Two of the greenest candidates running for president used the debate stage to slam Republicans for their supposed disbelief in climate change Sunday night.
Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley both cracked wise about Democrats’ belief in the science of climate change.
Sanders pointed out Republican front-runner Donald Trump once tweeted he believed climate change is a hoax invented by the Chinese.
“We have a major party, called the Republican Party, that is so owned by the fossil fuel industry … that they don’t even have the courage, the decency, to listen to the science,” Sanders said.
Sanders and O’Malley have made climate change action a central theme of their campaigns.
O’Malley is one of the few candidates to have released a full energy plan and on Sunday called for Sanders and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to join him in putting out clean energy plans.
“On this stage tonight, this Democratic stage where we actually believe in science,” O’Malley said to laughs from the crowd. “I would like to challenge and invite my colleagues … to join me in putting forward a plan to move us to a 100 percent clean energy electric grid by 2050.”
O’Malley said he’d like to see more solar and wind energy during his possible presidency and would push more development of renewable energy technology and build more green buildings.
“This can happen,” he said.
