[♪] >> from pacifica, this is democracy now! >> we are trying to convince wendy's to sign the program and the same way as a mcdonald's, burger king, subway, and other corporations have done it. >> hundreds of farmworkers and their supporters are in new york city and of wednesday's shareholder meeting to demand and improved working conditions for those who pick tomatoes used in its products. we will speak with one of the farmworkers.

then as the carbon dioxide and the air hits 400 parts per million for the first time in human history, instead of reducing reliance on fossil fuels, we will look at the controversial practice of geo- engineering, the deliberate altering of the earth to decrease the level of greenhouse gas emissions. >> burgeoning commercial engagement and geo-engineering is creating a lobby with an interest in more research and eventually deployment. tois naturally predisposed argue that pursuing admission cuts is unrealistic or politically impossible. therefore geo-engineering is a sensible alternative. >> we will speak to the author of "earthmasters: the dawn of the age of climate engineering." we will go to seattle where our teachers and students are celebrating a victory. high school students there will no longer have to conduct standardized tests in reading and mathematics. we will speak with a history

teacher at garfield high school. all that and more coming up. welcome to margaret c now. i am amy goodman. the u.s. appears to have carried out at second drone strike inside yemen in the past three days. two people were killed today when a drone hit their vehicle south of the capital. at least four people were killed and several others wounded in drone attacks saturday. local officials say the victims were suspected al qaeda militants that their identities have not been confirmed. the white house has announced president obama will deliver a speech at washington, d.c.'s, national defense university thursday on a wide number of counterterrorism issues. he will discuss the legal framework underpinning national security efforts, including the drone program. he will also address the status of guantánamo bay where over 100 foreign nationals are on hunger strike against their indefinite

imprisonment. protests were held friday to mark the guantánamo hunger strike's hundredth day. outside the white house, demonstrators wearing orange jump students and carrying signs were arrested after refusing to leave the sidewalk. in new york, people gathered for a rally in times square. >> as far as i can tell, president obama wants to say that congress is holding him up or it is obligated. as far as i can tell it is not obligate it. it is a military prison and president obama is commander-in- chief. he has too big of his phone, call someone, it's a close the prison. likes having them in guantánamo is violating the constitution. therefore, it is hurting the rights of americans in general. if our government is violating our constitution and our bill of rights, that hurts us all. >> at least 30 of the more than 100 hunger strikers are being force fed through nasal tubes, a practice critics say amounts to torture. in syria, opposition ripples in

the midst of intense flashes new the lebanese border. activists are claiming dozens of syria government and hezbollah fighters have been killed in fighting with the rebels. the total has not been confirmed. the u.s. says russia stepped up its support for the regime with president assad with fishermen of advanced missiles. general dempsey, the chair of the joint chiefs of staff, criticized russia for aiding assad. likes it is an unfortunate decision that will embolden the regime and prolonged the suffering. timed and very unfortunate. >> it pushes the standoff distance to increase the risk but not impossible to overcome. what i really worry about is that assad will decide that since he has got these systems, he is somehow safer. >> the rock is in during some of its worst sectarian violence in months. more than 40 people killed today when car bombings hit shiite areas in the southern city of srat least 76 people kia

series of bombings friday. a leading pakistani politician was shot dead outside her home in karachi saturday. it is an ongoing standoff over last week's election. zahra shahid hussain headed the women's wing of the pti, which took second place in the national vote. the pti leader had called for an he wrote -- for a revote amidst a wave of campaign- related violence data on sunday, imran khan accused the leader of the rival party mqm for responsibility of zahra shahid hussain's murder. them responsible for this murder. whatever happens, i am firmly standing against this murder because it is not the first time it has happened. it has happened several times before. a wait outside the house that they target, just like what happened to zahra shahid hussain.

i hold them responsible. they have issued two threats, wanted a journalist and the other to our workers and supporters supporters when they staged a protest. people have been killed in the violence surrounding pakistan's election. former argentine dictator general jorge rafael videla has died at the age of 87. he was serving a life sentence for murder, torture, and connecting. couplped lead the military that unseated the president in 1976 and later served five years in prison before presidential pardon that humphrey in 1990. two etc., he was retried and sentenced to life behind bars. estela de carlotto of the human rights group grandmothers of the plaza de mayo criticized them for repeat desk for not finding those who disappeared including babies taken from biological parents. >> we feel so relieved, but at

the same time dissuade, because it does not speak to wear those 30,000 people we are looking for are or the whereabouts of the 400 grandchildren that the grandmothers of plaza de mayo are still looking for who disappeared in our life. not a single word to help with the search. on the contrary, he reaffirmed those crates. -- crimes. tried died while being for court invaded effort to target political opponents in the 1970's and 1980's. another former dictator reynaldo bignone remains on trial in the case. the head of the associated press says the newsgroup has not ruled out legal action against the justice department for the warrantless spying uncovered over the past week. the justice department has submitted to seizing the work, home, and cell phone records of almost 100 ap reporters and editors. it was part of a probe into the leaks behind an ap story about cia operations in yemen.

speaking to cbs, the ap chief executive called the justice department's spying unconstitutional. >> we do not question their right to conduct these sort of investigations. we just think they went about it the wrong way. so sweeping, so secretive way, so abusively, and harassing lee. overbroad. it constitutes that it isn't unconstitutional act. >> as the ap spying scandal unfolds, details have emerged in a separate case of government spying on a journalist. the washington post reports the justice department dragged a reporter's phone records and state department visits and even received a surge weren't to read his personal e-mails. the reporter, a fox news correspondent, james rosen, was investigated for details on a secret government report in 2009. the medication helped lead to the arrest of stephen jin-woo kim, accused of providing him

of classified national defense information. investigators used records of rosen's phone calls and kim's security badge to track the conversations. 2014.trial in the white house lawyers knew about alarming activity at the irs will before president obama was informed. the irs has acknowledged that right-wing groups receive extra scrutiny in their bid for tax- exempt status. the office of the white house counsels that a received word of the irs controversy over two weeks before obama obama was finally made aware earlier this month. testifying before congress two days after he was forced to resign, acting irs commissioner steven miller apologized but said the additional scrutiny of right-wing groups was not politically motivated. >> as acting commissioner, i want to apologize on behalf of the internal revenue service for the mistakes he made in the poor service we provided. the affected organizations and the american public deserves better. i think that what happened here was that fuller's mistakes are

made by people trying to be more efficient in their workload selection. the listing described in the report, while intolerable, was a mistake and not an act of partisanship. >> a federal judge has temporarily blocked a recent arkansas law banning abortion at 12 weeks of pregnancy. it was scheduled to take effect in august. but on friday, the judge issued a preliminary injection pending a final ruling on its legality. chicago teachers are in the third and final day of a cross city march against school closures in low-income communities. the chicago teachers union launched of the more 30-mile trek on saturday, calling it our cities, our schools, our voice. they're protesting mayor rahm emanuel's plant to shut 54 public schools, mostly in african-american neighborhoods. some 30,000 students will be impacted. a coalition of parents file to the federal lawsuits seeking to stop the closures last week. the board of chicago public schools is slated to vote on

the plan on wednesday. thousands of philadelphia high schools staged a walkout on friday to fight a wave of budget cuts hitting their classrooms. the school district has proposed ending arts and sports programs as well is firing support staff like secretaries, librarians, and counselors to close a $300 million funding gap. on friday, a crowd of over 2000 students in tedious marched from the school district to philadelphia city hall,, blocking traffic. >> you take away sports and arts and then you want us to be involved in the community and stay off the streets. it is hard to do that. >> it is not equitable compared to the suburbs. these children are taught the message they do not count. it is tragic. >> the new funding cuts follow the philadelphia school districts vote to close 23 of the city's public schools earlier this year. a gay man was shot to death in new york city friday night in what police are calling a hate crime. the victim, marc carson, was with a male companion when they

suspect accosted the pair and follow them for several blocks. this aspect, elliot morales, confronted carson and his companion with an anti-gay remark before opening fire. police arrested elliot morales before he fled the scene. carson was 32 years old. the friend described him as a proud gay man who did not have a negative bone in his body. the shooting occurred blocks inn, theewall west village landmark. those are some of the headlines. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report.we begin with the latest target in the push for fast food giants to buy their tomatoes through the fair food campaign organized by the workers. for immokalee mcdonald's, subway, burger king, and taco bell have joined the program. they have agreed to pay an extra penny per pound of tomatoes to raise wages and

only buy from fields where workers rights are expected. now the delegation of workers has come to new york city to focus on wendy's, one of the highest earning fast food chains in the country that has so far refused to sign on. hundreds of protesters joined a delegation of workers from the coalition for protests saturday at two wendy's locations. this is farmworker and organizer gerardo reyes-chavez. >> we just had a protest as part of the national weekend of action. we are here in new york because there are a lot of groups in new york supporting this. >> wendy's has nearly 6600 restaurants in the united states and around the world, and ranks second only to mcdonald's. as the campaign mounts for the company to join the fair food campaign, this thursday the fast food giant holds its annual shareholders meeting here in new york city where it will again come under pressure. wendy's did not respond to our repeated requests to come on the

show or submit a written vomit. we're joined by gerardo reyes- chavez, the former worker and organizer with the coalition of immokalee workers. he last joint is on the show in october of last year images before chipotle agreed to improve wages and work conditions for those who pick tomatoes used in its products. he was in denver then. welcome back to democracy now! >> thank you. i'm honored to be here. >> what is the campaign about? >> it is about bringing corporations to establish a different way of doing business. we are asking them to be responsible and to pay premium workers receive. today, a worker receives, for 32-town bucket of tomatoes, $.45 to $.50. there have been many abuses going on in the fields like

sexual harassment, situations of discrimination, physical and verbal abuse, and many other issues that need to be addressed. , slavery.reme cases we are asking corporations to work with us in addressing issue by conditioning their purchasing on what we call the fair food program, which has a booklet that has been forributed at every farm the tomato growers. in exchange, they sign an agreement with the coalition to establish all of these new rights because of the market power that is behind it. we are asking wendy's to join with us and to work to implement also the program. who create the fair food program >> that is a good -- a good question. it was created by the worker

community. included in the booklet, there -- manyight to have times when he went into the fields, you had to wait in that time was not accounted for. it h to be. also the right to not overfill the bucket, which is a rate that represents 10% less tomatoes. before you have to just give it for free. the right to work with a committee on health and safety in the fields where you are working, where workers have a voice now in the work way sent talk about how to eliminate threats to the health and safety of the people. also to improve the environment in which you are working. >> you have picked tomatoes for years. can you talk about your own history? >> yes, i have worked picking tomatoes, picking oranges, picking watermelons, a little bit of everything. >> in florida. >> yes, florida. my experience, i have seen

bosses taking our money away, not paying us after we have done the work. and because of that, not having a place to live, then i have to change jobs because of that. then i started picking oranges. then came back to tomatoes. i have seen many of these abuses going on. the reason why i made the coalition and became involved in this was because one of the , workersfederal court that became some of my best friends, we became roommates, basically working in the orange company, picking oranges. after they brought this case to court and it was prosecuted, and till now there has been seven cases that have been brought to court. 1200t ranges around workers. >> how did you get these

various companies to sign on, like your more recent victory with chipotle? >> basically, it is collaboration. with the campaign for fair food, we are asking people to support us. there are various ways in which people can get involved. we do protests. for example, today we know this are over 12 protests week, more than 12 protests in the country of different chapters of organizations that are supporting what we're doing. . we are asking also consumers when we do presentations at universities and churches, --ple in immokalee >> where is immokalee? >> southwest part of florida, the heart of the tomato industry. the tomato industry has land all over the east coast. may, we produce

around 90% of the fresh tomatoes that are produced on u.s. soil. when we talk to people, we ask , not towork with us solve our problem, not to come with a strategy from outside. the strategy is created by the community. we are asking people to stand in solidarity. >> a recent report by the united nations working group on business and human rights, they conducted a 10-day fact-finding mission to the united states. it found that with a few exceptions most companies still struggle to understand the applications of the corporate responsibility to respect human rights, those that have policies in place and face the challenge of turning such policies into effective practices. , thiso reyes-chavez finding in how you get these corporations to accept -- i mean, it is interesting that your whole campaign has been endorsed by president obama.

he recently singled out the coalition of immokalee fair food program in a new report, calling it one of the most successful and innovative programs addressing and actively changing the condition of modern-day slavery. an honoro us it is and is the result of a lot of work that has gone into the -- i wen, and some of the cases have helped people escape. we have worked to bring these cases to light and do justice. we do not want to be pursuing more and more of these cases. the reason why this program was recognized in the work against slavery is because this program created market consequences. a zero-tolerance policy. if a company is found with a case of slavery happening on their premises, the buyers that have signed, they have to cut purchases immediately.

that creates an incentive to the entire industry to work on implementing in the best possible way the rights included under this program, to eliminate the possibilities of slavery to continue to exist. >> as we wrap up -- wendy's -- have they responded to your campaign? we were not able to get a comment from them. >> we also tried. we went to different stores. on saturday we had different delegations and then at the march. we asked to talk to the managers. it seems that they were instructed not to talk to us, not to receive anything from us. theinteresting thing is man he used to be the president of talk about who is now the ceo of wendy's, when they signed the first agreement for fair food -- >> did he sign the agreement? did, but he came out publicly saying he would be willing to play a leadership role within the industry to be a part of the solution.

at the time he was part of taco bell. ,hen they signed for taco bell he said we hope others in the restaurant industry and supermarket retail trade will follow our leadership. it was the right decision back then. and now, with 11 corporations or more, most of the tomato theanies, it is only better -- if it was not the right decision back then, it is much more right right now. >> well, i want to thank you very much for being with us. what are you going to do around the wendy's annual shareholders meeting? >> we are going to have a presence outside. we are inviting media. the most important part is the presence because we want to let the shareholders know that this campaign is going to continue until they talk about it within

their meetings. >> where is the meeting taking place? >> on 45th -- midtownn town -- in manhattan. >> yes, midtown, manhattan. we're also asking people to sign the petition. they could do it on our website, ciw, and there are around 87,000 people that have signed it. we help listeners and viewers can participate. >> what next after wendy's? >> there are some campaigns going on, inviting kroger and s from the supermarket industry. >> thank you, gerardo reyes- chavez, with the coalition of immokalee workers. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and back onport.we will be climate change in a minute.

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>> this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman.we turn now to look at the issue of climate change. the growing concern about climate change and what to do about it. a recent survey published over the last 20 years found 90% of them agreed climate changes caused by human activity. this comes as scientists are warning warning the planet has reached a grim climate milestone not seen for 3 million years. the national oceanic administration says the amount of heat trapping carbon dioxide and the atmosphere has topped 400 arts per million. that threshold has been a

important marker in negotiations widely recognized as a data level that could drastically worsen human caused global warning. some argue the best way to address climate change is to use a controversial act as a geo- engineering, the deliberate altering of the earth two degrees the level of greenhouse commission while controlling the oath i met systems of like science fiction, such proposals are already being hatched out by government agencies, scientist, and businesses around the world. supporters of geo-engineering and doris radical ways to many the late the planet, including creating artificial volcanoes to pollute the atmosphere with sulfur particles. here is the idea. >> it is basically the following, you could put fine particles, say so for your it acid particles, sulfate, into the stratosphere where they reflect away and cool the planet. i know for certain that that will work. there are side effects. but it has been done.

,t was not done by us, by me or in the early 1990's, a bunch of sulfur was put into the -tratosphere in an atomic bomb like cloud. it was pretty dramatic. and with previous volcanoes, you see quite a dramatic calling of the atmosphere. like many scientists and environmentalists have raised concerns of the -- about geo- engineering technologies designed to intervene in the functioning of the earth system as a whole. speaking on our show in 2010, indian scientist vandana shiva warned about some of the dangers. >> there is ignorance in this. geo-engineering becomes war on a planetary scale with blind spots and ignorance. helping-- instead of communities adapt and become resilient. >> our next guest has written a new book that lays out the arguments for and against

climate engineering and reveals the extent of vested interests leaking researchers, venture capitalists, and corporations. we're joined by clive hamilton, repressor of public methods that charles stewart university and australia. he is the author of "earthmasters: the dawn of the age of climate engineering." welcome to the show. what is this engineering? >> it is being developed by scientists, particularly in the u.s., to try to counter the effects of global warming by technological interventions in the global climate system. bio-charcoalg through science fiction like putting mirrors in space to deflect some mind and then what receives most attention is very likely to be implemented in 20 years time, the one that david keith mentioned, the idea of installing a solar shield, a layer of sulfate particles

around the earth to deflect a certain proportion of incoming solar radiation. in other words, to regulate the amount of sunlight reaching the earth. >> why did you decide to write this book? >> i wrote a previous book called "red green mf or a species." it went into details on why it is that here we are in the beginning of the 20th century where there is an overwhelming consensus of scientific evidence saying we are in really big trouble. yet, we are not doing anything about it. our actions are trivial. as long as that goes on, as long as scientists continue to ring the alarm bell evermore loudly and as long as governments is and to those warnings, plan is not working, then they will go to plan b, and and that is geo-engineering. then there is research and

schemes to essentially take control of the climate system of planet earth. >> the heartland institute describes geo-engineering as " much less expensive than seeking to stem temperature rise solely for the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions." the cato institute argues that geo-engineering is more effective than emissions controls altogether here the hudson institute says geo- engineering could obviate the majority of the needs of carbon cuts and enable us to avoid lifestyle changes. why are all these groups proponents of geo-engineering? >> one thing united about those groups is they have a right-wing political vision. so what they like about geo- engineering, bear in mind that the american enterprise institute and others have spent many years repudiating climate science, taking climate scientists, yet here they are

endorsing geo-engineering. the response to a problem they say does not exist. the reason is that in some cases if the medicine is palatable, then the patient is more likely to admit that there is a disease or illness. in this case, the technological intervention in the climate system is acceptable towards a certain kind of conservative , in ang because it is way, refuses to vindicate the environmentalists that there's something profoundly long and our our economic and political system. geo-engineering says this system can solve the problem. >> which corporations are most involved with this? like most corporations are staying at arms length from all of this come as in the governments are for the time being. but quietly behind the scenes you can see them taking interest. there are a number of powerful or wealthy venture capitalist -- bill gates is the sort of

prominent player here. he has invested in a range of schemes. you will find his name on a couple of hatton's for geo- engineering. you have also seen the oil companies, even ask on, bp, ,hell overtaking and interest producing reports, advocating research in geo-engineering. gue geo-have roa engineers, cowboy capitalists, doing this type of experiments in the oceans. >> talk about about what these experiments are. >> the one that perhaps attracted the most attention is called ocean iron fertilization, spreading iron on a patch of ocean. >> what is that? >> basically iron sulfate mixed with seawater spread on a patch of ocean. the idea is that this way you

overcome the acidity of the ocean -- i am sorry, you stimulate the production of blooms that suck up carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. and the marine life that you stimulate then, in theory, sinks to the bottom of the ocean, taking their carbon with them. because as organic creatures, they have to absorb carbon as they grow. they grow because we edit the micronutrient, the iron, and the sea. an entrepreneur -- [no audio] unauthorized and probably illegal. yet, he is up there is leading iron sulfates from the back of his ship, carrying out the geo- aging -- geo-engineering experiment. there is eventually no regulation of geo-engineering.

when it comes to sulfate aerosol sprays, there is nothing to prevent any government or even a corporation or a billionaire with a messiah complex from launching a program of taking control of the earth's whether by installing this kind of solar shield. the absence of garden -- governance, the absence of regulation, the exclusion of people from poor countries is serious. doing something in the sky? >> this is more like skype -- sci-fi. it is about putting mirrors between the earth and the sun, adjusting it and regulating it so that as the sunlight comes to the earth, they are oriented so they deflect some of the semites are misses the earth earth and heads off into space. and you could adjust them so you might reduce the amount of sunlight reaching, say 2%, which might be enough to offset what is associated with the doubling of emissions. areproblem with this is we

not tackling the problem, we're just dealing with one symptom. because carbon dioxide emissions continue to go into the atmosphere under this scheme, as did a fine the ocean. it basically suppresses warming. one of the dangers, perhaps the most frightening danger of solar radiation management is if at some point in the future we install the solar shield and at some point we have to take it away, let's say some terrible side effect we have not for scene or some global conflict. after all, who will have their hand on the thermos that? if we took away the shield, there is a solar surge from warming that was suppressed for years.s or 20 ecosystems are destroyed not so much because of the amount of warming but because the rapidity of the increase in warming. because organisms and ecosystems do not have time to adapt. that is a serious concern. we spoke to freelance

journalist gwen dyer, author of "climate wars: the fight for survival as the world overheats ." he defended geo-engineering. >> geo-engineering is short- term interventions to avoid a climate runaway disaster in order to give us more time to get our emotions down which in themselves will cause a runaway climate disaster if we simply allow them to go ahead. without geo-engineering, you hit that disaster in less than 50 years. and you probably need more than 50 years to get your admissions done. first of all, obviously you have got to do the experiments. you have to figure out if there are side effects you do not want to do. but if you do not do this, you know who dies first, the people in the tropics and the subtropics. >> and that was gwynne dyer. your response? >> i mean, from someone like gwynne dyer, it reflects the anxiety about global warming and the refusal of the world to

respond to it in a significant way. he is extremely well-motivated and i i have a lot of respect for him. you notice he said short-term intervention. the idea is we buy time until we get it right. either technologically or politically. of course, the problem with geo-engineering is that the short-term will become long term. if you have the american enterprise institute, the cato, the heartland institute, and already some conservative politicians saying you should go down the geo-engineering route -- like the president? >> i do not know if they're involved in it,, but it is right up there. billionaire investor and the canadian oil stands, he is involved. >> and the tar sands. >> he is invested in the tar sands. he is also put money into a company called carbon engineering, owned by david keith, the scientist we saw and

in which bill gates has an investment. the reasons why these conservatives like geo- engineering is because they see it as a substitute to producing carbon dioxide emissions. they see it as a permanent solution to global warming hearing not as gwynne dyer was saying, an opportunity to buy time in the short term. the conservatives see it as a vindication of the system. they see it as a way of protecting the system, of preserving the political economic system. whereas i would say there probably is the political and economic system, and it is that which we have to change. >> i wanted to look at the keystone xl for a moment, the tar sands. the whole story, the controversial pipeline that would deliver tar sands, oil, from canada to the refineries in the state of texas. earlier this year, state department report concluded the keystone xl pipeline does not threaten the global climate. a number of environmental

groups oppose the conclusion, saying in a world constrained by the realities of climate change, the proper measure of any projects climate interaction not be based on the assumptions inherent in a business as usual scenario that guarantees climate disaster. your response to that? >> well, the most frightening development for those of us who watch climate change and climate politics over the last several years is that whereas previously without at least the fossil fossil fuel reserves are running out, now we discover there are these vast so-called unconventional reserves on new ways of tacking into fossil fuels that were previously thought to be an accessible. suddenly the game has changed in the most unwelcome way. so you have got enormous greenhouse carbon dioxide resources buried in the tar sands in canada. in australia where i come from, you have huge new coal mines

opening up. of course across many countries, we have frakking getting access to new sources of natural gas. to argue that exploiting massive new resources of fossil fuels is not a threat to the climate is longer's really. >> what do the climate scientist say about geo- engineering? >> the climate scientists, there is a range of views about it. there are some, like david keith, who are very gung ho to say this is the answer to the global warming problem and we should pursue this rapidly. he has a research interest. he also has a financial interest in geo-engineering. and you have scientist at the other end, alan roebuck, a prominent american scientists who points of the grave risk associated with attending to tinker with the climate system of the earth as a whole. they tend to focus on the scientific risks. after all, we're talking about the mother of all ecosystems,, the earth as a whole. we have trouble enough understanding the complexities

of local ecosystems let alone planet earth. apart from the scientific risks, there are the political risks, the kinds of things i have talked about, the danger that geo-engineering becomes a substitute for reducing greenhouse gas emissions. in other words, we're protecting the political economic system from the kind of change that should be necessary. andhat is richard branson involved with? >> richard branson has got in early into the geo-engineering, and he sees it -- he is one of these billionaires who wants to save the world. among other things, he set up a prize for competition for whoever can come up with the best geo-engineering scheme. i think it was a $10 million prize that he offered to the winning entry. ande has set up a website has some funky employees there who have this kind of we can

use technology to get ourselves out of this mix. he comes from this can-do attitude that we put money into it, we will use technology to save the day. it is a very kind of silicon valley view of the world. but of course what it does not recognize is that technologies are never neutral. technologies always come in a political and social context, which is why we see the cato institute and the heartland institute backing geo- engineering but bagging or attacking or dissing renewable energy. >> let me ask you about what is happening in australia. that is where you are from. the australia pushing for an amendment to the london protocol on marine pollution and dumping at sea which would have the prohibition of the practice the oceans, this just announced by the government. quite a bit of a surprise. it is part of a growing push from a range of entries, mostly from the south but also backed

by some scandinavian countries, to try to develop an international government structure to regulate research into geo-engineering. i was very pleased to see that the australian government was on the side of progress in this particular case. , includinguntries the united states, are kind of taking an arms length view. we do not really want to get involved. it is not big enough yet. the same goes for some of the big environment groups. >> you have talked about this before, putting iron sulfate into the oceans, but the process came to prominence last year after an attempt was made up theent salmon stocks canadian pacific coast by adding chemicals to the ocean waters? >> yes, he came to prominence through this unauthorized experiment by this powerful entrepreneur who said he was spreading iron sulfate in order to stimulate salmon stocks. in fact, he tried it before specifically as a form of geo- engineering.

he has said quite explicitly -- in fact, he has tried to sell shares in its company, saying we can spread iron sulfate on the seas, which will encourage it to suck up urban dioxide, and we will generate carbon credits which we can sell on the international market. it is very much a commercial venture which has not very good science behind it. it has rung alarm bells amongst regulators and certain environment groups that here we have someone among a road geo- engineer who has taken it upon himself to experiment with these kinds of schemes to affect the climate of the planet. >> you write that the potential risks are enormous, disrupting the food chain, damaging the ozone layer them of the loss of monsoon rains in asia. how? ,> in the cane at the monsoon the indian monsoon, which provides the annual water for one billion or more people, some

of the early scientific work on the impact of installing the solar shield around the earth through sulfate aerosol layer is that it would certainly cool the earth, as david keith said. he is very confident of that because it mimics a volcano, but it will also affect and change global rainfall patterns. some of these studies suggest that it could shift the indian monsoon. of course, let's say the united states or china decides, desperate state, to install these solar shield and it shifts the indian monsoon and there is a massive continuing drought and people are going hungry. you start to get a sense of the geopolitical implications of this. because this is not, you know, everyone through their green as an greenhouse gases unintended consequence of changing the climate of the earth, which is happening now,

here you have got a government backed by the military or in collaboration with the military actually setting out to regulate the temperature of the earth. that may suit their interests. it may help fix their climate, but if it is severely damaging the climate of another country, particularly a poor country, then what are they going to do. if it is a nuclear armed you know, these are the kind of scenarios that are attracting the attention of military planners who are now -- the pentagon, for example, is taking an interest in geo- engineering. >> let's turn to the pentagon. in 2010, the pentagon highlighted climate discerns in its strategy that is released every four years, the qdr. this is the then undersecretary of defense. >> this is the first qdr to

address climate and energy issues, which are both significant factors. climate change could increase demand for u.s. forces and humanitarian response creating the new operating environment in the arctic, requiring adaptation in our own facilities and systems. is dependent on energy makes its operations vulnerable to disruptions and energy flows and price fluctuations. dod aims to be a leader and the government to improve sustainability, resource efficiency, increase renewable energy supplies, and reduction of energy demand to improve operational effectiveness and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. >> that is one of the people on pentagon list from the for secretary of defense chuck hagel's job. >> she was talking principally billy -- sensibly about the operations of the u.s. military. of course, the i

is the militat climate change itself, the geostrategic implications of changing climate around the world, potential to stabilization that it is likely to bring about -- potential destabilization that it is likely to bring about. when it comes to geo- engineering schemes, using technology to essentially take control of the world's climate, it is no wonder that the ontagon has now got people the case watching the scientific debate, taking note of the fact, for example, that china a year ago included geo- engineering amongst its earth science research priorities. we can see that the emergence of that kind of global situation where a number of nations are starting to investigate geo-engineering in the absence of regulation or at this stage any kind of global cooperation or transparency, so it is no wonder that the pentagon is taking an interest

in it. it would be dell or it -- it would be derelict in its duty if it were not taking an interest in the emerging science and geopolitics of geo- engineering. >> have you heard of the harp program which would alter the weather? >> i have. it might. we have to be careful about that program and it should getting too much to it. it is an experiment in the ionosphere that does not appear to have anything to do with geo-engineering, not as typically understood. offinally, the whole issue sucking carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere, and as we wrap up, where you feel the science and the politics need to go from here. david scheme backed by keith who seems to be ubiquitous and this is to build huge arrays of metal boxes that would suck carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere come account and

trade it in a safe form, calcium carbonate or something like that, and then area permanently underground. coal or some other form of stable carbon into the ground. these would be built next to coal-fired power plants, perhaps. it would require the end -- construction of vast infrastructure. it would be to offset the effects of our existing vast industrial infrastructure. and it would be expensive. it seems to make sense just to wind back our existing industrial infrastructure by storing fossil fuels and replace it with the technologies that we all are to have, the zero and low carbon technologies that we already have. it will not be enormously expensive to make that energy transition. it is not that we lack the technology to solve climate change. we lack the political will. >> on that note, i want to thank you very much, clive hamilton,

author of the new book "earthmasters: the dawn of the age of climate engineering." this is democracy now! democracynow.org, the war and peace report.when we come back, we go to seattle, washington to find out what is happening at our field high school. stay with us. [music break] [♪]

>> schooldays, chuck berry. we end the show looking for the victory of teachers and students in seattle, washington, where following months of protests, high schools there will no longer up to conduct standardized tests in reading and math. the superintendent says the measures of academic progress test is now optional for high schools, but those refusing the test must find another way to gauge student performance. in january, teachers at garfield high school began a boycott of the test, saying it was wasteful and being used unfairly to assess their performance. the boycott spread to other

schools with hundreds of teachers, students, and parents participating. for more, we go to seattle where we're joined by jesse hagopian, a high school history teacher and union rep at garfield high school. he is a founding member of social equality educators. welcome back to democracy now! talk about this victory. >> thanks again for having me on the program today. this is really a stunning victory for us here in seattle at garfield high school and across the city of the high schools boycotting of the test. a week ago today an announcement went out saying that the test would be optional at the high school level, and it led to huge celebrations at garfield with high fives of teachers and. we were celebrating this a long struggle. we were threatened with a 10-day suspension without pay and other consequences. this was a real vindication. we were celebrating the fact that our students will no longer have to sit in front of the

dull glow of a computer screen, looking at questions that they were never prepared for because the test was not aligned in the state-mandated curriculum. we were celebrating because our english language learners will no longer have to be humiliated by a test that is linguistically and culturally inappropriate for them. our special ed students will no longer have to take a test where iep's are not respected. we were celebrating, i think, too, because washington state ranks number one in the nation in high staying -- high-stakes testing. we spend over $100 million a year on these tests feared her field high school teachers and teachers around seattle have joined the boycott of the tests have said we would rather spend that 100 million dollars on reading coaches and on tutoring programs, things that can actually help elevate our students and did them where we know they need to be. >> jesse hagopian, garfield high

school did not start this boycott. explain the origins of it and how it links in with other protest against high stake testing around the country. >> well, we have seen movements against high-stakes testing all over the nation, you know, from parents opting their students out of these tests across the alsntry to the principle associations in new york state saying we have had enough of these high-stakes tests. in a way, you're right, garfield did not start the boycott. in my view, the boycott of the map test began with the elite private schools who never give these tests. they want their students to have access to critical thinking skills and creativity. they want their students to be prepared to be leaders in the world today, so they do not inundate their students with like high-stakes tests

they expect to be done in the public schools. so in that way, you can say this boycott really began of the elite schools. but in actuality, garfield, i think, was the first school to unanimously vote of all the faculty, we refuse to give this test, and it is a real crisis i think for these corporate education reformers, people like wrote anree who editorial in the seattle times against our boycott. it is a crisis for them because their whole system of ed reform rests on these of data points, reducing teaching and learning to a single score that they can use to close schools like you are seeing being proposed in chicago and philadelphia, they can use these data points really to do great education and profit from it and privatize our schools, turning them into charters. this boycott represents a

threat to their ability to reduce teaching and learning to a score. i think that is why you see thesele ree and corporate education reformers so upset that we stood up to their test and refused to give them. i think that is why so many teachers, parents, and students across the nation are celebrating this victory, including the garfield high voted ptsa the unanimously to support us. >> can you explain what you're coming up with in its stead? >> yeah, i mean, it is important to know that we are not against assessment or testing at garfield high school or any of the boycotting schools across seattle. what we are against is assessments that are not culturally relevant, and assessment's that are not aligned to our curriculum, and assessments that do not promote the type of skills that we believe necessary in the world today am a so we actually form a teacher workgroup on

assessment. we had some very dedicated teachers who took time out of their week every week for the last couple months to do research, to collaborate, and to come up with what we would test with. map it is incredible document. scrapthemap.wordpress.com and map at what we replace the with, assessments related to our curriculum, assessments that actually measure many different skills rather than just your ability to fill in a bubble a, b, c, or d. performance-based assessments. what you do when you get a phd, you do research and you defend that in front of a panel of experts. i think that can be adapted for all grade levels and all subjects. you get out a lot of different skills that you do not get at with a simple standardized test.

>> jesse hagopian, we have to leave it there. thank you for being with us. that does it for the show. check our website for fellowship >> this is democracynow, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. we're asking you to become a member of link tv because we cannot do it without you. we can only do it with you. your call makes it possible for link tv to continue and if you appreciate the cooperation between democracynow and link tv, monday through friday democracy now!, 11 until noon in the morning, eastern time, repeated at six in the evening. this daily grassroots news hour is yours. we turn now to a remarkable documentary rarely seen. yes, it is a democracy -- them

-- documentary about martin luther king, directed by sidney from, largely made original newsreel footage. the film played at a one-time only if then, march 24, 1970. all three hours, plus intermission, in theaters across the country. it was nominated for an academy award, it was listed in the national film registry. , the documentary has been rarely seen until mail. the film has just been released, remastered with the help of the library of congress and museum of modern art in a two dvd set were selections -- with the selections on the show up democracy now!. we will go back to 1965,. and -- dr. martin luther king addressing a full chart. a few days after rosa parks sat down on the bus and launched the montgomery bus boycott. mo