11/15/17 11/15/17 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from cop23, the u.n. climate summit, in bonn, germany, this is democracy now! >> we are in a treehouse village in an occupied forest. it has been occupied for over five years now. occupation has the aim to of the the explanation mind. it is not just about protecting the forest, but about fighting global warming because this region, the powerplant is the biggest emissions of co2 in europe. amy: we will bring you a special from the ancient forests of

rhineland in western germany, where activists are fighting to save the forest and shut down the largest open-pit coal mine in europe. we visited the mine on sunday, only one week after thousands of activists stormed the pit, shutting the mine down. then democracy now! questions president trump's climate adviser david banks. >> from the administration perspective, i think the president with a big climate is always changing. amy: do disagree with the president that climate change is a chinese hoax? look, i mean, i work for the president of the united states and i support the president's decisions. amy: and we will speak with and get response from renowned climate scientist kevin anderson. image top 1% in the u.s. over 2000 times more than globally. there's a huge difference for who is responsible for the co2

emissions in the atmosphere enough for the climate change we are beginning to witness now. amy: scientist kevin anderson on climate change, the people he calls the climate glitterati and why he traveled here by train, not plane. all that and more, coming up. welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. we are broadcasting from bonn, germany. zimbabwe's military said today it has deposed president robert mugabe and first lady grace mugabe, and has appointed recently-ousted vice president emmerson mnangagwa as interim president. a military spokesman said on -- this witnesses reported armored personnel carriers in the streets, with heavy gun and artillery fire in parts of the capital harare.

zimbabwe's military denied it had carried out a coup. a military spokesman said on state television the action was taken to target criminals surrounding the 93-year-old, seven-term leader. in the united states, senate republicans have added a repeal of the affordable care act's individual health insurance mandate to their plan to overhaul the u.s. tax code. the plan would end a requirement that most americans obtain health insurance or face a tax penalty, a linchpin in keeping president obama's signature healthcare law from collapsing. meanwhile, the congressional budget office warned tuesday the house republicans' tax bill would trigger $25 billion in cuts to medicare next year. both the house and senate plans would shower billions of dollars in tax cuts on the wealthiest americans. attorney general jeff sessions testified he only recently tuesday recalled speaking with former trump campaign adviser

george papadopoulos, who has admitted having contact with russian stinnett trump campaign. sessions is accused of perjury for recently telling, c was not aware of any trump campaign official talking to the russians when in fact he led a meeting in march 2016 during which george papadopoulos talked about his ties to russia's adjusted setting up a meeting between trump and russian president vladimir putin. on tuesday, sessions testified he now remembers rejecting papadopoulos idea at that meeting and telling papadopoulos he did not have the authority to represent the trump campaign and such discussion. this is sessions speaking to the house judiciary committee. >> frankly, i had no recollection of this meeting until i saw these news reports. i do now recall that the march 2016 meeting at the trump hotel that mr. papadopoulos attended, but i have no clear recollection of the details of what he said at that meeting.

amy: elsewhere on capitol hill, pentagon leaders told the senate panel tuesday they would ignore any unlawful order by the president to launch a nuclear strike. the testimony came as part of the first congressional hearings in more than 40 years on the president's authority to start a nuclear war. this is connecticut democrat chris murphy. >> we are concerned that the president of the united states volatiletable, is so as the decision-making process that is so quixotic, that he might order a nuclear weapon strike that is widely out of step with the u.s. national security interests. amy: an eighth woman has come forward to accuse former president george h.w. bush of groping her. in a democracy now! exclusive, a former flight attendant told us that in the early 1990's, soon after bush's presidential term ended, she was working in first class when the former president -- "grabbed my arm complimenting me on my tan and how pretty i

looked. and would not let go of my arm and pulled me close to his seat and put his arm around below my waist, the butt area. he was sitting, i was standing, trying to work. i couldn't get away. the captain was not happy! the president didn't let go until the captain announced we missed our take off spot. the captain was looking at me with the door open. that is how he knew i wasn't seated for takeoff. because the president wouldn't let go of my arm and they can't take off until we are all seated." those the words of a former flight attendant, now the -- not another woman to come forward to accuse former president george h.w. bush of groping her. she says bush was sitting next to his wife barbara. broadways after actress megan elizabeth lewis, said george h.w. bush grabbed her butt after he asked her to take a photo with him in 2009 at one of her performances in houston.

in california, a gunman with a semiautomatic rifle and two handguns went on a deadly rampage in the rural town of rancho tehama tuesday, killing four people and injuring at least 10 others before he was shot and killed by police. police identified the shooter as a 43-year-old white man named kevin janson neal. he was being prosecuted on charges of assault with a deadly weapon for stabbing two of his neighbors -- a man and a women, both of whom were killed at the start of tuesday's rampage. among the wounded were two children, including a student hit when the shooter fired on an elementary school. the mass shooting came on the same day connecticut's supreme court heard arguments in a case brought by families of victims of the 2012 sandy hook school massacre. their lawsuit targets the remington outdoor company, which produced the ar-15 bushmaster rifle used to slaughter 20 young children and six adults. lawyer joshua koskoff told the court that remington's marketing

campaign was designed to appeal to young men like the killer adam lanza. >> they had a clear plan. we know this from what is publicly available to expand the assault rifles. is to attract buyers by extolling the militaristic and assault qualities of their ar-15's. we have evidence that adam lanza heard the message and was driven specifically to the bushmaster for his lone gunman combat mission. amy: the state of ohio is set to put a severely ill prisoner to death today after the u.s. supreme court refused to halt his planned execution. officials at the southern ohio correctional facility in lucasville say they'll provide a wedge-shaped pillow to 69-year-old alva campbell to help him breathe while they strap him to a gurney and inject him with a lethal three-drug cocktail. campbell relies on a walker and wears a colostomy bag.

his lawyers say he requires frequent breathing treatments and may have lung cancer. during a recent exam, a doctor failed to find veins in either of campbell's arms suitable for inserting an iv. in yemen, the u.s.-backed, saudi-led coalition bombed the main airport in the capital sana'a tuesday, damaging the runway and destroying navigation equipment. the attack came after saudi arabia shut air, land and sea routes into yemen, drawing warnings from the united nations that the clampdown could worsen yemen's massive cholera epidemic and set off the largest famine the world has seen in decades, with millions of victims. tuesday's attack drew condemnation from connecticut democratic senator chris murphy, who tweeted -- "the u.s./saudi coalition took out the sana'a airport last night. now no humanitarian relief by air. this is barbaric." in libya, human rights monitors who toured the country's migrant detention camps say nearly 20,000 people are enduring

horrific conditions. this is united nations spokesperson jeremy laurence. >> monitors were shocked by what they witnessed. thousands of you macy aided and traumatized men, women, and children held on top of one another. locked up in hangers with no access to the basic necessities and stripped of their human dignity. amy: human rights advocates want the european union to withdraw its support for libya's prime minister and the allied militias who run migrant detention centers. as part of a clamp down on sea crossings, the eu currently supplies funds, equipment and training for libya's border and coast guard. and australians have decisively voted in favor of marriage equality, prompting prime minister malcolm turnbull to call on parliament to pass a bill legalizing all marriages countrywide by the end of the year. nearly 80% of australians voted in the non-binding national postal survey, with nearly

two-thirds approving of marriage equality. the outcome sparked celebrations in cities across the country. this is sydney city councilor christine forster. >> it has been a really special moment. is the point in our history where we have said, we resoundingly, for a better, fairer, more equal country. that is so special. you can't put a price on that. amy: and those are some of the headlines. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, i'm amy goodman. we're broadcasting live from the u.n. climate summit in bonn, germany, cop23. cop is a u.n. term that stands for conference of parties. this year is known as the first islands cop, with fiji presiding over this year's summit. the event itself is being held in bonn, germany, because of the logistical challenges of hosting tens of thousands of people in fiji at the start of the south

pacific cyclone season. bonn is the former capital of west germany and the birthplace of the composer beethoven. well, protests against oil, coal, gas and nuclear power continue here at the u.n. climate summit. on tuesday, indian activists protested against india's largest nuclear power station, the koodankulam plant in india's southern state of tamil nadu. also tuesday, activists disrupted a presentation by the european investment bank at an annual corporate conference held alongside the climate summit here in bonn. the activists were protesting the construction of the trans-adriatic gas pipeline, known as tap, which is slated to run from the greek-turkish border, through greece and albania, under the adriatic sea, and into italy. today, german chancellor angela merkel is slated to address the united nations climate summit. this morning, activists had a special welcome for her. we are in the main plenary area

of the u.n. climate summit. have just activists rolled out a red carpet. a little different than dignitaries are used to. it says on "keep it in the ground" with the finger-pointing down. we're joined now by two of the activists who rolled out that red carpet. can you tell me your name's? >> my name is joseph. >> my name is lucia. amy: can you tell me why you rolled out the carpet? >> today, a lot of politicians are going to be coming into this space. we wanted to especially welcome chancellor merkel. there's a lot of discussion in germany at the moment. we wanted to send the message that we need to keep coal in the ground. amy: can you talk about how climate change affects similar? >> in the pacific, with the sea levels rising, a lot of our low-lying countries are being affected. marshall islands is two meters above sea level.

likely villages will because of the rising sea levels. amy: how does it affect congo? >> the same way. people are having to find new ways to grow food or the fish they used to fish for our gone because of ocean acidification. the waters are warm and the coral is bleaching. finding new ways to grow food and water security is a big issue right now. amy: are you afraid of losing your countries altogether? >> definitely. at the risk of losing our homelands israel. we can at least get our government officials to listen and to keep it in the ground, the maybe we thank you for our homelands for a little bit longer. for do you have any message president trump who has called climate change a hoax and vowed to pull the paris climate

accord? >> yes, we're asking him to stand down. stay out of these negotiations and his conversations and let the leaders who are actually here to make the change do that and give them the space to do so. also for president trump to come and have a look for himself. it is not just cared us. we are people as well. he can see where we live and our livelihoods, so maybe they will have a change in stance. >> my name is jessie. i am with corporate accountability. on monday, we, alongside the pacific climate warriors, delivered a petition from 100,000 people in the united states on behalf of millions more around the world, demanding the u.s. -- because they're not bringing anything to the table besides the fossil fuel agenda, demand that they get out of the way. stop pushing the fossil fuel agenda and stop bogging down the process so we can make progress on this agreement because the

world needs it. amy: what was the response of the trump administration? >> three different officials from that office opened the door, recognized to we work him and then shut the door. they did accept it, but they refused to discuss it. they don't want to face up to the reality that they are the only country that has to interest in being part of this process. -- that has no interest in being part of this process. amy: also this morning, in the nearby city of cologne, activists blockaded the weisweiler coal power plant, no large parts of the plant are still shut down several hours later. well, on sunday, democracy now! traveled about an hour west to a 12,000-year-old forest in western germany, where activists are fighting against the largest open-pit coal mine in europe. the massive hambach mine is 33 square miles -- half the size of washington, d.c. it extracts an extremely dirty form of coal called lignite, also known as brown coal, which causes the highest co2 emissions

of any type of coal when burned. for more than five years, activists have been fighting to shut down the mine and to save the remaining forest from being cut down to make way for the expanding project. only 10% of the ancient forest remains. well, on sunday, we drove down a dirt road. we got caught in the mud and had to push our car out, but there we bumped into an activist from the nearby city of cologne at the entrance to the remaining forest. isana.name we're in the rhineland in germany. we have one of the biggest coal mine areas here in the rhineland. with a lot of bad admissions for all of us. amy: is this one of the largest coal pits in europe? >> i think it is the largest. , we are insee here

this area at the moment. amy: you are showing us a map. >> yeah, it is basically, 90% of the forest is destroyed already because of the coal mining. we have a little bit left, less than 10%, and people are trying to protect the last 10%. amy: where are you taking us now? >> we will take you to the occupation of the forest. for five years or 5.5 years, people tried to protect the last of the hambach forest. they've built around 22 treehouses where they live permanently. say hi to them. amy: let's go through the mud. onward through the mud. it looks like we have come to yet another branch blockade

right here. why are these put up? sign toare put up as a not have people in the forest -- we don't want to have in the forest, like coleman come to people or pulleys. there's also a small part of pedestrians that are welcome, but not cars. amy: can you talk about the sacrifices people make? >> well, i think it is very harsh to live here because there is no running water. you have no electricity. people live here the whole year, so it is cold in winter, especially in winter. summer it is better, but you have to get the water here somehow. where you get electricity from to cook, to charge your mobile phone. amy: how long have these treehouses been up?

inthe first occupation was 2012, and it lasted half a year. 2014.cond one was in 2014, there were always people living here. amy: we're sending directly in front of a barricade, which the people here have asked us not to film. can you read the banner that is draped from this barricade? >> it is saying "you might have what has gone, but we are here." amy: we're going to go on to the treehouse. can you tell us your name? >> i'd rather not. amy: are you from germany? >> no caps on not. amy: have you been part of this blockade, this occupation? >> i have stayed here for a couple of months. amy: why? feelcause when i'm here, i like i'm actively doing something. when i am here, i find meaning in the work. i learned a lot about

repression, oppression, and climate change. i feel like i stand here and make it possible both to create media attention and make people know about this place. but also for me, personally, feeling like i want to do something to help the world. amy: what do you think about the fact you are right down the road from the u.n. climate summit, the world's countries are gathered to talk about the issue of climate change? it is surreal. it feels surreal. also, i'm a little bit angry because i fear not much will be done as we of seen time and time again. there will be into promises and no action behind it. tople won't actually work out phase brown coal and other extremelyuel that are -- what you call it, alluding.

amy: what you mean by brown coal? >> i believe it is called ignite. there are two types. there is coal and brown coal. brown coal is more destructive. you have to remove layers of the earth completely. you remove all of the environment and you cannot just fill it up again because it is polluted. the fuel is not as good as normal coal. it is compact, which means it gives off more carbon dioxide than coal does. amy: which heats the earth more. we are walking past the barricade into what looks like a village of tree houses. there are about 200 people here for a public to her. >> my name is tom. >> i am indigo. amy: talk about where we are and

what you have done. villagee in a treehouse and occupy force that has been occupied for over five years now. the occupation has the aim to prevent the exploration of the mines. it is not just about protecting the forest, but about fighting global warming because this region of lignite mining is the biggest source of co2 emission in all of europe. amy: how long have you lived here? >> i have lived here for a while. amy: and tom? >> no matter whether you're here for one week or five years, we all do the same. we organize our lives here. we fight for system change that makes it impossible to -- for a company to do destruction. amy: could what the company is and what it is doing? we is a multi-international

company producing energy from lignite mining traditionally, but they also have stone coal that the experts, for example, colombia or china, that also causes enormous damage also to the indigenous people. they also have nuclear power plants. the whole thing just works out for them because they don't have costy the costs, but the of the environment destruction are happening because of the lignite mining. thisand can you talk about open coal pit, how big is it? >> it is nearly as big as cologne, where over one million people live. amy: what -- how has the company responded to this occupation? >> they say what they do is

it isand -- because legalized by the democracy, so they say what they do is right and what we do here is illegal. so they asked the police to evict does. for us, that is a strong sign of the problem is the system we live in. if it is legal for a copy to distract our whole planet, that means it is time to also resist against state power. amy: can you read this to us that is above your head? expect resistance. amy: have the police try to evict you? >> the last election was three years ago. they do even as, but it is really hard and expensive for them. does we occupied for weeks after the eviction. they kind of left us alone

because they know it is a lot of trouble to evict us, which is already kind of a small victory because they gave us time to develop infrastructure here both physically, but also mentally and emotionally. amy: why is it so difficult to evict you and how much police power do they bring to this? evict a it is hard to tree house. that is why it is really efficient. thinkghest treehouse is i 24 meters high. so first, they have to come into the forest and then they have to eventcherry picker and from the treehouse. also, they lock arms on the tree houses, which makes it even harder for them to get the people out. amy: lock on? >> something where you can lock easy toree so it is not get you out of the tree. amy: do you have electricity? inwe have solar panels up

the trees. actually, that gives us enough energy to make the computer work from here, to charge cell phones, and also there is a windmill. always sun or wind, so we'll was have electricity. amy: are you afraid the police will raid? >> i wouldn't say i'm afraid because i am here to fight. from the first day i came here, under the police can enter all the time. it gives me much elation to go on. amy: can you take us into one of these treehouses? >> we have one that is accessible by ladder, but the others you have to climb a rope. amy: we just climbed aladder into the street house. indigo and tam are going to show us around. when was this built? can you describe it to us and how people live here? >> it is mostly called the tower

because it is built between three trees and has three stories, the biggest treehouse that we have. it was mainly built this summer because we made a big mobilization campaign so we know a lot of people were going to come. so we needed bigger common space and also space that people can get up without having to have a climbing harness and climb a rope. it is also the editor to create a more barrier-free. this is our communal kitchen. in living room. we always cook for everyone. we used to dumpster dive or get donated to us. we cook vegan. amy: and you have a wood stove. >> yes. amy: and how does the sink and stove operate? >> it works with a gas bottle.

unfortunately, we have to cook with gas, but it is just easier. we collect rainwater from the roof and take it down to wash dishes and so on. >> here's the living room and cooking space. upstairs, there's a communal sleeping space with, basically, room for 15 people to sleep. amy: and it looks out over the whole village? are there other villages like this in the woods? >> yes, there are other villages. amy: i am just wondering, if you could talk about what you feel like in this treehouse, oh, many meters up, many feet up, not so far from cop, the u.n., summit? >> for me, that is really a sign about how absurd it is that we believe the people who are actually part of the people who cast -- caused disaster, global

warming, that we trusted them solving that even though they are profiting from how the situation is right now. and just some kilometers away from there, there is the biggest co2 source of all of europe. hippocratic.ty it shows me that it is time that we take responsibility for our own lives and that we change something and that we create a world which gives us the power to act instead of hoping that other people will solve the problem. i also don't believe in technical solutions. hope inere is a lot of technical solutions and it can really help us, but we will not stop destroying this planet if we don't overcome capitalism and domination. yeah, it is definitely not a good idea to replace lignite mining with nuclear power.

both cause enormous damage. for me, it is one struggle. it is really important for me. not just fighting against lignite mining, but i'm fighting against exportation and that means fighting against capitalism and fighting against domination. to anyve you ever spoken of the workers at the pet gecko >> yes, we do have contact with them. the workers unions. amy: what do they think? theiry want to keep working places. for me, it is hard to do this discussion because from a, it is a wasted discussion because we talk about 20,000 to 30,000 working places in germany that people could lose their jobs, but we're also talking about people in the global south already dying from climate change and thousands are dying every day. i don't want to talk about people losing their jobs because

of lignite mining. amy: can you describe this forest to us? and willficance of it this even be left if rwe, the company, succeeds in expanding the "good? >> well, their plans are to clamp down everything this year until february. so if everyone goes as planned, they will cut all of the occupied parts of the forced into february. this means it is more important than ever to resist and it is more important than ever to connect and to come here and get involved. amy: how easy is it to see the? pit?o see the open >> if you drive on the how to close to the open pits, there are quite a few, you see hills. on the hills are solar panels.

there are trees next to the how it as a "tree of the are 2008" "tree of the year 2009." one absurd thing, this counts as free for station, even though all of these trees are right next to the highway. a place where you can see the pet and where they have signs, or the how great the technology is an have the biggest diggers in the world and so one. and some people go to just have a sunday trip with their children or even to celebrate a wedding or something like this. amy: they have weddings at the open cut? >> yes. amy: and there is a restaurant? what is it called? >> i don't even know. there's one that means "new earth" which is absurd to me. toilet the compost

same. amy: we leave the occupied force and drive just about 10 minutes to the largest open pit coal mine in europe run by rwe power. it is 10 minutes from where we just were in the hambach forest. we have action civil disobedience against coal mining in germany. we think it is necessary that we have to make one step more, go into the coal mines like this and occupy the digger to stop them directly with our bodies. amy: tell us what you did last sunday at the beginning of the u.n. climate summit. >> this was an amazing action. a lot of people, around 3000 people, enter the coal mine. we started with a demonstration in one of the villages close to

the coal mine. ground!it in the keep it in the ground! >> we split off. and they go directly into the coal mine and went to one of the biggest. the police made a line in front of the digger to protect the digger. this is how it works in germany. the police protect the coleman company. amy: these are the massive excavation machines host of how large are they? >> 250 meters long and 90 meters high. biggest diggers and the world. the people built a huge circle that the police can't cuddle them. the police came and pushed the people away with horses. one policeman pushed one woman,

when activists in front of her horse and the horse goes over -- amy: trampled her? >> yes. and stepped on her back. moment. a really crazy then the police came and pepper spray to a lot of people. spray a lot of people. it was a dark moment of the action. but i think the area is too ande and we're too strong the police can't stop us. amy: so you stop this massive excavator? >> restocked the whole mine -- amy: the whole operation. >> it was a powerful moment in great feeling. it is a sign of hope sent to the world from us because we want to [bleep]an stop the

companies just by ourselves with our own bodies to stay in front of the diggers, to stay in front of distraction to stop it and to protect what we really love. "we are unstoppable, another world is possible" -- thousands of people chanting after storming the hambach open-pit coal mine two weekends ago, temporarily stopping extraction at the largest mine in europe. when we come back, democracy now! questioned the trump administration's climate adviser david banks and get response from kevin anderson, climate scientist. ♪ [music break]

amy: beethoven was born here in bonn, germany, in 1770. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, i'm amy goodman.

we're broadcasting live from the u.n. climate summit in bonn, germany. this is the first climate summit since president trump has vowed to pull the united states out of the landmark 2015 paris climate agreement, a process that takes four years. on monday, there was a revolt here at the u.n. climate summit as the trump administration made its official debut at a forum pushing coal, gas, and nuclear power. the panel was the only official appearance by the u.s. delegation during this year's u.n. climate summit, and it included speakers from coal company peabody energy, a nuclear engineering firm, and a gas exporter. it also included representatives of vice president mike pence's office and trump's climate adviser david banks, the white house special assistant for international energy and environment. on the panel, banks said he was very accessible to the press. although, he has repeatedly refused requests to come on democracy now! yesterday on democracy now! during our interview with kumi naidoo, david banks lingered just off set, waving to us, but

declined to come on the show. however, just after the broadcast, we raced over to david banks where a scrum of reporters were questioning him. do you believe human beings have anything to do with climate change, anything to do with the warming of the planet? >> from the administrative perspective, i think the president would say the climate is always changing. amy: do you believe human beings are involved with climate change? worry so interested in what i -- amy: your the representative of the trump administration, the first person we have been able to speak about the trump administration. >> look and i think the administration would agree that humans contribute to climate change. i think the question -- by the way -- on amy: do you disagree with the president that climate change is a chinese hoax? i mean, i work for the president of the united states

and i support the president's decision. i support the president's decision when it came to withdrawing from the paris agreement, right? the president -- amy: do you believe it is a chinese hoax? climate change? i'm just quoting the president of united states. >> i think are missing the point of a tweet. amy: explain it. >> the point of the tweet, again, we talked a little bit about this last time, the president views climate change through the lens -- climate change policy through the lens of, what does this do to u.s. manufacturing, to u.s. competitiveness? given hisu know, and focus on trade, right, and a trade and balance, particularly how u.s. manufacturing has been devastated particularly since john enter the debbie t o -- amy: what about the fact climate change has been a bonanza for

china because it is now excelling in chinese renewables that we now buy back in the united states and the president is holding u.s. manufacturers back from this? kathleen hartnett white, the environmental policy advisor, said that solar power is parasitic. to quote her. these quotesi love your pulling up. not, the president is holding back renewables. one of the key objectives of the president and this administration is to make sure that we truly do pursue and all of the above her approach. to have a level playing field as possible. we believe in competitive markets for energy. your point on china, though, is an interesting point.

when you're looking at our solar manufacturing sector, again, i was really surprised by how devastating trade has been for solar manufacturing. look, china is not a market economy. china says, hey, here is a sector of the economy -- amy: what if the u.s. government gave subsidies to win and other renewable technologies and the same way gives subsidies to the fossil fuel and oil industry? people love to make the comparison. i'm happy to talk about subsidies, but that is kind of an apples to oranges conversation. use --i think maybe we maybe oil accounts for maybe one percentage point of u.s. power generation. maybe. is probably right. no, i mean -- amy: and your pushing for higher percentage of coal? >> no, no, no, we're not pushing for higher percentage.

colleaguestic policy were here, they would say we want to make sure that coal has a level playing field and that burdensomeacing regulation. amy: can you tell me why there were not representatives of solar and wind on the panel yesterday, just nuclear, gas, and coal? the people who was in the audience said, what is this qvc shopping network? selling coal, gas, nuclear power? where was solar and wind? for level playing field, where was solar and wind as well? >> we did not need to include renewables on the panel because they are everywhere in the cop. we want to make sure we have a rational discussion on technology innovation for fossil and make sure that nuclear has a good plug as well because of the role of plays and comment

mitigation. not only in the u.s., but across the world. amy: david banks, you said -- but you don't disagree with the president when he is a proud climate changed and i are. how is it that you can go against the consensus of more than 95% of the world scientists the echo are you a scientist yourself with different kind of data than the rest of the world? >> i am an economist so i understand -- amy: these are scientists talking about climate change. so are you saying, it is not that you disagree that humans are involved with climate change, you just disagree with the solutions for the problem of the world's seas rising? you disagree with how to deal with it? administration with a humans country but to climate change. the real disagreement is the policy -- amy: that is that what president trump said. they say, change is a hoax. >> i think the president would strongly disagree with the

policies that were put together by the previous a administration harmeduld have severely the american economy. amy cozad is -- amy: that's david banks, the white house special assistant for international energy and environment. when we come back, we'll get response from renowned climate scientist kevin anderson. stay with us. ♪ [music break] amy: this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, i'm amy goodman. we're broadcasting live from the u.n. climate summit in bonn, germany. the international energy agency

predicts u.s. oil production is expected to grow an unparalleled rate in the coming years, even as the majority of scientists worldwide are saying countries need to cut down on fossil fuel extraction, not accelerate it. meanwhile, a group of 15,000 scientists have come together to issue a dire second notice to humanity, 25 years after a group of scientists issued the first notice warning the world about climate change. this comes as a major new study says european governments have drastically underestimated the methane emissions from gas. the report finds european union nations can burn gas and other fossil fuels at the current rate for only nine more years before these countries will have exhausted their share of the earth's remaining carbon budget necessary to keep temperature rise below 2 degrees celsius, or 3.6 degrees fahrenheit. well, we're joined now by the co-author of that report, one of the world's leading climate scientists. he traveled here from england by

train, as he refuses to fly because of its massive carbon footprint. kevin anderson is deputy director of the tyndall centre for climate change research and professor of energy and climate change at the university of manchester in britain. he's the co-author of the major new report entitled "can the climate afford europe's gas addiction?" kevin anderson, welcome back to democracy now! it is great to have you with us. there's some us to talk about. first, he took a train and not a plane? >> yes. i always try to travel by train or ship, container ship. i think it is really necessary for those of us who judge that climate change is a huge serious issue that we demonstrate that in our own lives and don't just demonstrate in what we do, we try to push that agenda more widely amongst their own colleagues and universities. hope the, eventually, governments could these things up and scale of policies to drive this behavioral change international and hopefully, a

global level. in go you have coined the term climate gliteratti. >> for many years, there been people in the climate world and they certainly have tried very hard to suggest climate change, i think with the latest data, we can see emissions are going up, even this year. fundamentally, the rest of us have failed in delivering what we expected or what we hoped for. at this particular group, i think they're done remarkably well in the climate change world, if you like. --se negoti negotiations. they have actually misunderstood a significant part of the problem when it comes to climate change is making changes in how we live our lives today, particularly those of high emitters. gliteratti are in a particular group that we have to

demonstrate leadership and what we do. takenk people are going to a careful analysis seriously, then we have to lend that great ability by demonstrating we are adjusting our lives accordingly. amy: you took pictures of the summit on friday night? >> i did. it was virtually empty. the computer screens were still on. the main large screens were still running. this is the climate change conference, the 23rd climate change conference. i am in favor of these big organizations that are really important to pivotal climate change, but we must be her ownating change in institutions. amy: i was talking to some pacific warrior's as they rolled out the red carpet that said "keep it in the ground" for angela merkel who speaking today. they are from tonga and samoa. they said it is fiji inside and bonn outside. >> bright inside with all of the

lights. amy: can you talk about what david banks? said this is president trump's climate adviser. >> what i heard was he was very uncomfortable when he to defend the indefensible, really. he clearly was not happy with having to agree with what the president has set on a number of occasions on climate change. the president's position has changed as it has in other areas. i think at the end of the day, quite clearly the president and his advisor are reluctant to engage in anything kind from the science on climate change. they're coming to climate change from different perspectives. in a narrowf it political sense. amy: yet the trump panel on monday night. it was astounding. three corners of the room walked out in the middle singing a song "proud to be an american" to different lyrics. itthe end of this and all,

was four corporate executives and someone from the tents and trouble office. i got a chance to ask them a question. questions our last before we have to wrap up most of amy: just a simple yes or no from each of you, whether you support president trump pulling the u.s. out of the paris climate accord, if we could begin with lenka. climateere to support change mitigation. amy: a civil yes or no answer. >> the question was -- join and go whether you support president trump pulling the united states out of the paris, the court? >> no, i don't support it. know you are yes or no but our comfy statement wasn't yes or no so allow me to say what it is. we did not ever weigh in. there was reports that we u.s. is inher the the paris, the agreement, we will continue to work on low emissions, technology for coal.

amy: and you personally? >> gosh, i'm not really a policy person. i'm sorry. that was a copout. you are right. i personally -- i'm not here to represent myself, so come talk to me afterwards. and are you for or against? >> i'm not going to answer me personally. work for the obama administration i support the paris agreement. i thought it was -- join amy: yes or no? >> there are two answers. >> yes or no. >> the u.s. energy association did not take a position before the president pulled out of paris. as soon as he pulled out of paris, we issued a statement saying he should renegotiate paris. from my own personal standpoint, the answer is yes because of the reasons i laid out. and go you support trump pulling -- line cooks we are achieving the emissions reductions goals.

having a regulatory burden. we're doing it for other reasons. >> now we're going to go -- amy: i would like your response? to more people? yes or no? pretty clearly, we work for the administration so that is who we are here to represent and it is not going to change anything. amy: david banks? yes or no? >> david, any answer? >> yes or no? amy: that was trump's climate adviser david banks. before that, francis brooke. of the four corporate representatives, lenka of disagree with trump pulling the u.s. out of the climate agreement. peabody would not say. interestingly, trump's administration brings four

corporate executives, two of them disagree on this issue. your response to what they said? >> they're primarily try to take a political line. i don't think they're particularly engaged with the issues of climate change at hand. i get the impression they did not see it as a serious issue. it was just a thorn in their sides. they were uncomfortable. extent, it is reminiscent of what we're seeing from the trump administration. a lot of uncertainty, no clarity. i would also argue, a complete lack of innovative thinking. if they're genuinely concerned about things like jobs, i think the climate change agenda can quite easily be described as a jobs agenda. there's 20 of employment to respond to the climate issue. and the what are those jobs? >> the removal industry is over course lots of people working at

about with director of at the existing infrastructure. if you look at the u.s., it is high energy consumption. that needs to change rapidly. that means retrofitting people's houses and buildings. there is a huge amount of construction work, engineering work, design work. year jobsout a 30 program. all of the industrialized parts of the world to transition from the very high carbon infrastructure we have now to low carbon infrastructure of tomorrow. in that sense, surely, if his commitments to the dust belt was really a sincere one and he had an innovative capacity, he was he the climate change agenda is a jobs agenda for the people who voted for him. amy: your thoughts on geo-engineering? first, what it means and what you think about it? >> there is geo-engineering and something is quite similar called negative emissions technologies. the negative emissions technologies, basically we don't yet have, designed for hope in

the future to remove carbon dioxide directly from the atmosphere. to suck it out of the atmosphere. dioxideefy the carbon and store it somewhere safely under the ground for a few thousand years. joe engineering -- amy: are you for or against it? >> il-4 researching it. -- i am for researching it. yes to research, no to including it in our policies to date. the geo-engineering one i think is much more dangerous in many respects. it is important have a research program. geo-engineering is saying, let's not do quite so much on the mitigation and rely on reflecting the sunlight back out into space, therefore we can dissolve the problem that way. things like pumping sulfate into -- stratosphere, putting enriching some of the oceans with iron to increase the development of biomass which

absorbs carbon dioxide from the arms for. these all interfere with major global planetary systems that we don't fully understand. incredibly dangerous. nevertheless, i think it is important to research those. the reduce our emissions are assuming they won't work either. amy: what affect does president trump saying he is pulling the u.s. out of the climate agreement mean? you are critical of the climate agreement. there's a good and bad part. pulling out since a bad signal. in him pulling out, it energizes other parts of the world is safe "we will step in a do far more," including many u.s. mayors. amy: we're speaking with kevin anderson, the zennstrom professor in climate change leadership at the centre for environment and development studies, uppsala university. he is also chair of energy and climate change at the tyndall center for climate change research at the university of manchester in britain. we will link to the report he is co-authored. that does it for our broadcast. democracy now! is looking for feedback from people who appreciate the closed captioning. e-mail your comments to

outreach@democracynow.org or mail them to democracy now! p.o. box 693 new york, new york 10013. [captioning made possible by democracy now!] lidia: i am lidia bastianich,

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