CATONSVILLE —
U.S. Senator Benjamin L. Cardin (D-MD) today told students and faculty at the University of Maryland Baltimore County (UMBC) that the number one challenge facing our nation is to lessen our dependence on foreign energy while also reducing the threat of global warming.
Senator Cardin was invited to speak about the environment by UMBC’s Public Policy Graduate Student Association.
The Senator, a member of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, said that global warming is ”
a very real threat to our environment” and that now is the time to make the necessary investment in clean, green technology that will reduce carbon admissions and also lessen our dependence on foreign energy.
Senator Cardin discussed the very real effects of global warming and its effects on Maryland. He pointed out that tide gauge records for the last century show that the rate of sea level rise in Maryland is nearly twice the global average.
Studies indicate that this rate is accelerating and may increase to two or three feet along Maryland's shores by the year 2100.
Low-lying coastal communities such as Smith Island risk being inundated, at untold economic costs.
The Senator added: ”
The good news is that addressing the threat of climate change offers an opportunity both to avert catastrophe and to develop new sectors in our economy that will provide high-paying jobs here in America and technologies and services we can export abroad. For the first time in eight years, we have partners in the White House and at the Environmental Protection Agency who will work proactively with us to tackle these tremendous challenges.”