A pair of U.S. senators — a Democrat and a Republican — jump in a raft and head down river…It sounds like a lead-in for a political joke. But it happened last weekend on the Colorado River, with Colorado’s Sen. Michael Bennet, the Democrat, joining Utah’s Mitt Romney, the Republican, on a float through billion-year-old geology. Their time together was meant to forge a relationship that might supersede politics and help the West better address the ravages of a warming climate.
“I look around this landscape and I say we are here for a minute of time,” Romney said. “And we will be known by future generations as the great generation or the worst generation and our trajectory ain’t great right now on some fronts. Dealing with climate is something we are going to have to grapple with before we are gone. We are going to do that with real leadership on a bipartisan basis.”
With a crew that included a tribal leader, Utah state politicians, scientists, water-guardians, ranchers and environmentalists, the two senators donned river sandals and PFDs and joined their wives for a float on a river that is unable to slake the thirst of some 40 million users.
Read full story by Jason Blevins here in The Colorado Sun