Bernie Sanders frames climate change as an urgent existential war

Bernie Sanders says Hillary Clinton is too incremental on climate change

(Image credit: Getty Images)

last updated 15 April 2016

In Thursday's Democratic debate in Brooklyn, Bernie Sanders said that what he called Hillary Clinton's incremental approach to fighting climate change is insufficient in the face of the global crisis. "We have an enemy out there, and that enemy is going to cause drought, and floods, and extreme weather disturbances," he said.

Sanders accused Clinton of promoting fracking technology, and Clinton noted that Sanders opposes the Paris climate agreement and said his bigger proposals will never get past Congress. "If we approach this as if we were at war," Sanders said, the U.S. could be up to the challenge, as it was during World War II. "There will be economic dislocation" to phasing out coal and oil and nuclear power, but a giant, comprehensive national push could wean the U.S. off fossils fuels.

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Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.