09/10/15 09/10/15 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from pacifica, this is democracy now! today we'll be joined by the presidential candidate who's calling for a protest outside the democratic national committee -- and he's a democrat. >> four debates. four debates? four debates. four debates and four debates only we're told for early's voters to make a decision. this is unprecedented in our parties history. this has never been attempted

before. amy: former maryland governor martin o'malley will join us in studio. we'll ask him about war, immigration, the environment, black lives matter and more. then to bill mckibben. movement haveate long since concluded the fountain a fossil fuel money which buys politicians and spreads disinformation can only be met if we coin our own currency. in this case, the currency of movements. passion, spirit, creativity, sometimes we spend the currency of our own bodies and had to jail. amy: as 2015 is set to be the earth's warmest year on record, world leaders and climate activists are gearing up for the u.n. climate talks in paris. we will speak to bill mckibben about paris, oil julie in the arctic and the university of , california's decision to

divest from coal and oil sands companies. all that and more coming up. welcome to democracy now, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. in japan, helicopter teams are rushing to rescue people from their rooftops as his stork -- historic flooding has forced more than 90,000 people from their homes. at least 12 people have been injured and one person is missing. homes and cars have been swept away by the torrents of water. researchers at the university of tokyo have linked increased flooding to climate change, particularly in asia. meanwhile, california state assembly has stripped a key provision from governor jerry brown's climate change legislation. the measure had sought to set targets to reduce gasoline use. it had been the subject of fierce opposition from the oil and gas industry, which had launched a statewide advertising blitz against the legislation.

the university of california has announced it has sold off more than $200 million worth of investments in coal and tar sands companies. university officials say the move was prompted by concerns over environmental sustainability as well as the increasing riskiness of investing in the: tar sands industries which have both been seen their profits plunge in recent months. more on climate change and the development movement with three now, activist bill mckibben later in the broadcast live in our studio. the european union has proposed a new plan to resettle 160,000 refugees across the bloc as hundreds of thousands of people fleeing violence and war in syria, afghanistan, iraq, somalia, eritrea, and other countries have arrived on europe's shores this year. the new plan still has to be approved by the majority of eu governments. germany, france, spain and italy have already expressed approval of the plan, although german chancellor angela merkel has said the plan does not go far enough.

the united nations is now estimating at least 850,000 people are expected to cross the mediterranean this year and next. meanwhile, in the united states, secretary of state john kerry has said the administration is considering increasing the total number of refugee visas issued from 70,000 in 2015 to as many as 100,000 in 2016. the increase is still far less than many have demanded. the international rescue committee has called on the united states to take in an additional 65,000 refugees from syria alone. in turkey, prosecutors have opened a criminal investigation against selahattin demirtas, one of the leaders of the hdp, turkey's main pro-kurdish political party. the charges against demirtas include humiliating the turkish people, insulting the president and this comes on the heels of a wave of nationalist violence that swept the country earlier this week as protesters attacked

hdp headquarters in at least a half-dozen cities. meanwhile turkey has deported a , dutch journalist after she was arrested while reporting on a protest at which activists denounced the increasing fighting between turkish security forces and the kurdistan workers party, known as the pkk. in nepal, an official says police have killed at least four people after opening fire on protesters demanding statehood wednesday. at least 30 people have died in protests over the last month as different ethnic groups have protested for statehood in the drafting of nepal's new constitution. in the united states, democratic presidential candidate hillary clinton has endorsed the obama administration's nuclear deal with iran. in an address wednesday in -- in an address wednesday, clinton also vowed she would "not hesitate to take military action" if iran moved toward developing a nuclear weapon. meanwhile republican , presidential candidates donald trump and texas senator ted cruz rallied against the iran nuclear deal. while the deal is aimed at

curbing iran's nuclear activities, cruz invoked the threat of iran developing a nuclear bomb. >> if iran gets a nuclear weapon , the single greatest risk is they would take that nuclear weapons and put it on a ship anywhere in the atlantic and fire it up straight into the air into the atmosphere. they would set up what is called nila tro debacles -- electromagnetic holes which would take down the electric red on the eastern seaboard and kill tens of millions of americans. amy: amy: the iran nuclear deal has enough democratic support to block republican attempts to undo it in congress. donald trump, meanwhile, has come under criticism again for his comments about women. in an interview with rolling stone magazine, trump said of rival candidate and former hewlett packard ceo carly fiorina, "look at that face! would anyone vote for that?" fiorina is the only woman in the race for the republican presidential nomination. the justice department has unveiled new guidelines intended to increase the prosecution of executives involved in white

collar crime. this comes after the justice department has failed to criminally prosecute executives for financial crimes that led to the housing and economic crises. on wednesday, deputy attorney general sally yates said -- "corporations can only commit crimes through flesh-and-blood people...it's only fair that the people who are responsible for committing those crimes be held accountable. the public needs to have confidence that there is one system of justice and it applies equally regardless of whether that crime occurs on a street corner or in a boardroom," she said. the new policies are guidelines, not rules. puerto rico governor alejandro garcía padilla has outlined a new five-year plan to address puerto rico's debt crisis that plans on raising the tuition at university of puerto rico, cutting investment in health care and contracting for-profit companies to run public road and ports. in return, the plan calls for debt restructuring that would require hedge funds and other creditors to voluntarily accept reduced payments. on wednesday, governor alejandro

garcía padilla called on hedge funds to come to the negotiation -- negotiating table. >> now the most important conclusion from this plan is that even if we impose all the measures in it, he would not be sufficient to meet the immediate delivery them. the massive public data puerto rico is impediment to growth. that is why the time is now that the creditors come to the table and share the sacrifice. amy: in news from pasco, washington, three police officers who shot and killed an unarmed mexican farmworker earlier this year in an incident which sparked protests will not face criminal charges. police fired 17 shots at antonio zambrano-montes. telephone video shows him turning to face police and raising his hands before he is shot. on wednesday, franklin county prosecutor shawn sant said the shooting was "reasonable under the standards established in our state laws." sant said police killed zambrano-montes because he turned toward them with a rock in his hand. an attorney for zambrano-montes family said they were "sorely disappointed" and would be filing a lawsuit.

the republican-controlled house judiciary committee held its first in a series of hearing on planned parenthood wednesday following an anti-choice group's release of heavily edited videos targeting the organization. the videos show planned parenthood employees discussing the sharing of fetal tissue with researchers. speaking at the hearing, democratic congressmember jerrold nadler of new york said planned parenthood's practices are legal. >> the laws are clear. the ability to dip his -- , comply with these laws. just as they comply with thousands of other federal, state, local laws and regulations every single day. that should be the conclusion of this hearing, but instead, before any inquiry, this committee has declared them guilty and chosen to capitalize on the sensational, unsubstantiated smears made in a series of unethical, possibly

illegal, videos. the goal is clear, to smear penland -- planned parenthood. amy: planned parenthood was not invited to testify at the hearing on planned parenthood. in other news on planned parenthood, a planned parenthood health center in pullman, washington, was heavily damaged by what investigators say was an arson attack. in a statement, karl eastlund, ceo of planned parenthood of greater washington and north idaho called the attack "a predictable ripple effect from the false and incendiary attacks that fuel violence from extremists." and those are some of the headlines. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman with juan gonzalez. juan: welcome to all our listeners and viewers from around the country and around the world. on wednesday, democratic presidential candidate martin o'malley's campaign sent out e-mails urging supporters to join a rally scheduled for next week in front of the democratic national committee office in washington, d.c. no, the rally is not a campaign event, it's to protest the dnc's debate schedule, which allows for six democratic debates, four

of which will be held before the iowa caucuses in february. this is martin o'malley last -- martin o'malley also criticized the schedule last month at the democratic national committee summer meeting in minneapolis. >> four debates. what are debates? four debates. four debates and four debates only we're told for voters to make their decision. this is totally unprecedented in our party's history. this sort of rate process has never been attempted before. where did it come from? to what end, for what purpose, what national or party interest does this decree serve? how does this help us tell the story of the last eight years of democratic progress? how does this promote our democratic ideas for making wages go up and household incomes go up again instead of down? amy: it's not the first time the former governor of maryland has expressed concern about the

political process. in may, when he announced his bid for the democratic presidential nomination, martin o'malley voiced indirect criticism of fellow candidates hillary clinton and jeb bush. >> the presidency is not a crown to be passed back and forth by you between two royal families. it is a sacred trust to be earned from the american people and exercised on behalf of of the people of these united states. going toway we are rebuild the american dream is if we retake control of our own american government. amy: while the latest polls put martin o'malley behind hillary clinton and bernie in the democratic race, underdog status is not new to martin o'malley. in 1990 nine, he defeated two african-american candidates and won one-third of the black vote to become mayor of the predominately black city of baltimore. he went on to serve two terms as mayor, then was elected for two terms as governor of maryland.

now he is running for president. martin o'malley, welcome to democracy now! supporting this protest outside the democratic national committee. explain exactly what you are demanding. >> what i'm demanding is with the democratic party in the past is been good at, and that is actually holding presidential debates and letting the people of the united states no what our leaders had to offer by way of ideas that actually move every american family forward, they get wages to go up, make college more affordable so our economy can work again for all of us. right now what we've seen is this edict from the chair of the dnc -- and i believe the dnc members were not even consulted. some of the breaking news today is two vice chairs of the dnc have stepped forward and said, you know what? this is not good for our party, not good for our country. how are we going to make our case if we limit debates? or worse, i mean, the one debate there having a new hampshire and a very cynical way, was stuck on a saturday night right before

christmas at the height of shopping and holiday season. i can only imagine the next degree from the chair will be that you can only watched them a credit presidential debates by subscribing to netflix. this is ridiculous. meanwhile, 24 million people tune into the carnival barker donald trump and all his hateful rhetoric about immigrants and new american immigrants, and we need to push back against this. i'm looking forward to having more debates. amy: what are the rules? >> there shall only be one debate and i want and only one debate in new hampshire and anyone that goes off script or participate in other debates other than those ancient by the dnc will be forbidden from attending other debates. it is a very undemocratic way to run the democratic party. we have important issues to talk about. people are looking for solutions. this much i know from the time i have spent in iowa and new hampshire and i think the latest polling shows this, this race is wide open in the democratic

party. it does not serve our party well to circle the wagons around the sheitable front runner as continues her downward ascent. what would serve our party is to have debates and speak to that year earning the people have for new leadership and an ability to get things done. that is a phrase i hear all across the country, we need to get things done again. issues, terms of the when we first met a few weeks ago, your here in new york city to lay out your pretty ambitious immigration agenda and immigration has become even bigger issue in terms of the republican discussion. about -- talk differentiate yourself in terms of not a lengthy republican candidates, but your fellow democratic candidates and president obama on immigration. >> thank you. i believe our country is made stronger every generation by the arrival of new american immigrants. day, there were a lot of germans and a lot of irish.

in our day, there are a lot of new american immigrants who are coming from our own hemisphere -- and others. i think the largest numbers are china of late. the bottom line is this. did during several of our country is not barbed wire fences or chain-link fences, not internment camps for women and children. the enduring symbol of our country is the statue of liberty. we do best as a nation and where most credible in the exercise of our foreign-policy when we act in accordance with our deepest principles. one of those principles, especially in the context we're seeing the suffering in syria in the refugee families fleeing with their children, little bodies washing up on the beaches, we need to step up and i am the only candidate in this race in either party that has said we should accept 65,000 refugees from syria and step up and do our part in this crisis. one of the abiding truths of every great world religion is that you shall be kind to

strangers, especially when they are fleeing for their lives and with her children. so we are great and generous and a good and compassionate nation and the truth can damn well defend herself, but she needs to be stated first. amy: this issue of syrian refugees coming to the united states. we did a whole show on this yesterday talking to people all over from macedonia to parliamentarian and germany who was saying, we have to look at the countries that they are fleeing from and look at the weapons that are being sold that are creating the strife that is leading them out of their countries, the leading weapons manufacturers, the united states, germany. we have to look at war. what is your position on the issue of, for example, going back in time, were you for the invasion of iraq? >> no, i was opposed to it. in fact, i said that what is going to open up our stirring up

a hornets nest and we not prepared for the second inter-series is getting a sexed cascade effect. we were falsely led into war by george w. bush and others in power at the time. we need to learn from those mistakes. amy: in july, you made headlines adjusting the rise of the so-called islamic state came about in part because the effects of climate change. martin o'malley was speaking on bloomberg tv. >> one of the things that preceded the failure of the nationstate of syria, the rise of isis, was the effect of climate change and the mega-drought that affected that region that created a humanitarian crisis that created the symptoms -- or rather, the conditions of extreme poverty that is led now to the rise of

isil and extreme violence. amy: he was derided by conservatives for that statement. republican party chair called it absurd that some climate experts have said his comments are not so far-fetched. can you explain what you meant of the connection between isis and climate change? >> sure. it was not only climate activist that backed me up, but some of our best minds and analyst in the defense department. there was a tremendous drought that hit syria a number of years ago that drove people off arms into cities, their government could not take care of the basic needs of families in those conditions. civil war rose up as a result of protests and repression and then that led to the civil war and then the vacuum to lead to isis. these are because getting effects that happen in a world that is very, very connected and a world were, change is not creating extreme weather conditions, prolonged drought.

we need to become better as a country at looking over the horizon, anticipating these threats and forging new alliances with like-minded nations around the world to reduce the threat before we are backed into a corner where it seems the only options we have the force our military boots on the ground or not. what we need to do is lead nations and reducing destabilizing effects of climate change, extreme drought. what we need to do is join with like-minded nations to combat the threats to humanity that come from pandemic will step these are ways we can lead in this way in a moral way. we should not be solely reliant on our military strength, however formidable, and a great nation is defined by what it does to forge and wage peace. juan: bernie sanders from yourself, and joel stein have all said you're not going to be accepting contributions from fossil fuel companies. hillary clinton --

>> not tripping over themselves to get them to me. juan: know we the report of the uc davis system divesting itself from -- for its pension funds and endowments from cold. the reason why you made that decision not to accept the contribution under response to the latest uc davis decision? >> is a growing awareness that climate change, since it is caused by human beings, must be solved by human beings and i think that is why uc davis has them what it has done. for my own -- amico the whole university of california system. other you'll probably see universities following. i'm the first candidate in our party, and let us hope not the last, to advance a plan to move us to a 100% clean electric grid by 20 50. as governor brown state, we were one of the early states to join the regional greenhouse gas initiative of north eastern states and raised our renewable

portfolio standard from 7% to 20%, passed a greenhouse gas reduction bill in our state. and i believe this is the greatest is best and job creation opportunity to come to the united states in 100 years. we need to embrace it of afford with claim design, green buildings, living buildings and your are missing some states move out ahead of others. in iowa, 30% of their energy comes from wind and that is a development over the last 10 years and employs 4000 people in iowa. amy: what else would you do to promote sustainability? >> in terms of our energy supply were around the world? amy: our energy supply here. how far would you be willing to go given what i think this year is the hottest year the planet has ever experienced. >> we need to go as far as possible as fast as possible, and we need to be open and transparent and measure the actions that we are taking so all of us together as a people

can see whether the things we're doing are working to deliver the desired results. we have never been in a better position as a human species to connect the best intelligence, -- inst thinking, and order to get this done. i am in favor, for starters, of greatly extending the investor tax credits. we need to encourage states to decouple the consumption profit from the pot motive. instead of in the past were everything had to happen at one place in the distributed. we need to make it easier, not harder for people to put solar panels on their own homes. we need to see the whole new generation in terms of buildings that produce more energy than they consume. amy: your position on keystone it so pipeline? >> i'm opposed. i'm opposed to arctic drilling

and offshore drilling off the chesapeake they come and have said so. i think we should be building the vertebrate, the infrastructure that allows us to tie up when farms off the east coast, natural for oil. amy: the iran nuclear deal? >> i am in favor of it. i know we have to enforce it and monitor it. but i believe we are strong enough nation to give peace a chance. you don't negotiate with your friends, you negotiate with your adversaries and i believe we need to give peace a chance enforce this deal. theseyou hold many of progressive positions, yet in the polls, bernie sanders seems to be sucking up, supposedly, all of the support of the active democratic party progressives at this point. how would you differentiate yourself from bernie sanders and what would you say to convince voters that you are a better alternative within the democratic party? >> the key phrase in your question is "at this point." history is full of examples where the candidate seeking the summer is not the one who surprises and emerges on caucus

night. the greatest differentiating factor between myself and really all of the candidates in the race is that while many of our candidates will make progressive promises, i've actually accomplished progressive things not by following the polls and waiting for the consensus to develop, but by forging a new consensus. that is what i did in baltimore when we allowed ourselves to become the most violent, do good, benton city and went on to achieve one of the biggest reduction in crime of any major city in america. that is what i did when we made our state the first aid to pass a wit -- living wage law and raised minority and women's business participation goals in a recession to the highest in the country and exceeded them. that is what i did will we pass the dream act, marriage equality, and conference of gun safety legislation that required background checks for the purchase of guns in our state. none of those things happened by themselves, the required new leadership in the forging of a new consensus and a fearlessness and putting the case to the

people and that is what i have done and i have done it more so than any other candidates in this race. amy: we recently had a one of david simon,itics, -- >> he was a police reporter and i was -- not amy: he did this remarkable series called "the wire" and we asked them about your candidacy and what he thought about your policies in baltimore. >> it was him was as if you could not get the reductions in the murder rate here promised as a candidate in the next three or four years work, let's just go everybody in the back of a van. if you think i'm exaggerating, all you have to do is read the aclu suit the city eventually settled because it did not matter who you were, if you are somebody sitting on your own stupid or schoolteacher or summit coming home from work, if you looked at a cop the wrong way in a baltimore and those three central years when marty

was trying to become governor, you went in the back of a police van and taken to the city jail, held overnight. amy: that was david simon of "the wire." your response? >> he is a very creative guy. many of the things he was saying are actually not true. the strongest evidence and are short time together that i can cite for it is this -- if the things that david says were actually true, i would not have been reelected with 88% of the vote and a majority african-american city. nor would i have received the overwhelming support of received when i ran for governor from the poorest parts of our city, who were relieved, frankly, that having what had been a 20 year continued occupation by drug dealers 24/7 inner neighborhoods. i had been on a constant search in treating this wound we share as americans were the issues of violent crime, gun violence,

race and law-enforcement are all painfully tied together. and over the course of those 15 years, i have learned what has lurked -- worked and what has not. the things that have not we have stopped doing. i repealed the death penalty, restored voting rights to 52,000 people, decriminalized possession of small amounts of marijuana, drug our incarceration rate down to a 20 year low. during my time as mayor, i actually improved police and community relations and we recorded what remained three of the four lowest years for use of lethal force by baltimore city police officers. and the fact of the matter is, even with the heartbreaking setback of a few months ago after freddie gray -- after the protest after freddie gray's custodial death, the fact of the matter is in the prior year before that, arrest levels of baltimore were down to i think a 25 or 30 year low. the arrest levels actually peaked some 12 years ago.

so david is a creative guy and has made a lot of money being very creative about the story baltimore. gray,speaking of freddie the baltimore $6.4 million settlement with the family of freddie gray, an african american man who died in april after being arrested and transported without a seat belt in a police van. his family said his spine was 80% severed at the neck. police said they arrested him for making eye contact with them, then running away. six baltimore police officers are currently facing criminal prosecution over his death. as former mayor baltimore what , are your thoughts on the settlement, and this case? -- i did not have all of the fact that the city solicitor would have had in settling that case, and i don't to get is really my place to talk about the merits of the settlement. honestly, the city thought it merited that settlement, and i

can say this, though, policing is one of the most difficult and dangerous professions in our country. and it is important when we have incidents, when we have incidences that result in the loss of life, that we are forthright and that we address it very, very directly and that justice is done. that is what i learned to do as mayor. we used to do when hundred diverse integrity stings a year -- 100 reverse integrity stings a year. we constantly strive to improve training. our goals should be that for all of the tragedies that we are now seeing on our video cell phone tech elegy, there are things that actually work that can move our purpose to become more open and transparent, among them, body cameras, requiring all to report excessive force as christie, custodial deaths so we can see we're doing better this year than we were last year.

amy: governor o'malley, did you agree with the and i met the six police officers? >> that is the states attorneys call. i will leave that matter to the courts and to the good people of the jury to resolve it, but that was the states attorneys call and i'm sure she did what she believed was best in the discharge of her duties. go to the issue of the black lives matter movement. there was a moment where you did get a lot of attention, so did bernie sanders, because the members of the movement terrupted you speaking at the netroots nation conference in july. i want to go back to that day. clear, every single , not beingre dying able to take another breath. we're in a state of emergency.

we are in a state of emergency. feel that don't emergency, you're not human. amy: you were standing on stage. this is a part of what you said. >> some of the most important things that we accomplish in life requires persistence. we did not repeal the death penalty in maryland the first time we tried or the second time, but we repealed at the third time we tried. every life matters. issue is sowhy this important. black lives matter. why lives matter. all lives matter. amy: that was you at netroots nation. then you issued an apology. >> because i lost track of the context in which that teaching that i learned through eight years of catholic school or more than that, was heard in context

by the protesters of like lives matter who are making the very, very important point. it is the point i made myself when i ran for mayor baltimore 1999 in a different way when i said that in our city, there's no such thing as a spare american. we cannot allow to levels of justice. one where we get -- where we are rightly outraged in some instances and yet we shrug our shoulders at the appalling in the lossmicides of black lives. so i apologize because i expressed or because i communicated in insensitivity that i did not intend to communicate to the protesters who are making the very valid and important point that black lives matter. down of their shutting the protest, we were actually having a good talk for about 20 minutes about law enforcement, race. i believe -- i know, amy, i bring to this presidential

debate more experience on these issues than all the other candidates combined. a makeover a quickly, the new york times, democrats concerned about swing etc. big name plan b. they're showing it hillary goes down, who should either candidate. your picture is not here, they're looking at the people who have announced. bernie sanders isn't here either. al gore, joe biden, john kerry. joe biden hasn't announced, but he is going to be having a news conference with governor cuomo of new york today to support a $15 minimum wage. what is going on here? >> i know something the new york times doesn't know -- america's looking for new leadership. our party always looks to the future. and that is what is happening right now. in both parties, people are looking for a new leader. the candidate that are attracting -- that are the lightning rods that are attracting the angst we feel, the anger that we feel at our

established leaders for letting us down, allowing our economy to become so manipulated that only a few of us are able to get ahead in a deed, the wealthiest among us, people are expressing that anger through the candidates that most represent -- that most say no to the established candidates. but in the longer course of this race, people are going to be finding a new leader, a leader who can get things done, who is speaking to wear our country is going, not where our country has been. i offer that and that is why we are picking up in iowa. to 7% a from 1% 33% couple of weeks ago. we have gotten her name right vision above 40% last week when it was endorsed by 12 county chairs in iowa. many of us remember names like alan cranston or howard dean, all the rage in the summer before the caucuses, but once people go to caucus, they will be looking for a candidate that has the ability to lead our country and actually do the job of president --

amy: bernie sanders could win in iowa now, not only in new hampshire, they say. how do you most differ from bernie sanders and hillary clinton? >> 15 years of executive experience, 15 years of waking up every morning, going to bed every not realizing my number one job is to protect the safety of my people. and during the day, actually working to forge a new consensus, bring people together, pass important things. that is what you learn being an executive is how to get things done. i can point to a record of it come as some of which we did earlier in this segment, things like marriage equality, conference of than safety, greenhouse gas reduction act -- none of those things happened by themselves. they required new leadership and an ability to forge a consensus. amy: martin o'malley, thank you for being with us, former governor of maryland and mayor of baltimore running for the , democratic presidential nomination in the 2016 election.

when we come back, we will be joined by one of the leading environment list in this country and around the world, bill mckibben. stay with us. ♪ [music break]

any code that is martin o'malley, the democratic candidate.l amy: with juan gonzalez. track to be the hottest recorded in history.

released a report showing july was the single warmest month on planet earth in history. nine of the 10 hottest months since record-keeping began in 1880 have occurred and's 2005. this news comes as scientists at columbia university released a report which shows that global warming has worsened the california drought, now entering its fourth year. meanwhile, this summer saw wildfires explode across the western united states with washington state breaking the record for acres burned this year. the state had the single largest wildfire on record. and some have attributed the surge of migrants from syria to europe to changing weather patterns. according to time magazine, large swaths of syria suffered an extreme drought from 2006 to 2011, which was exacerbated by climate change. that drought reportedly lead to increased poverty and relocation to urban areas. amy: all this comes as time is running out for the diplomats who are trying to forge a meaningful climate change

agreement ahead of the u.n. climate summit in paris later this year. on monday, french president francois hollande noted that the november's talks could risk failure if countries don't make stronger commitments. he also warned that the ongoing migrant crisis would escalate to include people fleeing natural disasters if climate change is not tackled properly. >> yes, there are even risks that there could be a failure. all the contributions have not been made. we are really have 60. sometimes sensational statement are not often financial guarantees. in other words, financing is not flooding in with people's awareness. be a pre-decided agreement on the subject of financing so that heads of state and governments can return to paris with the certitude that we will be able to reach conclusion . if we do not reach a conclusion, -- if we do not reach conclusion i'm is no single substantial

measure is put in place to assure this transition and adaption, then it will not be hundreds of thousands of refugees in the next 20 years, but millions. juan: french president francois hollande said his country would focus over the next three months on ensuring there was $100 billion in place to tackle climate change by 2020. meanwhile, the environmental group 350.org and the european green party recently launched the "divest for paris" challenge, calling on institutions, individuals and governments to divest from fossil fuels ahead of the climate summit in paris later this year. on wednesday, the university of california announced they had sold off more than $200 million worth of investments in coal and tar sands companies. amy: to talk about this, we're joined by bill mckibben, co-founder of 350.org. he's the author of several books including, "eaarth: making a life on a tough new planet." he will be speaking tonight at the brooklyn academy of music with naomi klein and other

social movement leaders from across the world. the event is called, "off and on: the climate movement and road through paris." welcome to democracy now! what needs to be done right now? start off with the university of california. this is breaking news. >> it is, and it is kind of a shock. we started this divestment movement three years ago. when we started, it was small, unity college up in maine whose endowment was i think under $10 million, maybe well under $10 million. in the past two weeks, the california state legislature has to vested calpers and counselors, two of the against -- two of the 20 biggest pension funds on earth and yesterday comes the news out of the blue system, the iconic campuses at berkeley and ucla and santa barbara and davis beginning to divest at least from coal and tar sands oil.

their portfolio is not $10 million, it is $98 billion. there is a kind of just dramatic momentum behind this people's uprising on climate change. we finally have gotten it through our heads unless we push hard, our leaders are not going to do what needs doing, so now we're pushing. juan: in terms of the impact on the fossil fuel industry -- they inevitably have a fight back plan? >> the fossil fuel industry is fighting, in many cases, winning. they are chore nearly powerful. they were able to gut, legislation and the california assembly yesterday. the oil industry kept jerry brown from being able to pass some of his signature legislation. and the same around the world. but they're beginning -- we are beginning to fight them to a draw in place after place. i have talked with you to several times over the years

about the keystone pipeline that isn't built yet. last week our colleagues in australia said it was pretty clear now the world's largest coal mines slated for queensland isn't going to be built. activists have been able to force every major bank on the planet to say they would not fund it. amy: what you make of president obama the first sitting u.s. president to go to the arctic, used it as a moment to address the issue of climate change to educate the united states and people around the world, and at the same time, he opened up the arctic to drilling. >> this is the one step 4, 1 step sideways, one step back and that we've seen so often. the president's rhetoric in alaska was truly great. he really understood what was going on. and that is a big change. you will remember the last presidential campaign, he did not even mention climate change, it was too scary of a topic. now he is talking about it and doing some things about it.

but he is unable so far to break with the habit of giving the oil industry what it wants. and what it wanted this time was one of the stupidest things honored. look at shell oil. it watched as scientists said it happen as the arctic melted from the increased temperature on this planet. instead of looking at that and saying, maybe we should become an energy company and start putting up solar panels, shell said, the water has melted, that will make it easier to drill. if there is a more responsible company on earth, i don't know what it is. and it is a shame to see barack obama helping in that process. juan: and when you look at the beginnings now where we have seen first republican debates and another coming up soon, the host of candidates on the republican side and their perspective on climate change. what are your thoughts?

>> they keep saying they're going to start dealing with -- theyand try to move can't help themselves. donald trump said climate change was invented by the chinese in order to destroy american manufacturing. i mean, that is not even -- that -- that still in 2015 where listening to any people who are taken seriously deny the fact of the single most important thing that is happening on the planet them is distressing in the extreme. the good news is, it is now a great hindrance to the republicans. when whoever they nominate, when they move to the general election, it is going to cause them great problems that they don't believe in physics, as it should. part of our job is to make sure the democrat they face takes scarcely enough this prospect and is pushing hard on it. amy: and do they?

you have hillary clinton, bernie sanders, who you just passed in the studio martin o'malley. >> bernie has been aces up on this from the start. if there is one guy on capitol hill who really helped in the keystone fight when no one else wanted to touch it, that was bernie. , you know,beginning again she can't ring herself to say anything one way or the other, but keystone pipeline, she did come out against drilling in the arctic. we wait and see, as with so many , from her, but we continue to press and continue to hope. but we don't put most of our chips, i've got to say, in the political process. or rather, we work hardest in the larger political process of of the countryod

in the world, and that project is going extraordinarily well. it was a year ago that 400,000 people were marching through the streets of new york and the biggest demonstration about anything in this country in a long time. there are going to be huge demonstrations in december in paris. 350.org in april, the announced yesterday, we're going to be doing a series of big actions at the 10 biggest, what we call, carbon bombs, these coal deposits.f there will be massive protest. amy: what needs to be done for paris? >> we need to push hard. than we did out of copenhagen up, because there's a movement. you are in copenhagen. you remember what a travesty it was. it is because nobody faced any penalty at home when they came back amy: to stop amy: president obama flew in. >> empty-handed, no real

difference. he can't do that now. the other reason that paris will be different, the other thing that has changed is the price of a solar panel has dropped 80% in the intervening six years. we're at the point where the cheapest, smartest, most obvious straightforward way to provide energy to all of those people on earth who do not have it is to make sure they have solar panels. and if there's any kind of commitment in paris to serious financing to these questions, that will happen in the next 10 or 15 years and it will be a beautiful thing to watch. juan: what do you expect at the state level has changed heading into paris in terms of the possibility of reaching some sort of truly progressive agreement? >> we're not going to reach anything like the agreement we need. you'll remember the redline that they said in copenhagen, the

only achievement was an agreement that we would try to limit tempter increases two degrees celsius. that in and of itself is a pretty weak target. we raised the temperature one degree so far and that is most of the arctic. we would not want to find out what to degrees is going to do. at the moment, however, we're on a track to four or five degrees. the best outcome from paris is that these guys will figure out how to get that number down to 3, 3 .5 degrees celsius, 6, 7 degrees fahrenheit. that is a disastrous scenario, but at least it gives us some idea of the cap we have got to make up by taking on these companies directly, by changing in the next year or two the politics and economics around this question. we are at a tipping point. look, lots of people are devasting. one of the reasons ar is the morality of these questions. the other reason they are divest ing is they're losing money hand over fist. far be it for me to be giving

stock tips, but if people are -- they could've made a lot of money because these stocks are now reflecting the fact that we simply cannot keep burning carbon in the quantities we are burning them. amy: we have to take a break, bill mckibben, thank you for being with us, cofounder of 350.org. tonight he will be speaking at the brooklyn academy of music with naomi klein and others about the move went. we will be back in a moment to talk about immigration in this country migrating to the united states. stay with us. ♪ [music break]

coal amy: this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman with juan gonzalez. juan: we end today's show with an award-winning film called "la jaula de oro" or the golden dream directed by diego quemada-diez. the film tells the story of two guatemalan kids and one indigenous tzo-tzil boy from southern mexico who are attempting to traverse mexico and the u.s.-mexico border to reach the united states. the film is based on interviews diego conducted over six years in mexico with hundreds of central americans and mexicans attempting to migrate to the

united states. amy: last week we sat down with the filmmaker diego quemada-diez . i started by asking him how he decided to make the film. >> i was doing a documentary and macedonia, in mexico, and a became very good friends with a taxi driver. he invited us to his home back at the end of 2002. his home with his family was by the railroad tracks. so every day the train would arrive and would give them food and water and they all told us their stories. they ask us to tell others. , thought that they were heroes though there were very brave people that were sacrificing the lives because many of them died in the journey trying. and i felt their story had to be told to others. and to do it in a sort of epic making themf --

heroes. through the years, i gathered over 600 testimonies from women, children, and men. i was hanging out -- well, going to shelters, shelters along the journey mexicohe and also in the community of guatemala and went to prisons and shelters here in the united states. and then concentrated all of the testimonies in four kids in order to talk about also what kind of opportunities are given to our young kids and what kind of world we're giving them to realize dreams. how, i wanted to talk about it doesn't make any sense to do the policy militarization of the borders and the criminalization of migrants and incarceration of migrants which in the united states is around half a million tople whose only crime was

cross the border. amy: can you set up this clip for us? this is a clip from diego quemada-diez" which means "the golden dream." >> i try to take all of the elements from each of the testimonies. i could not put them all, but one that really shocked me coal was this girl that told me that in order to start the journey, her mother cut her hair, put this band around her breasts and dressed her like a boy in order to survive this journey, in order to not be raped. and eventually, they never arrived, but she told me that story in another woman told me take theknow, i will birth control pill because we know we're going to get raped or we're going to have to have sexual relationships with immigration officers are different people on the way and order as a passport.

so the girl at the beginning of the film gets dressed as a boy, cuts her hair, and take the pill. it is like she's getting ready for this journey she already knows what is going to be. another story that a migrant told me, they stop the train and brought on everyone and put them in a line. these guys were passing by and they were just taking the girls out of the line and putting them in a truck. and they would take them away and said is the end of the story in a way because i wanted to create a big shock, to really feel what it is like to lose someone. film, itneral with the is very anonymous news, like when we played the film in italy at the international film festival, there were a lot of journalists. today we play the film, 350 -- the boy died in the

boat. we talked for about four hours. they were so shocked. by giving a face to this anonymous news, there are numbers and people are just getting used to it, then the impact is much bigger. so that is the idea. amy: let's go to a clip from "la jaula de oro."

amy: that is a clip from "la jaula de oro." it is plain tonight in new york -- it is playing tonight in new york and los angeles. if you want to see the whole interview, you can go to democracynow.org. 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!]

behold his mighty hand. hello? this is cecil b. de-mille in hollywood, california. the trouble with movies as a business is it's an art. and the trouble with movies as an art is it's a business. and it is. every one of us who makes films struggles with that. the system demands success. it rewards it, but punishes failure as well.