Last week Democratic presidential candidates took the stage on CNN’s Climate Townhall. As we would expect, the environmental alarmists were out in full force. It seemed not many American’s were moved by the theatrical performance on stage. The Hill reports that the Climate Townhall had the smallest number of viewers among cable news broadcasts. 

However, I could guess one specific demographic of audience that tuned in for the full seven hour (!) debate: Millennials. If there’s one thing uninformed millennials like more than watching CNN, its freaking out about climate change.

According to a study done by Yale University, millennials care more about climate change than older generations. Younger generations consistently ranked climate change higher in their priority issues, and say this issue is “very important” in determining their vote. 

Senator Elizabeth Warren knows this, and decided to pander to the youngest (and largest) voting block by moving further to the left on climate change than I personally thought was possible. With her stance on off-shore drilling and carbon mandates, Warren has effectively prioritized climate change over American workers and the economy. However, what drew the most pushback following the townhall was her stance on nuclear energy

“"In my administration, we won't be building new nuclear plants," she said. "We will start weaning ourselves off nuclear and replace it with renewables."

Senator Ted Cruz had quite the response to Elizabeth Warren’s eco-friendly utopia:

Senator Ted Cruz is right, and later on in the townhall, he gained a unique ally: Senator Cory Booker. Presidential hopeful Cory Booker made headlines following the debate as he diverged from his opponents anti-nuclear talking points. 

"If we want to move quickly toward a carbon-free future, nuclear has to be part of the equation," 

“A lot of people are, I think, against nuclear energy because their mind and imaginations [are] on the nuclear power plants of the 1950s and 1960s,” Booker said. “The next generation of nuclear power plants that should be built in this country are profoundly more safe. In fact, they take those spent fuel rods, the old ones, and they reuse them for energy today.”

Listen to this (surprisingly) sound logic on nuclear energy coming from a Democratic candidate here

Democrats are typically wrong on nuclear power, and so are millennials. According to the International Energy Agency, America should double its nuclear energy in order to prevent further environmental deterioration. Additionally, anti-nuclear sentiments have become more popular in the millennial generation. Americans would do well to accept nuclear energy as a safer alternative than they have been led to believe. 

The “renewables” Warren championed on stage produce 17% (combined total of wind, solar, and hydroelectric) of energy the U.S. needs, while nuclear energy produces over 19%. 

Energy generated from nuclear power is the “largest source of non-carbon electricity” in the U.S. today and “Any realistic path to weaning us off of carbon-based sources of energy would have to involve increasing nuclear generation”–which is exactly remedy climate change activists want, but refuse to take. 

Overall, the CNN Climate Townhall was a flop. It seems that only one presidential hopeful decided to dissent on nuclear energy, a promising solution to some of the problems alarmists see in our future.