In the case of climate change, denial is not a survival strategy.

In every great challenge this country has faced, it has turned to the essential strength of its people, united around a common goal.

In the past, human progress had to come at the cost of the environment. If we wanted energy, we had to burn wood or we had to burn fossil fuels. If we wanted to grow more food, we had to expand farmland, often at the cost of forests. But technology and innovation means we're very quickly decoupling these impacts, such that this conflict is no longer true.

We’ll be fine with the environment. We can leave a little bit, but you can’t destroy businesses.

For species, ecological communities, and ecosystems, adaptability and resilience result from biophysical processes that require the right components to be in place over scales of space and time that may not be amenable to human management.

Yesterday’s dams are trying to hold back tomorrow’s climate. And what are we doing about it? We’re building a wall along the Mexican border to fix a problem that’s already taken care of itself. A wall that could cost upward of $30 billion.

You are going to be the head of the agency to protect the environment, and your personal feelings about whether climate change is caused by human activity is immaterial?

We must reject as a nation the false paradigm that if you’re pro-energy you’re anti-environment, and if you’re pro-environment you’re anti-energy.

No matter what we say, the other side will hate us. The people in the center cannot be heard.