http://news.linktv.org Link TV News Videos (Filtered by topics: Bill McKibben) en-us Mon, 29 Oct 2012 14:34:00 -0700 Copyright 2011 Link Media, Inc. http://news.linktv.org/videos/democracy-now-october-29-2012?start=666 Much of the East Coast is shut down today as residents prepare for Hurricane Sandy, a massive storm that could impact up to 50 million people from the Carolinas to Boston. The storm has already killed 66 people in the Caribbean, where it battered Haiti and Cuba. Mon, 29 Oct 2012 14:34:00 -0700 http://news.linktv.org/videos/democracy-now-october-29-2012 Hurricane Sandy, East Coast of the United States, Extreme weather, United States, Hurricane, Port-au-Prince, Severe weather, Bill McKibben, Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Haiti Much of the East Coast is shut down today as residents prepare for Hurricane Sandy, a massive storm that could impact up to 50 million people from the Carolinas to Boston. The storm has already killed 66 people in the Caribbean, where it battered Haiti and Cuba. "This thing is stitched together from elements natural and unnatural, and it seems poised to cause real havoc," says Bill McKibben, founder of 350.org. New York and other cities have shut down schools and transit systems. Hundreds of thousands of people have already been evacuated. Millions could lose power over the next day. Meteorologists say Sandy could be the largest storm ever to hit the U.S. mainland. The megastorm comes at a time when President Obama and Republican challenger Mitt Romney have refused to make climate change an issue on the campaign trail. For the first time since 1984, climate change was never addressed during a presidential debate. "It's really important that everybody, even those who aren't in the kind of path of this storm, reflect about what it means that in the warmest year in U.S. history, ... in a year when we saw, essentially, summer sea ice in the Arctic just vanish before our eyes, what it means that we're now seeing storms of this unprecedented magnitude," McKibben says. "If there was ever a wake-up call, this is it." We're also joined by climate scientist Greg Jones from Southern Oregon University. We're on the road in Medford, Oregon, broadcasting from Southern Oregon Public Television. Much of the East Coast is shut down today as residents prepare for Hurricane Sandy, a massive storm that could impact up to 50 million people from the Carolinas to Boston. New York and other cities have shut down schools and transit systems. Hundreds of thousands of people have already been evacuated. Millions could lose power over the next day. The storm has already killed 66 people in the Caribbean, where it battered Haiti and Cuba. Meteorologists say Sandy could be the largest ever to hit the U.S. mainland. While not as powerful as Hurricane Katrina, the storm stretches a record 520 miles from its eye. Earlier this morning, the National Hurricane Center said the hurricane's wind speed increased to 85 miles per hour with additional strengthening possible. Describing it as a rare hybrid "superstorm," forecasters say Sandy was created by an Arctic jet stream wrapping itself around a tropical storm. The storm could cause up to 12 inches of rain in some areas, as well as up to three feet of snowfall in the Appalachian Mountains. Flooding is also expected to be a major problem. The National Weather Service has warned of record-level flooding and "life-threatening storm surges" in coastal areas. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has announced it's taking special precautions for the storm. There are at least 16 nuclear reactors located within the path of the storm. Six oil refineries are also in the storm's path. While the news media have been covering Hurricane Sandy around the clock, little attention has been paid to the possible connection between the storm and climate change. Scientists have long warned how global warming would make North Atlantic hurricanes more powerful. Just two weeks ago, the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences published a major study on the connection between warmer sea surface temperatures and increase in stronger Atlantic hurricanes. The report said, quote, "In particular, we estimate that Katrina-magnitude events have been twice as frequent in warm years compared with cold years." We begin today's show with two guests. With me here in Oregon, we're joined by Greg Jones, climate scientist and professor of environmental studies at Southern Oregon University in Ashland. And joining us by Democracy Now! video stream is Bill McKibben, co-founder and director of 350.org. He's author of numerous books, including Eaarth: Making a Life on a Tough New Planet. On November 7th, 350.org is launching a 20-city nationwide tour called "Do the Math" to connect the dots between extreme weather, climate change and the fossil fuel industry. We welcome you both to Democracy Now! Let's start with Bill McKibben. Bill, you've just made it back to Vermont, to your home. Can you talk about the significance of what the East Coast is facing right now? Well, I think, Amy, that the first thing is this is a storm of really historic proportion. It's really like something we haven't seen before. It's half, again, the size of Texas. It's coming across water that's near record warmth as it makes its way up the East Coast. Apparently we're seeing lower pressures north of Cape Hatteras than have been ever recorded before. The storm surge, which is going to be the very worst part of this storm, is being driven by that huge size and expanse of the storm, but of course it comes in on water that's already somewhat higher than it would have been in the past because of sea level rise. It's—it's a monster. It's—Frankenstorm, frankly, is not only a catchy name; in many ways, it's the right name for it. This thing is stitched together from elements natural and unnatural, and it seems poised to cause real havoc. The governor of Connecticut said yesterday, "The last time we saw anything like this was never." And I think that's about right. There certainly was a lack of discussion, to put it mildly, in the presidential debates around the issue of climate change. Yeah. I don't think it was raised at all in the three debates. How do you think Mitt Romney is feeling this morning for having the one mention he's made the whole time? His big laugh line at the Republican convention was how silly it was for Obama to be talking about slowing the rise of the oceans. I'd say that's—wins pretty much every prize for ironic right now. There has been a pervading climate silence. We're doing our best to break that. Yesterday afternoon, there was a demonstration in Times Square, a sort of giant dot to connect the dots with all the other climate trouble around the world. Overnight, continuing in Boston, there's a week-long vigil outside Government Center to try and get the Senate candidates there to address the issue of climate change. It's incredibly important that we not only—I mean, first priority is obviously people's safety and assisting relief efforts in every possible way, but it's also really important that everybody, even those who aren't in the kind of path of this storm, reflect about what it means that in the warmest year in U.S. history, when we've seen the warmest month, July, of any month in a year in U.S. history, in a year when we saw, essentially, summer sea ice in the Arctic just vanish before our eyes, what it means that we're now seeing storms of this unprecedented magnitude. If there was ever a wake-up call, this is it. Let me play the clip you're referring to of Mitt Romney at the Republican convention in Tampa. MITT ROMNEY: President Obama promised to begin to slow the rise of the oceans and to heal the planet. My promise is to help you and your family. That was Mitt Romney at the conventions, but—at the Republican convention. But again, when it came to the presidential debate, neither President Obama nor Mitt Romney raised the issue of climate change. I wanted to bring Greg Jones, climate scientist and professor of environmental studies here at Southern Oregon University in Ashland, into the conversation. The connection between the superstorm we're seeing and climate change? Well, this is clearly a very unique event. And I—as a climate scientist, to some degree, I kind of worry that these type of unique events are clearly more frequent in the future. We have the conditions that have produced something that could be very damaging for the East Coast of the United States, and I often wonder why we don't seem more of them. But, you know, the question is, today is, is that where we are in terms of our climate science understanding of these things, the rarity of this event is what makes it very unique. And I think all of the conditions came together to produce a superstorm. And we've had a few that have been close to this, but given the number of people involved and the location where it's coming onshore, it's a very problematic event. Bill McKibben, what do you think has to happen now? You have been traveling the world, warning people, working with organizations around the issue of climate change. Do you feel like the kind of organizing you're doing has an effect? I mean, you see these three presidential debates. Tens of millions of people watch them. They sort of define the discourse in this country. And yet, not raised in any—it's not only the candidates don't raise them, the reporters who are the moderators of these debates don't raise the issue. Look, we're up against the most powerful and richest industry on earth, and the status quo is their friend, and they want nothing to change. And until we're able to force them to the table, as it were, very little will happen in Washington or elsewhere. That's why we launched this huge tour, beginning the night after the election, not coincidentally, in Seattle and continuing around the country. You can find out about it at math.350.org. But the point is that we really finally need to have this reckoning. Either the fossil fuel industry keeps pouring carbon into the atmosphere and we keep seeing this kind of event, or we take some action. Here's the thing always to remember. The crazy changes that we're seeing now, the—you know, the fact that we broke the Arctic this summer, the fact that the oceans are 30 percent more acid, that's all that's all happened when you raise the temperature of the earth one degree. The same scientists who told us that was going to happen are confident that the temperature will go up four degrees, maybe five, unless we get off coal and gas and oil very quickly. And to do that, you know, it's nice to talk to Washington, but in certain ways Washington has turned into customer service for the fossil fuel industry. It's time to take on that industry directly. Not time today. Time today is to take care of people all up and down the East Coast, to work in the relief efforts, to get the message out as this storm heads north. We in Vermont, knowing from last year, from last year's superstorm, Irene, have a pretty good idea of just how traumatic this is going to be. So the short-term effort is all about people. But the slightly longer-term effort is to make sure that we're not creating a world where this kind of thing happens over and over and over again. Bill, you mentioned that the storm is made up of elements both natural and unnatural. What do you mean by that? Well, look, I mean, global warming doesn't cause hurricanes. We've always had hurricanes. Hurricanes cause when a wave, tropical wave, comes off the coast of Africa and moves on to warm water and the wind shear is low enough to let it form a circulation, and so on and so forth. But we're producing conditions like record warm temperatures in seawater that make it easier for this sort of thing to get, in this case, you know, up the Atlantic with a head of steam. We're making—we're raising the sea levels. And when that happens, it means that whatever storm surge comes in comes in from a higher level than it would have before. We're seeing—and there are a meteorologists—although I don't think this is well studied enough yet to really say it conclusively, there are people saying that things like the huge amount of open water in the Arctic have been changing patterns, of big wind current patterns, across the continent that may be contributing to these blocking pressure areas and things that we're seeing. But, to me, that, at this point, is still mostly speculation. What really is different is that there is more moisture and more energy in this narrow envelope of atmosphere. And that energy expresses itself in all kind of ways. That's why we get these record rainfalls now, time after time. I mean, last year, it was Irene and then Lee directly after that. This year, this storm, they're saying, could be a thousand-year rainfall event across the mid-Atlantic. I think that means more rain than you'd expect to see in a thousand years. But I could pretty much—I'd be willing to bet that it won't be long before we see another one of them, because we're changing the odds. By changing the earth, we change the odds. And one thing for all of us to remember today, even as we deal with the horror on the East Coast, is that this is exactly the kind of horror people have been dealing with all over the world. Twenty million people were dislocated by flood in Pakistan two years ago. There are people with kind of existential fears about whether their nations will survive the rise of sea level. We're seeing horrific drought not just in the Midwest, but in much of the rest of the world. This is the biggest thing that's ever happened on earth, climate change, and our response has to be the same kind of magnitude. Bill McKibben, why are you waiting 'til after the presidential election to have your 20-city tour raising the issue, calling it "Do the Math"? Well, I mean, we've been involved as we can be in the political fight, but we don't want this issue to go away when elections are over. Even if Barack Obama wins, we do not want everybody to just, "Oh, well, he'll take care of it." That's what happened four years ago. What we want is for—no matter who wins and no matter who wins in the Senate and the House, we want to put the fossil fuel industry front and center and put real pressure on them. We're going to try and launch a divestment movement that looks like the one around South Africa a quarter-century ago. We're going to be bringing home the math that I described in a piece in Rolling Stone this summer that went kind of viral, explaining that the fossil fuel industry already has five times more carbon in its inventory than even the most conservative government thinks would be safe to burn. And every day, they go out looking for more. This is a rogue industry now. I mean, if Sandy is a rogue storm, then, say, Exxon is a rogue industry. They, in their inventory alone, have more than 7 percent of the carbon necessary to take us past two degrees. They're outlaws not against the laws of the state, but against the laws of physics. And you begin to see the results of that when you look around events like today's. Bill McKibben, I want to thank you for being with us. And very quickly, how are people in Vermont preparing? I mean, when—when Hurricane Irene hit, it ended up not being a very big deal in New York, but it ended up being a massive catastrophe for your state, for Vermont. What's happening? How are you preparing here? [inaudible] in Vermont in a very long time. We're expecting to lose power and have very strong winds. I think, selfishly, those of us in Vermont are just almost psychologically—I'm—you know, we really, really, a year later, don't need to be the center of this storm. We don't wish it on anybody else, but, you know, physically and psychologically, Vermont's barely recovered from Irene. And we have some incredible sense of sympathy for the people who are getting hammered hardest by Sandy this time around. Well, I want to thank you, Bill McKibben, for being with us, founder of 350.org, speaking to us from his home in Vermont. When we come back, we'll stay with Greg Jones, climate scientist, professor of environmental studies here at Southern Oregon University in Ashland, and we'll be joined by meteorologist Jeff Masters. Stay with us. http://news.linktv.org/videos/democracy-now-june-27-2012?start=0 The Supreme Court strikes down a century-old Montana law banning corporate campaign spending, in a case billed as "Citizens United II." And Bill McKibben discusses extreme weather, the Keystone XL pipeline, and the failure of Rio+20. Wed, 27 Jun 2012 10:03:00 -0700 http://news.linktv.org/videos/democracy-now-june-27-2012 Campaign finance, Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, Politics of the United States, Supreme Court of the United States, United States, Climate change, Citizens United, Keystone Pipeline, Montana, Clean Air Act The Supreme Court strikes down a century-old Montana law banning corporate campaign spending, in a case billed as "Citizens United II." Democracy Now! continues its conversation with Monika Bauerlein and Andy Kroll of Mother Jones magazine looking at the hundreds of millions of dollars being poured into the 2012 US presidential race. And Bill McKibben of 350.org speaks about extreme weather, the Keystone XL pipeline, and the failure of Rio+20. Plus headlines, and more. http://news.linktv.org/videos/democracy-now-june-27-2012?start=3083 With extreme weather fueling wildfires in Colorado and record rainfall in Florida, the Obama administration moved closer to approving construction of the southern section of the Keystone XL pipeline. Environmentalist Bill McKibben discusses developments. Wed, 27 Jun 2012 10:03:00 -0700 http://news.linktv.org/videos/democracy-now-june-27-2012 Campaign finance, Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, Politics of the United States, Supreme Court of the United States, United States, Climate change, Citizens United, Keystone Pipeline, Montana, Clean Air Act With extreme weather fueling wildfires in Colorado and record rainfall in Florida, the Obama administration has moved closer to approving construction of the southern section of the Keystone XL pipeline. We're joined by environmentalist, educator and author Bill McKibben, founder of the grassroots climate campaign 350.org. "Today is one of those days when you understand what the early parts of the global warming era are going to look like," McKibben says. "For the first time in history, we managed to get the fourth tropical storm of the year before July. ... These are the most destructive fires in Colorado history, and they come after the warmest weather ever recorded there. ... This is what it looks like as the planet begins — and I underline 'begins' — to warm. Nothing that happened [at the United Nations Rio+20 summit] will even begin to slow down that trajectory." And we end today's show looking at corporate money in the environment, as Florida is lashed by drenching rains and the worst wildfires in Colorado's history continue to rage. We're joined by Bill McKibben, founder of 350.org, author of the book Eaarth. He's just back from the Rio+20 summit in Brazil, where oil and gas giants successfully lobbied to continue subsidies for their multi-billion-dollar business. Meanwhile, here in the U.S., the Obama administration has granted permission for part of the southern leg of the Keystone XL pipeline, which would carry oil to refineries in the Gulf Coast. Bill, from Rio to the XL to the wildfires of Colorado, hold forth. Well, look, today is one of those days when you understand what the early parts of the global warming era are going to look like. We've got the first—for the first time in history, we managed to get the fourth tropical storm of the year before July. Debby is dropping absolutely record amounts of rain across much of Florida. The total may top two feet. Meanwhile, in Colorado, they've evacuated not only parts of the Air Force Academy, they just evacuated—and this is truly ironic—the headquarters of the National Center for Atmospheric Research outside Boulder, or at least part of it, because that's the place where the most important climate science in the world is going on. These are the most destructive fires in Colorado history, and they come after the warmest weather ever recorded there. You could do the same exercise all over the planet today. This is what it looks like as the planet begins — and I underline "begins" — to warm. And nothing that happened in Rio will even begin to slow down that trajectory. Rio was a failure. Young people did the only thing of interest there almost: they walked out of the conference, turned in their credentials with a day to go. I was proud to go with them, because, clearly, the thing had turned into a sham. The best proof of that probably, as you say, is the fact that even—even this most obvious of measures—ending the subsidies, the almost trillion dollars a year that the world pays to the fossil fuel industry—even that wasn't really on the table. We had a Twitter storm a week ago today all over the world. The number one trending topic on Twitter wasn't, you know, Justin Bieber's birthday or something like that, it was "end fossil fuel subsidies," people around the planet beginning to get really exercised. And yet, the Rio conference ended without any agreement on whether that might happen or when or how. Look, Amy, the absolute command of the fossil fuel industry over most of our political system is really evident. It's really evident when the president, who, under great pressure and with some courage blocked the northern part of the Keystone pipeline, yesterday with great fanfare said that he was approving the second southern half, the part that's in the U.S. Now, this doesn't connect up to the tar sands, so it probably isn't the same blow in terms of climate change, but it's sure a blow to people across Texas where that pipeline is going. If you go TarSandsBlockade.org, you'll see how we're going to try and fight back. There are brave people down there putting their bodies on the line, or soon will be, up against that tide of fossil fuel money. But this is going to be an awfully hard fight, 'til we build the movement strong enough to really, really counterbalance that weight of fossil fuel money. Bill, you say it doesn't hook up to tar sands, but isn't that the eventual goal? This is just the southern leg. That's definitely the eventual goal. That's what the—that's what all—that's what the Koch brothers and every other tar sands billionaire wants to do. For the moment, that's still under review, and the president has promised that it will finally get a serious review. We don't know how serious. The State Department has put out their initial guidelines for their next review last week, and they didn't even mention climate change. One's beginning to wonder whether the State Department isn't really a very weak link in any effort to deal with climate change. Secretary of State Clinton has unfortunately failed not only at Rio, but at Copenhagen, in terms of climate change diplomacy. And since it's the State Department that will review this pipeline crossing over from Canada, it will probably be our best chance to figure out whether they take global warming seriously at all. They should. It's clearly the great national security, diplomacy issue of the time ahead. We'll find out. And we'll keep fighting, not only on Keystone, but on these fossil fuel subsidies. At 350.org, we've got this remarkable electronic scoreboard that just went up that allows people all over the country to nail down their senators and congressmen on whether they think we should keep giving money every year to the fossil fuel industry. Senator Sanders, my senator here in Vermont, has introduced a bill along with Keith Ellison of Minnesota that would strip $113 billion in fossil fuel subsidies over the next decade. Even if—even if these guys weren't destroying the planet with this money, it's obnoxious that we're giving the richest industry on earth an endless taxpayer-funded gift, especially since there's nothing left to subsidize. For better and for worse, we've known how to burn coal and oil for a couple of hundred years. There's no point in underwriting it; we know how to do it. Bill McKibben, I want to ask you about our top headline today. A federal appeals court has upheld the Environmental Protection Agency's effort to use the Clean Air Act to regulate carbon emissions from the country's largest polluters. Also, the three-judge panel upheld the Obama administration's inaugural car and fuel economy standards, which aim to cut new car pollution in half and double fuel efficiency by 2025. Your response? We only have about 30 seconds. Those things are promising. Let's hope the Supreme Court doesn't get in the way. No wagers on that. But these are very long-term steps. The key steps right now are to keep that oil and coal in the ground, not to open the Arctic to drilling, not to build new coal ports on the West Coast, not to hook up that pipeline to the tar sands. Now, of course, in an election year, a lot of people hear you say "not, not, not," and they're concerned that this means that we will not have jobs. Well, the good news is that we're really figuring out how to do green technology. If you want a—if you want a real success story, last month, Germany—northern latitude country—managed one day to generate more than half the electricity it consumed from solar panels within its borders. There's no longer a technical problem to the job-rich transition to green energy. The problem is political, and it's tied up in the money that you've been talking about [inaudible]— Bill McKibben, we're going to leave it there. I thank you for being with us, founder of 350.org. His latest book is called Eaarth. http://news.linktv.org/videos/interview-with-350org-founder-bill-mckibben?start=0 Bill McKibben, founder of the climate action group 350.org and author of many books including "Eaarth," speaks about the proposed controversial Keystone Pipeline, Alberta Tar Sands, and the climate action movement. Fri, 23 Sep 2011 00:00:00 -0700 http://news.linktv.org/videos/interview-with-350org-founder-bill-mckibben Keystone Pipeline, Oil sands, Climate change, 350.org , Mining, United States, Athabasca oil sands, Midwestern United States, Bill McKibben, Eaarth Bill McKibben, founder of the climate action group 350.org and author of many books including "Eaarth," speaks about the proposed controversial Keystone Pipeline, Alberta Tar Sands, and the climate action movement.