Sanders discussed the environment and the future of renewable energy during a forum on climate change held at Boone High School.
Sanders, a Vermont senator and the longest serving Independent in the Senate, has surprised many political pundits during this election by drawing increasingly large crowds and proving to be a real challenger to Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton for the party’s nomination. Currently, Sanders trails Clinton by about five points in Iowa polls.
Sunday, Sanders said the issue of climate change should be important to every person on the planet because, “we are actually witnessing in our own lifetime, a very short period of time, major transformations of our climate.”
“In my state, and states like Minnesota, people used to do ice fishing. Well, the ice is no longer there. California’s seeing right now a state in the midst of a terrible drought, huge impacts on agriculture” Sanders said. “What the scientists tell us is if we do not get our act together … what we will be seeing is more drought, more flooding, more extreme weather disturbances.”
Sanders added that he believes America cannot afford to wait to react to climate change any longer. Sanders urged his competition in the race to focus more on creating a better future for the world and less on the day to day politics of the election.
“My message to my Republican opponents is think more about your kids and your grandchildren than about your campaign funds,” Sanders said. “I have seven beautiful grandchildren and if you ask me why I am here today, that is why I am here.”
To combat climate change, Sanders said he would invest more in renewable energy sources, such as wind and solar, and move the country away from its dependence on fossil fuels.
“We don’t need to give more subsidies and tax breaks to the fossil fuel industry, we need to give the tax breaks and subsidies to sustainable energy,” Sanders said.
To make those changes in the tax system, Sanders said the way campaign financing is controlled in American elections needs to change first.
“The tie in here is that you have a fossil fuel industry that buys politicians and cease to fund those politicians if they do the right thing from a climate change perspective. What that tells me, and I hope it tells all of you, is that we need fundamental changes today in our campaign finance system,” Sanders said.
As part of his plan to move Americans away from fossil fuels, Sanders said he would support a carbon tax that would force companies to pay for the amount of pollution they produce.
“What we are saying to the fossil fuel industry (is) you are now going to pay for the privilege of destroying this planet,” Sanders said.
Brenda Brink, a Huxley resident, attended the event in Boone and said she believes Sanders is on the right track with the implementation of a carbon tax.
“The carbon tax is something that we as people have to help him with and that’s what Bernie has said all along, which is why people respond to him so much. It’s not just Bernie up there saying vote for me, it’s we gotta do this together and if you guys get behind me we can make changes and I think the carbon tax is just another way to get that done,” Brink said.
Towards the end of the forum, Sanders turned the discussion to student debt. Since the beginning of his campaign Sanders has supported the idea of creating free public colleges for all Americans. Just before he left the stage, Sanders asked a member of the audience to share how much debt they lived under due to student loans. Before long, several members of the audience were shouting out their various levels of debt. The amounts ranged from $30,000 to more than $300,000. Sanders said that is unacceptable as a country.
That discussion hit home for one family in the crowd that attended the meeting with their young son. Mitch and Dawn Kaufman heard the comments from Sanders and the members of the crowd while sitting next to their son, Logan. Mitch said that the chance of providing an affordable education for Logan in the future is among the reasons why they are supporting Sanders for president.
“I would love for him to graduate with a nice degree without having the type of debt that we are currently saddled with,” Mitch said. “We have to change the way we are doing things for our kids.”
Following Sunday’s event in Boone, Sanders will continue to travel around Iowa, including a stop in Des Moines Monday to take part in the Brown and Black forum at Drake University.
©2016 the Ames Tribune, Iowa Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
