---
title: "Bernie Sanders: Spend Money on the Climate Instead of Weapons"
description: "During Thursday's debate, Bernie Sanders suggested cutting the military's bloated budget and putting it towards a more important fight: climate change."
date: "2019-12-20"
modified: "2019-12-20"
authors:
  - name: "Dan Robitzski"
    link: "https://futurism.com/authors/danrobitzski"
url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/bernie-sanders-money-climate-weapons"
categories:
  - "Climate Change"
  - "Environment"
  - "Science & Energy"
tags:
  - "bernie sanders"
  - "climate change"
  - "finance"
  - "military"
  - "the digest"
---

# Bernie Sanders: Spend Money on the Climate Instead of Weapons

![During Thursday's debate, Bernie Sanders suggested cutting the military's bloated budget and putting it towards a more important fight: climate change.](<https://futurism.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/bernie-sanders-spending-money-climate-weapons.jpg>)
*\<em\>Image: Gage Skidmore\</em\>*

## Top Priority

Presidential Candidate Bernie Sanders has a suggestion: stop spending so much money on the military and global warfare, and instead put it toward fighting climate change.

He made the argument during Thursday night's Democratic Party debate, *[The Hill ](<https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/475421-sanders-instead-of-weapons-funding-we-should-pool-resources-to>)*[reports](<https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/475421-sanders-instead-of-weapons-funding-we-should-pool-resources-to>). Sanders, who's previously introduced legislation to declare a state of emergency to mobilize against [the existential threat](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/doomsday-climate-report-leaders-failed>) that climate change poses, argued that the money to fund climate programs exists — but it's being spent in the wrong places.

## Within Means

Thursday's debate wasn't Sanders' first attempt to push back against militarization: in August, he made a [campaign promise](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/bernie-sanders-ban-police-facial-recognition>) that would stop police from using facial recognition systems, the flaws of which have only grown [increasingly apparent](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/facial-recognition-banned-everyday-life>).

"Maybe, just maybe, instead of spending $1.8 trillion a year globally on weapons of destruction," Sanders said during the debate, "maybe an American president — i.e. Bernie Sanders — can lead the world and instead of spending money to kill each other, maybe we pool our resources and fight our common enemy, which is climate change."

**READ MORE:** [Sanders: Instead of weapons funding we should pool resources to fight climate change](<https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/475421-sanders-instead-of-weapons-funding-we-should-pool-resources-to>) \[*The Hill*\]

**More on Bernie Sanders:** *[Bernie Sanders Vows to Ban Police From Using Facial Recognition](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/bernie-sanders-ban-police-facial-recognition>)*

## Author
Dan Robitzki is a senior reporter for Futurism, where he likes to cover AI, tech ethics, and medicine. He spends his extra time fencing and streaming games from Los Angeles, California.

### Author social links  
[Twitter](<https://x.com/danrobitzski>)