when the United States is sufficiently motivated and mobilized, it can literally reinvent and transform itself and the world with speed and innovation.

Climate change presents a technical, social, and political challenge that is in some ways similar to—although in other ways quite unique from—many challenges the United States has faced before. The United States has the proven ability to revolutionize technology and the nation’s infrastructure, mobilize around a common purpose, work with other nations to combat common threats, and solve major environmental problems at far less cost than originally expected. Previous generations have successfully addressed problems of similarly daunting complexity, uncertainty, and scale.