My research focuses on how the Earth's climate has behaved over the last millennium, and what that tells us about the climate changes we are seeing now.

You don’t need a PhD in climate science to understand what’s going on, that we have overwhelming evidence that the climate is changing. That you cannot tie any one event to that is not the same as doubt about the whole thing.

As climate scientists, we are disturbingly aware of the threats to society not only here in Australia, but all over the world.

And on doing the research and noticing the very clear effects of global warming, it’s something that I really wanted to raise awareness for.

I want to state emphatically that nothing in my remarks should be taken to imply that we can ignore our environment, or that we should not take climate change seriously. On the contrary, we must dramatically improve our record on environmental management. That is why a focused effort on climate science, aimed at securing sound, independently verified answers to policy questions, is so important now.

The past climate records that I develop come from corals, caves and ice cores, and I combine these with climate model data to study climate changes.

In our own lifetime we are witnessing a startling alteration of climate.

Global climate change is a big deal to me. We need to change our ways.

Studies of the Earth's atmosphere tells us nothing about future climate. An understanding of climate requires an amalgamation of astronomy, solar physics, geology, geochronology, geochemistry, sedimentology, tectonics, paleontology, paleoecology, glaciology, climatology, meterology, oceanography, ecology, archaeology and history.

Even the most recalcitrant climate scientists agree now, the place is heating up. pretty much every one of the lot. Unless some other outcome is written on the subject line of his paycheck. [...] If you were here to get information, Tina, you would not be standing in my laboratory telling me what scientists think.

As a marine biologist and policy nerd, building community around climate solutions is my life’s work. But I’m also a black person in the United States of America. I work on one existential crisis, but these days I can’t concentrate because of another.

Science tells us that the earth is getting warmer and we are probably doing it. Science tells us that this is bad. Therefore, we want science.

Honourable members, over the past two decades, a number of successful initiatives were put in place to facilitate the use of the available science for policy and action. Together with the Presidential Climate Change Commission, we will finalise the development of a medium-term climate change research and development roadmap.

I don't agree with the notion that some are putting out there — including scientists — that somehow, there are actions we can take today that would actually have an impact on what's happening in our climate. Our climate is always changing. And what they have chosen to do is take a handful of decades of research, and say that this is now evidence of a longer-term trend that's directly and almost solely attributable to manmade activity.