 Hi, this is Senator Bernie Sanders. This country and our planet face some enormous problems. And I can assure you that these problems are not going to go away, they're not going to get better if we ignore them or sweep them under the rug. One of the global crises that must be addressed now for the sake of our children and grandchildren is climate change. And let me be very clear, the debate is over. Pope Francis is right in saying that the world is on a suicidal course with regard to climate change. Virtually all scientists who have studied this issue have concluded that climate change is real, it's caused by human activity, and it is already causing devastating problems in our country and around the world. Just a few facts. 2015 is on track to be the hottest year on record, and scientists are already predicting 2016 will be even hotter. In fact, 13 of the 15 hottest years ever recorded have all occurred since the year 2000. In recent years we have seen shrinking ice sheets in Greenland and Antarctica, rising sea levels, threatening coastal communities all over the world, oceans that are warming and becoming more acidified, threatening the food supply for millions of people, increased droughts throughout the world in California and the southwest of the United States. Drought has led to wildfires unprecedented in their duration and in their strength. The most powerful hurricane ever recorded with winds for Hurricane Patricia hitting 200 miles per hour and gusts of up to 247 miles per hour. Heat waves that have killed thousands of people in Europe, Pakistan and India. Extreme weather disturbances including stronger hurricanes, torrential rainfalls and more severe flooding. And here's what's most frightening. Scientists say that if we do not act boldly and within a very short window of opportunity, a very bad situation that exists today will become much worse in years to come. What the scientists are telling us is that if we do not get our act together, our planet Earth, our only planet, could see a global increase in temperature of 5 to 10 degrees Fahrenheit by the end of this century. 5 to 10 degrees Fahrenheit and what happens then? Well, among many other concerns, the CIA and the Department of Defense tell us that a warming planet will increase international instability. Rising sea levels and the flooding of coastal communities as well as more drought and floods could well result in the forced migration of tens of millions of people desperately searching for economic security, for clean water and for land to grow food. People fighting over limited natural resources means more war and means more death. A warmer planet means more disease, malaria, dengue, yellow fever and other tropical illnesses will spread into parts of the world where they don't currently exist. Air pollution, exacerbated by increasing temperatures, will also increase causing more disease, especially for children. A warmer planet means the expenditure of hundreds of billions of dollars to replace destroyed infrastructure, roads, bridges and water systems that will have to be rebuilt. And while we will all suffer the impacts of climate change, the sad truth is that climate change falls especially hard upon the most vulnerable people in our country and throughout the world. People who have the fewest resources to protect themselves. And now let me say a word about politics and campaign finance and how all of that relates to the climate change crisis. Now given the fact that virtually the entire scientific community has described the devastation that is occurring and will intensify as a result of climate change, how does it happen that we have a major political party, the Republican Party, which with few exceptions refuses to even recognize the reality of climate change, let alone take action to do anything about it? Why is that? How does that happen? Why does the political party which controls the U.S. House, which controls the U.S. Senate and which wants to occupy the White House refuse to even acknowledge the reality of climate change? The answer is pretty simple. Since 2009, the oil companies, the coal companies, the electric utilities have spent a staggering $2.2 billion in federal lobbying and another $330 million in federal campaign contributions. In other words, as a result of ineffective lobbying legislation and the disastrous Citizens United Supreme Court decision, large corporations can now spend as much as they want on campaigns and elections and that is exactly what the fossil fuel industry is doing. Here is the simple truth. Any Republican candidate for president, for the U.S. Senate or for the U.S. House who has the courage to acknowledge the reality of climate change and wants to do something about it, that candidate will lose the financial support, the campaign contributions coming from the Koch brothers and other powerful special interests in the fossil fuel industry. Further, there is a strong likelihood that that candidate would be challenged by a primary opponent when he or she came up for election, a candidate supported by the industry. In other words, when we talk about a corrupt campaign finance system, there is no clear example of that corruption than how the Republican Party is more interested in representing the interests and profits of the fossil fuel industry than the well-being of the entire planet. And in that regard, I say to my Republican colleagues, history will cast a very harsh judgment on you. I know it is not easy, but I ask you to worry less about your campaign contributions and worry more about the planet that you're going to leave to your children and your grandchildren. Okay, we are facing a crisis of huge magnitude. What do we do about it? First, the United States must lead the international community in transitioning away from fossil fuels to an energy efficiency and sustainable energy. The United States alone cannot solve the crisis of climate change. We need to be aggressive in working with China, Russia, India, and countries throughout the world to make that happen. And by the way, the people of China should not need a lot of urging on this subject, given the fact that their hospitals are being flooded with people made sick by the incredible level of air pollution Beijing is now experiencing. Secondly, in terms of specific proposals, what should we be doing? First, we can save an enormous amount of energy by moving aggressively toward energy efficiency. 40% of the energy used in this country is used to heat or cool buildings, and there is enormous waste in that process. Making our homes, office buildings, schools, and factories more energy efficient will save consumers large amounts of money on their fuel bills, cut carbon emissions dramatically, and create millions of good paying jobs. When we talk about energy efficiency, we must also focus on transportation. 26% of the energy used in this country is for transportation. Clearly, while we have made some progress in this area, we must make our cars and trucks much more fuel efficient. When the Ford Model T first came onto the market in 1908, it got 13 to 21 miles per gallon. That was almost 100 years ago. But in 2015, there are still cars on the road that get the same gas mileage as one of the very first mass produced cars. That's pretty crazy. We must move aggressively toward the electrification of our cars and trucks. Electric vehicles can go up to four times as far as a gasoline powered car on the same amount of energy. Our job is to make those hybrid cars and electric vehicles much more affordable and build the infrastructure that will sustain them. Transportation efficiency also means major improvements in our passenger and cargo rail systems. Today, our rail system lags behind Japan, Europe, and even China in terms of high speed passenger and cargo rail. A modern rail system would mean that huge amounts of cargo would move across this country in a much more efficient way than simply relying on trucks. A modern efficient passenger rail system would mean that we can take a significant amount of car traffic off of our roads. All of this will result in a stronger economy and a very significant reduction in carbon emissions. While making our country and planet more energy efficient is clearly an important part of what we've got to do, we must also aggressively transition away from fossil fuels towards sustainable energy like solar, wind, and geothermal. In terms of solar, the very good news is that the cost of solar panels is plummeting and everything being equal, they will continue to plummet. Our goal must be to help families and businesses all over this country with the upfront costs that are required to move toward rooftop solar. Further, we need to invest in utility-scale solar plants as well. A very good piece of news is that we have recently seen major breakthroughs in energy storage technologies. These breakthroughs will enable us to utilize energy from batteries when the sun is not shining and the wind is not blowing. We must also tap the great wind resources we have. In Texas, wind power is now one of the least expensive sources of electricity generation in this country. Last year, Iowa produced about 29% of its electricity from wind energy and it expects to reach 40% by 2020. There is enormous potential for wind energy in this country which must be utilized. Geothermal power is another source of energy with great potential. Building a new geothermal plant is approximately one-third cheaper than a new modern natural gas planet. And these are just some of the new technologies that are out there. Research and development will create even more. Now, many of the ideas that I've discussed have been included in new legislation that I have recently introduced. Not only does this legislation pave the way for the transformation of our energy system away from fossil fuel to energy efficiency and sustainable energy. It also provides a major disincentive for the production of more fossil fuel as we impose a tax on carbon for fossil fuel producers and importers, as well as doing away with long-term subsidies that have gone to the fossil fuel industry. The bottom line is that the fossil fuel industry cannot continue to destroy our planet with impunity. Let me conclude by saying this. Climate change is one of the great challenges facing our planet. But if we are smart, if we are prepared to be politically active, if we are prepared to stand up to powerful special interests, we can prevail. And for the sake of our children and grandchildren, we must prevail. Climate change is one of the great struggles of our time. We must not lose. Thank you.