Sanders: ‘We Are Fighting a War, And The War Is Against Climate Change’

Democratic presidential candidate Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) argued, “we have to look at this as if we’re fighting a war, and we are fighting a war, and the war is against climate change” during an interview broadcast on Monday’s “All In with Chris Hayes” on MSNBC.

Sanders said, “Obviously, ISIS is an immediate threat. We need to have an international coalition to destroy ISIS. I believe that the boots on the ground have got to be the Muslim nations, and I agree with King Abdullah of Jordan, who made that very point. but not to understand what the scientists are telling us, that if we do not transform our energy system away from fossil fuel, you’re going to see the mass migrations of tens and tens of millions of people, who are going to be moving away from coastal areas, who are going to be dealing with floods, who are going to be dealing with drought, who are going to be dealing with extreme weather disturbances, who are not going to be able to get fish from the oceans because of the acidification of the oceans. Not to understand that that will cause massive instability in this world, and more conflict is not to understand reality. that’s what the cia says. that’s what the u.s. department of defense says. that’s what government all over the world point out. i believe that we have got to be extremely aggressive, leading the world, in understanding that we have a planetary crisis. and we have got to bring the world together if we’re going to leave this planet in a habitable way for our children and grandchildren.”

He added, “we have to look at this as if we’re fighting a war, and we are fighting a war, and the war is against climate change, and our goal is to save the planet for our kids and grandchildren. So, I think we’ve got to put all the resources that we can in cutting carbon utilization, I believe strongly in a tax on carbon, in moving aggressively to solar, wind, geothermal, other sustainable energies, to putting money in research and development, to leading the world, to working with China, Russia, India, we can’t do it alone, but those countries increasingly understand the crisis as well. So, I see this as a major, major issue. We have got to be more aggressive than we’ve ever been.”

Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett