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From Cosmopolitan

Bernie Sanders spoke with Cosmopolitan's Jessica Pels about the upcoming presidential election.

He detailed how he will fund his $16 trillion climate change proposal and likened the climate crisis to a literal fire raging across the world.

As the 2020 presidential election draws near and the 18 remaining Democratic candidates work to break away from the pack and secure the primary, Senator Bernie Sanders sat down at Cosmopolitan's office to talk about his campaign, why he doesn't think he's "far left," why he won't take away AR-15 assault rifles from gun owners if elected, and how he plans to fund his ambitious $16 trillion climate change proposal.

According to recent Cosmo polls, the majority of millennial women consider climate change to be the most important issue in upcoming election. When Cosmo's editor Jessica Pels asked Sanders what he would do to "depoliticize climate change as an issue" and ensure the country is moving toward a cleaner environment, Sanders first said he doesn't think politicization is the issue. To him, having a president who is "a tool of the fossil fuel industry" is the biggest threat to the environment. He explained:

"They have made billions of dollars of profits while they have destroyed the planet. They get massive subsidies and tax breaks from the federal government. I am very proud, very proud working with scientists, from all over the place, that introduced the most comprehensive and aggressive climate change proposal ever introduced by any presidential candidate or, I think, any candidate for federal office."

Sanders admitted that it is a "very expensive" and "very detailed" program that's estimated to cost $16 trillion, but he intends to pay for it by cutting the $4 billion subsidies and tax breaks he said the fossil fuel industry currently receives. He added that he also plans to get the federal government to produce sustainable energy and sell it to international utility companies, which he said will make "a lot of money."

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Another course of action: "We are going to end military protection that now exists for oil producers around world and that is going to save billions. Hundreds of billions of dollars."

According to Sanders, that strategy will "kind of" pay for the plan, which also includes creating about 20 million new jobs that are geared toward pulling away from fossil fuels and moving toward using sustainable energy.

He knows it's a lofty goal, but for him, the alternative is like a "raging fire" in a building that people will try to ignore if it suits them. "We have got to put out the fire that is now raging all over the world or else, the planet that we live to our children, and our grandchildren—my grandson is right here; I have 7 beautiful grandchildren—and the planet we leave to future generations will be increasingly unhealthy and unlivable," he concluded. "From a moral perspective, we cannot do that."

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