Hillary Clinton lays out climate change initiative

Hillary Clinton says that as "a grandmother with two eyes and a brain," she sees climate change as an urgent threat to future generations (Video: Hillary Clinton)

DES MOINES — Hillary Rodham Clinton called for harnessing the power of the sun to generate enough renewable energy to run every home in the country within the next decade, as part of a climate change initiative announced Sunday.

"Future generations will look back and wonder, 'What were we thinking? How could we possibly be so irresponsible?' " the Democratic presidential candidate says in a video that accompanied the plan, which was posted on her Web site Sunday night.

"I'm just a grandmother with two eyes and a brain and I know what's happening in the world is going to have a big effect on my daughter and especially on my granddaughter," she said.

In addition to touting her plan, which would include installing more than half a billion solar panels nationwide during the first term of her presidency, Clinton criticized the Republican presidential candidates, who generally dismiss the notion of climate change.

"It's hard to believe that people running for president refuse to believe the settled science of climate change," she says in the video as quotes attributed to GOP hopefuls fill the screen. One such quote, attributed to former Florida governor Jeb Bush, reads: "I'm a skeptic. I'm not a scientist."

Earlier Sunday, while campaigning in Iowa, she used the "grandmother with two eyes and a brain" quip, receiving chuckles and applause. She praised Iowa's efforts to embrace renewable energy, noting that the state produces 30 percent of its energy from wind. Windmills are a common sight on the horizon across the state.

A fact sheet on the plan presented on her Web site said that Clinton will fight efforts to roll back the Clean Power Plan. And she proposes a Clean Power Challenge, including competitions for grants for renewal energy products, as well as more assistance to states and cities and more choices for consumers.

Tom Steyer, the billionaire environmental and climate activist, called Clinton's proposals "ambitious."

.@HillaryClinton laid out the framework for an ambitious clean energy plan. Looking forward to other candidates laying out aggressive plans

— Tom Steyer (@TomSteyer) July 27, 2015

The League of Conservation Voters put out a statement that said Clinton's proposals "display the kind of leadership we need to ensure that our nation leads the world in building a clean energy economy."

Clinton is scheduled to discuss the plan during a speech Monday in Des Moines.