Bernie Sanders: When you talk about foreign policy... as important an issue as any, is
the issue of climate change. If you talk to the CIA, if you talk to the Department of
Defense, and I have, what they will tell you is that one of the great security issues facing
this planet is the fact that as we see more and more drought, as poor people around the
world are unable to grow the food they need to survive, you're going to see migrations
of people in international climate. I happen to believe that when you talk about
foreign policy, a the very top of the list is the need for the United States to lead
the world, to work with China, work with Russia, work with India in transforming our energy
system away from fossil fuels and into energy efficiency and sustainable energy. This is
not just a, "Environmental issue," this is also a global national security issue as well.
It is an international crisis and I have to tell you, without being overtly political
here, it is an embarrassment to me that we have a major political party called the Republican
Party, which with few exceptions refuses to even recognize the reality of climate change,
let alone is prepared to do anything about it. That is an embarrassment. That you have
a major party refusing to listen to science. Ezra Klein: Do you believe we need to price
carbon? Bernie Sanders: Yes.
Ezra Klein: Would you do it through a carbon tax or cap and trade?
Bernie Sanders: Carbon tax. It's the simple and direct way to do it and I've introduced
legislation with Senator Boxer to do just that. Once you're into cap and trade you're
into all kinds of complicated stuff. Folks on Wall Street are going to make a whole lot
of money. Look, we have got to come up and answer a
simple question. Are the scientists right or are they wrong? If they are right they're
telling us that the planet earth will be 5 to 10 degrees warmer by the end of this century
Fahrenheit. That will cause cataclysmic changes in terms of drought, weather disturbances,
rising sea levels, acidification of the ocean, international conflict. If they are right,
I believe they are right, we have got to move in a very, very bold way. We have to do it
yesterday.