Declaring the support of the House of Representatives for the goals and ideals of Earth Day and for developing the scientific and technological capabilities to achieve those goals.

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and agree to the resolution (H. Res. 1117) declaring the support of the House of Representatives for the goals and ideals of Earth Day and for developing the scientific and technological capabilities to achieve those goals.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and to include extraneous materials on H.R. 1117, the resolution now under consideration.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, today, all over the world, concerned citizens are coming together to celebrate the 38th annual anniversary of Earth Day. Since its inception in 1970, Earth Day has become an international call to action on behalf of the environment, and I am proud to offer this resolution in support of the goals and ideals of Earth Day.

We are constantly reminded of the serious environmental challenges that our country and our world are facing. The greatest challenge, global warming, continues to grab headlines, as it should. We are already feeling the effects of a heating planet, and it is long past time for our country to get serious about climate change.

Global warming is a serious threat, but also presents an opportunity and strong motivation to develop the clean energy economy of the future. I spent much of my career before entering Congress as a renewable energy engineer, and I have seen firsthand the development and evolution of the clean technologies that combat climate change. We have much of the scientific knowledge and technical capability to attack climate change head on, but there is still more progress to be made.

Today, Earth Day is an important opportunity to rededicate ourselves, both as individuals and as a Nation, to making the best use of the resources available to us. I want to commend the scientists, engineers, businesspeople, and educators who are working to develop the clean economy of the future, as well as the millions of Americans who are taking action to live greener lifestyles. I believe today is an important opportunity to honor the contributions toward a healthy planet.

Earth Day is also an important opportunity to look forward to a greener tomorrow. We should renew our efforts to push ahead with research and development of the cutting edge, environmentally friendly technologies of the future, as well as the many smart policies that will preserve our environment. Confronting great environmental challenges will require technological innovation, as well as a forward- thinking public policy. I believe we are up to the task.

As important as combating climate change is, Earth Day also reminds us of the other crucial environmental issues of our time. We need to preserve our precious natural resources, and to do that, we have to maintain our national lands, protect biodiversity, ensure clean air for everybody, and make smart investments in environmental cleanup efforts. These are important legislative opportunities before us, and I hope that we will embrace the chance to preserve our treasured landscapes. I am optimistic about our environmental future. Looking forward, I see an America that runs on clean sources of energy and supports a wide spectrum of family wage green energy jobs. I see an America where environmentally sustainable building practices are the norm, not the exception. And I see an America where our most beautiful landscapes are protected for our children and grandchildren.

I commend the organizers of Earth Day and the millions of people around the globe who are participating in Earth Day events today. Your dedication is admirable, and I am confident that environmental awareness and activism will continue to flourish. I am also inspired by the grassroots commitment to environmental protection that Earth Day embodies, and I look forward to celebrating many more Earth Days in the future.

Mr. Speaker, I ask all of my colleagues to join me in supporting the goals and ideals of Earth Day.

I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I have been all around this great Nation and I have seen the environment change from the 1970s until the present day. When Earth Day was first declared, we had lakes that were catching on fire and we had pollution running in our rivers. We have seen tremendous progress. Our lakes and rivers are much cleaner now and our air is breathable, although it still needs progress, we still need work.

The great thing about looking forward with the environment is that we can create jobs, we can make America prosperous. When we trash the environment, everyone gets poorer. We want an America that is prosperous. We want an America that we are proud to pass on to our next generation.

Earth Day has been a big part of this. It deserves to be commended and recognized. It is bipartisan. Everybody drinks the same water and breathes the same air. So it is an issue that I think we have broad support on both sides of the aisle. I certainly have support back home in California, and I know that as I go around the country, I see the same level of interest, both in the environment and creating clean jobs and ending our dependence on foreign oil. These are all national security issues. They are issues that are great for our Nation. They are issues that we want to work for, and part of the reason I am here in Congress.

So, again, I urge my colleagues to support this resolution.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the words of the gentleman from Maryland. His concern is noted and appreciated.

Mr. Speaker, I have no further requests for time, and I yield back the balance of my time.

I rise in support of this resolution commemorating Earth Day and its goals and ideals. The first Earth Day was celebrated in 1970 by 20 million people. That same year, President Nixon created the Environmental Protection Agency to protect public health and the environment and Congress amended the Clean Air Act with the goals of improving the national air quality, reduce auto emissions, and create antipollution standards.

We have come a long way as a Nation since that first Earth Day. In 1972, when Congress passed the Clean Air Act, only 26 percent of the Nation's streams were safe for swimming and fishing. Today, about 60 percent of our streams are safe for such purposes. This day has a very special meaning for me because of my childhood experiences with streams. In the early thirties, I grew up in the coal mining country of western Pennsylvania, and every one of the streams that I could get to was called a sulfur creek because it contained waters that had leached the sulfur out of the mines. There was only one thing that lived in those creeks, and that was a little red wiggly worm. It must have been tough because nothing else lived there. The rocks were all covered by a slimy, orangish kind of a film. I am sure those streams weren't safe to swim in, but we swam in them anyway because we were too poor to go to the pool. I didn't know where a pool existed. So Earth Day has a very special meaning for me. Those streams

now, I think, are all clear thanks to our attention to that.

A few years later, when Congress passed the Safe Drinking Water Act, ensuring EPA regulate the quality of our drinking water, today many Americans receive annual reports on the quality of their drinking water. In 1987, the United States joined other nations in signing the Montreal Protocol to phase out the production of chlorofluorocarbons, CFCs. As a result, the use of CFCs has been reduced drastically.

As a Nation, we also focused efforts on educating the public on the benefits of recycling and the clean up of hazardous materials from our lands and our waterways. In the 1990s, under President George Bush, we passed the Pollution Prevention Act and the National Environmental Education Act to emphasize the importance of preventing pollution, while educating the public on the potential effects their actions might have on the environment.

During the same period, the EPA established the Energy Star program to provide consumers with information on the availability of energy efficient appliances.

I would like to note, Mr. Speaker, that our efforts on efficiency have really been dramatic, and if it were not for the greatly increased efficiencies we have, we would be in even more trouble environmentally and with oil today than we are.

In 1993, President Clinton launched a program encouraging Federal Government agencies to buy recycled and environmentally friendly products. In recent years, President George W. Bush signed the Brownfields Revitalization Act to reclaim and restore thousands of abandoned properties and the Healthy Forest Restoration Act to prevent forest fires and preserve the Nation's forests.

Throughout the last three decades, efforts have been made to educate the public about the importance of conserving resources, preserving the environment and protecting the air we breathe and the water we drink. Americans have a better quality of life due to our own efforts to clean up the environment for ourselves and our children.

I support this resolution recognizing Earth Day and urge my colleagues to support it.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I think that a tipping moment occurred for most Americans when in that spacecraft hurdling toward the Moon they looked back and took a picture of our Earth, how small it was from that vantage point, and we suddenly recognized that the more than 6 billion of us who occupy this Earth ride a rather, in the grand scheme of things, tiny spacecraft. It is our only home.

I am very appreciative of the emphasis today on Earth Day, because I think that it is more than appropriate that we focus on this tiny orb that we are privileged to occupy as we hurdle through space. I remember staying up until 2 o'clock in the morning for that first walk on the Moon, and I remember those early pictures, and, gee, this is our Earth, and it really isn't all that big, is it?

So I thank those who got this legislation together. I am in strong support of recognizing Earth Day and encourage all Americans to do so.

Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H. Res. 1117 to celebrate the 28'' Anniversary of Earth Day, take stock of the progress that has already been made, and recommit ourselves with a sense of focus and urgency to the work that remains to be done.

We have come a long way since Senator Gaylord Nelson and Dennis Hayes organized their nationwide grassroots demonstration on behalf of the environment in the Spring of 1970. In the years that followed, Congress established the Environmental Protection Agency and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration; enacted the Marine Mammal Protection Act and the Endangered Species Act; and strengthened the Clean Water and Clean Air Acts, among other critical initiatives.

To a large extent, these steps--and other like them--continue to form the foundation of our environmental laws in the United States. Unfortunately, recent years have witnessed an erosion to this foundation as regulatory agencies shirked their responsibility to enforce the law and existing statutes failed to keep pace with the magnitude of the environmental challenges we are confronting in the 25th century.

The New Direction Congress has now begun the necessary process of reversing that erosion and establishing a new baseline of federal commitment to stewardship from which the next chapter in American environmental leadership will be written. For the first time in over 30 years, the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 increased the corporate average fuel economy (CAFE) standard for automobiles to 35 mpg by 2020. In combination with the economy-wide energy efficiency standards in the legislation, this step will reduce oil consumption by 2.4 million barrels a day--for a more than 25 percent reduction over today's usage--and save 5.3 billion metric tons in energy-related CO2 emissions by 2030. It's important. But it's just a start.

We must move decisively to enact an economy-wide cap-and-trade program that achieves dramatic reductions in our greenhouse gas emissions by the middle of the century--and work with other nations around the

world to do the same. We must transition our economy away from its reliance on fossil fuels and towards the clean, green energy sources of the future, while making far more efficient use of the energy we currently use. We must update, strengthen and enforce bedrock laws like the Clean Water and Clean Air Acts. And we must act locally and individually in all of our communities to restore, protect and cherish ecosystems like the Chesapeake Bay on which all of life ultimately depends.

Mr. Speaker, the key decisions we make over the next several years will have a profound impact on the kind of America we leave to our children. I believe the vast majority of our constituents understand this and stand ready to do their part as we come together to build a more prosperous, healthier and greener nation.

Mr. Speaker, today our Nation joins with countries from around the world to celebrate Earth Day. Today, communities large and small, collectively come together to recognize past progress and develop new strategies to improve future environmental health. On this day of global environmental reflection, I rise to recognize two outstanding schools in my district, Woodstock and Brooklyn Middle Schools, which have worked to make eastern Connecticut a cleaner and more environmentally conscious community.

Between March 20 and April 10, 2008, Woodstock and Brooklyn Middle Schools embarked on a project, the ``Bad Bag Competition'', which explored the prevalence of plastic bag use in our country as well as its environmental implications. Plastic bags are everywhere, from grocery to department stores, and every year Americans consume an average of 100 billion. In order to produce our annual demand for plastic bags, 12 million barrels of oil are used. Reducing national demand for plastic bags has clear environmental benefits.

Throughout the ``Bad Bag Competition'', students from Woodstock and Brooklyn Middle Schools collected and recycled used plastic bags and educated our neighbors on the importance of using reusable bags. At the end of the competition, when all the bags were counted, Woodstock and Brooklyn Middle Schools collected 43,836 and 66,100 bags respectively. The petroleum that was used to produce these bags, which collectively totaled 109,936, could have fueled a vehicle for 7,853 miles.

Mr. Speaker, these students have exemplified the spirit of Earth Day. These students not only modified their own choices to be more environmentally responsible, but encouraged our neighbors to do the same. The impact of this project on our eastern Connecticut community has been great, and the multiplier effects are even greater. I ask my colleagues to join with me and my constituents in recognizing these students' achievements and to choose reusable bags instead of the proverbial ``paper or plastic.''

Mr. Speaker, in honor of the 38th celebration of Earth Day, I would like to take this time to reflect on the progress we are making for the health of our planet--and to challenge all Americans--each and every one of us--to re-dedicate ourselves to living in a sustainable manner.

Looking back, we can be proud that the New Direction Congress has made real progress toward a future of cleaner energy and healthier living.

Last year, Congress passed the historic Energy Independence and Security Act.

This legislation takes important steps to increase fuel efficiency, help promote alternative energy sources, and is set to dramatically reduce CO2 emissions over the years to come. However, we can do more. We must do more. The time is now. We cannot wait any longer to address the countless environmental challenges we must confront.

Together, we can leave our planet a little greener and a little more peaceful. It is our duty to help spur the next generation of energy technology--solar, hydrogen, wind, and other sources of energy that create a sustainable environment.

The U.S. has the technology and know-how to lead the world in environmental solutions. I believe we can strengthen America's economy through environmentally sound policy and, in the process, create jobs here at home.

As we commemorate this Earth Day ask yourself, am I doing enough? Can I do more? What kind of planet will we leave for the next generation?

We all must share this planet. We all rely on its resources to survive. We must all do our part to pass along a healthy and sustainable living environment to our children and grandchildren.