one of my best friends in the senate on the other side of the aisle with ben nelson as a result of a codel to afghanistan. when you're many hours, out of that furnace that is the senate, and you get to know somebody as a person, it's a little harder to hate them on the floor. >> guest: that's right. and i think that -- how is the media going to deal with something like this? how is your opponent going to deal with it? oh, well, this is a junket. hardly a junket to afghanistan. hardly a junket to the border of cambodia when people are starving to death, but it is an opportunity for quality time and that's really important. >> host: and that is -- i think that's very true, and that has contributed -- as you said, many things, certainly a big contributor to what we see in washington today. then you say -- you write, religion creates the environment where compromise can thrive, and you told about the advice that the legendary senator russell long gave you when you became chairman of the commerce committee. can you recount that for our viewers today? do you recall the advice he gave? >> guest:

i want to especially thank senator cardin for leading that codel. his leadership was critical, as a person who is a ranking member of foreign relations, to have him lead and understand that this is a critical issue not just with regard to the climate in general, but also to our national defense, to our strength as a nation, to our economy, it is good to have him leading, understanding the breadth of these issues. i have to say when i was over there, i was moved to see virtually all of the globe represented by leaders, heads of state, members of parliament, n.g.o.'s, corporations, major global dominant corporations, everyone was there. it was an array of the planet coming together focused on this issue of the impacts of climate change. conversations ranged from focusing on us being innovative in how we were dealing with renewable technology so that technology can be a great pathway towards sustainability of the future all the way to resiliency and making sure that we are doing the things to protect populations from the effect of climate change, espec

we all in the codel came aka way from paris -- came away from pair which is a good dealing about the prospects for a strong climate agreement. i had the chance to speak at oceans' day where people were keenly aware that the effects of carbon pollution on our oceans are undeniable. you can measure the warming oceans with thermometers. you measure sea level rise with basically a yardstick. you can measure acidification of the seas with simple ph tests, and you can replicate what excess co2 does to sea water in a basic high school science lab. that's why the big phony climate denial apparatus the fossil fuel dry is running never talks about oceans. it is undeniable there. i also had the chance in paris to cheer on our bright young negotiating team staff who have been working late hours in their windowless common work space but were very enthusiastic and made me very proud. the delegation also met with todd stern, who is leading the u.s. negotiating team, and we visited the noaa scientists at the united states pavilion. the u.s. presence there was great. one thing was sad, and that is th