald Trump and the climate deniers are dead wrong — dangerously wrong.
What America needs today are not deniers, but leaders. Not division, but common purpose. Not bombast, but bold action. That’s why we need Hillary. And that’s why the American people will choose her as the next President of the United States.