Senators Go to Global Warming's Front Lines

Senate delegation travels to Greenland to observe effects of global warming.

ByABC News
February 11, 2009, 12:04 AM

July 30, 2007 — -- A delegation of senators traveled by fishing boat and helicopter last weekend through a remote stretch of Greenland that's covered by a thick -- and receding -- sheet of glacial ice.

The group of seven Democrats, two Republicans and one independent set out to explore firsthand the effects of climate change in a region where glacial melting and rising sea levels have already forced the human and animal population to adapt.

The senators returned Sunday from the two-day trip, and Democrats, along with independent Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont spoke about their experiences in a press conference Monday.

"After this trip ... I know I have a responsibility to move now to lessen the impacts of severe global warming," said Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., chairman of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works. "We can do it in a way that actually makes us stronger as a nation, and that is my goal."

Accompanied by photographs of receding ice sheets and thawing glaciers, Democrats and Sanders recounted stories of a changing ecosystem and its effects on local villagers. They told of polar bears that have been shot wandering into towns searching for food, and fish species disappearing off the coasts.

Sanders said he was shocked that "something as huge as the Greenland ice sheet is at risk of being lost because of our actions, but this is the reality I witnessed firsthand this weekend."

Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., explained his anxiety that a rise in global sea level could have catastrophic effects for his state.

That sentiment was shared by Sen. Frank Lautenberg, D-N.J., who said that "viewing the vast Greenland ice firsthand underscored the magnitude of the potential consequences of unchecked global warming, since melting Greenland ice would cause a 23-foot rise in sea levels worldwide. The economic and ecological impacts for our country would be devastating."

Sen. Klobuchar, D-Minn., called the melting Greenland ice sheet the "canary in the coal mine of climate change," meaning she sees the warming of Greenland as the first sign of a catastrophe.