 Thank you very much for the kind introduction. President Hamilton, Senator Wickham, members of the committee, community leaders, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, it's a genuine honor and pleasure to have the opportunities to address the members of this outstanding and widely needed organization, the Providence Committee of Foreign Relations. We need a club anchored in hope in a city surrounded by progress and a state that symbolizes strength. Today we stand on the dawn of a new decade in need of all freedom. We need an hour of hope and fear in a century where each year has been taught in the past. In an ice-free, ordered world, a world full of uncertainty. Our quest for progress and peace must be guided by the rays of reason, even distribution of power and unlimited learning, or else those who confuse rhetoric with reality or agree with growth only spend their energy protecting their own power. Energy better spent helping humanity solve the big problems and the opening Arctic brings to the world. I believe climate change is the defining issue of our time and the greatest threat to the security of this nation and of the world. And the Arctic is round zero. And it makes sense. Instead of reflecting some energy back into space, the Arctic is absorbing more of it. In the last decade alone we've seen Arctic temperatures warm twice the rate as anywhere else in the world. Sea ice extent has reached historical lows. New national policies and strategies are forming. New species are emerging while others are disappearing. We've seen the discovery and production of new oil fields and renewables. New investment and development of infrastructure, greater commercial, military and adventure activity. We witness communities rise and villages fall because of a warming Arctic. Last year we saw a record 16 climates or weather related disasters here in the United States. With economic losses exceeding $300 billion, nearly half of the U.S. defense budget. And the most costly year to date. The science is clear and the effects are real. I've seen the first hand during my travels across the Arctic from Greenland to Alaska and right here at home in Rhode Island where the seas are swallowing our streets and hitting away our beaches. And the effects are here to stay in a big way and it's only going to get worse. As global populations rise in the coming decades, so too will humanity's hunger for energy. If we're going to save the Arctic and our planet, we need to act now in fact. And Arctic policy for the ages starts right here at home. Despite the striking fact investment and workers in clean energy jobs are twice that of all fossil fuel sectors combined with American workers in all that's set up counties across the country. Despite the fact this nation's renewable energy production has doubled each year over the last 12 years. And despite countless companies and communities doubling down on their own clean energy policies and programs, despite all this, the bad stretches of the unknown, the untapped, and the unemployed still far exceed our universal understanding. And no one person, no one community or nation can fully grasp how far and how fast we've come. For the 50,000 years of recorded history of humans, we know very little about the first half except that humans emerged from their caves, creating tools to hunt and fire to cook. And just about 10,000 years ago, we learned how to harvest crops and raise cattle. 3,000 years ago, solar and coal started to heat homes. And a few hundred years before Christianity began, humans began harvesting water and wind to power mills. Around the time of Christ, we began to recognize the power of the masses, a new layer of easing devices. Less than two centuries ago, the steam engine provided a new source of power. Newton explained, explored the laws of motion. Last century, the discovery of nuclear power gave rise to new propulsion, electricity, and weapons of war. Petroleum, natural gas, and coal fueled the growing nation. Only last year did renewable energy surge to 20% of this nation's power. And now if every state succeeds in reaching the sun, we will literally have fuel and power the nation by the end of the decade. This case and this progress is extraordinary and cannot help but create new problems as it solves the old ones of today. Surely the rise of renewables promises great risk, but it also promises great reward. And both the risk and the reward require great responsibility. So I'm not surprised that some of us would have a state static or satisfied with the progress of the past. But this city of promise, this state of Rhode Island, and each United States of America is not powered by those who delayed or dare to be different. We became a great power because of those who powered ahead. Even in the face of strong currents. The Industrial Revolution started here in Rhode Island with the building of the San Diego Slater's water-powered cotton mill at Tuckett. Over two centuries later, America's first commercial wind farm erected off the waters of Black Island. Today's solar farm to wind turbines have emerged across our state. With panels and blades as big as a football field, even brown has gone green. And we have fair shares of debates and disagreements. As one should expect from our strong democracy. Energy is the only universal currency. One of its many forms must be transformed to get anything done. From the enormous rotations of galaxies to the forces that park our ocean floors and rise new mountaintops. To the cumulative impacts of tiny rain drops, life on earth and still, the only universe we know will not be possible without solar energy. The quest for clean energy will go ahead, whether we join it or not. And no nation that expects to be the leader of other nations can expect to stay behind the race for renewables. The chance to lead this world in this new arena is a prize worth pursuing. And the nation that generates the most clean power I believe will become the greatest power. Our day in the sun will come and this nation should be first. President Franklin E. Roosevelt said, keep your eyes on the stars and your feet on the ground. And as we look to the biggest star in the sky and view our future, we surely get a little daze at first. But if we stay grounded in our values and work together, we can transform this nation and the world and bring light to every drug form. This nation should commit itself to renew the goal for the end of the next decade of building a new modern energy network powered by the sun. Why the sun some say? Why choose this as our goal? Only because it's clean, it's cheap, and it's unlimited. And the silicone used to make solar cells is nearly infinite. Second only to the air we breathe. Today's electrical grid is old. It's too expensive and vulnerable to blackouts and attacks. If each state just built five square miles of solar panel to connect them to form a giant interconnected grid, we can easily power the United States. This bold national endeavor demands a new web, world centers, transmission lines, fiber optic networks and power farms. The infrastructure that makes permanent security and economic growth possible. To be sure, this American solar power super grid will cost a good deal of money. In fact, such a proposal would cost around $6 trillion. But we would spend the same amount of money anyway in just eight years if the price of oil stayed at about $100 a barrel. Transferring electricity from states that needed lease to those that needed most would renew economic benefits to communities. Excess capacity to neighboring states may help reduce the cost of building new energy projects. It will be built by Americans full-fledged paid for by a solar trust fund which is fueled by a fair carbon tax, bipartisan solution. Companies would first be required to destroy the climate-related risks. Every citizen will be invested all the other days of utility bills and moving power or gas. Something Newport County residents know. Each level of government, federal, state, county, municipal all will contribute to upgrading the nation's energy network over a 10-year period. Initiated by the federal government with very close cooperation with the state to plan, build, and maintain a state-of-the-art, modern electric rethink the system from a ground up. Our responsibilities as citizens of this great nation and from the world does not stop at our borders or at water's edge. And as the sun rises, this nation extends a hand across the sea. Clean air and an available climate are inalienable human rights. Solving this crisis is not a question about politics. It's a question about survival. No one nation owns the sun. There's no conflict over the sun yet. But its hazards are hostile to us all. And its development deserves the very best from human competition for rare earth minerals that power solar panels work between turbines, especially in places like the Earth. Demand our attention. Intellectual property rights. And the technologies used to capture, store, and transport real energy will become more important in a decade ahead. As this new source of energy connects communities and continents, no one nation should be held hostage. All of this will increase the potential for international trade across borders. The weather renewables become a force for good or ill depends on us all. And the whole of America chooses to play in the decade ahead. But it's very hard to project our leadership around the world when we're not doing what we need to do here at home. Common sense and compromise at every level of government, especially in Washington, is necessary that we elect leaders that understand the urgency of the problem and the decision and courage to do something about it. As long as the sun rises in the east, we will need energy and this nation will need to lead. Our potential rests on globalizing capital and unlocking innovation that meets the needs of communities and workers. In the private sector, I'll lead the way. The rise of American ingenuity and clean energy is the growth of our people and our economy rests on new investments in innovation, technology, education and research. The kind that allows us to find new ways to store, convert and use clean energy and do it in a way that still preserves our rich history and natural resources. But we can learn how to use our official powers to manage and defend a national super grid from growing threats by man, machines and nature. A place where volunteers from land and sea can be manufactured into products that we can use, that we can wear and that we need. But we can discover new ways to harvest energy for biomedical devices and transport new products to new markets. We can build and test new green free of ships and new materials to rebuild our economy infrastructure where every student, resident and anyone can learn the skills they need to fill the clean energy jobs of the future. A place where communities and countries can come together to build principles and policies. The entrepreneurs, industry and city teams can take products from land to market and sell their clean energy startups. A place tourists can visit and the curiosity of our youth is stimulated. That place is Rhode Island. And I'm excited that Little Road is our ocean state is playing a big part in making America a future product. And products, this city of progress should become the heart of a large renewable innovation community. We shouldn't waste any time but we ought to get the job done. No one should be left out of no one should be left behind. No exceptions. And it should be done during the decade of the 20s. And if we're going to do all this and do it right, do it first and surely we must be strong. On a day like today, we can hope. It takes time and courage to step outside of comfort zone and forge new paths. But the end result is almost always worth it. For as John F. Kennedy reminds us, those who only look to the past and present are certain to miss the future. He had the vision of energy. To power a nation to go to the moon. So do we. We should look to the sun and the wind in the sea. Our future is bright and it belongs to us all. Thank you very much and I look forward to our discussion.