 All of you are aware that as we speak there is a major, major international conference winding down in Paris dealing with climate change. I believe that they have made some progress, but I believe that they have not gone anywhere near as far as we have to go, and here's the simple truth. And I speak to you as a member of both the Energy Committee and the Environmental Committee. Somebody who has had the opportunity to speak to scientists not only all over our country, but all over the world. And this is what the almost unanimous conclusion of the scientific community is. Climate change is real. Climate change is caused by human activity. And climate change is already today causing massive problems in our country and around the world. That is not my opinion. That is not my opinion. That is the opinion of virtually the entire scientific community. And I believe that Pope Francis is right when he recently stated that if we don't get our act together, we are moving as a planet on a suicidal cause, in a suicidal direction. So what do we have to do? And by the way, let me congratulate all of you here in Iowa, because you are some of the leaders in this country in helping us to transform our energy system away from fossil fuel to sustainable energy. And I applaud you for being one of the leaders, if not the leader in the country. 99 percent, as I understand it, of your electricity now comes from wind, and you are certainly one of the leaders nationally and internationally in terms of biofuels. Keep up the great work. But it is very clear, it's very clear what we have to do. And by the way, I mean let's be very honest about this, you know, I got seven grandchildren who I love very much. What we are fighting for from a moral perspective, moral perspective, is the right for those kids and our grandchildren to live in a world which is healthy and inhabitable. That is a moral responsibility that we have. And here's my nightmare. My nightmare is that 30, 40, 50 years from now, some of your grandchildren or great-grandchildren will lock up and they'll say, why didn't they listen to the scientific community? They were told what was going to happen, why didn't they do something? Why did they leave us a planet which is so unhealthy and so uninhabitable? Why did they allow more drought to take place, more flooding to take place? Why did they allow the sea levels to continue to rise, flooding coastal communities? Why did they allow for the acidification of the ocean and the huge impact that has on people's ability to eat food from the ocean? Why didn't they not listen to the CIA who have told us very clearly that when there is less food to be grown because land is now overridden with drought, less water to be had that people are going to migrate and when people migrate it causes international conflict and war. That's the future that will take place if we do not have the courage to transform our energy system. And let me kind of complete the circle here and tell you something, I'm being more partisan than I usually am. And that is this. I am on obviously, by definition, I'm on many committees with my Republican colleagues and is one of the more progressive, maybe the most progressive member of the U.S. Senate. My views are different than Republicans. That goes without saying. But what I also have to tell you is I'm on committees with Republicans and we talk about Alzheimer's, the crisis of Alzheimer's, we talk about cancer research, we talk about diabetes, talk about many issues. And I don't hear any Republicans making fun of cancer researches or Alzheimer's, doctors, they listen, we may disagree about how you go forward. They're serious discussions. How does it happen that on the issue of climate change and climate change alone, almost all Republicans, not all, almost all are rejecting basic science? How does that happen? And I will tell you the answer. And the answer gets back to our corrupt campaign finance system. Our Republican colleagues are no dumber, no smarter than anybody else. They read the same literature, they hear the same evidence. But this is the truth. The truth is that if one of the Republican candidates for president stood up tomorrow and said, you know, I just had a long talk with a scientist. Climate change is real. We've got to transform our energy system away from fossil fuel to energy efficiency and sustainable energy. On the day that that Republican candidate makes that statement, money from the Koch brothers and money from the fossil fuel industry will be cut. And if that candidate is running for the House or the Senate, it is very likely that he or she will have to engage in a primary contest supported very heavily, their opponent being supported by the fossil fuel industry. That's the simple truth. And what I say to my Republican colleagues, I do understand the dilemma that they are in. But the truth is they have got to start worrying more about their kids and their grandchildren than their campaign contributions. And because climate change is the greatest environmental challenge of our time, I oppose the Keystone XL pipeline from day one. And that is why here in Iowa, I oppose the Bakken pipeline as well.