rachel carson in 1950 wrote a book called "the sea around us." and in that book she devoted a chapter to the global thermostat in which she laid out in quite good detail the fact that fish and wildlife were, in fact, moving further north in the northern hemisphere and further south in the southern hemisphere. and she said in her book at this very moment we are witnessing a startling alteration of climate. and that's what she said in 1950. that happens to be the year that i was born. so she was precedent in her observations that nature was responding to a shifting climate. and nature has always been the front line of our warning systems of changing planetary conditions. the -- that's what scientists call this 11,000-year period we've enjoyed, is really the period where all of the great things that humans have accomplished has occurred. so our civilization is really bound by this period.

how many of you have heard of rachel carson? well, let's rachel carson. she was a woman who sat down at a tiny desk at a small house in pennsylvania. and she started scribbling at a book, having no idea that it would ever be published. much less that it would get rid of dbt in the united states and start a worldwide environmental movement. you can do that. you can do that. you can do something like that. how many of you have ever heard of jack would or dick smith, richard smith, mr. sayer? [laughter] all my gosh, there is one educator who has read the book. [laughter] this is scary. i thought you guys were educated. >> jack woodberry and richard smith. they were my history teachers. and also my third-grade teacher, and all three of them change the world. i would not be standing up here if it weren't for them. i wouldn't have written a single book. they taught me the power of the written word in history and in literature. they taught me that we can move mountains and change governments and change the world from writing. mrs. schaner, she taught me great th

like "and uncle tom's cabin" on avolition or rachel carson on the environment and there is still a hope. edward r. murrow's maybe long dead but the shadow is all over our foreign correspondents. they want to get in there and go after the bad guys. >> let's run a clip of edward r. murrow for those who have never seen him. this is from "person to person." was not exactly top journalism. >> good evening. i'm ed murrow. the name of the program is open " person to person." what sort of fellow is my to live with? -- mike to live with? >> the real answer? he is the nicest person i have met before. >> this little after eight months and two days. >> is he wearing makeup? he is retired. >> when mr. demille found out we were the one to have a baby he said if it is a boy he can play the infant moses in the 10 commandments. >> hereby engage to play the part of baby moses and the 10 commandments. he had to sign it in ink and his own foot writing. >> this is peter vinson douglas. >> the son of michael douglas. why is it some money -- you mention dan rather wanted to be the new ed murrow. >> the romanc

rachel carson wrote a book called the sea around us. it she laid this out and quite good detail. fish and wildlife were moving further north in the northern hemisphere. in her book, at this very moment we are witnessing a startling alteration of climate in 1950. that happens to be the year that i was born. she was very perceptive in her observations about nature. nature has been the front line of our warning systems in our planetary conditions. this period that we have enjoyed, it is really the period that all things -- all the great things we have accomplished has occurred. the scientists, more recently there have now been a couple of papers and published that we are moving into a new period, a new climatic period called the [inaudible name]. there has been a lot of discussion in the scientific community about the fact that we are on a course to this. what it looks like depends largely on what we do over the next few years to curb our carbon emissions. clearly, we are moving out of the paradigm that we have enjoyed for 11,000 years into a new time. a new condition on the planet.

it's the same pollution that rachel carson warned us about in "silent spring" when she said why shouldwe tolerate a diet of weak poisons, a home in insipid surroundings, the nose of motors -- the noise of motors with just enough relief to prevent insanity. who would want to live in a world that is just not quite fatal? today we do live in an world where there is absurdity in the air and it's got kphraeu sense written all over it. fish are dying in water-polluted pesticide. roadless forests are being threatened by indiscriminate drilling. industrial chemicals are sweeping into all of us. young children are born with a burden of chemicals unprecedented in their amount. the burning of fossil fuels has overloaded our ecosystems with my troe general and ravaged our plant life. go out and look at the forests and look at the change of the topography of our country. bottom line, we have substituted fantasy for reason. sheer women is i for -- sheer whimsy for proven epidemiology and it is wreaking havoc on our environment. you don't have to take my word for it, mr. president. i'm confident a lo