San Diego Lawmaker Talks Climate Change At Vatican

Rep. Scott Peters is part of a large California delegation at the Vatican climate conference that also includes Gov. Jerry Brown and Scripps Institution of Oceanography researcher V. Ramanathan.

Peters, D-San Diego, is encouraged that the Roman Catholic Church is speaking out about the impacts of climate change and to continue to press the moral responsibility of facing and dealing with climate change. Peters said California is a climate change leader.

"It is a bipartisan effort. It is an effort that understands economic opportunity is connected with this. And it is an effort that rejects the false choice between a clean environment and prosperous economy. In fact, we're proving you can have both," Peters said.

The congressman wants to let the conference know that there are members of Congress willing to deal with the issue, even though the president wants to move in the other direction.

Peters is glad religious leaders see climate change as an important issue.

"it is not just about numbers. It is not just about the feet of sea level rise. It is really calling on people to act to save God's planet. When I was invited to be part of that I just thought it was really important to let people know that some people, at least in Congress, want to be engaged in that discussion," Peters said.

The conference, titled "Health of People and Planet: Our Responsibility," runs through Nov. 4.

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