12/11/18 12/11/18 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from the u.n. climate summit in katowice, poland, this is democracy now! augustchohool statarted in this year. i set myself down onon the grou. sosome people say i shouould ben hool. some peoplee say i i should stuy to become e a climatee scientiso

i can salt the climate crisis. but the climate crisisis has already been solold. we already have e all of the fas an s solutions. what shohould i be studydying fa futurere that soon may b be no ? when no one is doing anything to save that future? amy: a a school stririke for climate. 15-year-old swedish climate actitivist greta thunberg has me international headlines for her months-long strike against climate change. she has come to poland with a message for world leaderers. >> and sincece our leadeders are behaving like children, we will have to take the responsibility they should have taken long ago. [applause] amy: we will speak to greta thunberg, who has just been named one of the world's most influential teenagers by "time

magazinene." plus, we speak to climate scientist kevin anderson who is calling for a marshall plan to shshift the world away from fosl fuel-based energy to avoid catastrophic climate change. all that and more, coming up. welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. we are broadcasting from the u.n. climate summit in katowice. british prime minister theresa may is holding emergency talks with european leaders today, one day after calling off a key parliamentary vote on brexit. the united kingdom is due to leave the european union on march 29, but many key issues remain unresolved. this comes as the european union is rejecting calls by may to review open negotiations on brexit. in france, president emmanuel macron addressed the nation last night after four weeks of unrest

and mass protests throughout the country, organized by y the movement known as the yellow vests. he proposed changes to taxatatin and minimum wagege increreases r low-wage earners. >> i asked the government and parliament to do what is necessary so one can livee bettr on one's work seller from the beginning of next year. the salary of a minimum wage earner will increase by 100 2019 with nog in extra cost to employers. than 2000who get less euros each month, starting 2019, we will cancel the social security tax hike passed this year. amy: president macron did not reimpose a tax on the wealthy, which many have called for. the trump administration is scheduled to announce today a major rollback of the nation's clean water regulations. the rule change decreases the number of waterways protected by the u.s. clean water act. critics warn this could result

in expanded oil drilling and mining in once protected areas and lead to an increase in chemical pollutants, including pesticide runoff. the proposal is the latest in the trump administration's efforts to weaken environmental laws after loosening regulations for car emissions, mercury, coal and opening up previously protected d areas for gas and ol drilling. over climate activists flooded 1000 capitol hill monday, demanding congress members and likely incoming house speaker nancy pelosi back a green new deal committee proposed by congress member-elect alexandria ocasio-cortez of new york. over 140 people were reportedly arrested as members of the youth climate group sunrise movement occupied and lobbied at congressional offices. 26 congress members have backed the formation of the green new deal select committee thus far, including jim mcgovern, the incoming chair of the house rules committee, who voiced his

support after an exchange with activists yesterday. pelosi's office has said it will meet with representatives from sunrise movement. here in at cop24 in katowice, poland, indigenous and youth leadaders disrupted an event monday hosted by trump administration officials promoting fossil fuel and nuclear interests. [chanting] -- whata plaintiff on just happened was the trump administration in the fossil feel industry -- in order to push the own agenda forward. people in the community have decided we need to interrupt it and call attention to real solutions. >> shame on you! amy: this comes as the intercept is reporting that an executive

from shell oil told participants at a cop side event that shell helped draft a portion of the 2015 paris climate agreement, dealing with emissions mitigation. he made the remarks at an event for corporate actors, including the fossil fuel industry, saying -- "the position is not that different from how shell sees this." this morning, activists protested outside an event hosted by shell. among those demonstrating were rita uwaka and nnimmo bassey. >> like hell on earth. i represent communities in the niger delta w who are impmpactey these big polluters. having these big polluters -- it is not only a slap on us as delegates of cop, it is also a

slap on mother earth. >> i have many things to tell shell. i don't think i can tell them all in one day. number one, they have to stop pollututing the niger delta. number two, that to clean up their mess. number three, they have to get out of the cop. amy: activists here are not allowed to specifically name whale and gas companies in their protest under threat of having their accreditation taken away by the united nations. in morocco, 164 countries have agreed to a non-binding u.n.-sponsored deal that seeks to better respond to migration at the global level, particularly for refugees and other vulnerable populations. the united states, along with a handful of other countries, rejected the deal. according to u.n. numbers, there have been over 3300 deaths or disappearances during international migrations so far this year. in britain, 15 activists who blocked a charter plane fr deporting tionals ofigeria,

ghana, andnd sierra onone in mah 2017 have been convicted of terrorism and could face a life ntence. members of the group endnd deportations chained themselss to an aircraft, preventing it from taking off from the stansted airbase near london. the activists became known as the stansted 15. in an anonymous op-ed published in the guardian, one of the people who was nearly deported by the charter flight wrote of the news -- "there's no doubt in my mind that these 15 brave people are heroes, not criminals. without their actions i would have missed my daughter's birth, and faced the utter injustice of being deported from this country without having my now successful appeal heard." in san diego, california, over 30 faith leaders were arrested at the u.s.-mexico border monday as they held a gathering in

support of central american migrants, calling for an end to their detention and deportation. the group is also o calling on congress to defundnd immigration and customs enforcement, ice, and customs and border the vp.on, some 400 people came out to the demonstration, organized by the american friends service committee. the group had planned to hold a prayer circle at the border wall before they were stopped by border police and border patrol. by border police and border patrol. nearly 3000 people died in yemen in novemember, making itit the deadliest month in the past two years in yemen, which has been devastated by the u.s.-backed saudi wawar. the armed conflict location a ad even didid a p project said the saudi coalition intensified attacks ahead of the peace talks that receny y began inin sweden. the talks marked the first time the saudi-backed government and the rebel houthis are holdingng direct negegotiations.

duriring the talks, the u.s. proposed jointnt control of the- the u.n. proposed joint control of the port of hodeida, a central issue in the ongoing conflict. the meeting came as the u.n. and aid groups offered another stark warning of the unfolding humanitarian crisis in yemen in a new report that says half the population is now food insecure, with 5 million people in an emergencncy hunger situation and 65,000 in a catastrophe hunger situation -- the most severe phase. meanwhile, in yemen, protesters gathered in front of u.n. headquarters to protest the closure of sana'a airport and the blockade at the port of hodeida.a. >> we came out today to speak and make the whole world hear the voice of those yemenis who are suffering from this blockade must of the blockade by enemy forces headed by the u.s.s., israel, and saudi arabia. a blockade -- amy: the supreme court delivered

a victory to planned parenthood monday after it rejected appeals by louisiana and kansas who sought to block medicare funding for the women's healthcare provider. the decision left in place a ruling by lower courts against the states rights to withhold government funding for public health programs. in his first known vote on the supreme court, justice brett kavanaugh sided with planned parenthood. russian gun-rights activist maria butina has pleaded guilty to one chargrge of conspiring go act t as a foreign agent without registering with the justice department. butina has been jailed since july after being accused of trying to infiltrate the nra and other right-wing groups. according to the plea deal, butina "sought to establish unofficial lines of communication with americans having power and influence over u.s. politics. she sought to use those unofficial lines of communication for the benefit of the russia federation."

maria butina is now cooperating with prosecutors. in september, prosecutors admitted they wrongfully accused her of trading sex for influence with high-level republicans, by misinterpreting joking messages. -- joking text messages. russian human rights activist and soviet dissident lyudmila alexeyeva has died at the age of 91. alexeyeva co-founded the human rights organization moscow-helsinki group and was a typist for an underground publication chronicling human rights abubuses by the soviet governmement. she was exiled for her work and lilived in thehe u.s. before returnrning to rusussia after te collapse of the soviet union. more recently, she spoke out against russian president vladimir putin, condemning the 2014 annexation of crimea and putin's crackdown on human rights and political opponents. she continued to participate in street protests into her 80s and was arrested in 2010. and independent journalist and author william blum died sunday at the age of 85, at a hospice

in virginia. early in his career, he worked with computers at the u.s. state department but left after becoming disillusioned with the american war in vietnam. he cofounded the underground paper "the washington free press." blum's books "killing hope" and "rogue state" were widely praised for their detailed history of recent u.s. foreign policy. blum said of his work -- "the thesis in my books and my writing is that anti-american terrorism arises from the behavior of u.s. foreign policy. it is what the u.s. government does which angers people all over the world." and those are some of the headlines. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. we are broadcasting from the u.n. climate summit in katowice. where world leaders are gathered to negotiate climate solutions that could dictate policy for years to come. that we begin today's program

with a climate activist who says politicians are not doing enough to turn back the clock and prevent catastrophic climate change. 15 year-old greta thunbeberg. she has made international headlines since launching a school strike against climatee change in her homeme country of sweden earlier this yearar. she sat on the steps of the parliament in stockholm every school day for three weeks leading up to the september swedish election to demand that politicians take more radical action to stop global warming. after the election, she went back to school four days a week. because every friday, greta continues to sit outside the parliament building. her actions have inspired thousands of students across the globe to do the same. greta has aspergers syndrome. she has focused with laser intensity on climate change since she was nine years old. she brought her message directly to world leaders here in katowice at the u.n. climate

summit. here she is addressing u.n. secretary general antonio guterrrres last weekek. >> countless people have stood in front of the united nations climate conference is asking o r nation''s l leaders to stop the emissions, which clearly t this has s not worked since the emissions contntinue to rise.e. .o i will not ask them anything instead,d, i will ask ththe peoe araround the w world to realizet ouour political leleaders haveve failed us bebecause we are facig an exixistential threat and thte is n no time to o continue downs road of madness. sweden needds like to start reducucing emissions by at least 15% every year to stay below a two degree warming targrget. you woululd think ththe m mediad eveveryone of our leaders wowoue talking g about nothing e else,t they never even mention n it.

nor does hardly y anyone ever mention we're in the midst ofof the six mass extinctition, with over 200 species goingng extinct evevery siningle day. furtrthermore, n no one evever s of the aspt of e equity. it is absolutetely necessasary o makeke it work on a globalcacal. that means thahat rich countries like mine n nd to get d down to zero emissions w within six to 2 years.. because e how can we expxpt countries like i iia, colombia, or nigeria to cacare about the climimate crisis s when you who already have everything g don't carere even a secocond abobout r actual commitmentsts to the pars agreement? whenen school ststarted in augut this year, i i sat myself downwn the groundnd outsiside of the swedisish parliamement.

i ststruck for the clilimate. some people say that i should de in schooool instete. someme people say i shouldld sty to become a climate s scientisto i can sosolve the climate crisi. crisis hasate alreadady been solved. we already have the facts andd solutions. and d why should i be ststudyinr a fufuture that sosoon may be no more?e? when no one e is doing a anythi say that future? and whwh is the popoint of lelearning facts when the most important facts realllly means nothing to o our society? we use 100 million barrels of oil every single day. to changee no politicics that. there are no rules to keep that oil in the ground. so w we can no lononger save the world by playing by thehe rules bebecause the rules have to be changed. to begave not come here the woworld leadaders to cararer

our future. they have ignored us to in thth pastst and they will i ignore us agagain. we have e come here to let them know that change is coming, whether they like it or not. the people who rise to t the and since our leaders are behaving like children, we will have to take the responsibility they should have taken long ago. thank you. [applause] amy: that was greta thunberg addressing the united nations here in katowice, poland. renowned climate scientist kevin anderson tweeted -- "on climate change @gretathunberg demonstrates more clarity & leadership in one speech than a quarter of a century of the combined contributions of so called world leaders. willful ignorance & lies have overseen a 65% rise in co2 since 1990. time to hand over the baton." we'll have kevin anderson on later in the broadcast, but we

are now joined by greta thunberg. she has been named one of time magazine's most influential teens of 2018. welcome to democracy now! it is wonderful to have you with us. >> thank you for having me here. amy: so you sat outside the swedish parliament in september every day when all of the other kids were in school. what made you decide to go to the swedish parliament? >> welcome it started with a -- refuse to go to school because of the school shooting in the united states. don amy: you are talking about the parkland students after the massacre valentine's day. >> i thought, that was a good idea, that maybe it would make a difference. then i tried to bring people with me come of it no one was really interested so i had to do it alone.

the second day, people started joining me. amy: why climate change? why is that so important do you? >> because what we do now, future generations cannot undo in the future. we are deciding right now how we want our future to look like. amy: and when did you decide climate change was the issue you wanted to devote your life to? mean, i have read a lot about it. one of the things i found very scary, tipping points, that once we reach tipping points, there is no going back. there is a chain reaction beyond our control. that is very scary. i started thinking about how our

future might turn out, to change it while we can. that is why -- that is what i decided to do. amy: how have you changed your life once you learned about climate change? >> i personally have stopped flying. i've stopped eating the end there is. amy: let's take these one at a time. how did you get here to poland? you live in sweden? >> we went hereby electric car. amy: how long did it take you to drive here? >> two days including one night at a hotel. amy: why did you stop eating meat? >> ethical reasons and ecological reasons. amy: and what else have you done? new things unless it is absolutely necessary. amy: talk about your sweatshirt. from a swissshort organization which gives

homeless dogs a home. amy: do you have dogs? >> yes, i have two. one is from that shelter. amy: how do feel being here at the u.n. climate summit? how long have you studied the issue? saturdayived here last , a little bit more than a week now we have been here. i started reading about the climate crisis when i was maybe nine years old. my teachers, they told me about it will step i thought it was to strange that humans become bubble of changing the earth's climate. if that was the case in was really happening, we would not be talking about anything now's. but that would be our first party. but no one even mentions it.

it. started reading about the more i read about it, the more i understood it. and once you truly understand what it means, you can never go back. amy: it is interesting, you're sitting up front of the swedish parliament every day for three weeks. considering most people think of sweden as one of the most progressive when it comes to climate change? >> yes. beinge a reputation of very green, but sweden is one of the top 10 countries in the world with the highest ecological footprint. we have very high emissions per capita. so we are not a role model. amy: the emissions have gone up? >> yes. we have just move them overseas. haveions in the country reduced, but we have just moved

our emissions overseas. we let other countries produce the stuff we consume. amy: how do you explain climate change to other kids? >> it depends on how old they are. we need to change now because we are not living within the planetary boundaries. we are risking future generations future by continuing like this. we need to change ourselves now because tomorrow it might be too late. amy: what did the swedish parliamentarians say as they would pass you each day, going up the stairs and down the stairs? >> most of them ignored me. some of them came up to me and said that, "you are doing a good job." but very few. amy: you started getting a lot of attention? did people bring you food? >> summer.

amy: did that change what you ate? >> no. amy: we're going to go to a arek from music and then we going to come back to this discussion. we will not only be speaking with greta thunberg, but also with her dad svante. this is democracy now! we will be back with them in a moment. ♪ [music break]

amy: the classic tune "flight of by'sumblebee" being sung the swedish opera singer, the mother of our guest greta thunberg. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org. greta thunberg came to the u.n.

climate summit where we are broadcasting today in katowice, ante,d, with her dad savn whwho is an actor in sweden, her mother an opera singer. they came by an electric car over two days because she refused to fly. she sat down in front of the swedish parliament for three weeks in september, not going to school, after the swedish elections she went to school four days a week and continued her sit in every friday. they give wresting with us. svante thunberg is also joining us. how is your daughter changed in every possible way i would say. it started maybe four years ago. positionerself into where she was learning a lot about climate change. she was finding out that everyone was saying one thing and doing the exact other thing. and that she could not cope with.

into a depression. she stopped eating and talking. she fell out of school for a most a year. my wife and i stayed at home -- iher and did everything stopped working completely. we spent all of our time with her. amy: you are a well-known actor. your wife is a well-known opera singer. you both gave up your professions. >> yes, my wife is much more well known than i am. i gave up my career was you is born because my wife is working overseas. i became a housewife instead. i do act sometimes. amy: and you have two daughters? >> yes. can you talk about that time a few years ago when you stopped talking and stopped eating? >> yes. i became very depressed. i fell into depression.

didn't -- i didn't -- i was so depressed i did not see any point of living because everything was so wrong. , because i have asperger syndrome, i see things like in white. i guess i saw the world from a different perspective. with thet was wrong world. amy: what is the media have asperger's syndrome? >> that my brain works a bit different. enjoylly don't participating in social games that the rest of you s seem so fond of. i don't like lying. i see things in black and white. amy: you focus laser intensity on an issue. your issue, climate change.

svante thunberg, how have you raised your daughters to deal with the world in this crisis when greta stopped eating and was honest hospitalized? >> she made us realize we were the parents standing up for human rights and refugees and right and wrong and all of these things. we were really fighting for that. then she said, hughes human rights are you standing up for? japan for a went to concert, it was very important. it was a good reason to travel across the world to do that but when she got home, greta worked out how many tons of carbon dioxide she had spent on that and how many people's carbon budget that was living in west africa. , you know,ly confronted us with that. whose human rights are you standing up for?

when you're draining the world's resources, the functioning atmosphere for instance, basically, we realized in the end after a couple of years of her going on about it, that we have to change. we have to stop doing these things. .hat had an enormous effect it made her much more happy. and she changed a lot with that. amy: what made you decide to start eating again and start talking, greta? i could doi thought so much with my life. of feeling point like this when i could actually do something good? so, yeah. amy: is your sister older or younger than you? >> she is three years younger than me. amy: how has she been affected by your choices?

mean, she has also stopped flying. she cares about the climate and environment. amy: how has it changed the way you parent, svante? by wife has given up her international career. that is a big change for us. has changed a great many other things. i had to go vegan. first vegetarian, then vegan. amy: what did it mean for you to give up meat? >> nothing. amy: and cheese and dairy? >> nothing. in the end, we're facing a diet catastrophe. amy: why is it important? we asked greta why she became vegetarian. are you also a vegan? aante, why not have

meat-based diet? >> because of the climate crisis. the budget is disappearing before our eyes and willie have a couple of years -- less than a couple of years to bend the curve. i did not have a clue about the climate crisis before before she got is all interested in this. but once you start walking down that path, there's no going back. your life is changed in every possible way once you realize the situation that we are actually in. i was so amazed that i was not aware of it. i was reading the papers and stuff, and i just in a realize where we were at. amy: what did it mean to you that your parents became vegan? is your mother also a vegan, greta? >> yes, she tries. [laughter] amy: you are teaching her.

what did that mean to you, how you changed your parents? they were actually listening to what i was saying. it was good to feel that someone is listening. you talked about climate equity, about how when you consume a lot, when the western countries like sweden are engaged in fossil fuel pollution, what that means for the developing world. greta, i would like to ask you that question. this whole issue of climate equity. a higherwe have we must reduce emissions more. since we are to have all of the infrastructure and everything that we need, we need to reduce our emissions much more so that the developing countries can have a chance to build some off the infrastructure and so the people can have a chance to have

a higher standard of living. amy: also the affects of climate change on other countries that countries that can least afford to cope with the change. we are talking with svante and greta thunberg. can you talk about your relatives? aur both the descendents of nobel prize-winning scientist who first calculated the greenhouse effect caused by carbon dioxide emissions in 1896. he is known to some as the "father of climate change science." svante, you were named after him? >> yes, i was. to be after him because he thought it was very important. the fact is, they did not have a clue why he got the nobel prize. he was just a nobel prize winner. in 1925. was born

his grandmother's cousin, i svante arrhenius. i did not realize it until i started reading up on the subject that he was a relative. amy: when you're not here at the u.n., -- i want to point out, we are in this building here in katowice, the main conference center of this city, that is actually shaped like a coal mine . everywhere around us is black and you sort of descendent down. i don't know if you are aware of that. also right by the poland exhibit , which is called black to green, did you see our necklaces made out of coal. there is soaked in the shape of coal.

a because of celebrating coal. when we came to the warsaw summit, and it is the only country hosted the un's summit .-climate summit three times katowice is the heart of coal country in poland. the coal company is clearly prominent here. your thoughts on that and what coal means for the world? >> it is just crazy. we are here on the climate change conference and i think it is sponsored by a coal company. burning coal.p it's as simple as that. amy: you are protesting every friday outside the swedish parliament from every weekday to just fridays. why friday?

>> why not? fridays are a good day. friday is a good day to strike. you call it a school strike. you have also been following and tweeting about other school strikes around the world. how many have there been? >> oh, i don't know. many. tens of thousands of kids in a strike inso belgium, canada, the u.s., the u.k., and finland, denmark, netherlandsce, the -- i probably forgot some now. a lot of places. amy: i would like you to stay with us. we're also going to be joined by the well-known climate scientist kevin anderson. we are talking with 15-year-old climate activist greta thunberg

here with her father svante. thank you for joining us and bringing her here. greta addressed the world here at the u.n. climate summit. this is democracy now! we will be back with greta thunberg and kevin anderson in a moment. ♪ [music break]

amy: "my place on earth" sung by the famous swedish opera singer who also happens to be the mother of our guest today, 15-year-old climate activist greta thunberg. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org. i am amy goodman. we are broadcasting from the u.n. climate summit in katowice. we're continuing our conversation with greta, who has been on a school strike calling for climate action.

she sits outside the swedish parliament every friday. in september before the election, she sat for three weeks straight on weekdays. a number of kids also then started to join her. we're also joined by the renowned climate scientist kevin anderson professor in climate , change leadership at the centre for environment and development studies. he is also chair of energy and climate change at the tyndall center for climate change research at the university of manchester in britain. he recently tweeted -- it is great to have you both with us.

greta, explain again how you made it to poland, how you got here from sweden. >> me and my dad drove here in an electrical car. amy: do use one all over sweden or other forms of transportation? sometimeses that and train, bus, subway. amy: i understand you do a lot of bike riding. >> yes. amy: kevin, how did you get here from britain? actually.from sweden, i came by train and then caught the ferry from stockholm and then the train down to katowice. amy: that is a political decision that you have made as well. >> it is. amy: you don't take planes? >> know, but i don't think about a particularly anymore. i just look at, how do i get there? amy: why without flying? >> it is probably -- and will magically, it is the most important activity that we pursue.

emissions are important. actually, when we fly, we are in an industry that is very high carbon that there are no technical alternatives in the near to medium term to overcome that. fly, weose of us who live very wealthy lives, live in because, have nice cars we drive a lot, consume a lot of goods. it is in the o-matic. -- it is emblematic of terms of climate change and sustainability. i think it is important for people who work on climate change that we demonstrate we believe in our own research by making some significant changes by how we operate our own lives. father is named after a climate scientist will stop can you talk about his significance?

>> it was major, as were a number of people in the 1800s. change is not a new phenomenon. it is the laws of physics. there is no such thing as climate science. there are signs we used to understand climate. we have been using that signs for several centuries. -- we have been using that science for several centuries. what were putting together was understanding global warming and the greenhouse effects and how that might play out in the future. we have a good understanding, even in the 1800s. it is not a new phenomenon as the skeptics try to say. amy: you teach? what did you think you heard about this 15-year-old girl, this young woman who sat down in front of swedish parliament? when did you first hear of this? i think after you first

started doing it. quite some time ago now. as soon as i heard about it, i think it is good -- your bringing climate change to the public debate. it is important. poorlyp has been represented in the media, that i am aware of, in other parts of europe. bringing climate change to the forefront is important. but to bring it to the forefront with honesty and clarity is important. greta has been an ambassador for understanding climate change without all of the nonsense. amy: when you sat down, greta, in september in front of parliament, was there discussion in the media echo sweden is considered a green country. about climate change? sweden says, we are the best in the world. we have technology and low emissions and so on. amy: so you are not satisfied? >> no.

amy: why? >> because we aren't. amy: in what way? what are the effects you feel climate change has in other parts of the world and what does it mean for you to be here meeting other people, young people from, oh, especially the developing world and island nations that might be submerged? swedes are really like, if we had 4.2 planet earth from still resources future generations and poor parts of the world. people in rich countries that have created these problems. aboutevin, can you talk the difference between the trump onenistration being here --

side event yesterday was introducing representatives of the fossil fuel industry. they call it realistic and rational because they care about jobs, they say. in the previous administration under president obama? >> firstly, i think we have to care whether -- question whether they care about jobs or profits. peoplef people i know, people use trump to some extent as an excuse for inaction for the rest of us. if you look at what obama plan, his plans were slightly more progressive or less on progressive, things can exist compared to trump, but nevertheless, obama was not moving the u.s. toward anything approaching the paris agreement. his plans are much more in line with the three degrees, four degrees centigrade warming. people say, he is doing well. trump comes along and in his usual way says, i'm not going to be involved in climate change,

it is a hoax by the chinese. people then started talking about it again. macron talks about with the french are going to do, the chinese say they will compensate for the americans. in some respects, trump has reignited a stagnant debate on climate change. while i have no time for his views on any issues, to some extent he has been a catalyst. when you align that with greta's contribution an increasingly have beenho marginalized over the last 20 years on climate change coming to the four, i think there is a sense that a new dialogue emerging, not just in climate change, but the dissatisfaction with how the establishment has debt with issues over the last 20 or 30 years. amy: going back to copenhagen, going back 10 years ago, you had president obama flying in and many felt weakening the accord. >> yes.

it is easy at the moment with people picking on the u.s. and russia and saying they haven't accepted the ipcc report. it is true, they haven't done that. but it is something the rest of us have hidden behind. -- the uk's saying we shouould accept the ic report. 50,000 tons of carbon dioxide a year -- every day, rather. and over the course of another billion tons of co2. we must sign the 1.5 degrees , but we mustn't hide behind trump or obama's inadequacy. the rest of the progressive world -- even in sweden, which is a very progressive country,

but they are choosing nothing significant on climate change. amy: let me turn to that site conference, the site program held yesterday by the u.s.. shortly before he was interrupted by protesters at a forum on the sidelines of the cop on monday, president trump's adviser on energy and climate, wells griffith, praised what he called a u.s. energy renaissance. >> some of thehe most important factors leading to this renaissasance for the dramamatic and for u use in fracking horizontal d drilling which is d to efficieient production n of natutural gas and d crude oioil. the ununited states as r results the number o one combine oil and gagas producer in ththe world. technological advances arere alo drdriving the growth and reducig cost o of renewables as well as. the same technology revolution is making u.s. fuels cleaner by nearly all measures.

amy: so, there you have the climate advisor to president trump. your response, kevin anderson? >> just look at the numbers. this year, dockside has gone -- carbon dioxide has gotten up in the latest set of data. it is easy to blame china and india. you look at the u.s., emissions have also gone up because they have been burning far more oil in their cars which are even larger than last year. even in the u.s. -- you can talk about renewables, but the focus by the advisor and the trump administration is just producing and consuming ever more fossil fuels. there is no responsibility for the issues of climate change. it is a complete denial of climate change, which is in a sense a denial of physics, of science. not to be surprised. we should not be surprised by

what he is saying. we must not use this as an excuse to beat him and the trump administration for when we are doing -- alarmist.stic, not an >> is it reasonable to live with three degrees or four degrees warming? i think all analysis would say that is not realistic. we are between a rock and a hard place. we have to make germanic reductions in our carbon emissions now to ensure a stable climate for our future and greta's future and greta's children's future or carry on with this realistic view about oil and gas today knowing we are leaving this legacy for future generations and all other species, which will be completely toxic. amy: let's talk about who is responsible for the majority of greenhouse gas emissions. producing half of all global emissions.

>> that data recently came need to focuswe on the people who are actually emitting. the idea that 10% of the global population are responsible for 50% or 20% of the global population are responsible for 70% of all global emissions, tells us we need to be tailoring our policies toward that small group rather than trying to squeeze the emissions out of the majority of the world's population are hardly emitting anything at all. one of the ways to explain this i often use, which -- if that 10% of high emitters reduce their carbon footprint individually to theevel of the average european citizen, that would be equivalent to a one third cut in global emissions. even if the other 90% did nothing. one third cut in global emissions just from the 10% reducing to the level of the average european citizen.

amy: i want to ask greta about this in one minute, but if you can lay out for us who consumes states, in united the western countries, in places like sweden? how much energy they consume versus someone in the developing world? >> if you look at it in relation to emissions, they might be emitting something like .1% -- .1 of a ton. people in rwanda. like 30s, something times to 35 transfer the average american. a massive distance between those two. amy: what are people doing in the united states and europe and how do they compare? -- u.s.ximate, america is twice the emissions of the average european. amy: because? >> that bigger houses, bigger

cars, travel further and still have a very high carbon energy system, electricity generation. amy: you can't find anything doesn't libel that are being sold? >> they have been outlawed or>> banned. ade attends, but that doesn't account for the growth. if you take into account the goods we import and export. thefelt greta, as we end show, what message to the world would you to share? what are your plans for the future? what grade are you in in sweden? >> ninth-grade. amy: you can look to wreck into the camera as you speak. >> my message for the world is that we have a short period of .ime where we can act if we don't take the chance, we

are sxrewed. we have to take the chance to act now because it might be too late and we don't want to be screwed. amy: that is greta thunberg. she is 15 years old, a climate activist from sweden, got here by electric car. she has just been named by time magazine as one of the 100 most influential teens in the world. we have also been joined by kevin anderson, leading climate scientist, professor in climate in sweden andhip britain. we're going to end today's show with some breaking news. it is absolutely critical as we bring you this information to know that we just interviewed a

who -- we're going to turn right now to that information as we talked about time magazine. time magazine has announced it as itsring journalists 2018 person of the year. the magazine has published its honoring "theyear washington post" columnist jamal khashoggi who was killed in the saudi consulate and filipina journalist maria ressa from rappler. she was just recently charged in the philippines. a reuters journalists who .mprisoned and finally, the capital gazette of annapolis maryland where a gunman opened fire earlier this year killing four journalist and one other employee.

time is calling the recipients the guardians and the war on truth. that does it for our broadcast. democracy now! is looking for feedback from people who appreciate the closed captioning. e-mail your comments to outreach@democracynow.org or mail them to democracy now! p.o. box 693 new york, new york 10013. [captioning made possible by