The President: Hello, Anteaters!

(applause)

That is something I never thought I'd say.

(laughter)

Please, please take a seat.

To President Napolitano -- which is a nice step

up from Secretary; to Fred Ruiz, Vice Chair

of the University of California Regents; Chancellor Drake;

Representatives Loretta Sanchez

and Alan Lowenthal; to the trustees and faculty --

thank you for this honor.

And congratulations to the Class of 2014!

(applause)

Now, let me begin my saying

all of you had the inside track in getting me here --

because my personal assistant, Ferial,

is a proud Anteater.

(applause)

Until today, I did not understand

why she greets me every morning by shouting "Zot, Zot, Zot!"

(laughter)

It's been a little weird.

But she explained it to me on the way here

this morning, because she's very proud

to see her brother, Sina, graduate today as well.

(applause)

So, graduates, obviously we're proud

of you, but let's give it up for your proud family and

friends and professors, because

this is their day, too.

(applause)

And even though he's on the road this weekend,

I also want to thank Angels centerfielder Mike Trout

for letting me cover his turf for a while.

(applause)

He actually signed

a bat for me, which is part of my retirement plan.

(laughter)

I will be keeping that.

And this is a very cool place

to hold a commencement.

I know that UC Irvine's baseball team opens

College World Series play in Omaha right about now --

(applause)

-- so let's get this speech underway.

If the hot dog guy comes by, get me one.

(laughter)

Now, in additional to Ferial, graduates,

I'm here for a simple reason: You asked.

For those who don't know, the UC Irvine community

sent 10,000 postcards to the White House asking

me to come speak today.

(applause)

Some tried to guilt me into coming.

I got one that said, "I went to your first

inauguration, can you please

come to my graduation?"

(applause)

Some tried bribery: "I'll support the Chicago Bulls."

Another said today would be your birthday --

so happy birthday, whoever you are.

My personal favorite -- somebody wrote and said,

"We are super underrated!"

(laughter)

I'm sure she was talking

about this school.

But keep in mind, you're not only the number-one

university in America younger than 50 years old,

you also hold the Guinness World Record

for biggest water pistol fight.

(applause)

You're pretty excited about that.

(laughter)

"We are super underrated."

This young lady could have just as well been talking,

though, about this generation.

I think this generation of young people

is super underrated.

In your young lives, you've seen dizzying

change, from terror attacks

to economic turmoil; from Twitter to Tumblr.

Some of your families have known tough times

during the course of the worst economic crisis

since the Great Depression.

You're graduating into a still-healing job market,

and some of you are carrying student

loan debt that you're concerned about.

And yet, your generation -- the most educated,

the most diverse, the most tolerant,

the most politically independent and the most digitally

fluent in our history -- is also on record

as being the most optimistic about our future.

And I'm here to tell you that you are right

to be optimistic.

(applause)

You are right to be optimistic.

Consider this: Since the time most of you graduated

from high school, fewer Americans are at war.

More have health insurance.

More are graduating from college.

Our businesses have added more than

9 million new jobs.

The number of states where you're free

to marry who you love has more than doubled.

(applause)

And that's just some of the progress

that you've seen while you've been studying

here at UC Irvine.

But we do face real challenges:

Rebuilding the middle class and reversing inequality's rise.

Reining in college costs.

Protecting voting rights.

Welcoming the immigrants and young dreamers

who keep this country vibrant.

Stemming the tide of violence

that guns inflict on our schools.

We've got some big challenges.

And if you're fed a steady diet of cynicism

that says nobody is trustworthy and nothing works,

and there's no way we can actually address these problems,

then the temptation is too just go it alone,

to look after yourself and not participate in the larger

project of achieving our best vision of America.

And I'm here to tell you,

don't believe the cynicism.

Guard against it.

Don't buy into it.

Today, I want to use one case study

to show you that progress is possible

and perseverance is critical.

I want to show you how badly we need you --

both your individual voices and your collective efforts --

to give you the chance you seek to change the world,

and maybe even save it.

I'm going to talk about one of the most

significant long-term challenges

that our country and our planet faces:

the growing threat of a rapidly changing climate.

Now, this isn't a policy speech.

I understand it's a commencement,

and I already delivered a long climate

address last summer.

I remember because it was 95 degrees

and my staff had me do it outside, and I was pouring

with sweat -- as a visual aid.

(laughter)

And since this is a very educated group,

you already know the science.

Burning fossil fuels release carbon dioxide.

Carbon dioxide traps heat.

Levels of carbon dioxide in our atmosphere

are higher than they've been in 800,000 years.

We know the trends.

The 18 warmest years on record have

all happened since you graduates were born.

We know what we see with our own eyes.

Out West, firefighters brave longer, harsher

wildfire seasons; states have to budget for that.

Mountain towns worry about what smaller

snowpacks mean for tourism.

Farmers and families at the bottom worry

about what it will mean for their water.

In cities like Norfolk and Miami, streets

now flood frequently at high tide.

Shrinking icecaps have National Geographic

making the biggest change in its atlas since

the Soviet Union broke apart.

So the question is not whether we need to act.

The overwhelming judgment of science,

accumulated and measured and reviewed over decades,

has put that question to rest.

The question is whether we have the will

to act before it's too late.

For if we fail to protect the world we leave

not just to my children, but to your children

and your children's children, we will fail

one of our primary reasons for being on this world

in the first place.

And that is to leave the world a little

bit better for the next generation.

Now, the good is you already know all this.

UCIrvine set up the first Earth System Science

Department in America.

applause)

A UC Irvine professor-student

team won the Nobel Prize for discovering that CFCs

destroy the ozone layer.

(applause)

A UC Irvine glaciologist's work

led to one of last month's report showing

one of the world's major ice sheets in irreversible retreat.

Students and professors are in the field

working to predict changing weather patterns,

fire seasons, and water tables -- working to understand

how shifting seasons affect global ecosystems;

to get zero-emission vehicles

on the road faster; to help coastal communities

adapt to rising seas.

And when I challenge colleges to reduce

their energy use to 20 percent by 2020,

UC Irvine went ahead and did it last year.

Done.

(applause)

So UC Irvine is ahead of the curve.

All of you are ahead of the curve.

Your generation reminds me of something

President Wilson once said.

He said, "Sometimes people call me an idealist.

Well, that is the way I know I am an American."

That's who we are.

And if you need a reason to be optimistic about

our future, then look around this stadium.

Because today, in America, the largest single

age group is 22 years ago.

And you are going to do great things.

And I want you to know that I've got your back --

because one of the reasons I ran for this office

was because I believed our dangerous addiction

to foreign oil left our economy at risk

and our planet in peril.

So when I took office, we set out to use more

clean energy and less dirty energy,

and waste less energy overall.

And since then, we've doubled the distance

our cars will go on a gallon of gas by the middle

of the next decade.

We've tripled the electricity we harness

from the wind, generating enough last year

to power every home in California.

We've multiplied the electricity

we generate from the sun 10 times over.

And this state, California,

is so far ahead of the rest of the country in solar,

that earlier this year solar power met 18 percent

of your total power demand one day.

(applause)

The bottom line is, America produces more

renewable energy than ever,

more natural gas than anyone.

And for the first time in nearly two decades,

we produce more oil here at home than

we buy from other countries.

And these advances have created jobs

and grown our economy, and helped cut our carbon pollution

to levels not seen in about 20 years.

Since 2006, no country on Earth has reduced

its total carbon pollution by as much

as the United States of America.

(applause)

So that's all reason for optimism.

Here's the challenge: We've got to do more.

What we're doing is not enough.

And that's why, a couple weeks ago,

America proposed new standards to limit the amount

of harmful carbon pollution that power plants

can dump into the air.

And we also have to realize, as hundreds

of scientists declared last month, that climate change

is no longer a distant threat,

but "has moved firmly into the present."

That's a quote.

In some parts of the country, weather-related

disasters like droughts, and fires, and storms,

and floods are going to get harsher

and they're going to get costlier.