06/25/12 06/25/12 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] >> from pacifica, this is "democracy now!" >> this is a government that is not legitimate. it is a false administration. the people do not accept it. you cannot corroborate a government that is not legitimized by the citizens. a >> a coup in paraguay. president lugo is removed from office, sparking protests across latin america.

his impeachment has been condemned pretty we will speak with greg grandin, author of, "empire's workshop: latin america, the united states, and the rise of the new imperialism." as rio plus 20 earth summit ends in disappointment, we will speak with david suzuki, one of the beating canadian environmentalist. >> the planet is in terrible shape. the difficulty is meetings like this are doomed to fail because we see ourselves at the center of everything. our political and economic priorities have to dominate over everything else. >> david suzuki on the climate crisis, student protests, his childhood growing up, and interment cacamp. his daughter spoke in 1992 when she was 12 years old. all of that and more coming up. this is "democracy now!," democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. muslim brotherhood candidate mohamed morsi has been declared the winner in egypt's

presidential race one week after the vote was held. morsi picked up 13.2 million votes, or 51%, beating out former egyptian prime minister ahmed shafiq, who received 12.3 million. tens of thousands of people flooded tahrir square on sunday after the result was announced. in his victory address, morsi vowed to respect egypt's international obligations as well as human rights at home. >> we will respect agreements and international law as well as egyptian commitments and treaties with the rest of the world. we will work to establish the principles of the egyptians and its civil identity as well as human value. especially freedom and respect of human rights, the respect of women and family rights. as well as children, and to do away with any discrimination. >> morsi will become egypt's

first freely elected president, but will face major challenges under egypt's ruling military council. the council recently issued new restrictions on incoming president's authority and will retain control of egypt's budget and legislation. paraguayan president franjo lugo has been ousted in what he has described as a parliamentary coup. on friday, the paraguayan senate voted 39-4 to the miss lugo over his handling of a recent land dispute the resulted in at least 17 deaths. a former priest known for defending peasant rights lugo's 2008 election ended more than six years of rule by the right wing party. lugo has announced an alternative government. we will have more on paraguay after the headlines. the u.n. conference on sustainable development, rio plus 20, has concluded in brazil.

negotiators unveiled an agreement that set new development goals. it was hailed as a success. >> you lay down the groundbreaking guidelines as a useful tool in advancing, sustaining -- ending poverty. [unintelligible] you decided we need a high-level political forum to address [unintelligible] >> many groups have criticized the rio plus 20 agreement for being too weak. two had harsh criticism of the summit as it came to a close. >> what has happened is weak language with no timeline to in these polluter payments. we're here at demonstrating the

fact the wealth and the power of big oil, coal, and gas speaks louder than people here at the rio summit. >> i think it is criminal that we have close to 100 heads of state come here and do not spend even one hour in negotiations with each other. that the whole process was left to civil servants and diplomats to actually negotiate an agreement with no effort by heads of state to actually say, it is not good enough and we need more ambition. >> we will have more to the canadian scientist and environmentalist david suzuki later in the broadcast. tensions between turkey and syria are growing as the uprising against syrian president bashar al-assad continues to strain ties to neighboring countries. turkey says 33 more members of the syrian military have defected. the group is reportedly being

hosted at a refugee camp near turkey's border with syria. the news comes days after syrian forces shot down a turkish fighter jet in what turkey says was international airspace. the observer mission remains idle amid continuing violence throughout syria. the head of the mission, robert mood, said he had met with both sides but that the observers will stay on the sidelines. >> we have not made that decision yet, but i was able today to have a meeting, a good meeting with the deputy minister of foreign affairs on the working groups. i conveyed my impressions from new york and geneva, after having briefed the security council and having discussed with kofi annan. >> wikileaks founder julian assange is calling for diplomatic guarantees he will not be pursued by the u.s. should he end up being extradited to sweden. assange remains at the ecuadorian embassy in london after seeking refuge in a last-

ditch bid to avoid being sent to sweden, or he faces questioning on allegations of sexual assault. speaking earlier today, he suggested a deal could be reached if you're able to receive assurances the obama administration would drop a grand jury investigation or that sweden would deny his extradition into u.s. hands. assange remains concerned the white house will target him for wikileaks publication of thousands of leaked government cables. attorneys for bradley manning, the u.s. soldier accused of leaking the cables, are accusing u.s. of deliberately tried to prevent manning from receiving a fair trial. in a new court filing, manning's civilian lawyer said army prosecutors have blocked access to key evidence assessing the leaks impact worldwide. news reports have suggested internal government reviews have found the leak caused minimal damage, contradicting prosecutors' contention that manning harmed national

security. but his lawyer says prosecutors have refused to hand over the assessments and misrepresented their contents in court. a u.s. truck enforcement administration agent has shot a man to death during a raid on an alleged drug smuggling operation in honduras. the u.s. government says the victim had reached for his weapon, prompting u.s. agent to open fire. it was the latest incident involving u.s. agents following a raid that saw four people killed -- including two pregnant women -- last month. the latest shooting marked the first where the u.s. has acknowledged an american agent has killed a suspect. president obama touted his record on immigration reform on friday in a key appearance before the national association of latino elected and appointed officials. obama's speech came one day after rival mitt romney addressed the same crowd and one week after obama had offered a limited respite for young immigrants facing deportation. >> and what is also needed is

immigration reform that finally lives up to our heritage as a nation of laws and a nation of immigrants, and continues the american story of renewal and energy and dynamism that has made us who we are. there'll always be plenty of stubborn opposition that says, "know, you cannot swim if america was built by people -- america was set bbuilt by people who said, "guess we can." >> people up in order to back away from their homes as a massive wildfire continues to spread in colorado. 2,500 acres have burned. another 19 wild fires reported the in the u.s., mostly in western states sing high winds and scorching temperatures in the triple digits. the former penn state assistant football coach jerry sandusky

has been found guilty of sexually abusing 10 young boys. on friday, sandusky was found guilty on 45 of 48 counts during the trial that saw many of his victims come for to testify. the sandusky case sparked a major scandal at penn state after it was revealed longtime head coach joe paterno and top school officials failed to alert police after hearing of the abused. paterno was fired last december and died of cancer months later. after the verdict was announced, pennsylvania attorney general linda kelly said sandusky had caused lifelong damage to his victims. >> have worked tirelessly for the last few years to bring these charges to light, to bring this case to court, and to see the day this defended, a serial child predator who committed horrific acts upon his victims, causing lifelong and life changing consequences for all of them, has been held accountable for his crimes.

>> sandusky's lawyers said they plan to appeal. two top penn state officials still criminal charges for failing to inform police about sandusky's paucities of young boys and then lying about it before a grand jury. 13 people have been arrested in minneapolis while preventing the eviction of a family from their foreclosed home. it was the latest in a series of actions by the group occupy homes to block authorities' efforts to seize the properties. scores of people have been arrested at the home since the first eviction was attempted last month. among those arrested in the latest protest was a minneapolis-based rap artist brother ali. those are some of the headlines. this is "democracy now!," democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. show in south's america for the peregrine president fernández lugo has been ousted in what he has described as a parliamentary coup. on friday, the paraguayan senate voted 39-4 to impeach lugo saying he felt in his duty to

maintain social order. the vote came following a recent land -- land dispute that resulted in the deaths of six police officers and 11 peasant farmers. lugo was elected president in 2008, ending more than 60 years of rule by the right-wing colorado party. a former priest, lugo was once called the bishop of the port was known for defending peasant rights. on sunday, lugo announced the plans to set up an alternative government. >> this is a government that is not legitimate. it is a false in ministration. the people do not accept it this government has ruptured the public. you cannot cooperate with a government that is not legitimized by the citizens. >> boston president lugo would have completed his five-year term in just a little more than a year. he was replaced by vice president franco, a vocal critic of lugo for much of his presidency.

>> the situation is not easy. i recognize there inconveniences' with the international community. i reaffirm there was no coup. there is no institutional breakdown. this was carried out in accordance with the laws and constitution. it is legal. what was carried out was a political trial and according to the laws and constitution. >> argentina, brazil, chile and earthquake have recalled their ambassadors this is secretary general of the regional alliance unasur. >> the foreign ministers consider the action taking place as addressed in articles

1, 5, and six of the additional protocol of the constitutional treaty of unasur, which deals with the commitment of democracy constitute a threat of rupture of the democratic order since due process was not respected. >> to find out more about the implications of the ouster of lugo, we're joined by greg grandin, author of, "empire's workshop: latin america, the united states, and the rise of the new imperialism." his most recent book, "fordlandia," was a finalist for the pulitzer prize in history. professor, talk about the ouster of fernández lugo, the man once known as the bishop of the corporate >> he did call it parliamentary coup. other leaders have called it a tragedy. i think one called it a legalistic nonsense. it was a duck soup coup. he was given 24 hours to compile

his case and two hours to present it. he had the dignity of not participating. he did not show up. they ousted him using very legalistic means, similar to honduras three years ago in 2009 in which the right gathered and used technical legalistic procedures in order to oust the president they felt was a threat. >> talk about what precipitated this action. >> land. paraguay is a country of peasants without land. it is one of the poorest countries in the world, the poorest in south america. it is the fourth largest soy exporter, eighth largest beef exporter. enormous amounts of land. it is made wealth inequality in the form of land extreme in paraguay.

40% of the population lives in poverty. ditco was the first president or first government not linked to the old dictatorship that ruled paraguay for much of the cold war and years afterward. >> talk about what he did. >> the ruler from 1954-1989. after he was -- he left office, basically, the colorado party implemented [unintelligible] basically presiding over a corrupt state in which they controlled the media and property and the administrative apparatus of the government. lugo was the first president elected to break with that. one of his campaign promises was land reform. but he came to power of the head of a very fragile coalition and

was boxed in nearly immediately. his vice president broke with him early. he was not able to deliver on the promise of land. in the last couple of years, yet seen the peasant movement grow that lugo could not quite meet its demands, then also encouraged, in some ways, kind of a contradiction. you saw that with this land conflict that happened. >> explained. >> it was in this hacienda, this plantation in the northeast near brazil. it is a lawless region, really the wild west in soy, cattle, but also drugs and gun running. it is outside of government control. the plantation owners own vast tracts of land and preside over their own army. much of that land was illegally gotten to the dictatorship.

there is been a movement to reclaim it. one of these plantations, 2000 untitled acres of about 60 peasants occupying, and there was a clash last week in which 11 peasants were left dead, six police officers, security forces -- 60 peasants were wounded, more have been arrested since then. i think the right use it as a pretext to go after lugo. >> shortly following lugo's integration as paraguay possible president in september 2008, "democracy now!" spoke to fernández lugo in new york. we asked him if he was worried that there may be attempts to overthrow him. >> i think at this time, it is

not one to occur to anyone in any country of latin america to carry out a coup they talk, particularly with military to some patients.could tal i think in paraguay, the political class was accustomed to engaging in a conspiracy on a nonstop basis. and those who held power for over 60 years have a hard time today under standing they are no longer in power after they have lost this privilege. i think there will be some efforts to recover the institutional framework, and at the same time, strengthen democracy in the country is the major objective of our government today. >> that was fernand a lugo, juan

gonzalez and i interviewed him recanted york right after his inauguration. you can see the entire interview on democracynow.org. now two years later, we got a chance to speak to academy award winning filmmaker oliver stone about his film "south of the border" in which he talks to seven presidents. this is paraguayan president fernández lugo. >> it is not an easy, the great change. there's a group that is starkly as the privileged and the government with resources -- is privileged in the government with resources.

>> that was paraguayan president fernández lugo, who was deposed and what it called a parliamentary coup over the weekend your response to what he is saying? >> luka said day coup would be unthinkable. it shows how it changed. presented new tactics, new ways of limiting -- a >> just to say in that case when zelaya was forced out, the united states immediately recognized the new coup government critics not immediately but it wafted for a time. it did not come out as strong. it was pushed by brazil, the minister is a became captive to the right pretty >> i should say president obama initially said it was not legitimate. >> but they did legitimize it

over a long, torturous process. in the case of paraguay, the administration's response has been to call it tepid, would be an overstatement. it really has been silent bid latin american countries, south american countries including chile has come out very strong. you see this great divergence between the u.s. and south america and latin america. it will be interesting to see. look out for military aid to paraguay army will continue. the u.s. is a supplier of much to the security forces but and two, take advantage of the crisis to go forward with a long sought military base in the region. i think those are the two things to look out for. >> greg grandin, thank you for being with us, teaches latin american history at new york university and author of "empire's workshop: latin america, the united states, and

the rise of the new imperialism." we will be back in 30 seconds. ♪ [music break] ♪ [music break] >> this is "democracy now!," democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. the u.n., it's a sustainable to a felon known as the rio plus 20 earth summit has concluded with few successes to report. negotiators unveiled an

agreement that sets the development goals and lays the groundwork for future talks. many groups have criticized the agreement for being too weak. greenpeace called it "an epic failure." politicians called a "incident." 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. are summit in rio leaders pledged to protect the planet by endorsing treaties on by the present climate change. at that meeting, a 12-year-old girl named severn cullis-suzuki made a ridding 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 u.n. earth summit that took place in rio. 20 years later, she is back in rio as a veteran international environmental campaigner and mother of two. "democracy now!" spoke to her on friday and asked to what progress had been made since 1992. >> 20 years have passed and everybody wants to know, what have we done? last week, scientists released the report in the academic journal "nature," that suggested we're pushing for a tipping point in the earth's biosphere, that we are attacking our ecosystems to sustain as an all- this earth in so many ways and levels that we are pushing for a shift seen 12,000 years ago with the end of the last ice age, but this time it will be human- caused and 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, deliver the famous real address in 1992 at the age of 12. today we bring you our interview with her father, david suzuki, one of canada's leading environmental lists. we spoke to him just after speaking with severn cullis- suzuki. he is perhaps best known as a long-running cbc program, "the nature of things." in 2009 he 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 asking david suzuki if anything has changed since his daughter delivered that famous address 20 years ago. >> absolutely not. we're going backwards. sirleaf from the standpoint of my country, canada, said it was planning a leadership role in late rio '92. the question canada is a

laggard. we are a global outlaw, renegade country. overall, the planet is in terrible shape. the difficulty is meetings like this are doomed to fail because we see ourselves at the center of everything. and our political and 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 do not have clean air you are sick, so surely, there, 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 two years ago in copenhagen, a huge gathering of countries try to negotiate something that does not belong to anyone to 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 have not left our vested interest outside the door and come together as a single species and agree with the fundamental needs are for all of humanity. so we're going to sacrifice the air, water, biodiversity all in the sake of human political and economic interest. they are doomed to. >> 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.

you can charge people who are at the scene, when someone is being murdered. if you do not do anything to help that, you can be charged with criminal negligence. is something is going on that you should know about and you ignored deliberately, 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 make them accountable for the implications of what they do or do not do for future generations. there should be a category of into generational crime. you come here 20 years later, how many of the political leaders that are here in 1992 are here again? the very, very few, if any. these guys, make a lot of nice words and say, "we care about this and will do that." nobody holds them accountable because they go out of office, 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 in durban, i spoke with art randall who published "climate depot." i asked him about president obama's record on climate change. >> the nickname is george w. obama. he has kept the exact same principles and negotiating stance as president george bush did for eight years. obama has carried on the legacy of bush. as skeptics, we tip our hat into president obama to help crush and defeat the process. obama has been a great friend at these conferences. he has been a problem for us because he is going to the epa regulatory process, which is a grave threat. president obama could not have turned out better when it came to his lack of interest in a congressional climate bill and

lack of interest in the united nations kyoto protocol. job well done for president obama. >> that was marc morano send president obama is basically their best ally, calling him george w. obama. do you share that assessment, david suzuki? >> you know, obama was signaled as a change in the u.s. and forcefully, he has been held -- he made some fundamental opponents at the beginning that are fantastic, topknot scientists heading noaa and others but you think of a nobel prize winner being appointed. these are huge changes. the reality is, he is held hostage by an absolutely dysfunctional congress. his held hostage by the corporate agenda, which is still a primary obligation that

politicians have, even though his been very successful at getting that grassroots support. the fact is, corporations will 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 calling the shots. i think 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 candidate, the keystone xl pipeline. just two months after president obama rejected the project after mass protests were 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. president obama said his administration has authorized enough gas pipelines to encircle the earth.

>> 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. [applause] >> 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 mistake to present it to conduct an environmental impact statement -- this past friday, present to

conduct an environmental impact statement. president obama was slammed. , 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 is ground up. we have not looked at the real job opportunities that lie from taking a completely different direction. obama's stay in the shows 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. we are going to more and more extreme sources of energy. this is the moment we should create the opportunity to go

down a different path. i just came back from japan where they had an absolute disaster. it was an opportunity. they have shut down every single one of the 54 nuclear plants they have. they have the opportunity to take a totally different path. japanese people cut their energy use by 25% immediately after fukushima. they showed there is huge opportunity. instead, the government simply wants to get the plants up and running again. the nuclear energenergy and fosl fuel has an enormous stronghold over our leaders. 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 sunday to really contribute. i think we are in a real crisis

when 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 hollande held a brief news conference and said he saw green and green economy, up have to overcome the economic crisis. >> some people say there's an economic and financial crisis and there for the issues related to the environment is sustainable development may be

set aside in treated separately, and that there would not be much pressure. this is not how i reason. i believe lasting development, the environment, which will also call green economy, is also a means of overcoming the crisis. >> that was the new french president, a socialist, francois hollande, speaking at rio plus 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 to nine climate change, denying any responsibility now after all about, we want a clean future, 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 is 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 do what we did in 1944 when governments came to maine, and said we have to develop an economic system for a post-war world. and they designed, they instituted gas. they invented the world bank, the imf. they tied world currency to the american greenback. but they left out the environment. we have got to overhaul the economy. you cannot change nature, they can change our inventions like corporations and the economy. greeing the economy itself that

is a totally destructive system because it is bent on exploiting resources and unsustainably and growing forever, that is thought to be overhauled. >> leading canadian environmentalist david suzuki. we will continue our interview just after the break. you can visit democracynow.org for in-depth coverage of rio plus 20. back in 20 seconds. ♪ [music break] ♪ [music break] >> this is "democracy now!," democracynow.org, the war and

peace report. i'm amy goodman. the rio plus 20 earth summit has concluded. we return to our conversation with 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. i am with japanese called a third generation canadian. i father and -- mother and father had never been out of canada. they could not vote until after world war ii. when the war happened, although we were full canadians by birth, we were regarded as enemy aliens as for japanese americans. we were incarcerated in camps. as the war was coming to an end, we were told we could either sign up and get a one-way ticket to japan, 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 turned in a year. in 1954, amherst college in massachusetts offered me a scholarship for $1,500 because they believed foreign students added to the education of american students. they were willing to pay money to have foreign students, and the part of that college. for me, amherst college made me as a scholar and an ever grateful to the united states for that. in 1957 when i was entering my

last year in college, on october 4, the soviet union launched sputnik. we had no idea there was a space program. in the months that followed, we saw the american rocket's takeoff and explode either on the launching pad or once they got into the air. meanwhile, the soviets launched the first animal, a dog. also, the first man in the first team of cosmonauts, the first woman. americans realized, holy cow, the soviets are very advanced in science and technology. they did not roll over and say, "my god, we cannot afford to do this." they simply said, "we have got to go and beat these guys." even though i was a canadian, ollie had to do was say, "i love science," and americans supported you. i got a graduate education and training that i could never have gotten in canada.

kennedy declared a race to the men. americans are not only the first and only country to reach the moon, but think of all of the spinoff, the unexpected spinoff that came from that commitment to beat the russians. yet 24-hour it's a newscast could well, maybe that is not such a great thing. you have gps, cellphones, all of the things that came about simply because america said, "we have got to make the commitment and beat the russians to the moon." it does not make sense to me there is all this, "my god, we cannot get off fossil fuels because 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 met the commitment. solar panels, geothermal energy, their huge opportunities. the america i knew and loved

would have said, "this is the challenge." i am 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 want to ask about the massive student protests taking place in quebec province. you recently wrote, 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 in canada. talk about what you see has to happen. >> quebec is a very, very different society. i am very proud they have remained in canada. they reflect a great deal of value difference so the

environment, for example, 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, "the spoiled brats, they do not realize that the cheapest tuition and all of canada and they are objecting to a few hundred dollars tuition rates." 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 in ever -- and there universities are free if they reach a certain level of ability. that is what they're trying to tell us. but we portray this as spoiled kids who do not want to spend any more money. i do not think that is what it is. but the premier, who in some areas is quite progressive in

the in a garment, for example, but he has really brought in very severe draconian legislation to suppress this kind of public dissent. and now that is what is attracting more kids to the streets to say, this is not civil society any longer when he surprised us in that way. what underlies a student protest is a very profound question about, what are our values in society? >> david suzuki, the long- running show "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? in these last few minutes, because climate change is a little addressed while the 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 -- in the u.s., it is even a debate given the amount of money will companies pour into the global warming -- will bank companies pour into the global warming, a debate whether this is even a concern. >> it is astonishing to me because i want to remind our 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 was not a green bone in his body. 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 the water down the climate convention. they were aiming at the original plan, 20% reduction in

greenhouse emissions in 15 years. george bush said, "i am not going" anjali got a much watered-down target of stabilization of 1990 levels by the year 2000, and it came down and signed it. his actions were predicated on american concern about the environment. since then, we have gotten into recessions. but i think we have not recognized to have got people like the koch brothers, these right-wing think tanks, competitive enterprises 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. but countries like canada and the united states, which are in doubt with huge resources, can float by on the assumption everything is ok. we do not see the crunch coming as countries like europe are seen. they do not have the kind of resource plenty we have in north america. they are seeing it and leading the call for change. we have the illusion the economy is the source of everything that matters and we have got to keep that growing at all costs. at all costs to the future for our children and grandchildren. >> speaking of children and grandchildren, in 1992, david suzuki, you are in real with your daughter severn cullis- suzuki who was then 12, who gave this remarkable address to the rio summit, the first earth summit. >> you do not know how to bring the salmon back you do not know

how to bring back an animal, now extinct. and you cannot 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 your daughter, david suzuki. it is 20 years later and you are back in rio severn, who is now severn cullis-suzuki, and her two children, your grandson's. the talk about where you see we are now? >> it was remarkable speech. at the end of her talk, she got a standing ovation. she went back to sit with us. al gore said, "that is 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 did not have any

input. she said, "dad, i know what i want to say, but tell me how to say it." a child speaks from the heart. you know there is no hidden agenda. they just begin atoll like way of innocence. that was the power her words -- her words had power because they can for that kind of innocence. she is back and brought her youngest son. the only reason i am here is because i said, i do not believe these congresses achieve anything but i will go is your baby sitter. i am here as the baby sitter. i got to get back and take care of my grandson. i can tell you, she goes unbelievably desperate. she said the problem is that we have got to break down. leaders came in 1992 and moved by a child's play, a child's request to do something for her future. now those leaders are not here and there is no one accountable for the fact they have failed

fundamentally. 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 or from a very dark place. but the dissolution of her child life believe that our leaders care. now she has an investment into the future in the mixer even more desperate about the lack of governance. >> david, talk about taking care of your grandson. if you were in charge, if he could have anything accomplished right now, what are the steps you feel are most important to take right now? >> well, the thing we hear over and over again is we need a paradigm shift. it has become a cliche. i absolutely believe this is a critical change. 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 shaped the way we look at the world and the way we treat it. if we believe we were placed here by god, that all of this creation is for us, for us to go and occupy, dominate, and exploit, then we will proceed to do that. that is the paradigm we exist within. we're driven by the sense is all there for us. we need to ship that to a better understanding that we are part of a vast web of interconnected species, that it is the biosphere, air, water, and land, where all life exists. if you shrink the world to the size of a basketball, the bias toward the center then a layer of saran wrap. that is it.

that is our home. but it is home to millions of species that keep the planet, the ball. if we do not see wearily imbedded in the natural world and dependent on nature -- we are utterly embedded in the natural world and depended on mother nature for our very well being and survival, if we do not see that, then our priorities will continue to be driven by man-made constructs like national borders, economists, corporations, markets. those are all human created things. they should not dominate the way we live. it should be the biosphere. and the leaders should be indigenous people who still have that sense, the earth is truly are mother, that it gives birth to us. you do not treat your mother the way we treat the planet or the biosphere today. if we do not make that final shift, then we will just go, "we just have to be more efficient and have a green economy" and

all that stuff, but we have not fundamentally changed in our relationship with the biosphere. >> and if we do treat it in that way, what needs to happen? >> i think 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. people get mighty pissed off when i tell children, do not forget we are animals but they say, "don't tell my child we are animals." we don't want to accept our -- we need clean air, clean water, clean soil. energy from the sun that plants use, captured by photosynthesis. that is what we but to get -- depend on. how can we, claiming to be intelligent, use air, water, and soil as a garbage can for our

waist in the most toxic chemicals ever known on the planet as if somehow that is not one have consequences. the minute you except where biological creatures, then our highest priorities become absolutely clear. that means stop all release of any kind of him included material into our surroundings and to learn ways to recycle that in mimic nature and how we create and then degrade those. then we have to say we are social animals. 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 bread children to be fully formed and developed -- the most important thing we need is love. children to be fully formed and developed need love. if you look at children growing up under genocide or terrorism or war-torn areas, see children

deprived of love, there fundamentally crippled physically and psychically. we need to work toward treating strong families and communities. we need employment, equity and justice and freedom from war, terror, and genocide. those are my issues. if you do not have that kind of society, he cannot have a sustainable and vermin. hunger and poverty are my issues. a starving person who finds of indeed, they do not say, "i wonder if this is endangered?" they kill it and eat it. i would. and you probably would too. as spiritual beings and animals, we need to understand their part of nature. we emerge from nature and return to it when we die. we need sacred places. to me, those are what we construct as a foundation of the way we live. and then we said, "how can we create an economy that will

allow these fundamental needs that we have to? be to" but if we do not see what the primary needs are, then i just think we're just playing at the edges and not being serious about reaching a truly sustainable future. >> that was david suzuki, speaking from the real 20 earth summit does before concluded on friday. more than 120 world leaders attended. greenpeace called it an epic failure. david suzuki is an author, best known for "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 on the birth of her baby. welcome to the world. 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!]