http://news.linktv.org Link TV News Videos (Filtered by topics: Climate change) en-us Wed, 15 May 2013 19:39:00 -0700 Copyright 2011 Link Media, Inc. http://news.linktv.org/videos/iceland-wary-as-powers-scramble-for-arctic-assets?start=0 As melting ice opens up previously inaccessible areas of the Arctic, powers including China and Russia have started jostling for the region's resources. In Iceland, desire to cash in on the changes is mixed with fear of looming environmental disaster, Al Jazeera finds.<br /> Wed, 15 May 2013 19:39:00 -0700 http://news.linktv.org/videos/iceland-wary-as-powers-scramble-for-arctic-assets Arctic, Iceland, Russia, Global warming, Climate change, Arctic Ocean, Economy of Iceland, Arctic oil exploration, Al Jazeera English As melting ice opens up previously inaccessible areas of the Arctic, powers including China and Russia have started jostling for the region's resources. In Iceland, desire to cash in on the changes is mixed with fear of looming environmental disaster, Al Jazeera finds. http://news.linktv.org/videos/timelapse-project-reveals-28-years-of-drastic-change-on-earth?start=0 From rainforests shrinking to cities mushrooming to deserts blooming, a new project from Google and Time magazine allows users to view timelapse images of the planet changing over the decades. <span id="intelliTxt">The projects uses 28 years of satellite images from NASA and the US Geological Society.</span> Thu, 09 May 2013 21:45:00 -0700 http://news.linktv.org/videos/timelapse-project-reveals-28-years-of-drastic-change-on-earth NASA, Satellite imagery, Earth, Google, Time-lapse photography, Science, Climate change, Environment, Environmental degradation, Time (magazine) From rainforests shrinking to cities mushrooming to deserts blooming, a new project from Google and Time magazine allows users to view timelapse images of the planet changing over the decades. The projects uses 28 years of satellite images from NASA and the US Geological Society. http://news.linktv.org/videos/did-scientists-get-it-wrong-about-global-warming?start=0 As the United Kingdom emerges from a particularly prolonged spell of cold, wet weather, Britain's Channel 4 News asks if it is time for scientists to admit the drastic temperature rises they predicted have failed to materialise. Thu, 11 Apr 2013 09:40:00 -0700 http://news.linktv.org/videos/did-scientists-get-it-wrong-about-global-warming Global warming, Climate change, Extreme weather, Climatology, Snow, United Kingdom, Science, Weather, Channel 4 News As the United Kingdom emerges from a particularly prolonged spell of cold, wet weather, Britain's Channel 4 News asks if it is time for scientists to admit the drastic temperature rises they predicted have failed to materialise. http://news.linktv.org/videos/hope-in-a-changing-climate-restoring-the-earth?start=0 <p>Is it possible to rehabilitate large-scale damaged ecosystems, improve the lives of people trapped in poverty, and sequester carbon naturally? John D. Liu has proven that it is. His film, "Hope in a Changing Climate," showcases approaches that have worked on the Loess Plateau in China, Ethiopia and Rwanda. Produced in collaboration with the Environmental Education Media Project (EEMP).</p> Fri, 05 Apr 2013 00:00:00 -0700 http://news.linktv.org/videos/hope-in-a-changing-climate-restoring-the-earth Loess Plateau, Ecology, Climate change, Rwanda, Ethiopia, China, Carbon sequestration, Environment, Conservation, Earth Focus Is it possible to rehabilitate large-scale damaged ecosystems, improve the lives of people trapped in poverty, and sequester carbon naturally? John D. Liu has proven that it is. His film, "Hope in a Changing Climate," showcases approaches that have worked on the Loess Plateau in China, Ethiopia and Rwanda. Produced in collaboration with the Environmental Education Media Project (EEMP). http://news.linktv.org/videos/the-dash-for-gas-fracking-goes-global?start=1085 <p>US domestic gas production is on the rise because of hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, a controversial method of extracting natural gas from shale rock by pumping millions of gallons of water mixed with sand and chemicals underground at high pressure. Environmentalists say this gas boon threatens water supplies and pollutes air. Now, as fracking expands around the world, so does growing resistance. Earth Focus looks at three countries on the new fracking frontline: South Africa, Poland, and the UK. Reported from South Africa by Jeff Barbee and Andrew Wasley (The Ecologist) from Poland and the UK.</p> Wed, 20 Mar 2013 00:00:00 -0700 http://news.linktv.org/videos/the-dash-for-gas-fracking-goes-global Hydraulic fracturing, Natural gas, Environment, Shale oil extraction, Energy industry, Oil, Oil field, South Africa, Poland, United Kingdom Across the UK, Britain's green, picturesque land is facing uncertainty after the arrival of fracking. The spectre of gas wells and drilling sites, articulated trucks, waste lagoons, and other fracking detritus hangs heavy in a land more typically associated with small scale farming, cricket on the green, and "cottage" industries. But, not prepared to see their landscape altered forever, a new wave of citizen activists is gearing up to fight back. http://news.linktv.org/videos/meeting-renewable-energy-needs-in-southern-africa?start=337 <p>Earth Focus looks at the people and technologies shaping Africa's energy future. Correspondent Jeff Barbee reports from South Africa, Botswana, Namibia, and Malawi on how energy from the sun, wind, water, and even garbage not only helps the environment but is just good business.</p> Thu, 21 Feb 2013 00:00:00 -0800 http://news.linktv.org/videos/meeting-renewable-energy-needs-in-southern-africa Sub-Saharan Africa, Renewable energy, Africa, Environment, Solar energy, Sustainable energy, South Africa, Climate change, Cook stove, Solar power Solar powered cell phones are fueling communications revolution in Botswana's remote Kalahari Desert. Earth Focus reports. http://news.linktv.org/videos/meeting-renewable-energy-needs-in-southern-africa?start=808 <p>Earth Focus looks at the people and technologies shaping Africa's energy future. Correspondent Jeff Barbee reports from South Africa, Botswana, Namibia, and Malawi on how energy from the sun, wind, water, and even garbage not only helps the environment but is just good business.</p> Thu, 21 Feb 2013 00:00:00 -0800 http://news.linktv.org/videos/meeting-renewable-energy-needs-in-southern-africa Sub-Saharan Africa, Renewable energy, Africa, Environment, Solar energy, Sustainable energy, South Africa, Climate change, Cook stove, Solar power Mark Wright found a way to generate electricity from the Bisasar Road Landfill, one of the largest dumps in southern Africa, to provide electricity for the city of Durban. Correspondent Jeff Barbee reports from South Africa. http://news.linktv.org/videos/meeting-renewable-energy-needs-in-southern-africa?start=1020 <p>Earth Focus looks at the people and technologies shaping Africa's energy future. Correspondent Jeff Barbee reports from South Africa, Botswana, Namibia, and Malawi on how energy from the sun, wind, water, and even garbage not only helps the environment but is just good business.</p> Thu, 21 Feb 2013 00:00:00 -0800 http://news.linktv.org/videos/meeting-renewable-energy-needs-in-southern-africa Sub-Saharan Africa, Renewable energy, Africa, Environment, Solar energy, Sustainable energy, South Africa, Climate change, Cook stove, Solar power The Mbaula Chititezo Stove and Rocket Barns are pioneering technologies that are saving forests in Malawi and reducing carbon dioxide emissions in the process. Hestian Innovations, an Irish company, uses microloans and carbon financing to provide cookstoves and barns for tobacco curing -- simple technologies that use less wood -- in one of the most deforested nations on Earth. Jeff Barbee reports. http://news.linktv.org/videos/climate-activists-rally-in-dc-ahead-of-obama-pipeline-decision?start=0 Thousands of protesters have gathered in Washington DC to demand government action on climate change. One of the major items on environmentalists' agenda is the controversial Keystone Pipeline, which would carry millions of barrels of crude oil from Canada down to Texas. Sun, 17 Feb 2013 15:56:00 -0800 http://news.linktv.org/videos/climate-activists-rally-in-dc-ahead-of-obama-pipeline-decision Keystone Pipeline, Oil, Climate change, Barack Obama, Environment, Washington, D.C., Canada, Texas, Politics of the United States, United States Thousands of protesters have gathered in Washington DC to demand government action on climate change. One of the major items on environmentalists' agenda is the controversial Keystone Pipeline, which would carry millions of barrels of crude oil from Canada down to Texas. http://news.linktv.org/videos/reel-world-student-unrolls-history-in-two-minute-viral-vid?start=0 As China's air grows increasingly foul, it might be time to check out this viral video: "Our Story in Two Minutes." The film was a Minnesota high school project for a video class Cutaway Productions by a budding filmmaker identified by local media as Joe Bush. YouTube hits are now well past six million. Joe got an A on the project. The world apparently doesn't fare so well. Sun, 27 Jan 2013 18:55:00 -0800 http://news.linktv.org/videos/reel-world-student-unrolls-history-in-two-minute-viral-vid YouTube, Apocalypse, Viral video, China, Climate change, Pollution, Student, United States, Minnesota As China's air grows increasingly foul, it might be time to check out this viral video: "Our Story in Two Minutes." The film was a Minnesota high school project for a video class Cutaway Productions by a budding filmmaker identified by local media as Joe Bush. YouTube hits are now well past six million. Joe got an A on the project. The world apparently doesn't fare so well. http://news.linktv.org/videos/meet-the-green-ninja-climate-changes-first-superhero?start=0 Climate action has got a butt-kicking new superhero on its side. The Green Ninja is the creation of a San Jose State University, who is trying to crowdsource funding for a new animated series of the climate-minded martial arts master's adventures.<br /> Wed, 23 Jan 2013 20:41:00 -0800 http://news.linktv.org/videos/meet-the-green-ninja-climate-changes-first-superhero Climate change, Energy conservation, Carbon footprint Climate action has got a butt-kicking new superhero on its side. The Green Ninja is the creation of a San Jose State University, who is trying to crowdsource funding for a new animated series of the climate-minded martial arts master's adventures. http://news.linktv.org/videos/nasa-drones-to-hunt-down-climate-change?start=0 NASA is preparing to launch six unmanned drones into the tropopause to study how water vapor and the ozone interact in order to track down the exact mechanics of climate change. The drones, the first of which will be sent up next week over the Pacific Ocean, will measure moisture and chemical composition, radiation levels, meteorological conditions, and trace gas levels 65,000 feet above the Earth. Mon, 14 Jan 2013 19:06:00 -0800 http://news.linktv.org/videos/nasa-drones-to-hunt-down-climate-change NASA, Drone, Climate change, Tropopause, Pacific Ocean, Earth, Trace gas, Water vapor, Empirical formula, Newsy NASA is preparing to launch six unmanned drones into the tropopause to study how water vapor and the ozone interact in order to track down the exact mechanics of climate change. The drones, the first of which will be sent up next week over the Pacific Ocean, will measure moisture and chemical composition, radiation levels, meteorological conditions, and trace gas levels 65,000 feet above the Earth. http://news.linktv.org/videos/australia-on-fire-record-shattering-heat-wildfires-ravage-nation?start=0 Two new colors have been added to Australia's weather maps to show temperatures exceeding 122 degrees Fahrenheit in the country's fiercest heat-wave in more than 80 years. Wildfires are raging through Australia's six states, including in Tasmania where some 50,000 acres of forests and farmland have been destroyed. We go to Sydney to speak with Anna Rose, co-founder and chair of Australian Youth Climate Coalition, about what this means for the world's largest exporter of coal. Wed, 09 Jan 2013 11:25:00 -0800 http://news.linktv.org/videos/australia-on-fire-record-shattering-heat-wildfires-ravage-nation Australia, Tasmania, Wildfire, Extreme weather, Australian Youth Climate Coalition, Heat wave, Climate change, Democracy Now! Two new colors have been added to Australia's weather maps to show temperatures exceeding 122 degrees Fahrenheit in the country's fiercest heat-wave in more than 80 years. Wildfires are raging through Australia's six states, including in Tasmania where some 50,000 acres of forests and farmland have been destroyed. We go to Sydney to speak with Anna Rose, co-founder and chair of Australian Youth Climate Coalition, about what this means for the world's largest exporter of coal. http://news.linktv.org/videos/2012-was-hottest-us-year-on-record?start=0 It's not your imagination, or a nightmare vision cooked up by crackpot scientists. It actually is hotter. In fact 2012 was the hottest year ever recorded in the US, more than three degrees warmer than the average temperature for the entire Twentieth Century. The year was also a "historic year for extreme weather that included drought, wildfires, hurricanes and storms," noted the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.&nbsp; Tue, 08 Jan 2013 20:14:00 -0800 http://news.linktv.org/videos/2012-was-hottest-us-year-on-record Extreme weather, Climate change, United States, Severe weather, NOAA, Newsy It's not your imagination, or a nightmare vision cooked up by crackpot scientists. It actually is hotter. In fact 2012 was the hottest year ever recorded in the US, more than three degrees warmer than the average temperature for the entire Twentieth Century. The year was also a "historic year for extreme weather that included drought, wildfires, hurricanes and storms," noted the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. http://news.linktv.org/videos/climate-change-the-maldives-existential-threat-linkasia-1413?start=0 As an island nation sitting at sea level in the Indian Ocean, the Maldives is facing the possibility of being wiped out due to rising sea levels. LinkAsia speaks with filmmaker Jon Shenk about his documentary "The Island President", a look at climate change warrior and former president of the Maldives Mohamed Nasheed. Mon, 07 Jan 2013 15:46:00 -0800 http://news.linktv.org/videos/climate-change-the-maldives-existential-threat-linkasia-1413 Maldives, Climate change, Mohamed Nasheed, Sea level, The Island President, President of the Maldives, Current sea level rise, Indian Ocean, Island country, LinkAsia As an island nation sitting at sea level in the Indian Ocean, the Maldives is facing the possibility of being wiped out due to rising sea levels. LinkAsia speaks with filmmaker Jon Shenk about his documentary "The Island President", a look at climate change warrior and former president of the Maldives Mohamed Nasheed. http://news.linktv.org/videos/severe-weather-wreaking-havoc-in-northwest-china-linkasia?start=0 Temperatures in Inner Mongolia have reached as low as -36 degrees Fahrenheit as an unprecedented storm has swept the region in recent days. State-run CCTV News reports on the effect this weather will have on communities that depend on livestock and herding. Thu, 06 Dec 2012 12:26:00 -0800 http://news.linktv.org/videos/severe-weather-wreaking-havoc-in-northwest-china-linkasia China, Severe weather, Inner Mongolia, Climate change, Extreme weather, Livestock, CCTV News, LinkAsia, Yul Kwon Temperatures in Inner Mongolia have reached as low as -36 degrees Fahrenheit as an unprecedented storm has swept the region in recent days. State-run CCTV News reports on the effect this weather will have on communities that depend on livestock and herding. http://news.linktv.org/videos/chinas-gov-disses-doha-with-pollution-crackdown-linkasia?start=0 In the midst of the slow-moving Doha climate talks, China has announced a major initiative to cut down on PM 2.5, an air pollutant that poses a large health risk. State-run CCTV News reports that the government is seeking an annual five percent drop in PM 2.5 in 117 cities, with a six percent target drop in major metropolitan areas such as Beijing. Wed, 05 Dec 2012 12:41:00 -0800 http://news.linktv.org/videos/chinas-gov-disses-doha-with-pollution-crackdown-linkasia China, Particulate, Air pollution, Doha, Climate change, Environment, Beijing, CCTV News, LinkAsia, Yul Kwon In the midst of the slow-moving Doha climate talks, China has announced a major initiative to cut down on PM 2.5, an air pollutant that poses a large health risk. State-run CCTV News reports that the government is seeking an annual five percent drop in PM 2.5 in 117 cities, with a six percent target drop in major metropolitan areas such as Beijing. http://news.linktv.org/videos/africa-climate-for-change?start=0 Africa, a continent facing frequent droughts, is especially vulnerable to climate change. But Africans are finding innovative solutions. Creating a Climate for Change, a new film by Jeff Barbee, takes us on a journey through Southern Africa exploring local people-driven projects that help communities adapt to climate change and restore ecological systems. Wed, 05 Dec 2012 12:00:00 -0800 http://news.linktv.org/videos/africa-climate-for-change Climate change, Environment, Africa, Zambia, Namibia, Namib Desert, Conservation Agriculture, South Africa, Kavango–Zambezi Transfrontier Conservation Area, Baviaanskloof Mega Reserve The Gobabeb Training and Research Center, deep in the heart of the Namib Desert in Namibia, is a much sought-after location for climate scientists. This isolated research lab has become a destination for scientists from around the world to gather data on how live sustainably with the environment. Earth Focus travels to Gobabeb to meet the scientists on the front lines of climate change. http://news.linktv.org/videos/africa-climate-for-change?start=436 Africa, a continent facing frequent droughts, is especially vulnerable to climate change. But Africans are finding innovative solutions. Creating a Climate for Change, a new film by Jeff Barbee, takes us on a journey through Southern Africa exploring local people-driven projects that help communities adapt to climate change and restore ecological systems. Wed, 05 Dec 2012 12:00:00 -0800 http://news.linktv.org/videos/africa-climate-for-change Climate change, Environment, Africa, Zambia, Namibia, Namib Desert, Conservation Agriculture, South Africa, Kavango–Zambezi Transfrontier Conservation Area, Baviaanskloof Mega Reserve Zambian farmers have seen growing seasons drastically altered due to climate change, causing their current systems of agriculture to break down. But the country has adopted a sustainable farming system on a national level, called Conservation Agriculture. As Earth Focus reports, it reduces the costs of agricultural supplies and increases food security. http://news.linktv.org/videos/africa-climate-for-change?start=779 Africa, a continent facing frequent droughts, is especially vulnerable to climate change. But Africans are finding innovative solutions. Creating a Climate for Change, a new film by Jeff Barbee, takes us on a journey through Southern Africa exploring local people-driven projects that help communities adapt to climate change and restore ecological systems. Wed, 05 Dec 2012 12:00:00 -0800 http://news.linktv.org/videos/africa-climate-for-change Climate change, Environment, Africa, Zambia, Namibia, Namib Desert, Conservation Agriculture, South Africa, Kavango–Zambezi Transfrontier Conservation Area, Baviaanskloof Mega Reserve In the dramatic valleys of the Baviaanskloof Mountains in Eastern Cape South Africa, climate change is a reality. The whole southern Africa region is warming up and drying out. This trend will become much worse if nothing is done. Earth Focus speaks with Eastern Cape farmers about what's being done to restore the natural landscape. http://news.linktv.org/videos/africa-climate-for-change?start=1141 Africa, a continent facing frequent droughts, is especially vulnerable to climate change. But Africans are finding innovative solutions. Creating a Climate for Change, a new film by Jeff Barbee, takes us on a journey through Southern Africa exploring local people-driven projects that help communities adapt to climate change and restore ecological systems. Wed, 05 Dec 2012 12:00:00 -0800 http://news.linktv.org/videos/africa-climate-for-change Climate change, Environment, Africa, Zambia, Namibia, Namib Desert, Conservation Agriculture, South Africa, Kavango–Zambezi Transfrontier Conservation Area, Baviaanskloof Mega Reserve The Kavango–Zambezi Transfrontier Conservation Area, also known as KAZA, spans five nations in southeastern Africa: Zambia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Angola, and Namibia. One million people practice subsistence agriculture on marginal land, exposed to variability. Earth Focus travels to KAZA to find out what's being done to restore the ecosystems of two major river basins and increase water security for the local population. http://news.linktv.org/videos/pressures-on-for-money-to-mitigate-climate-disasters?start=0 The UN's Green Climate Fund needs a lot more bucks if it has any hope of making the smallest dent in the climate change disasters hitting the poorest countries the hardest. The UN estimates developing companies will need $67 billion a year by 2030 to deal with climate change fallout. Wed, 05 Dec 2012 02:21:00 -0800 http://news.linktv.org/videos/pressures-on-for-money-to-mitigate-climate-disasters Climate change, Developing country, United Nations, Severe weather, Al Jazeera English PThe UN's Green Climate Fund needs a lot more bucks if it has any hope of making the smallest dent in the climate change disasters hitting the poorest countries the hardest. The UN estimates developing companies will need $67 billion a year by 2030 to deal with climate change fallout. http://news.linktv.org/videos/climate-change-may-doom-iraqs-ancient-marshes?start=0 Rising temperatures and dam projects are threatening to finish what Saddam Hussein started and wipe out the wetlands of southern Iraq, along with the ancient culture of the Marsh Arabs. The marshlands were partially restored after Saddam's fall, but they are now in danger of drying up.<br /> Thu, 29 Nov 2012 00:34:00 -0800 http://news.linktv.org/videos/climate-change-may-doom-iraqs-ancient-marshes Marsh Arabs, Iraq, Climate change, Saddam Hussein, Culture of Iraq, Euphrates, Tigris, Al Jazeera English Rising temperatures and dam projects are threatening to finish what Saddam Hussein started and wipe out the wetlands of southern Iraq, along with the ancient culture of the Marsh Arabs. The marshlands were partially restored after Saddam's fall, but they are now in danger of drying up. http://news.linktv.org/videos/mosaic-news-112612?start=450 <p>Russia slams support for Syrian opposition as power of jihadist groups grows, standoff between Baghdad and Kurdistan Region intensifies, top polluter hosts "critical" climate change summit, and more.</p> Mon, 26 Nov 2012 00:00:00 -0800 http://news.linktv.org/videos/mosaic-news-112612 Likud, Knesset, Doha, Qatar, Protest, Ministry of Defense (Israel), Syrian Civil War, Iraqi Kurdistan, United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, Mohamed Morsi Presenter, Male #1 In the Qatari capital Doha, the work of the 18th session of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change began, with participation from nearly 190 countries. This conference aims to achieve progress in the stalled negotiations to reduce greenhouse gases, and to seek a new agreement that would replace the Kyoto Protocol. It will also discuss the most important and controversial issues between rich and poor countries, poverty issues, and weather-related disasters. Reporter, Female #1 Nearly 200 countries are meeting in the Qatari capital Doha, where the work of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change has begun. The conference will look into the need to curb the excessive increase of gas pollution and to save the climate. The goal of the negotiations is to reach a new agreement that would replace the Kyoto Protocol on climate change, which will expire next year. It is a binding approach to curb the emissions that are released by developed countries. Guest, Male #2 (Martin Kaiser, Greenpeace) I think the biggest fear is that the United States will not change its policies towards the United Nations' climate-related talks. During President Barack Obama's first term, none of his promises were fulfilled. Now, he must take bold steps toward climate change and international responsibility. Reporter, Female #1 One of the most important controversial issues that will be raised during the conference is the right of rich countries to use "hot air" carbon permits, in which rich countries buy poor countries' share of gas emissions, and intend to keep using them for a period of time that can be renewed. However, there are countries who oppose continuing to work with these permits. The current situation does not look optimistic. There are fears that old disputes between rich and poor countries will pose an obstacle in achieving any significant progress with the talks. If they fail to reach a new agreement that would unite the rich and poor in combating the increase of Earth's temperature starting from the year 2020, they will abandon working with the Kyoto Protocol. Guest, Male #3 (Peter Henriksen, Norwegian Forum for Environment and Development) I would like to see developed countries give money to restore some confidence in the negotiations. This is what we need. We also need to listen to the vows by European Union countries and developed countries to lower their emissions by 40 percent by the year 2020. Reporter, Female #1 The 18th session of the United Nations conference will continue until December 7th in Qatar, which has one of the highest per-capita carbon emissions rates in the world. The conference will also look into poverty issues, as well as weather-related disasters, which kill thousands every year and subject millions to displacement. It will also look into helping developing countries, financially and technologically, in order to reduce the exacerbation of climate change and its consequences on the environment and humans. Maha Sokkar, BBC. http://news.linktv.org/videos/four-degrees-of-catastrophe-world-bank-warns-of-climate-crisis?start=0 A new World Bank report warns that the Earth is steaming to an existence four degrees Celsius hotter by the end of the century, which would trigger a cataclysmic cascade of changes, including dought, vanishing crop land and a rise in sea levels that will threaten hundreds of millions of people. Sun, 18 Nov 2012 19:46:00 -0800 http://news.linktv.org/videos/four-degrees-of-catastrophe-world-bank-warns-of-climate-crisis Climate change, Current sea level rise, Drought, Severe weather, Extreme weather, Poverty, Jim Yong Kim, World Bank A new World Bank report warns that the Earth is steaming to an existence four degrees Celsius hotter by the end of the century, which would trigger a cataclysmic cascade of changes, including dought, vanishing crop land and a rise in sea levels that will threaten hundreds of millions of people. http://news.linktv.org/videos/raw-video-climate-protesters-hijack-aussie-energy-speech?start=0 Australian Energy Minister Martin Ferguson's speech unveiling the government's new energy policy was interrupted by two stage-crashing climate change protesters. The pair, who accused Ferguson of being a puppet of the coal industry, resisted efforts to manhandle them off the stage long enough to sing a song.<br /> Thu, 08 Nov 2012 22:49:00 -0800 http://news.linktv.org/videos/raw-video-climate-protesters-hijack-aussie-energy-speech Climate change, Martin Ferguson, Energy policy, Coal, Australia, Global warming, Raw video, ABC News (Australia) Australian Energy Minister Martin Ferguson's speech unveiling the government's new energy policy was interrupted by two stage-crashing climate change protesters. The pair, who accused Ferguson of being a puppet of the coal industry, resisted efforts to manhandle them off the stage long enough to sing a song. http://news.linktv.org/videos/climate-heckler-chucked-out-of-romney-rally?start=0 A climate change protester raised the temperature at a Mitt Romney rally in Virginia Thursday. "Climate change caused Sandy," he shouted before raising a banner saying "End Climate Silence." Romney supporters seized the banner and chanted "U-S-A" as the man was escorted out of the rally.<br /> Fri, 02 Nov 2012 04:21:00 -0700 http://news.linktv.org/videos/climate-heckler-chucked-out-of-romney-rally Global warming, Climate change, Mitt Romney presidential campaign, 2012, US presidential election, 2012, Hurricane Sandy, Mitt Romney, United States, ABC News A climate change protester raised the temperature at a Mitt Romney rally in Virginia Thursday. "Climate change caused Sandy," he shouted before raising a banner saying "End Climate Silence." Romney supporters seized the banner and chanted "U-S-A" as the man was escorted out of the rally. http://news.linktv.org/videos/bloomberg-endorses-obama-better-climate-change-warrior?start=0 Amid a major battle with the effects of Superstorm Sandy, New York City's independent Mayor Michael Bloomberg has made a surprise decision to endorse Barack Obama, saying the incumbent Democrat will bring critically needed leadership to fight climate change that Bloomberg believes contributed to the devastating storm. Thu, 01 Nov 2012 16:27:00 -0700 http://news.linktv.org/videos/bloomberg-endorses-obama-better-climate-change-warrior Climate change, Michael Bloomberg, Barack Obama, Barack Obama presidential campaign, 2012, Mitt Romney presidential campaign, 2012, Hurricane Sandy, New York City, Presidency of Barack Obama, Hurricane, New York Amid a major battle with the effects of Superstorm Sandy, New York City's independent Mayor Michael Bloomberg has made a surprise decision to endorse Barack Obama, saying the incumbent Democrat will bring critically needed leadership to fight climate change that Bloomberg believes contributed to the devastating storm. http://news.linktv.org/videos/inside-story-americas-will-climate-change-make-landfall-in-the-us-election?start=0 With extreme weather events such as Hurricane Sandy and the Midwest drought affecting huge parts of the US, why have the two main presidential candidates been avoiding discussing climate change in the run up to the elections? Inside Story Americas host Shihab Rattansi discusses with guests Rick Piltz, Joe Romm, and Michael Mann. Wed, 31 Oct 2012 11:35:00 -0700 http://news.linktv.org/videos/inside-story-americas-will-climate-change-make-landfall-in-the-us-election Hurricane Sandy, 2012 North American drought, Extreme weather, US presidential election, 2012, Climate change, Barack Obama, Mitt Romney, Current sea level rise, Drought in the United States, Politics of the United States With extreme weather events such as Hurricane Sandy and the Midwest drought affecting huge parts of the US, why have the two main presidential candidates been avoiding discussing climate change in the run up to the elections? Inside Story Americas host Shihab Rattansi discusses with guests Rick Piltz, Joe Romm, and Michael Mann. http://news.linktv.org/videos/mitt-romneys-rnc-rising-oceans-joke-not-so-funny-now?start=0 At the 2012 Republican National Convention back in August, Mitt Romney mocked President Obama for promising to "slow the rise of the oceans... and to heal the planet." But after the devastation wrought by Hurricane Sandy -- thought to be the biggest ever to hit the United States -- climate change may not seem quite so funny to voters in eastern states.<br /> Tue, 30 Oct 2012 13:33:00 -0700 http://news.linktv.org/videos/mitt-romneys-rnc-rising-oceans-joke-not-so-funny-now Hurricane Sandy, Mitt Romney, Climate change, US presidential election, 2012, Politics of the United States, 2012 Republican National Convention, Extreme weather, Barack Obama, Eastern United States, Hurricane At the 2012 Republican National Convention back in August, Mitt Romney mocked President Obama for promising to "slow the rise of the oceans... and to heal the planet." But after the devastation wrought by Hurricane Sandy -- thought to be the biggest ever to hit the United States -- climate change may not seem quite so funny to voters in eastern states. 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/wary-watchdogs-track-earths-fading-magnetic-shield?start=0 European scientists have launched massive projects to measure and track the Earth's magnetosphere, a critical magnetic shield that protects the planet from harmful solar radiation. The magnetic field is weakening, and researchers want to know why.&nbsp; Thu, 25 Oct 2012 10:12:00 -0700 http://news.linktv.org/videos/wary-watchdogs-track-earths-fading-magnetic-shield Earth's magnetic field, Magnetosphere, Outer space, Climate change, Scientist, Europe, Magnetic field, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Sunlight, Euronews European scientists have launched massive projects to measure and track the Earth's magnetosphere, a critical magnetic shield that protects the planet from harmful solar radiation. The magnetic field is weakening, and researchers want to know why. http://news.linktv.org/videos/rogue-geoengineer-dumps-tons-of-iron-in-pacific?start=0 An American entrepreneur dumped 100 tons of iron dust in the Pacific Ocean in what marine scientists are calling an irresponsible experiment. Rogue geoengineer Russ George says the project, which broke at least two international treaties, spawned a huge plankton bloom that will absorb carbon dioxide.<br /> Thu, 18 Oct 2012 18:19:00 -0700 http://news.linktv.org/videos/rogue-geoengineer-dumps-tons-of-iron-in-pacific Climate change, Pacific Ocean, Global warming, Carbon dioxide, Ocean, Canada, Salmon, British Columbia, Fishing industry, Plankton An American entrepreneur dumped 100 tons of iron dust in the Pacific Ocean in what marine scientists are calling an irresponsible experiment. Rogue geoengineer Russ George says the project, which broke at least two international treaties, spawned a huge plankton bloom that will absorb carbon dioxide. http://news.linktv.org/videos/barrier-reef-shrinking?start=0 Scientists have discovered that more than half of the coral cover at the Great Barrier Reef has disappeared, due to to climate change and rapacious coral-munching starfish. Tue, 02 Oct 2012 12:21:00 -0700 http://news.linktv.org/videos/barrier-reef-shrinking Great Barrier Reef, Coral reef, Climate change, Coral, Crown of thorns starfish, Australia, Marine conservation, Environment, Newsy Australian scientists have discovered more than half of the coral cover at the Great Barrier Reef has disappeared, due to to climate change and rapacious coral-eating starfish. http://news.linktv.org/videos/solar-roadways?start=0 <div id="movie-description"> <p>What if roads and highways were solar, fueling enough energy to power electric vehicles as well as nearby communities?</p> </div> Wed, 19 Sep 2012 11:58:00 -0700 http://news.linktv.org/videos/solar-roadways Solar energy, Invention, Sunlight, Climate change, Road, Alternative fuel, Renewable energy, Electric vehicle, Global warming, Electric car What if roads and highways were solar, fueling enough energy to power electric vehicles as well as nearby communities? http://news.linktv.org/videos/sweden-gateway-to-green-innovation?start=0 Stockholm's Royal Seaport, a rundown district in Sweden's capital, is set to become a model of energy efficiency. Developers plan on turning the 583 acre area into a mixed-use ecocity by 2020, with a goal of creating 10,000 new apartment and 30,000 new workspaces while reducing the area's carbon footprint. Tue, 18 Sep 2012 15:33:00 -0700 http://news.linktv.org/videos/sweden-gateway-to-green-innovation Stockholm, Sweden, Environment, Environmentally friendly, Plantagon, Water, Sustainability, Developing country, Urban agriculture, Solar energy Stockholm's Royal Seaport, a rundown district in Sweden's capital, is set to become a model of energy efficiency. Developers plan on turning the 583 acre area into a mixed-use ecocity by 2020, with a goal of creating 10,000 new apartment and 30,000 new workspaces while reducing the area's carbon footprint. http://news.linktv.org/videos/inside-story-americas-why-do-us-republicans-distrust-science?start=0 As Mitt Romney's presidential campaign is sideswiped by a Missouri senate candidate's misunderstanding of biology, we ask our guests if a Republican party that also denies climate change and rejects evolution has a fundamental problem with science. Fri, 24 Aug 2012 10:35:00 -0700 http://news.linktv.org/videos/inside-story-americas-why-do-us-republicans-distrust-science Todd Akin, Climate change denial, Creationism, Stem cell research policy, Climate change, Christian right, Mitt Romney presidential campaign, 2012, Stem cell controversy, Abortion debate, Mitt Romney As the US presidential campaign of Republican candidate Mitt Romney is sideswiped by a Missouri senate candidate's misunderstanding of biology, we ask if Republicans have a problem with science. It does seem that many in the party have a hard time accepting ideas such as evolution or climate change. So why do many Republicans mistrust widely accepted scientific facts? Guests Ronald Numbers, Barry Bickmore, and Ryan Grimm discuss. http://news.linktv.org/videos/us-farmers-turn-to-africa-for-drought-solutions?start=0 As the worst drought in decades dries up US corn supplies, some are seeing the virtues of sorghum, a hardy, drought-hardy cereal grass from Africa. A minor part of America's harvest today, it looks set to become more popular as the climate changes. Wed, 22 Aug 2012 08:56:00 -0700 http://news.linktv.org/videos/us-farmers-turn-to-africa-for-drought-solutions 2012 North American drought, Sorghum, 2010–2012 Southern United States drought, Drought, Food prices, Corn Belt, Climate change, Ethanol fuel, Africa, United States As the worst drought in decades dries up U.S corn supplies, some are seeing the virtues of sorghum, a crop that originated in Africa. Sorghum, a cereal grass, is a minor part of the America's harvest today. But, as the climate changes, experts believe the drought-hardy crop could become more popular. VOA's Steve Baragona reports. http://news.linktv.org/videos/severe-us-drought-threatens-global-food-price-rises?start=0 Global food prices have risen 6 per cent in July as extreme weather hits key food producing regions such as America's abundant grain belt. But the fear is that things could get worse before they get better. Fri, 10 Aug 2012 09:06:00 -0700 http://news.linktv.org/videos/severe-us-drought-threatens-global-food-price-rises 2012 North American drought, Food prices, Corn Belt, Drought in the United States, 2010–2012 Southern United States drought, Drought, Extreme weather, Climate change, Tom Vilsack, Midwestern United States Global food prices have risen 6 per cent in July as extreme weather hits key food producing regions such as America's abundant grain belt. But the fear is that things could get worse before they get better. http://news.linktv.org/videos/greenland-suddenly-starts-melting-but-is-it-global-warming?start=0 New satellite images have revealed almost all of Greenland's surface ice has suddenly started melting for the first time since 1889. But scientists believe the cause could be a rare weather event rather than climate change. Wed, 25 Jul 2012 14:03:00 -0700 http://news.linktv.org/videos/greenland-suddenly-starts-melting-but-is-it-global-warming Greenland, Greenland ice sheet, Climate change, Satellite imagery, Global warming, Snowmelt, Ice sheet, NASA, Extreme weather, Environment New satellite images have revealed almost all of Greenland's surface ice has suddenly started melting for the first time since 1889. But scientists believe the cause could be a rare weather event rather than climate change. http://news.linktv.org/videos/democracy-now-july-9-2012?start=99 United Nations and Arab League envoy Kofi Annan met today with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in the midst of worsening violence. The Justice Department and the Texas legislature are squaring off in court today over the state's controversial voter ID law. And Oakland City Council has voted unanimously to end a contract with Goldman Sachs over high interest rates. Plus headlines, and more.<br /> Mon, 09 Jul 2012 14:17:00 -0700 http://news.linktv.org/videos/democracy-now-july-9-2012 United States, Bashar al-Assad, Kofi Annan, Syrian Civil War, Politics of the United States, Syria, Kofi Annan peace plan for Syria, War Crime, Heat wave, Oakland City Council A record-setting heat wave in the eastern United States is starting to ease after two weeks of scorching temperatures. The heat wave has been blamed for causing at least 74 deaths from the Midwest to the East Coast, including 18 people around Chicago and 13 people in Maryland. All-time temperature highs hit major cities, including Philadelphia, Washington, St. Louis, Indianapolis and Louisville, with more than 4,500 heat records broken overall. Dry conditions and a lack of rain are also devastating corn crops across the plains, which faces its worst drought in 25 years. Although eastern states will now see a respite, western states are facing a potential heat wave that could bring record highs later this week. http://news.linktv.org/videos/democracy-now-july-3-2012?start=0 Wildfires, heat waves, storms: extreme weather events in the US fit the model of changing weather patterns long predicted by climate change scientists. And delegates from 190 countries gather at the UN to discuss a global arms trade treaty. Tue, 03 Jul 2012 15:25:00 -0700 http://news.linktv.org/videos/democracy-now-july-3-2012 Climate change, Extreme weather, Wildfire, Heat wave, United States, Tropical cyclone, Iraq, Arms Trade Treaty, Colorado, Arms industry The past two weeks have witnessed the worst forest fires in Colorado history, a deadly Mid-Atlantic storm, and a record-shattering heatwave on the East Coast. Democracy Now! discusses how these extreme events fit into the model of changing weather patterns long predicted by climate change scientists. And delegates from 190 countries have gathered at the United Nations to begin talks on the first-ever global agreement regulating the arms trade. Plus headlines, and more. http://news.linktv.org/videos/democracy-now-july-3-2012?start=742 Massive forest fires in Colorado, a deadly Mid-Atlantic storm, record-shattering heat across the East Coast and Midwest -- as the words "extreme weather" flash across TV screens, where are the other two words: "global warming"? Tue, 03 Jul 2012 15:25:00 -0700 http://news.linktv.org/videos/democracy-now-july-3-2012 Climate change, Extreme weather, Wildfire, Heat wave, United States, Tropical cyclone, Iraq, Arms Trade Treaty, Colorado, Arms industry The past two weeks have witnessed the worst forest fires in Colorado history, a deadly Mid-Atlantic storm that left 23 dead and four million without power, and a record shattering heatwave across the East Coast and Midwest that has not seen since the Dust Bowl. More than 2,000 heat records have been broken in the past week. As the words "extreme weather" flash across TV screens, where are the other two words: "global warming"? We speak to The Guardian's U.S. environment correspondent Suzanne Goldenberg and Jeff Masters, director of meteorology at the Weather Underground website. "What we're seeing now is the future," Masters says. "We're going to be seeing a lot more weather like this, a lot more impacts like we're seeing from this series of heatwaves, fires and storms. ... This is just the beginning." We begin today's show with a look at the extreme weather affecting large areas of the United States. Massive forest fires, heatwaves and droughts are devastating much of the country. This comes just a week after Tropical Storm Debby flooded Florida. But amidst the news coverage of this "extreme weather," we rarely hear two other words: "global warming." This is just a sampling of recent news reports. BRIAN WILLIAMS: The heatwave that's baked the Rockies and the Great Plains, now spreading east. There are 113 million Americans now in the excessive heat advisory zone. That's more than a third of the entire U.S. population. JOHN YANG: The high today here in Indianapolis? A sizzling 103 degrees. That broke a 78-year-old record. Nashville broke its all-time record, hitting 109 degrees. Authorities urged people to stay indoors and canceled outdoor events this weekend. From Atlanta: ATLANTA MAN: Smoking out here. JOHN YANG: To Chicago: CHICAGO MAN: I'm going to bring a towel soaked in ice and a bucket with ice and try to keep cool. CBC ANCHOR: U.S. National Guard is helping police in Colorado Springs in the wake of the most destructive wildfires in the state's history. Those fires have forced thousands of people to flee their homes. BRUCE MILDWURF: The fast-moving fires in Colorado have destroyed hundreds of homes and are threatening thousands more. The fires have grown so large, you can see it from space. Take a look at this video from the International Space Station. It shows the area scorched by flames in the Western states so far. WXYZ-TV ANCHOR: It's getting quite dangerous for some people, very old and the very young, especially. There's an excessive heat watch, which is basically an official way of telling you what we've been telling you for a long time. The rest of this week, lots and lots of excessive heat. Plenty of extreme weather coverage, but no mention of the role played by climate change and global warming. This comes as a relentless heatwave is now gripping the eastern United States for a fifth straight day. More than 2,000 heat records have been broken over the past week. Thousands more were set in June. Even more striking, the first day of July also broke records for the highest-ever recorded temperatures on any date at spots in Georgia, Kentucky, North Carolina and South Carolina. Meanwhile, a violent thunderstorm known as a "derecho" left a more than 700-mile trail of destruction across the Midwest and Mid-Atlantic Friday, cutting power to millions, killing at least 23 people. And all of this comes as firefighters in Colorado grapple with the two most destructive wildfires in the Colorado's history. The fires spread a haze of smoke over urban areas, displaced tens of thousands of people. They left behind vast swaths of blackened forest and burned to the ground more than 600 homes. This is 76-year-old Colorado Springs resident, Damon Bowlin, after seeing the remains of his house. DAMON BOWLIN: It's just—it's heart-wrenching, rather sickening. I don't think we ever had a fear of being harmed by the fire, but when you all of a sudden realize you've lost your entire life, the thing you've been working for all of your life, and the beauty and the tranquility that we have been experienced for the past several years, and realize now there's no house, there's no place you can call home. Well, for more, we're joined by The Guardian newspaper's environmental correspondent, Suzanne Goldenberg, who has just returned from reporting on the fires in Colorado. She's joining us from Washington, where her own home just regained power this morning after Friday's storm. And we're joined in Ann Arbor, Michigan, by Jeff Masters, director of meteorology at the Weather Underground website. Here in New York, Christian Parenti is with us, professor of sustainable development at the School for International Training in Vermont and the author of several books, most recently, Tropic of Chaos: Climate Change and the New Geography of Violence. Suzanne Goldenberg, let's begin with you. You're just back from Colorado. Describe what's happening there. Well, it's just huge destruction on a scale that they haven't seen before in Colorado. What makes this wildfire different from other wildfires that we've seen really is the number of houses burnt and the fact that they burned within city limits. These are not forests far away, remote from people; these are city limits and within city limits, and lots of people were affected. This particular fire also was described by firefighters across the board as extremely unpredictable. There was a moment in the middle of last week where the city's mayor was giving a press conference. He was talking about how they thought they had things under control. And then, as he spoke, on camera, right behind him, there's just this huge ball of fire burst out and came racing down the mountain and towards these homes. So this was a fire of a ferocity that hasn't been seen before. Is this what you would characterize as what some people are calling "super-sized fires"? That one's a bit hard to say, exactly. I mean, when you talk to forest scientists and fire scientists, they have a number of criteria in terms of numbers of acres that are burnt, damage caused and how severe the burning was. And they haven't gotten in there to the area yet to know how severe the damage was, whether things were burnt to the ground in the forest. They certainly were in homes. You've seen picture after picture of homes burnt down to their cement foundations. In terms of area, it's not in the hundreds of thousands of acres we've seen in the other fires. In terms of its effects, it's certainly devastating enough to rank as a super fire, but I don't know if it fits—you know, if it ticks all the boxes that would need to be ticked. Suzanne Goldenberg, the relationship between the fires in Colorado, the drenching rain in Florida, the massive heatwave that we're seeing across the country—I mean, often things don't look like they are connected, but this issue of global warming? Start in Colorado. Absolutely, climate change is a big factor here. We've had a 10-year or more drought across the West. You haven't had rain. And when you have had rain, it hasn't come at the right time or in the right quantity. Crucially, you haven't had snow. You've had really mild winters. So there isn't that big snowpack in the mountains whose gradual runoff would sort of feed the forests and the fields, give people the water they need. What you've got now across a lot of the Southwest is a situation where any tiny spark from a cigarette, from a chainsaw, from a car parked too close to high grass—any tiny spark is given up to possibly 100 percent probability of starting a fire. It's that dry. And that's an effect of climate change. I'd like to bring in Jeff Masters and ask, Jeff Masters, can you explain what you think accounts for the record heat and violent storms that we're now witnessing? You've got two things to think about here. One is the fact that the atmosphere has natural ups and downs. And this year happens to be one of those years when we're getting, say, a one-in-20-year type of heatwave, which, you know, happen about once every 20 years. But on top of that, you've got this background pattern of global warming. So now you've increased the odds of getting these one-in-20-type-year heatwaves, and the expectation is, by the end of the century, this kind of heatwave is going to occur once every two years. So, no surprise here: a warming climate, you have a higher probability of getting hot summers like we're seeing this year. We're going to go to break, then come back to this discussion. I'll play a clip of Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper, who was at the climate change summit in Copenhagen, and we had a chance to interview him. And we'll discuss what's happening not only in the United States, but around the world, as we put together the two words "extreme weather" with another two: "climate change," "climate disruption," "global warming." This is Democracy Now! Back in a minute. [break] As we talk about climate change today, I want to play a comment from Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper. I interviewed him in 2009. He was actually the mayor of Denver at the time, and he was attending the U.N. climate change conference in Copenhagen. MAYOR JOHN HICKENLOOPER: The whole question about extreme climate change as being the direct result of greenhouse gases, the argument that continually gets put back is, look at the Dust Bowl in the Great Depression, right? And that was before we had anywhere like these types of CO2 buildup. How do you tell which dramatic climate changes are the result of CO2 emissions and greenhouse gases and which ones aren't? And that's—you know, that level of scientific application is still—I mean, I think most people agree that the modeling is—again, it's hard work. There's a lot of noise on it. I think the—I think what the real key is, we know that climate change is occurring. Alright, everyone knows that. We know it's dramatic. We know that mankind is the likely—the vast majority of it is a result of our actions. So we need to address it and move quickly. That was Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper. At the time, he was the mayor of Denver. He was in Copenhagen for the climate change summit. Jeff Masters, you're a meteorologist with Weather Underground, which was just bought by the Weather Channel, and that made me think of Dr. Heidi Cullen, who got tremendous fire as a meteorologist at Weather Channel when she said meteorologists—something like—shouldn't be certified unless they know about climate change. Can you talk about the significance of what Hickenlooper is saying? Now the governor of Colorado, we're hearing him everywhere, but journalists are not asking him about global warming, though they are of course asking him to talk about the fires. Yes, it's difficult to talk about whether a specific event is tied to global warming or not without doing a detailed study, which takes many months, typically, with a computer model to see just exactly what the influences might be. But we do know that if you've got a warming climate, this sort of extreme heat event that we're having is more likely. But we don't know back in the 1930s exactly what was going on. That was a very interesting time, because, yes, a lot of that heat that we experienced then was due to natural causes, but it was also due to the fact that we basically turned the Midwest into a giant kind of parking lot for generating extreme heat through very poor farming practices. So a component of that heatwave was not natural. And this past June's weather was the most extreme since the Dust Bowl era, as far as June temperatures go and extreme records. So, we're back towards what we saw back in the '30s, and that should give us all some concern that we're getting Dust Bowl-type weather, which is very devastating for the American economy. Suzanne Goldenberg, I want to turn to the work of the Heartland Institute, which you've written about, especially about the recent exposé on their work. Can you explain who they are, what they have to do with climate denial, climate science deniers, and what this exposé revealed? Well, the Heartland Institute is an organization that's been based in Chicago and has been in operation for about 25 years. And they're an extreme, ultra-conservative, libertarian think tank. And over the last number of years, they made it among their missions to discredit the science of climate change, in many ways, and they sort of set themselves up to be a hub for people who didn't believe that climate change was man-made. They began having annual conferences. They put forward a bunch of so-called "experts" who claim to be scientists, who did not believe with mainstream science that the climate was changing and that human activity, specifically industrial activity, was having a part in it. And so, what they were doing, on a broader scale—where they fit in is that their mission really was to create doubt about the fact that climate change was occurring. And when there's doubt, then it's very hard to put policy in place. So, they were one of a number of groups doing this, but they were among the most prominent, and they had previously had links to ExxonMobil and the Koch brothers, as well as a number of mainstream corporations. Now, in February last year, the water—February this year, excuse me, the water scientist Peter Gleick obtained—through deception, he basically pretended to be a member of the board of Heartland, and he obtained a number of confidential documents that were prepared for a board meeting. And these documents really shone more of a light on the inner workings of Heartland. They were important for two reasons. One, they contained a donors list, so we got to know who exactly was giving money to this organization. That was something they had never disclosed. And there were some surprises in that list, because there were some mainstream corporations there like General Motors Foundation, which has a corporate policy of believing in climate change and of having sustainable business practices. The second thing it revealed that I think was interesting was their project to discredit climate change was really laid bare. And among those activities that they were engaged in was a project they wanted to set up that would specifically target children, schoolchildren from kindergarten age, and basically indoctrinate these children so that they did not believe in the science they were being taught in schools. And those were the two most striking things that came out of that exposé. And what happened as a result, once this exposé was revealed? What happened as a result to the Heartland Institute? Well, basically the organization is imploding. I mean, don't get me wrong, there's been a lot of backlash against Peter Gleick. People have questioned whether that was an appropriate thing for a scientist to be doing. But, really, Heartland has been done a lot of damage. Once exposed, a lot of their mainstream donors decided they didn't want to fund that organization anymore. And Heartland actually compounded the damage, because they adopted a very combative approach. They took out a billboard comparing people who believe in climate change to the Unabomber, Ted Kaczynski, and that just started a whole new flight of other donors. So, really, they've put themselves beyond the pale. They've made themselves seem a very extreme right-wing organization, where before they had adopted this posture of being sort of skeptical, probing the science, trying to get the most rational policy. All that posture is just gone now. They've been exposed for being an extremely conservative organization. A TV meteorologist who's been criticized for failing to connect extreme weather patterns to global warming has been CNN's Rob Marciano. I want to play a 2007 CNN report covering a story about a British judge who was considering banning Al Gore's movie, An Inconvenient Truth, from schools in England. Schools may have to issue a warning before they show students the controversial movie about global warming. Oh, there are definitely some inaccuracies. And, you know, the Oscars, they give out awards for fictional films, as well. Well, the biggest thing I have a problem with is his implication that Katrina was caused by global warming. And there's a number of studies that have been out, and there—really, the jury is still out. Global warming does not conclusively cause stronger hurricanes like we've seen. That's Rob Marciano, news and weather anchor for CNN Worldwide. Jeff Masters, your response? You're a meteorologist with Weather Underground. ...polarizing figure. He's a politician. But he did write a good book, and he did make a good movie with a lot of excellent science on climate change. Was it perfect? No, there were some inaccuracies in it. Should it be shown in schools? I think that individual schools have to make that own decision. But we do have a lot of resources out there by people who aren't politicians, on climate change and climate science. We certainly should be bringing those more to people's attention. Well, what about this issue that across the TV networks there is more and more attention devoted to weather, as it should be—I mean, 2,000 records broken just in the last month, it's astounding, and every day a record is broken after the day before the record was broken—but that there is no discussion of climate change by these meteorologists? I think it's important for the public to hear that what we're seeing now is the future. We're going to be seeing a lot more weather like this, a lot more impacts like we're seeing from this series of heatwaves, fires and storms. And we better prepare for it. We better educate people what's going on, give the best science that's out there on what climate change is doing and where it's likely to head. I think we're missing a big opportunity here—or our TV meteorologists are—to educate and tell the population what is likely to happen. This is just the beginning, this kind of summer weather we're having. http://news.linktv.org/videos/democracy-now-july-3-2012?start=1883 The past two weeks have witnessed the worst forest fires in Colorado history, a deadly Mid-Atlantic storm, and a record-shattering heatwave on the East Coast. Democracy Now! discusses how these extreme events fit into the model of changing weather patterns long predicted by climate change scientists. And delegates from 190 countries have gathered at the United Nations to begin talks on the first-ever global agreement regulating the arms trade. Plus headlines, and more.<br /><br /> Tue, 03 Jul 2012 15:25:00 -0700 http://news.linktv.org/videos/democracy-now-july-3-2012 Climate change, Extreme weather, Wildfire, Heat wave, United States, Tropical cyclone, Iraq, Arms Trade Treaty, Colorado, Arms industry As we discuss the spate of extreme weather in the United States, the author and professor Christian Parenti argues that the Republican-led assault on the public sector will leave states more vulnerable to global warming's effects. "Another thing that's missing from these discussions is not just the words 'climate change,' but the words 'public sector,'" Parenti says. "I mean, who's out there fighting these fires? It's the public sector, you know? Where do people go when there are these cooling centers? It's the public sector. ... This assault on the public sector must be linked to climate change." We're also joined by The Guardian's U.S. environment correspondent Suzanne Goldenberg and by Jeff Masters, director of meteorology at the Weather Underground website. I want to bring in Christian Parenti into the conversation. He's the author of Tropic of Chaos, most recently. You've talked a lot about the effects of global warming and climate change in the rest of the world, especially in the Global South. One of the arguments made for why in the U.S. there is so much climate science denial is that populations here are relatively isolated from its worst effects. But as we see more and more extreme weather events like we've witnessed, how likely do you think that that is to continue, because more and more people are, of course, being affected? Well, I don't know whether people's minds are going to change if there's this continual barrage of disinformation, but it's becoming a reality in everyday life, undeniably. And I think what it does is it calls to question the role of government. And the real difference between the Global South and the North in facing this problem is that, in the Global South, government—the public sector—has been systematically dismantled, on the orders of the IMF and the World Bank through structural adjustment programs, state assets and state—have been privatized, and state capacity has been diminished. And so, people fall back, in the face of extreme weather, on their own devices, which in places like Kenya and Afghanistan are cheap AK-47s and raiding your neighbor's cattle or turning to the drug trade. But in this country, there is still, despite a generation-long assault on the public sector and on government, which is picking up pace now, as we all know—there still is a public sector. And at these moments, another thing that's missing from these discussions is not just the word "climate change," but the words "public sector." I mean, who's out there fighting these fires? It's the public sector, you know? Where do people go when there are these cooling centers? It's the public sector. It's public schools, which are currently being privatized in Philadelphia. This assault on the public sector must be linked to climate change. So, in the face of extreme weather, I think that there really is—you know, we have to embrace the fact that U.S. capitalism is essentially a mixed economy already. We have 35 percent of the GDP is government activity. This is a right-wing talking point. Many on the left don't even discuss it, but that's a tool we can use. Vermont is a perfect example of this. Yes. And last year we had Hurricane Irene dumped a lot rain on Vermont. And people came together on a voluntary basis, communities, but also the state government was there with lots of aid, levels of aid that far outstrip the great generosity of Vermont businesses by, you know, factors of three, four, five. And in these moments, we have to recognize that we are all connected and that one of the most important institutions for managing these types of crises is the public sector and that we cannot fire public workers, we cannot dismantle the state, and that it is clearly not always efficient and—inefficient and corrupt. It actually does lots and lots of valuable things. And, you know, I'll bet you what's going to happen later in the summer is that FEMA is going to come under attack again. That's what happened at the end of last summer, right? The right wing turned on FEMA. They said they were spending too much. Well, they're spending too much because disasters have, you know, gone—they've doubled. The number of declared disasters have doubled in the last 20 years, like 99 last year. So, the GOP is trying to strip FEMA's budget. Why do they hate FEMA so much? If you actually look into what FEMA does, it makes perfect sense why the right hates FEMA. Same reason they hate Social Security. Because it works. Because it's a public agency that helps redistribute wealth to people in need. And it does all sorts of things that are essential to the people who are affected by disasters and to the regional economies that need to recover. Is the difference also in the United States the level of power exerted by the oil companies, the wealthiest in the world—I mean, in terms of advertisements and the corporate media, etc.? I wanted to bring up a tweet of Bill McKibben. This is on the issue of the topic of fossil fuel subsidies at the Rio+20 summit. Bill McKibben tweeted, "Proposal: Each time we set a new temp record, deduct 1% from Exxon's subsidy payments. 2000 new records last month, let's see, that's..." Christian Parenti? Yeah, I mean, we should obviously reduce all those subsidies, and we should allow the EPA to do what it is mandated to do, which is impose a de facto carbon tax. With the Kyoto Protocol, which was signed by Clinton in the mid-'90s and then not ratified by the Senate, states and green organizations sued, saying the EPA should be regulating greenhouse gases. They won that suit. It was just reaffirmed again recently. What that means is that the EPA is responsible for issuing rules that would raise the cost of burning fossil fuels. If that happens, there will be a massive shift of investment away from these now dirty and subsidized industries towards clean industries. These laws exist. This needs to happen. The government, as being one-third or more of the economy, could lead the way by saying, "OK, all of our new vehicles are going to be electric. We're going to set out a schedule for buying clean power for all of our buildings." The federal government is the largest single consumer of power in the economy. So, you know, also, the private sector—you know, profits have really recovered in this economy. The private sector is sitting on more uninvested cash, corporate America is. And this is—I'm not talking about profits paid out or bonuses, I'm talking about money they're sitting on in the form of short-term Treasury bonds. They're waiting for cues. "Where do we invest?" If the government allowed the EPA to do what it must do—raise the price of burning fossil fuels—that would help direct private money into renewable energy. It would help put people back to work. So, you know, there's—in the face of this crisis, we have to really think seriously and maturely and creatively about the role of government. Just one other fact about this disaster stuff: you know, the only place you can get flood insurance is basically the federal government. It writes 95 percent of flood insurance. This is never discussed. This is—what underwrites the recovery of so many flood-hit communities is the public sector. What about climate change globally? Give us—paint us the picture and what it means. You started to talk about that. Well, you know, it's kicking in all over the world. I was just in Vietnam. They take it very seriously there. There, there's no—I mean, denial of climate change doesn't even occur. There, the debate is, do we protect the Mekong Delta, which is the heart of the Vietnamese economy—Vietnam was, for the last 10 years, the world's top rice exporter. That all comes from the Mekong Delta. The debate there is, do we put dikes on the edge of the Mekong Delta, or do we retreat one kilometer in to help the mangroves retreat? So they're having a very sophisticated discussion. And what it means is that, you know, people do not have institutions like FEMA to fall back on. And so, poor farmers get hit, they lose their land, they migrate to the cities. In places like, you know, other places with violence going on, people fall into sort of, you know, drug economies in cities or rural raiding, or they are attracted to millenarian religious and ethnic fanaticism, and these become the solutions, and they pick up the gun. And that's what Topic of Chaos is all about, looking at how climate change plays out through political institutions and then shows up as violence. And this often happens in very attenuated ways. So you had the Arab Spring, to some extent, which is many, many positive aspects of this, but it is also associated with three wars, you know: Libya, Syria, Yemen. Part of what triggered that was, I think, climate change in grain-producing areas. The U.S. and Canada hit by floods. Australia, drought. drought in Russia—Russia, Ukraine and Kazakhstan, which caused Russia to ban its wheat exports in 2010. Single-largest grain wheat importer in the world? Egypt. Food prices were running at over 20 percent inflation a year at that—from 2010 to 2011, when the Arab Spring kicked off. And if you go back and look, the first demands were all about the rising cost of living, with food being at the center of it. And that, to some extent, was, you could say, the expression of climate change impacting agriculture in other places, showing up as suffering and political crisis and then violence in the Middle East. I want to ask Suzanne Goldenberg one of the points that Christian Parenti raised, which has to do with public sector cuts. Something you've spoken about in your reporting for The Guardian is the amount of funding cuts, congressional budget cuts to—for preventing and putting out wildfires. $500 million have been cut since 2010. That's almost 15 percent of the budget. Can you say a little about the significance of that and the impact it's had since these fires have broken out? Well, it's a huge impact. I mean, every prediction says that wildfires are going to be increasing over the next 10 years. And yet, we have a Congress that is—a Republican-controlled Congress in the House that is opposed to spending money on things that would protect people and/or on any kind of public project. So what you've got now is the Forest Service coming forward every year saying, "We need this money, not just to fight fires, but to take the kind of steps that are necessary to ensure that when fires do occur, that they won't be so devastating, that they won't burn for weeks and weeks, that they won't devour hundreds of thousands of acres of forest." You know, and those are programs where you've sort of managed the materials in the forest. You might thin out forests so there's not there a lot to burn. You might develop a space between the forest and people's houses, so those houses don't burn down like we've seen in Colorado Springs. So those programs, as well as the programs for putting out fires when they do occur, have both been cut this year. And that's going to have a pretty devastating effect. There's a lot of people very worried about that. Christian Parenti, you spoke about the effects of rising wheat prices and the effects it had on Egypt and the Arab Spring. One of the effects of the fires and the heatwave and the floods in the U.S. is likely to be a dramatic increase in the price of corn, wheat, again, and soybean. What do you think some of the global consequences of the increase in these commodities will be? Well, it will—it will probably be compounded by speculation, that in situations like this, organizations—companies like Glencore get on top of it, and they increase the price even further through speculation. Explain what that company is, I mean, what they do. It's the second largest commodity trading company in the world after Cargill, and they're involved in mining and buying and selling agricultural commodities like wheat and soy. So, what that will mean in the Global South is that people, such as Egyptians, who pay 40 percent of—the average Egyptian pays 40 percent of their wages in food, they're going to be pressed to the wall. And so, we're going to see, as we saw in 2008 and to some extent in last year, probably more food riots, more protests. And at first it won't look like it's about climate change. You know, it'll be about some kleptocratic president. It'll be, you know, Christians and Muslims fighting each other in northern Nigeria. And it's not to say that these conflicts are reducible to climate change, but they are exacerbated by climate change. And the frightening thing is that one of the only institutions in the U.S. that seems to think about this is the Pentagon. And they don't—you know, their job is to fight wars and prepare for wars. So they see this coming, and they are preparing for open-ended counterinsurgency on a global scale indefinitely. To their credit, they also say, you know, ultimately, we can't handle this. If there is an appropriate policy from civilian leaders, who knows how civilization will cope with the next century and climate change kicking in very readily? But right now, the preparations are for policing this crisis. And that's not going to help at all. That's going to exacerbate it. I wanted to go to Jeff Masters at University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, climatologist with—a meteorologist with Weather Underground. Can you predict for us what's going to happen this summer? And also, just sticking with this issue, since the way people understand the world is so often through the media—their own experience going outside experiencing the extreme weather, but then watching on television—is there discussion among climatologists to start raising this issue? Is there a push of underground weathermen to talk about this? Right now, we've got moderate to severe to extreme drought over a large portion of the grain-producing area of the U.S., from Kansas into Missouri, Illinois, Indiana. And it's only the early part of July. The forecast is for continued very hot weather at least for the next two weeks. And the way things are going, it wouldn't be any surprise to me to see a sharp reduction in the American grain harvest because of drought this year. We're looking at a situation similar to 1988, which was a $70 billion disaster in the U.S. because of the drought. Or, if you look back in the 1930s, this weather reminds me a lot of what we saw in some of those Dust Bowl years. So, a big concern. Drought, going forward, is going to be a huge issue in the U.S., and it is going to impact food prices, I think. As far as your second question, can you ask that again? I'm not sure I caught quite the gist of what you were asking. Is there a discussion among meteorologists—is there a discussion among meteorologists to start talking about climate change? It's been an ongoing discussion for a long time, sure. I mean, I'm on the board of advisers for a couple of groups that talk about climate change, and we're certainly trying to get the word out. And we've got a lot of people out there giving talks at the local level. And we're trying to get, of course, as much media exposure as we can. So, it's a big uphill struggle, though, because there's a lot of disinformation being put out there by companies whose profits are hurt by climate change awareness. So, it remains to be seen. I think, well, the weather we're seeing now is probably ultimately what's going to change people's minds, when they see in their own experience that, hey, you know, we're seeing unprecedented sorts of heat and drought and maybe extreme, violent storms, too. That's probably what's going to eventually turn the tide. Is that oil company pressure in the corporate media, for example, the advertisers? Well, yeah, absolutely. The oil companies have to protect profits by law, so of course they're going to challenge any science which says that there's global warming. And do TV climatologists feel that direct pressure, being told, "Don't raise these issues. You know, stick to the temperature, stick to the records and the record breaking, but don't talk about what's behind it all"? Yeah, it depends on the particular meteorologist and particular station, but, yeah, of course, I mean, there's a lot of pressure. You get a lot of blowback when you start talking about these issues. You get a lot of angry people writing you. Sometimes it may be an astroturf-type issue, where there is paid people out there that are writing letters and, you know, putting pressure on people not to talk about climate change. But there is also a lot of genuine confusion among people, and a lot of people feel very passionately that climate change is not an issue. And they're being swayed by some of these very powerful media campaigns being waged by the oil companies. Well, I want to thank you all for being with us, Jeff Masters, the—who is with us—Jeff Masters, who is with Weather Underground; Suzanne Goldenberg U.S. environment correspondent of The Guardian, just came back from reporting on the forest fires in Colorado. Thanks so much to Christian Parenti. His latest book is just coming out in paperback this next week, Tropic of Chaos: Climate Change and the New Geography of Violence. http://news.linktv.org/videos/politicians-and-opposition-step-up-campaigns-as-carbon-tax-begins?start=0 Australia's carbon tax has officially begun, and its federal government and opposition have stepped up their campaigns for and against the new regulations. Sun, 01 Jul 2012 20:05:00 -0700 http://news.linktv.org/videos/politicians-and-opposition-step-up-campaigns-as-carbon-tax-begins Carbon tax, Australia, Julia Gillard, Tony Abbott, Prime Minister of Australia, Economy of Australia, Politics of Australia, Climate change Australia's carbon tax has officially begun, and its federal government and opposition have stepped up their campaigns for and against the new regulations. http://news.linktv.org/videos/democracy-now-june-27-2012?start=113 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.<br /><br /> 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 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. An industry group called the Coalition for Responsible Regulation had filed lawsuits challenging the EPA's effort to regulate carbon emissions from vehicles and industrial pollution from new power plants. The lawsuits questioned the EPA's guiding basis that greenhouse gases can "reasonably be anticipated to endanger public health or welfare." The three-judge panel also 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. In a statement, the group Earthjustice said: "We hope this decision reinforces the EPA's resolve to move forward with standards to rein-in carbon pollution and other harmful gases from new and existing sources." Admin Approves Section of Keystone XL Pipeline, Activists Deliver Petition The Obama administration has granted TransCanada permission to build part of the southern portion of the Keystone XL pipeline that would carry oil from the Alberta tar sands through Texas. TransCanada said Tuesday it was still awaiting permits from two other districts of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers but hoped to begin construction on the pipeline later this summer. President Obama had rejected initial plans for the Keystone XL pipeline earlier this year but later pledged to fast-track approval of the southern portion stretching from Oklahoma to the Gulf Coast. On Tuesday, activists delivered well over 100,000 signatures calling on Environmental Protection Agency head Lisa Jackson to stop the pipeline's approval. Activists have also pledged a series of nonviolent direct actions against the project this summer, saying the pipeline would poison local communities and destroy the environment. 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/democracy-now-june-25-2012?start=1411 As the Rio+20 Earth Summit ends in disappointment, Democracy Now! is joined by the leading Canadian scientist, environmentalist and broadcaster David Suzuki to discuss what did and didn't happen at the largest UN conference ever. Mon, 25 Jun 2012 13:47:00 -0700 http://news.linktv.org/videos/democracy-now-june-25-2012 Paraguay, Fernando Lugo, Federico Franco, Rio+20, Earth Summit, Coup d'état, Egyptian presidential election, 2012, Mohamed Morsi, Muslim Brotherhood, David Suzuki As the Rio+20 Earth Summit — the largest U.N. conference ever — ends in disappointment, we're joined by the leading Canadian scientist, environmentalist and broadcaster David Suzuki. As host of the long-running CBC program, "The Nature of Things," seen in more than 40 countries, Suzuki has helped educate millions about the rich biodiversity of the planet and the threats it faces from human-driven global warming. In 1990 he co-founded the David Suzuki Foundation which focuses on sustainable ecology and in 2009, he was awarded the Right Livelihood Award. Suzuki joins us from the summit in Rio de Janeiro to talk about the climate crisis, the student protests in Quebec, his childhood growing up in an internment camp, and his daughter Severn's historic speech at the Rio Earth Summit in 1992 when she was 12 years-old. "If we don't see that we are utterly embedded in the natural world and dependent on Mother Nature for our very well-being and survival ... then our priorities will continue to be driven by man-made constructs like national borders, economies, corporations, markets," Suzuki says. "Those are all human created things. They shouldn't dominate the way we live. It should be the biosphere, and the leaders in that should be indigenous people who still have that sense that the earth is truly our mother, that it gives birth to us. You don't treat your mother the way we treat the planet or the biosphere today." The U.N. conference on sustainable on sustainable development known as the Rio+20 Earth Summit has concluded with few successes to report. Negotiators unveiled an agreement that sets new development goals and lays the groundwork for future talks. Many groups working on environmental and poverty issues have criticized the agreement for being too weak. Greenpeace called it "An epic failure." Politicians such as Nick Clegg of Britain called "insipid," and some protesters protested final text by ripping it up and renaming the summit "Rio minus 20." The gathering came 20 years after the 1992 U.N. Earth Summit in Rio when leaders pledged to protect the planet by endorsing treaties on biodiversity and climate change. At that meeting, a 12-year-old Canadian girl named Severn Cullis-Suzuki made a riveting plea to world leaders. My dad always says, you are what you do, not what you say. Well, what you do makes me cry at night. You grown-ups say you love us, but I challenge you, please, make your actions reflect your words. Thank you. Severn Cullis-Suzuki, then the age of 12, delivering her famous address at the 1992 first Earth U.N. Earth Summit that took place in Rio. Two decades later, Severn was back in Rio, this time as a veteran international environmental campaigner and mother of two. Democracy Now! spoke to her from Rio on Friday and asked her about what progress had been made since 1992. 20 years have passed and everybody wants to know, what have we done? How have we progressed? Well, last week, scientists released a report in the academic journal, Nature, that suggested that we are pushing for a tipping point in the earth's biosphere, that we are attacking our ecosystems that sustain us and all life on this earth in so many ways and levels that we are pushing for a state shift like what was seen 12,000 years ago with the end of the last ice age, but this time it will be human-caused and it will be order of magnitude faster than the 1000-year transition that happened last time. I mean, that report released on the eve of this world summit is clear that we have not achieved the sustainable world we knew we needed 20 years ago. Severn Cullis-Suzuki, now mother of two. She delivered the famous Rio address in 1992 at the age of 12. Today we bring you our interview with Severn's father, David Suzuki, one of Canada's leading environmental lists. We spoke to him just after speaking with Severn. He is perhaps best known as host of the long-running CBC program, The nature of things, see in over 40 countries. In 2009 David Suzuki was awarded the Right Livelihood Award. His latest book is, "Everything Under the Sun: Toward a Brighter Future on a Small Blue Planet." I began by asking David Suzuki if anything has changed since his daughter delivered that famous address 20 years ago. Absolutely not. We're going backwards. Certainly from the standpoint of my country, Canada, said that it was playing a leadership role at Rio '92. Here there's just been no question, Canada is a laggard. We are a global outlaw, renegade country. But, overall, the science is in, the planet is in terrible shape. The difficulty is that meetings like this are doomed to fail because we see ourselves at the center of everything. And our political and our economic priorities have to dominate over everything else. If we do not come to gather and say, look, let's start with the agreement that we are biological creatures, and if you do not have air for more than three or four minutes you are dead, if you don't have clean air you are sick, so surely, air, the atmosphere that provides us with the seasons, the weather, the climate, that has to be our highest priority before anything economic or political. That has to be the highest priority. But what you're getting is a huge gathering, as we saw in Copenhagen two years ago, a huge gathering of countries trying to negotiate something that does not belong to anyone to through the lenses of all of the political boundaries and economic priorities, and we try to shoehorn nature into our agenda. It simply is not going to work. A meeting like this is doomed to fail because we haven't left our vested interests outside the door and come together as a single species and agreed what the fundamental needs are for all of humanity. So we're going to sacrifice the air, the water, the biodiversity all in the sake of human political and economic interest. They're doomed to. David Suzuki, in 2008, you urged McGill University students to speak out against politicians who fail to act on climate change and said "What I would challenge you to do is put a lot of effort into trying to see whether there is a legal way of throwing our so-called leaders into jail because what they're doing is a criminal act." Do you still feel the same way today? What exactly are the crimes being committed? Absolutely. Absolutely. I think there are a number of — You can charge people who are at a scene, where someone is being murdered, and if you do not do anything to try to help that, you can be charged with criminal negligence. If something is going on that you should know about and you ignore it deliberately, then that is called willful blindness. That is a legal category for taking people to court. I think what we have to also find is a mechanism to judge people and to make them accountable for the implications of what they do or do not do for future generations. That is, there should be a category of intergenerational crime. You come here 20 years later, how many of the political leaders that were here in 1992 are now here again? Very, very few, if any. So, these guys come, they make a lot of nice words and they say, we care about this, we're going to do that. Nobody holds them accountable because they go out of office, they go on to become billionaires or whenever they do. But who is accountable for the lack of any kind of profound activity? When Democracy Now! was at the U.N. Climate Change conference in Durban this past December, I spoke with Marc Morano who published Climate Depot, a climate website run by climate denier group, Committee for Constructive Tomorrow. I asked him about President Obama's record on climate change. This is what he said. MARC MORANO: His nickname is George W. Obama. Obama's negotiator, Todd Stern, will be here today. They have kept the exact same principles and negotiating stance as President George Bush did for eight years. Obama has carried on Bush's legacy. So as skeptics, we tip our hat into President Obama in helping crush and continue to defeat the United Nations process. Obama has been a great friend of global warming skeptics at these conferences. Obama has problems for us because he is going through the EPA regulatory process, which is a grave threat. But, in terms of this, President Obama could not have turned out better when it came to his lack of interest in a congressional climate bill and his lack of interest in the United Nations Kyoto Protocol. So, a job well done for President Obama. That was Marc Morano of the climate denier group Committe for a Constructive Tomorrow saying President Obama is basically their best ally, calling him George W. Obama. Do you share that assessment, David Suzuki? You know, Obama was signaled sea-change in the American politics in the United States. Unfortunately, he's held hostage and he made some fundamental opponents right from the beginning that were fantastic, really top-notch scientists heading NOAA, heading the Energy Department. This was a sea-change. You think of a Nobel Prize winner being appointed the minister, or what ever you call him, secretary of energy. These are huge changes. The reality though, is he is held hostage by an absolutely dysfunctional congress. And he is held hostage by the corporate agenda, which is still a primary obligation that politicians have, even though has been very successful at getting that grassroots support. The fact is that corporations hold a huge hammer over the heads of our elected representatives and they are calling the shots. The economic system is the driving force that is destroying the planet, but now it is the corporations that are setting the direction and they're calling the shots. I think that it is not that Mr. Obama is like George Bush, because he is definitely not, but he is held hostage by the same system within which Bush operated. I want ask about the Canada Keystone XL pipeline. Just two months after President Obama rejected the project after mass protests where more than 1200 people were arrested around the White House last summer, he announced his support for TransCanada to build the southern leg of the pipeline from Oklahoma to Texas. In his remarks, President Obama said his administration has authorized enough gas pipelines to encircle the earth. PRESIDENT OBAMA: There is a bottleneck right here because we cannot get enough of the oil to our refineries fast enough. If we could, then we would be able to increase our oil supplies at a time when they are needed as much as possible. Right now, a company called TransCanada has applied to build a new pipeline to speed more oil from Cushing to state-of-the-art refineries down in the Gulf coast. Today, I'm directing my Administration to cut through the red tape, break through the bureaucratic hurdles, and make this project a priority to go ahead and get it done. TransCanada has reapplied for a permit to build a 1,200 mile segment from Alberta, Canada to Steel City, Nebraska, just this past Friday, the U.S. State Department said it would conduct a new environmental impact statement on the Keystone XL pipeline. Talk about the significance of the project, the role of activists in stopping it, then President Obama being slammed afterwards. Republicans in congress said it would pass legislation in Congress because he, in a very poor economy, was stopping people from getting jobs to build it. David Suzuki, your answer to jobs versus the environment. That has always been the dichotomy that's thrown up. But we have not looked at the real job opportunities that lie from taking a completely different direction. Obama's statement shows that he is captain of the oil industry as are most governments on this planet. He had an opportunity to really offer Americans the real job creator, which is in renewable, sustainable energy, greater energy efficiency, getting us off the oil addiction that we have. It is going to run out. It's going to run out. We are going to more and more extreme sources of energy. This is the moment that we should create the opportunity to go down a different path. I just came back from Japan where they had an absolute disaster that was an opportunity. They have shut down every single one of the 54 nuclear plants they have. They have an opportunity to take a totally different path. Japanese people cut their energy use by 25% immediately after Fukushima. They showed there was huge opportunity there. Instead, the government simply wants to get those plants up and running again. The nuclear industry, the fossil fuel industry have an enormous hammer over our elected representatives and it really is up to civil society. I think in the U.S., you're in deep trouble right now because of the huge support for parties that want to take us back to the past, the Tea Party and all of that are taking us away from having an opportunity for civil society to really contribute. I think we are really in a crisis when Sir Martin Rees, one of the leading scientists in Britain, the Royal Astronomer, was asked on BBC, what are the chances that human beings will survive to the end of this century? This is whether we will still be around. His answer was, 50/50. 50/50 that human beings will avoid extinction? I mean, surely to goodness we ought to be on an absolute crisis mode and getting off all of this rhetoric being fostered by the fossil fuel industry and nuclear industry and get on to a truly sustainable path. On Wednesday, French President Francois Hollande held a brief news conference and said he saw in green economy a path to overcome the economic crisis. FRANCOIS HOLLANDE: Some people say there's an economic and financial crisis and therefore the issues related to the environment and sustainable development may be set aside and may be treated separately, and that there would not be much pressure. This is not how I reason. I believe that the lasting development, the environment, which will also call green economy, is also a means of overcoming the crisis. That's the new French president, a Socialist, Francois Hollande, speaking at Rio+20. David Suzuki, to you feel there is a counterweight to the corporations and the climate change deniers? The green economy will simply allow the corporations to make a shift. You can see it in Exxon. Exxon, one of the companies that have spent tens of millions of dollars denying climate change, denying any responsibility, taking government subsidies on a massive scale, now their ads are all about, we want a clean future, we're looking at clean energy and all that stuff. Sure, the green economy is just about being more efficient, being less polluting, being less energy intensive, but still it's a system built on the need to continue to expand and grow. The true economy has got to come back into balance with the very biosphere that sustains us. I think a lot of people just see the green economy as a different way of allowing the corporate agenda to continue to flourish. We have got to change the economy and we have to do what we did in 1944 when governments came to Bretton Woods in Maine, and said we have got to develop an economic system for a post-war world. And they designed, they instituted GATT, the General Agreement of Tariffs and Trade. They invented the World Bank, the IMF. They tied world currency to the American greenback. But they left out the environment. It's time for a Bretton Woods II. We have got to overhaul the economy. You cannot change nature, but you can change our inventions like corporations and the economy. They have got to change. So, greening the economy that is itself a totally destructive system because it is bent on exploiting resources unsustainably and growing forever, that is got to be overhauled, it doesn't work. Leading Canadian environmentalist David Suzuki. We will continue our interview Canada's environmentalist just after our break. You can visit www.democracynow.org for in-depth coverage of Rio+20. The Rio+20 Earth Summit has concluded. We're returning to our conversation with Canada's leading environmentalist David Suzuki. I spoke to him about the largest U.N. conference ever and asked him about his own family background and how he became the renowned environmentalist he is today. I was born in Vancouver, British Columbia in 1936. My mother and father were born in Vancouver in 1909 and 1911. I am what Japanese call a third generation Canadian. My mother and father had never been out of Canada. They were citizens all their lives. They could not vote until after World War II. When World War II happened, although we were full Canadians by birth, we were regarded as enemy aliens as were Japanese Americans. We were incarcerated in camps. And then as the war was coming to an end, we were told that we had two choices, we could sign up and get a one-way ticket to Japan, which for us was a foreign country, or get out of British Columbia and go east to the Rockies. Because we only knew Canada, we went east to the Rockies and I ended up in Ontario. After the war, my parents said the way out of our poverty was hard work and education. Fortunately, both of those things were possible for me. And then at very amazing thing happened. I was offered a scholarship from an American college that was worth more than my father earned in a year. In 1954, Amherst College in Massachusetts offered me a scholarship for $1,500 because Amherst believed that foreign students added to the education of American students, and they were willing to pay money to have a foreign student come and be part of that college. For me, Amherst College made me as a scholar and I'm ever grateful to the United States for that. In 1957 when I was entering my last year in college at Amherst, on October 4th, the Soviet Union launched Sputnik. We had no idea there was a space program. In the months that followed, we saw the American rockets takeoff and explode either on the launching pad or once they got into the air they exploded. Meanwhile, the Soviets launched the first animal, a dog, Laika, the first man in space, Yuri Gagarin, the first team of cosmonauts, the first woman, Valentina Tereshkova. Americans realized, holy cow, the Soviets are very advanced in science and technology. They did not roll over and say, my God, they've got to big a lead, we can't afford to do this, it will destroy the economy. They simply said, we have got to go and beat these guys. Even though I was a Canadian, living in the states at the time, all you had to do was say, I love science, and Americans just supported you, threw you into universities, and I got a graduate education and training that I could never have gotten in Canada. Well, what happened, Kennedy declared a race to the moon. Americans are not only the first and only country to reach the moon, but think of all of the spinoffs, the unexpected spinoffs that came from that commitment to beat the Russians. I mean you've got 24-a-day newscasts. Well, maybe that is not such a great thing. But, you've got GPS, you've got cellphones, all of the things that came about simply because America said, we've got to make the commitment and we've got to beat the Russians to the moon. And it doesn't make sense to me that there is all this sense of, oh my God, we can't get off fossil fuels, it will destroy the economy. This is not the American way. The American way is to meet that challenge and realize huge things will happen once we make the commitment. We can't anticipate. Certainly in solar panels, certainly in geothermal energy, there are huge opportunities. The America that I knew and loved would have said, this is a challenge, American know-how will lead the world and create jobs at the same time. So, I'm astounded at the position the United States is in today compared to what it was like when I graduated from Amherst College. David Suzuki, I wanted to ask about the mass student protests that have been taking place in Quebec province. You wrote in a recent piece, governments all across Canada have no qualms about investing vast amounts of money to exploit natural resources yet they all but ignored the most precious — our children. In the U.S., there is very little written about or very little coverage of these mass student protests that have been taking place, some of the largest in Canada. Talk about what you see has to happen. Quebec is a very, very different society. I am very proud that they have remained in Canada. They reflect a great deal of value difference so that the environment, for example on Environment Day this year, attracted 300,000 people on the streets of Montreal for Earth day. They attracted over 100,000 people objecting to the student tuition increase. Now the English press in Canada has portrayed this as, these spoiled brats in Quebec, they don't realize they've got cheapest tuition in all of Canada and they are objecting to a few hundred dollars tuition raise. No, that is not what it is about. They're saying they'd like to look to countries like the Scandinavian countries, even France, where young people are regarded as the most precious commodity, where they are supported and their universities are free if they reach a certain level of ability. They're supported through the system, and that is what the Quebecois are trying to tell us. But no, we portray this as spoiled kids that don't want to spend any more money. I do not think that is what it is. But of course Charest, the Premier, who in some areas is quite progressive in the environment, for example, but Charest has brought in really very severe draconian legislation to suppress this kind of public dissent. And now that is what's attracting more kids to the streets to say, this is not a civil society any longer when you suppress us in that way. What underlies a student protest is a very profound question about, what are our values in our society? David Suzuki, your long-running show CBC show, called The Nature of Things, explores environmental diversity of the planet. Can you talk about some of the experiences and discoveries that have had the most impact on you? And in these last few minutes, because climate change is so little addressed while weather is increasingly on every channel and is as extreme weather, severe weather, the other two words, global warming, rarely flash, if ever, on the networks. Can you talk about what is at stake for people to even understand — since in the U.S., it's even a debate given the amount of money oil companies pour into the global warming denier groups — it's even a debate whether in fact this really is a concern. It's astonishing to me because I want to remind your viewers that in 1992, an American president had declared himself — well, in 1988, he said, if you vote for me, I promise I will be an environmental President. That was George H.W. Bush. There wasn't a green bone in his body but the American public had put the environment at the top of its agenda. He had to say that. Many people say, George Bush came to Rio in 1992 so he should be recognized for that. George Bush was not going to come to Rio unless they watered down the climate convention. They were aiming at the original plans, were for a 20% reduction in greenhouse emissions in 15 years. George Bush said, I am not going, until he got a much watered-down target of stabilization of 1990 levels by the year 2000, and he came down and signed that. But, his actions were predicated on American concern about the environment. Since then, of course, we have gone into recessions. But, I think we have not recognized that we've got people like the koch brothers, you got these right-wing think tanks, Competitive Enterprises Institute, the Heartland Institute, the Heritage Institute, that are all now pushing a radical right-wing agenda funded by fossil fuel industry and rich people to say, this is not true. Which is undermining scientific credibility. June 7, this year, Nature is filled with articles from scientists who have looked at the ecosystems of the planet. We are in deep trouble. We are facing an absolute crisis now. But countries like Canada and the United States, which are endowed with huge resources, can float by on the assumption everything is OK. We don't see the crunch coming as poor countries like [in] Europe are seeing. They do not have the kind of resource plenty that we have in North America. And so they are seeing it and leading the call for change. But, we have the illusion that the economy is the source of everything that matters and we have got to keep that growing at all costs. It's at all costs to the future for our children and grandchildren. Speaking of children and grandchildren, in 1992, David Suzuki, you were in Rio with your daughter Severn Cullis-Suzuki who was then 12, who gave this remarkable address to the Rio summit, the first Earth Summit. You don't know how to bring the salmon back up a dead stream. You don't know how to bring back an animal, now extinct. And you can't bring back the forest that once grew where there is now a desert. If you do not know how to fix it, please, stop breaking it. That was Severn Suzuki, David, that was your daughter. It is 20 years later and you are now back in Rio with Severn, who is now Severn Cullis-Suzuki, with your grandchildren her two sons. Can you talk about what it meant to you, for her to give that address 20 years ago and where you see we are now? Well, it was a remarkable speech, and at the end of her talk, she got a standing ovation. She went back to sit with us. Al Gore came up and said, that's the best speech anyone has given at this conference. The power of her speech — which, by the way, she and the other kids together wrote. Her mom and I didn't have any input. She said, dad, I know what I want to say, I want you to tell me how to say it. But, she wrote that speech, and a child speaks from the heart. You know that there is no hidden agenda. They just speak in that child-like way of innocence. That was the power — her words had power because they came from that kind of innocence. Now she's back. She's brought her youngest son. The only reason I'm here is because I said, Sev, I don't believe these conferences achieve anything but I will go as your baby sitter and I am here as the baby sitter. You just happened to corral me because I'm here looking after the baby — I've got to get back and take care of my grandson. But, I can tell you, she feels unbelievably desperate because she says the problem is that we have got to break down in-governance. Leaders came in 1992. They were moved by a child's plea, a child's request to do something for her future, and now those leaders aren't here and there is no one accountable for the fact they have failed fundamentally. Now there is a new set of leaders and they're making the same kind of promises without any understanding of the urgency of the crisis we face. So she comes to this with a — from a very dark place. By the disillusionment of her child-like belief that our leaders will truly lead and care about a future for her children. Now she has got an investment into the future in that makes her even more desperate about the lack of governance. David, talking about taking care of your grandson. If you were in charge, if he could have anything accomplished right now, what are the steps that you feel are most important to take right now? Well, the thing we hear over and over again is that we need a paradigm shift. It has become a cliche. But, I absolutely believe this is a critical change, that all of the stuff that goes on will not achieve anything unless we ultimately see the world in a different way. You see, our beliefs, our values shape the way we look out at the world and the way we treat it. If we believe that we were here, placed here by God, that all of this creation is for us, it's for us to go and occupy, dominate, and exploit, then we will proceed to do that. That is the paradigm we now exist within. We're driven then by that sense that it's all there for us. We need to shift that to a better understanding that we are part of a vast web of interconnected species, that it is the biosphere, the zone of air, water, and land, where all life exists. It's a very thin layer around the planet. Carl Sagan told us that if you shrink the earth to the size of a basketball, the biosphere, the zone of air, water and land where all life exists, would be thinner than a layer of toward the center then a layer of Saran Wrap, and that's it. That's our home, but it's home to ten to thirty millions other species that keep the planet habitable. And if we don't see the that we are utterly imbedded in the natural world and dependent on nature, not technology, not economics, not science — we are dependent on Mother Nature for our very well being and survival. If we don't see that, then our priorities will continue to be driven by man-made constructs like national borders, economies, corporations, markets. Those are all human created things. They shouldn't dominate the way we live. It should be the biosphere. And the leaders in that should be the indigenous people who still have that sense, that the earth is truly are mother, that it gives birth to us. You don't treat your mother the way we treat the planet or the biosphere today. If we do not make that fundamental shift, then we will just go on, oh we got to be more efficient we got to have a green economy, and all that stuff, but we haven't fundamentally changed in our relationship with the biosphere. And if we do treat it in that way, what needs to happen? Well, I think then we have to reassess everything. I believe we have to start with the fundamental understanding that we are animals. Believe me, I have said that in many parts of the United States, and people get mighty pissed off when I tell children, don't forget we're animals. They say, don't call my daughter an animal, we're human beings. We don't even want to accept it our biological nature. But, as animals our absolutely highest need for survival and well being is clean air, clean water, clean soil that gives us our food, and energy from the sun that plants captured by photosynthesis. That's what we depend on. So, how could we, claiming to be intelligent, use air, water, and soil as a garbage can for our waist and the most toxic chemicals ever known on the planet as if somehow that's not going to have consequences. The minute you except that we are biological creatures, then our highest priorities become absolutely clear. That means stop all release of any kind of human created material into our surroundings until we learn ways to recycle that in mimic nature in how we create and then degrade those things. Then we have to say we are social animals; and as social animals, what is our most fundamental need? To me, this was shocking when I began to read the scientific literature. The most important thing we need is love. Children, to grow up to be fully formed and developed human beings, need love at very critical times in our development. If you look at children that grow up under very war torn conditions, in genocide or terrorism, and seeing children deprived of love, are fundamentally crippled physically and psychically. Well that means then that we need to work toward creating strong families and supportive communities. We need full employment, we need equity and justice and freedom from war, terror, and genocide. To me, those are my issues, because if you don't have that kind of society, you cannot have a sustainable environment. Hunger and poverty are my issues, because a starving person who finds an edible plant or animal, is not going to say, I wonder if this is an endangered species? They kill it and eat it. I would. And you probably you would too. So we've got to deal with these issues and then we say, we're spiritual beings and as spiritual animals, we need to understand that we're part of nature. That we emerge from nature and we return to it when we die. That there are forces out there that we will never understand or control. We need sacred places. To me, those are what we construct as a foundation of the way that we live. And then we say, how can we create an economy that will allow these fundamental needs that we have to be protected? How dow we construct a way of living as a species, protecting these values? But if we don't see what the primary needs are, then I just think that we're just playing at the edges and we're not being serious about reaching a truly sustainable future. That was David Suzuki, speaking from the Rio+20 Earth Summit in Brazil just before it concluded on Friday. More than 120 world leaders attended. Greenpeace called the summit an epic failure. David Suzuki is a Canadian author and environmentalist, best known for the long-running CBC program, The nature of Things and his latest book is, Everything Under the Sun: Toward a Brighter Future on a Small Blue Planet. Speaking of Canadian journalists and environmentalist, congratulations to Naomi Klein and Avi Lewis on the birth of their baby. Welcome to the world, Toma. http://news.linktv.org/videos/attacked-at-home-australias-carbon-tax-wins-important-fans-abroad?start=0 United Nations secretary Ban Ki-moon has lauded Prime Minister Julia Gillard's impending carbon tax at the G20 summit in Mexico, but this hasn't dampened opposition to the new regulations back in Australia. Thu, 21 Jun 2012 08:40:00 -0700 http://news.linktv.org/videos/attacked-at-home-australias-carbon-tax-wins-important-fans-abroad Julia Gillard, Carbon tax, Rio+20, 2012 G20 Mexico summit, Tony Abbott, Australia, Ban Ki-moon, United Nations, Craig Emerson, Earth Summit United Nations secretary Ban Ki-moon has lauded Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard's impending carbon tax at the G20 summit in Mexico, but this hasn't dampened opposition to the new regulations at home. http://news.linktv.org/videos/democracy-now-june-20-2012?start=3062 Leaders from more than 100 countries are meeting in Brazil for the Rio+20 Earth Summit, the largest UN conference ever. However, there has been little progress since the last UN Earth Summit in Rio 20 years ago, and expectations for the meeting are low. Wed, 20 Jun 2012 09:54:00 -0700 http://news.linktv.org/videos/democracy-now-june-20-2012 Egyptian presidential election, 2012, Hosni Mubarak, Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, Egypt, Mohamed Morsi, Ahmed Shafiq, Coma, People's Assembly of Egypt, Muslim Brotherhood, Life support Leaders from more than 100 countries are meeting today in Brazil for the start of the Rio-plus-20 Earth Summit, the largest United Nations conference ever. The conference comes twenty years after the UN Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro pledged to protect the planet by endorsing treaties on biodiversity and climate change. Little has been done in the intervening years to reach development goals in areas like food security, water, global warming and energy. Although negotiators have already agreed on a draft document to be approved by world leaders, many groups working on environmental and poverty issues have criticized the draft agreement, saying it is far too weak. We go to Rio to speak with Kumi Naidoo, Executive Director of Greenpeace.