09/16/19 09/16/19 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from new york, this is democracy now! use p predent f from would threatenening to take militaryry action after several largege sai arabiaian oil facilities were attacked by drones and d cruise missileses. secretary of statate mike pompeo directly c cimed iran, but iran denieses invololvement.

nsions escscalate in t golf. we will get the latest. plus, the trump administration is finalizing plans to open one of the world's last pristine wildernesses, the arctic national wildlife refuge, to oil and fracked gas drilling. it comes as arctic ice sea continues to melt from record >> extreme warming in the arctic is directly related to the climate breakdown that is happening all over the planet right now. it is warming extreme and -- extremely rapidly. amy: and we will look at covering climate now, a global effort to expand media coverage of the climate crisis. more than 250 media organizations are taking part, including democracy now! all that and more, coming up. welcome to d democracycy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman.

president trump says the u.s. is locked and loaded following drone and cruise missiles attacks that struck major oil facilities in saudi arabia saturday. the u.s. accused iran behind the attacks which were claimed by houthi rebebs. pompeo said d they carried out what he called a an unprecedentd attack on the world's s energy supply. iran has denied d any involveme. the forereign minister javavad f tweeted -- the attacks sentnt oils prices soaring after they reporortedly hahalved saudidi oil productiony -- in the immediate aftermath. the attack came just ahead of the united states general assembly in new york. last week mike pompmpeo said president trump is open to meet with the iranian president with no preconditions. but on sunday, trump lane 20 called the fake news for

essentially reporting what pop have publicly said. we will have more after headlines. thely 50,000 members of netted autoworkers have launched a strike, walking out of over 50 general motors facilities at 11:59 last night. workers say gm continues to deny employee's demands for fair conditions and compensation despite leading the company to record profits following bankruptcy and a federal bailout. this is ted krumm, head of the uaw's bargaining committee. >> this strike is about us. it is about standing up for fair wages, for affordable quality health care, for our share of profits, and for our job security. we are standing with our brothers and sisters who are temporary employees and an progression employees, who do the same work we do for less pay. we are united. we are strong. we are ready.

we don't take this lightly. amy: union representatives are scheduled to meet with gm today for further talks. in more labor news, chicago teachers appear to be moving closer to a strike -- possibly starting next month -- as educators and the school district have failed to reach an agreement on issues including pay, staffing, and class size. purdue pharma filed for bankruptcy sunday after reaching a tentative settlement last week with a number of state, local, and tribal governments over the company's role in fueling the u.s. opioid crisis. under the proposed deal, the sackler family, which owns purdue, would personally pay $3 billion in cash plus another $1.5 billion after the pending sale of a subsidiary company is completed. many plaintiffs have opposed the deal, which would see the sacklers remain billionaires and admit no wrongdoing. new york's attorney general has accused purdue of lowballing victims in the settlement after revealing her office found at

least $1 billion in sackler wire transfers, including through swiss bank accounts. new york is waiting on financial disclosures from an additional 32 sources, which could further validate claims that the sacklers are shielding their extreme wealth in investments and foreign institutions. calls are mounting to impeach supreme court justice brett kavanaugh after new evidence and new allegations of sexual misconduct were reported by "the new york times" over the weekend. deborah ramirez, a former yale classmate, accused kavanaugh of pulling down his pants and thrusting his penis at her during a drunken party, forcing her to touch it while she swatted it away from her. kavanaugh denied the accusation during his confirmation hearings but "the new york times" found at least seven people, including ramirez's mother, knew of the incident for years. some had learned of it in the days after it happened. "the times" also uncovered another similar incident in which kavanaugh's friends pushed

his penis into the hand of a female student at another party. the fbi never followed up on a list of 25 people provided by ramirez who could corroborate her story, nor did they follow up on information about the second incident. in a historic congressional testimony last september, dr. christine blasey ford accused brett kavanaugh of attempting to rape her when she 15 and he was 17. multiple 2020 democrats are -- multiple 2020 democratic presidential candidates are calling for kavanaugh's impeachment in light of the reports, including senators bernie sanders, elizabeth warren, kamala harris, and former san antonio mayor and housing secretetary julian cast. protests are continuing in hong kong over the weekend with right and water cannons on crowds as they gathered for the 15th straight week stop earlier this month, hong kong's leader carrie lam withdrew the controversial bill that triggered the popular uprising but protesters to man's

have since expanded. some demonstrators have been calling for the support of the u.s. and britain, hong kong's former colonial ruler. in tunisia, to outsider candidates are leading in the exit polls after voters cast their ballots sunday in the country's second-ever presidential elections. one of them is populisist media mogul nabil karoui, who is currently in prison, accused of money laundering -- charges he has denied. and a a law professor and constititutional affairs expert running as an independent, also appears to be headed to a runoff. sunday's turnout reached just 45% -- nearly 20 percentage points lower than 2014's election. meanwhile, in neighboring algeria, interim president abdelkader bensalah announced the country will hold a presidential election on december 12. long-time president abdelaziz bouteflika resigned in april following weeks of protests. demonstrations have continued to this day. on friday, tens of thousands marched demanding remaining

members of the ruling elite also step down before any new elections. elections planned for july were canceled after protesters said they would be controlled by the army and the ruling elite. a british judge has ruled wikileaks founder julian assange is to remain in prison even after his current term ends because of his "history of absconding." he was due to be released next week. britain's home secretary signed a request for assange's extradition to the u.s. in june. a full extradition hearing will take place in february next year. prosecutors in the u.s. have indicted assange on 18 counts, including 17 violations of the espionage act. back in the united states, federal appeals court revived a lawsuit accusing trump of emoluments violations friday. the case was originanally dismissed in late 202017 and is one of threeee major emoluments lawsuits filed against trump. plaintiffs in the case include a hotel operator and restaurants -- restaurant owners who say trump is using his office to give his new york and d.c. businesses a competitive advantage by allowing government

patrons to seek favor with the president in exchange for spending money at his properties. trump is expected to appeal the decision, which could end up at the supreme court. hollywood actress felicity huffman, was sentenced to two weeks in prison for paying $15,000 to get her daughter into college by having someone cheat -- correct her answers on the sats. huffman also received a $30,000 fine and 250 hours of community service. over 50 people have been charged as part of the college admissions bribery scandal known as "varsity blues." huffman is the first parent to be sentenced. during the trial, prosecutors argued for prison time by raising cases of less privileged defendants, including kelley williams-bolar, a black woman who was sentenced to five years in prison for using her father's address to get her child into a better school district. 76 protesters with the close the camps campaign were arrested in new york city saturday, during a sit-in at a microsoft store. the immigrant rights activists are demanding microsoft stop

allowing ice to use their technology. an organizer from movimiento cosecha, said in a statement -- "in an era of big tech, where our movement and community have seen terror, trauma, and separation, these companies saw a business opportunity. after palantir, microsoft is the second largest cloud service provider for the u.s. federal government." meanwhile, prereviously confidential department of homeland security report revealed the ice jail in california places and alarming number of migrants with serious mental illness in solitary confinement for "shockingly long periods of time." independent senator and 2020 candidate bernie sanders previewed his affordable housing plan over the weekend. the plan, which will be released in full in the coming weeks, would expand and improve federal

housing programs and set a national rent control standard. he is also calling for $50 billion in grants for local authorities to establish community land trusts and would invest in outreach and other services to address the homeless crisis. the plan calls for a federal investment of $2.5 trillion over a decade, which would be paid for through a tax on the wealthiest americans -- the top one-tenth of 1%. senator sanders addressed a nevada chapter of a plumbers and pipe fitters union saturday. over america tonight, 500,000 americans are either sleeping out on the streets were are in homeless shelters. and that includes 7500 people right here in nevada because there is not housing available to them and because they lack the money to pay for the housing they need. in the wealthiest country in the

history of the world. amy: last week, reports emerged that president trump is planning a major crackdown on california's homeless population, which may include rarazing tent campmps and creatg government-run facilities. ben carson will be in san francisco and los angeles this week to promote so-called support homeless opportunity zones. the 26 greenpeace activists who were arrested last thursday after they rappelled off a bridge above the houston ship channel have been released. all face either state felony or state and federal charges for their non-violent act of civil disobedience. the action brought shipping traffic to a halt in the largest oil exexport channel in the e ud states as the environmental activists called on presidential candidatates to support the e gn new deal ahead of last week's debate and for a just transition away from fossil fuels. greenpeace usa said the activists faced abuse while in custody. in 16-year-old swedish climate activist greta thunberg led a

school strike for climate in the nation's capital friday, alongside students and environmental activists from the d.c. area. it was her 56th week of action since starting the movement in her native sweden, which has since gone global. she addressed the crowd gathered in front of the white house. >> i'm going to say i am incredibly grateful for every single one of you. i am so proud of you who have come here. it is a lot more than i think anyone had expected. this is very overwhelming. just never give up. we will continue. and see you next week on september 20. amy: greta thunberg will be back in new york city for this friday's global climate strike. you can see our recent hour-long

interview with her at democracynow.org. this week democracy now! and over 250 newsrooms around the world are taking part t in the "covering climate now" initiative ahead of next week's u.n. climate summit. we will have more on this initiative later in the broadcast with the nation's environment correspondent mark hertsgaard. and those are e some of the headlines. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. president trump is threatening to take military action after two major saudi arabian oil facilities were attacked saturday by drones and cruise missiles. president trump tweeted on sunday -- "saudi arabia oil supply was attacked. there is reason to believe that we know the culprit, are locked and loaded depending on verification, but are waiting to hear from the kingdom as to who they believe was the cause of this attack, and under what terms we would proceed!" secretary ofof state mike pompeo directly b blamed iran for cacarrying o out what he calledn unprecededented attack on the

world'enerergy splply. iran has denied reresponsibilit. iranian foreign mininister tweed -- houthihi rebels in yemen claimed responsibibility sayining it was done in retaliation for the devastating saudi blockade in yemen. but numerous reports indicate the attack may have come from the direction of iraq or iran rather than yemen. one of the plants s struck is te wod d biggest petroleum-processingng facility. crudude oil prices soarered more than 15% after the plants,s, whh -- suffered heheavy damage. according to one estimatate, the attatacks decreased saudi'i's dy oil output by nenearly 6 mililln barrels. while the ununited states has bn quick to blame iran, otherer wod powersrs have not yet assigned blame. german foreieign minister heiko maas said germany is still determining who carried out the attack.

have takenhis responsibility. we are analyzing who is responsible and how i could happen. we need to do so with the necessary calm but the situation is worrying because this is the last thing we need in this conflict right now. amy: the attack came just ahead of the united states general -- the united nations general assembly in new york. last week, secretary of state mike pompeo said president trump is open to meeting with iranian president hassan rouhani with no preconditions. but on the day, trump blamed what he called the fake news for essentially reporting what pompeo publicly said. to talk more about the escalating crisis in the middle east, we are joined by two guests. here in new york is peter salisbury, the international crisis group's senior analyst for yemen. and joining us in washington is medea benjamin, co-founder of codepink. she was in iran earlier this year. author of several books, including "kingdom of the unjust: behind the u.s.-saudi connection. " her latest book is titled "inside iran: the real history

and politics of the islamic republic of iran." we welcome you both to democracy now! peter salisbury, what do you understand took this weekend? cloak the fact we have right now is that one of the world's largest petroleum processing facilities was hit. the houthis have claimed it. the u.s. has said they believe iran was behind the e attack. we are seeing u.s. officials saying the attack came from either iraq or iran. we really don't have more facts than these. amy: explain what is known at this point. >> what is known? again, the facility was hit. what it was hit by is not known yet. initially what we were told is there were drone strikes. now we are told there were missile strikes. it is possible there were some sort of commendation, potentially from both directions. we are at a real trigger point here. what we have seen is the u.s.

toing they want the saudis say what they think happeneded if thehe saudis say this was ir, the expectatioion is they will take some sort of solitary action. amy: president trump said locked and loaded. basically, waiting saudi arabia's direction. the united states waiting what saudi arabia is telling us to do. >> absolutely. this i is reminiscent of attacks earlier this year on oil tankers off the coast in the united arab emirates where the u.s. came out pretty strongly and said this was iran and the uae in the end it said they could not ascertain who was behind the attacks because of the potential cost of retaliation against iran that would lead in turn to retaliation againinst the uae. so the decision point really sets with the saudis right now in terms of what happens next. amy: medea benjamin of codepink

and washington, d.c., your response to what is taking place this weekend and president trump sang the u.s. is locked and secretary pompeo -- mind you, the very serious iran hot, not that pompeo is in, john bolton was ousted by president trump and now you sesee this pressure iran. on. the locked and loaded response and what took place in saudi arabia? >> let's remember that saudi arabia, the emirates with the help of the united states and other western powers, that have been selliling billions of dolls of weaeapons, have been destroyg the e infrastructure of yemen promised five years now. of course the houthis have been trying to fight back, taking this conflict into saudi arabia. this is just the most devastating of the attacks. maybe it was done just by the $15,000 drones as the houthis say. maybe it was done with help from

other countries. bubut this is s to be expected. but let's go back to the origign of this prproblem, which is s te saudis and the e emirates gettig involved i in the internal affas of y yemen and the u.s. giving them thehe green lightht and ale logistical supppport and thee weweapons to do that. what we have to o do nowow is pp ththe pressurere moron t the u.o stop thihis support. we have had h historic sising congress, including the war powers resolution that says the u.s. should not be supporting ththe udi led wawar in yemen and it has been vetoed by donald trump. now is thehe time to demand d tt an amemendment p put into the mililitary funding a act , , kns wedaa,, stay in there and need to put pressssure on the speakeker nancy pelosi so thahat thisis becomes a top priority. we have to start our support for ththe war in yemen. the other thing we have to recognize is that the conflict with iran is totolly manufacturured by donald trump d

that congress must reiterate what is in the constitution. he does not have the right to take military action against iran. thatat is the right of the congress. certainly, mohammed bin salman is not the commander-in-chief of the u.s.s. forces. amy: peter salisbury, you've suggested the real danger is the u.s. sees yemen and the houthis as a kind of easy means to attack iran. explain what that means for the people of yemen. >> earlier this year, we published a fairly lengthy the dangers of yemen becoming increasingly embroiled in tensions between the united states, saudi arabia on one hand and iran on the other. the yemen conflict is resolvable your political means, through an imperfect solution, and perfect deal of some kind. and what we said was if the war is allowed to conontinue, if the is no diplomatic process to end

the war -- which involves the u.s. and saudi arabia speaking to the houthis -- then the big danger is that in fact we see yemen becoming a trigger point for a wider regional war and becoming further embroiled in some sort of confrontation in the u.s. perhaps deciding come as has been suggested to us, that it should support the saudis more in their military campaign in yemen to hurt the bythis more, to hurt iranan extension. amy: explain the devastating impact of the u.s.-armed saudi and uae, though uae says they are pulling out, attacks on yemen. what is happening on the ground? the number of deaths, the cholera and everything else? >> the simple answer is you have 18 million people in a country of 26 million to 30 million people who don't get enough teton a day-to-day basis.

11 million people on the brink of starvation. as a conseququence of the e wars a a whole. you haha sort of people u ung the economy a as a weapon o of . you are e saying all p parties f the conflict arming civililian areas infrastructureeingng devastad.d. we're seeing a countrtry where f yoyou s stopped work tomomorrows going to b be hungryndnd poor d comeeed forome time t t . the other point to understand here is, all partities have used the economy,y,ave attttacked civivilians to fururther their s and nononhave been successful thus farar so when we talk ouout pursuing a deeper mitary pa, perha deep u. involvevement in e confct -- what 're talki abouis doublg down on a sttegy tha simimplhahas no workedp until w. that, as an organization promotes peace, what we been saying for some time is it is time for everyone to talk.

is time for people to rip off the band-aid, stop hiding behind u.n. resolutions, and for the u.s., the saudis to talk to the houthis and see what can be done to end the conflict. absent that step, i think we're just going to see things -- america what happens to the uae? >> the uae is not out of the conflict. now it is a draw down, not a withdrawal. it has reduced its presence, particularly on the red sea coast of yemen where we saw sort of the potential for a big battle for really important port last year, driven by the uae. they remain an operational control on the red sea coast. they remain sort of bedded wawas certain allies on the ground. that is complicating in and of itself because in august, we saw uae-backed forces fighting thenst loyalisis of government supported by saudi arabia. not only do we have this big sort of conflict between the houthis on one side and the

government on the others had, we had the sort of sub-conflict, the civil war within the civil war in yemen, which further complicates matters and makes peace even harder to achieve. amy: medea benjamin, u.n. investigators say u.s. and britain and france maybe complicit. can you lay out what these war crimes are and what you see here as the solution right now and what you fear most at this point with president trump talking about locked and loaded, even as it was suggested he would meet unconditionally with the iranian leadership and then he says it is fake news? >> well, the u.s. has been involved with other western powers providing the means that the saudis have used to destroy infrastructure in yemen, as well as hit marketplaces, weddings, funerals, civiliann targets.

and these are war crimes. as well as supporting these outside countries that have been involved in the use of torture and in all kinds of activities that have been documented in a very devastating report by the united nations. i think it is clear that these are war crimes that have been committed with complicity of the outside countries. it as peter laid out, how has to move into negotiations in the case of yemen, the same thing has to happen in the case of iran. and there are possible solutions on the table put forth most recently by emmanuel macron of france saying europe would extend a $15 billion credit, line of credit, to iran and is calling on the united states to give waivers to other countries to buy iranian oil. it is crazy the united states

has the ability to say to the rest of the world you cannot by iranian oil and there are two countries, china and syria, thtt continueue to buy y the oil. the unitited states must lift those waivers and it has been elated that trump is contemplating that and john bolton was totally against that, which is one of the reasons that he was fired. but i think lifting those waivers is s essential fofor eag the conflict right now. you couldinally, if comment, medea benjamin, on latn iranian interest in iraq, syria, lebanon, now israel is having its snap elections tomorrow, not clear what will happen out of that, but leading up to it, the prime minister benjamin netanyahu singh he will annex one third of the west bank. all o othat togetether withth wt is happepening right now?? >> that's right. the israelis have been trying to

goad united states into a military attack on iran's nuclear research facicilities. let's remember it is israel who has nuclear weapons and iran does not. this pressure cocoming from israrael, given how close the trumpet administration is to the israelis, and the israelis f forcesmbing of iranian in these different a areas has really escalated this conflict. i think we should think of this as a kindred 1914 before the first rolled war were any incidedent whether it is provokd by the israelis by the saudis, can drag the u.s. into war that would be absolutely catastrophic for the entire region. we must stop that from happening. amy: i wanant to thank you for being with us. medea benjamin, co-founder of codepink. in iran earlier this year. author of several books, including "kingdom of the unjust: behind the u.s.-saudi

connection." her latest "inside iran: the , real history and politics of the islamic republic of iran." peter salisbury is the international crisis group's senior analyst for yemen. this is democracy now! when we come back, covering climate now. 250 news organizations around the country are focusing on climate this week leading up to the u.n. climate summit september 23 at the united nations. and this week's global climate strike on september 20. stay with us. ♪ [music break]

amy: best known for starting the band the cars. he died on sunday here in new york. this is democracy now!, i'm amy goodman. covering climate now. that is the name of new global initiative by the nation to improve global coverage of the climate crisis. more than 250 media outlets around the world, including signed onnow!, have to the effort. for years, the corporate media has been criticized for not connecting the dots between climate change and extreme weather around the globe. articles -- 363 articles of hurricane dorian come only nine covered climate change. the 216 segments aired on main television networks on dorian come only one m mentioned climate change. we're joined now by mark

hertsgaard. his new article out today in the "-- he alsoeadlined is the author of seven books, including "hot: living through the next fifty years on earth." welcome back to democracy now! explain the scope of this project and what is coming out around the world and news media and how you put it together. >> it is great to be with you. we're so happy to have you as one of our partners in this project covering climate now, which has really taken up way beyond what we expected. we have 200 50 news outlets from all around the world come across the u.s. and overseas who have committed in the following 78 days to do serious - -- 728 days do serious coverage.

we calculated that if you put all of these 250 plus news outlets together, our combined audience is over one billion people. so w when we started this six months ago, we had no idea it would take off like this but we are vevery pleased it hahas. thatnink it shows actually something we suspected at the beginning of this, which is we thought a lot of our colleagues, including in the mainstream media, wanted to do more climate coverage, new this was the big story of our time, and just needed a litittle push. and if there was a way for us to highlight this critical mass of journalism news outlets that wanted to do more climate coverage, by highlighting that criticald grow that national coverage and that is what has happened. we thought we wowould have a couple of dozen smaller outlets here in the u.s. joining us and it has grown and grown as more and more journalists have found

out. and now we are up to 250 news outlets. frankly, we are hoping to make a little noise this week. amy: it is interesting when you look at these numbers on the coverage of hurricane dorian, it had massive 24 hour day seemed on the cable networks coverarage of the hurricane, ase should have seen it. the slamming of the bahamas and the devastation. of climatet no mention crisis, of the climate change come of the intensity of these hurricanes, the frequency of these hurricanes caused by human humanl, behind it it is actions, human activities, human-fueleded climate c change. >> sure. the science on this is prettyty clear. unfortunately, the u.s. media in particular has a lonong ways too in its climate coverage.

we are trying to break the climate silence you're talking about here, amy, that has been the main problem with media coverage of this issue going back for more than 20 years now. i have been reporting on climate change since the 1990's and i spent a lot of that decade traveling around the world. it is been clear since then the u.s. media is about 10 years behind the media in europe and asia in reporting the climate crisis. first of all, we don't mention it. and when we do do the climate story, we often get wrong. for many years we had this false balance where we felt if we had on a real nasa science list -- scientist, he also had to have on someone who said d the climae science was bunk. that was usually a paid propagandist for the fossil fuel industry. there is not -- join amy: be careful mentioning the world is round, mark, because were going to have to bring on someone from

the flat earth society. you know, a fair and balanced approach to it. disastrous been a point of view. luckily, thahat is now fading.g. i think this false balance. but still we have to break the silence. this consortium of covering climate now is striking, and respects and that we have such a diversity. there is very big outlets like bloomberg, cbs news, like the times of india -- which alone has over one billion monthly unique visitors to its website, the biggest newspaper in japan, perp you look at. and here in the u.s., we have the san francisco chronicle, seattle times, minneapolis star tribune, philadelphia inquirer. most of the major public radio stations in the country. there isis a lot of participatin but also some very small nonprofit outlets.

i am very proud to say we have for tis a patient from turkey, cambodia, south africa, from all over the world from portugal, argentina, chile. many of our colleagues in the media no the climate story is something that we frankly have been missing for too long and we're going to fix that. amy: one of the first b big storory's outcome of the cbs nes poll. tell us what it found. >> we work closely with cbs on this. they f found essentially most americans understand the clilime crisis is serious and they want action right now. and to me, the most interesting find -- well, there were two. people% of the american expect the next president takes serious climate action. 56% of the public once action right now and another 13% once

action in the next few years, meaning and the term of the incoming p president.. that is s a very striking number that i think politicians in both parties need to be payiying attention to. but the second finding that is striking out of the cbs poll is even though most americans think climate crisis is serious and needs action, there is deep confusion about whether the scientists really believe this. only about half of the country, 48%, understand the truth, which is that science is finished, is decided on this. 97% of the working climate scientists say this is serious problem, man-made, we have to do something about a. 48% think the scientists are not clear on this. that people are confused about a basic fact about clclimate ieience shows tt we in the media have not been doing our job and that for 20 years we have bebeen taken in, really, by the propaganda of the

fossil fuel industry -- which hahas been saying, as s you have reported on democracy now! numerous times -- the fossil fuel industry has been saying for almost 30 years now, oh, the science e is not clelear. they have been trying to muddy the waters with this false equivalence. unfortunately, we are still sing that residue of that here in the public opinion. now people can look out the window and see climate science is real. imagine if we had had the proper coverage of climate science for these past 10, 20 years, what the poll data would be saying now and whahat the political candidates would be saying now because there will be political awareness. that is why we are really covering -- doing this climate now interested to. climate nows initiative. it was said we hahave 12 years slash the to emissions in half in order to

have a livable atmososphere. they left out one critical sector, which is the media sector. as you well know, amy, the media is the key to political consciousness. and if you don't have media coverage of the climate crisis, you'll never have the public awareness and the public pressure that, frankly, is needed to get governments and corporations to do what is required to face up to this climate cririsis. amy: let's talk about the language that is used to describe the crisis. -- guardian recently wrote, the significance of how this is described, mark? >> sure. we're very hahappy to have the

guardian as our lead media partner in covering climate now. we chose them because they are the gold standard in climate coverage if you're looking for good coverage, that is a place to go. they have it on their front page every day. it is solid reporting, good analysis. they been cririticized, the guardian, by some of our colleagues in the media for using these terms as if this is somehow activist language. follow the science. if you follow the science, those terms are not activism. if you think that having 12 years to turn around the entire world economy, to get it off fossil fuels and to put it on to a climate-smart basis of solar, wind, and efficiency, if that is not an emergency, i don't know what is. the scientists said in that report the kinds of changes we need over the next 12 years are without precedence in human

history, meaning we have never made this big of a change this fast. if that is not a crisis, if that is not an emergency, i don't know what is. that is why the united nations secretary-general has consistently said we face a climate emergency. we feel as journalists our job is to be honest and straightforward about the facts. and the scientific facts here are very clear. this is a crisis situation. amy: talk about some of the leading stories that are coming out, the first exposes during this covering climate now week, and why you feel -- you just put out a piece today "a new beginning for climate reporting, this u.n. summit that is taken place before sent? where democracy now! and hopefully all of these organizations will be in december, why the september 23 climate action summit at the u.n. you feel is so important. >> sure.

secretary-general called the summit precisely because governments around the world are not living up to the pledges that they made in parisis in december 2015. we have an agreement among virtually every y government on earth that they would keep the temperature rise to "wellll belw two degrees celsius" and try to get to 1.5 degrees. that would require them as the scientists have said, dramatic shifts between now and 2030. in the secretary-general has called the summit becauause of e governments around the world are not living up to what they promomised to do. we a are still on track to weigh over two degrees, probably somewhere between three and five degrees of temperature rise, which would be an absolute catastrophe. so the secretary-general a summoning world leaders to new

york a day before the general simile meeting of the united nations to say, look, you've got to increase your ambitioion. you've got to raise your game. thancience is more serious we thought. frankly, i think the secretary-general is helping the summit, because of media coverage and because our pressure frorom the yououth activists,s, will force governments to do a better job of living up to their pledges. he has famously told the heads of state, don't bring a speech to the summit. bring a plan. in other words, no blah blah we usually have atblah u.n. meetings. shows examples that can be replicated around the world. there are so many solutions out there now that make economic sense. california, fifth biggest economy in the world, cacalifora is on track to meet these targets. it can be done.

but it is going to take a pushh and it really requires public pressure. amy: you are speaking to us from san francisco. president trump is expected to be in california in these next days doing his fundraisers. a proud climate change denier. your message for him as he comes to san francisco and los angeles? >> i wish that president trump would remember that i have a daughter, he has daughters, he prpresumably has grandchildren s well i think. we owe it to them to do better than this. i would just remind evereryone that donald trump said he pulled the u.s. out of the paris agreement. he has not. he cannot yet. that decision is for the next president. by the agreement itself, the u.s. cannot leave until one day after the 2020 presidentialal election. sue whoever americicans elect on november 3, 2020, that president will make the decision about

whether the u.s. stays in the paris agreement or not. , thank youertsgaard for being with us. he is the nation's environment investigativeand editor. he is the author of seven books, including "hot: living through the next fifty years on earth." tomorrow we will spend the hour with naomi klein. "e has a new book out called on fire: the burning case for a green new deal." had nororth back, we to alaska to president trump's efforts to drill in the arctic national wildlife refuge and what this means to the people and the environment of the area. stay with us. ♪ [music break]

amy: this is d democracy now!, i'm amy goodman. the trump administration is

finalizing plans to open one of the world's last pristine wilderness regions, the arctic national wildlife refuge, to oil and fracked gas drilling. the arctic refuge is rich in biodiversity, home to caribou, polar bears, musk oxen and other species. millions of migratory birds gather there from across the world and whales reside just offshore. it's also been home to generations of indigenous people for thousands of years. on thursday, the house of representatives voted to block the trump administration from opening up alaska's arctic national wildlife refuge, or anwr. the bill had the support of native alaskans who depend on migrating caribou herds for their susubsistence. members of the g gwich'in steerg committee traveled to washington, d.c., last week to lobby for the drilling ban. they said in a statement -- "the gwich'in and caribou have had a spiritual and cultural connection since time immemorial, the future of caribou and the future of the gwich'in are the same. harm to the caribou is harm to the gwich'in way of life."

a companion bill to ban drilling in anwr is not expected to pass the republican-controlled senate. meanwhilile, trump admininistran has announced its final plan to offer oil and gas lease sales across more than 1.5 million acres of anwr coastal plains. the plan calls for the creation of landing strips, drill pads, pipeline supports, a seawater treatment plant, 175 miles of roads, and other infrastructure in pristine wilderness along alaska's north coast. well, for more, we go now to charlotte, north carolina, where we are joined by subhankar banerjee, a professor of art and ecology at the university of new mexico. he is the author of "arctic national wildlife refuge: andons of life and land" editoror of "arctic voices: resistance at the tipping point." he is also the co-curator of "species in peril along the rio grande." subhankar banerjee, thank you

for being with us. can you talk about what the trump plans are for the arctic and what this means? you have just returned from india. >> good to be with you. i preface this by saying you did an excellent segment with mark on how the media has failed to cover the climate crisis. what we are talking about in the arctic national while f refuge is, even as i see it, bigger crisis than the time it crisis that is unfolding before us. the media has visibly failed to inform the public, which is the crisis of extinction. the scientists call it biological annihilation. earlier this year, the united nations released what is us, theed, for some of warning of human history that one million species on earth, of thes more than 50% document and species on the planet, is extinctition. many withihin decades. last year, the living planet report issued by the world

wildlife fund and the zoological society of london highlighted ,hat since 1970, globally vertebrates have declined on average. in the pacific, the second worst. ifif you take all of that, the biological annihilation i is the most expensive c crisis before s if you consider the number of cacasualties happenining right before us.s. it i is also the m most challeng one to mitigate because every aspect of modern life and its institutions are entangled with biological annihilation. that said, probabably the most ethical obligation before us is toto protect critical nurseries

and grounds where animals nurse their young. the coastal plains of the arctic national wildlife refuge that i have experienced personally in all seasons is one such nursery, the most significant o one a ane of the most important g globall. the trump admdministratioion, se taking office, aggresessively pursued to o open up the coastal ain to o and gas drilling. and what t thehave done is rushed a process that has been undemocratic and unlawful. president of the defenders of wildlife said following the vote last thursdaday and trump administrationon i issuing the l environment impact statement that the process they have

followed is "categorically unlawful." so last thursday was a historic vote in the house because two years ago, i spoke with you on thecracy now! following passage of the 2017 republican tax cuts and job at in which alaska senator lisa murkowski hijacked the budget consolatory .rocess following that, they have ,ndermined public participation even though 70% of the american public, according to a poll conducted by the university in 2017, opposed drilling in the arctic national wildlife refuge. they did not adequately consult with the indigenous communities, the gwich'in unities you mentioned, also other community members with whom i worked with

closely, they're concerned about food security, human rights, and cultural practices. werehey have physically released an environmental impact statement that is deeply flawed. politico published a very important investigative piece in which the highlight how the ,dministration has altered manipulated, and deleted information by their own scientists. there are three that are significant. three have complained formally. one on the polar bear assessment, one on the cultural impact to the indigenous communities, and one on fish. so thy are suppressing concerns and are basically about to destroy one of the world's

most important biological nurseries. this will not be allowed. we are fighting very hard and we will defeat them. amy: i want to turn to a longtime activist sheila watt-cloutier. she wrote the book, "the right to be cold: one woman's fight to protect the arctic and save the planet from climate change." i asked her about the trump administration's plans to open up a part of alaska's arctic refuge to oil drilling. >> our atmosphere is reacting from this trauma that we have been putting on to our planet. thisould we continue to do anywhere else e in the world, mh less in the arctic, that is been the most negatively impacted? what kind of logic or what kind of wisdom is that? and so, of course, it should not isthe arctic that once again

targeted to continue and to mamaintain a sustainable w way n which we have beenen goi.. it makes absolutelnono sen. no economic sense and no environmental sense. no health since. it does not make sense on any level. are any leaders in this world to move in the -- for any leaders in this world to move in a direction that will damage further the lands and way of life of indigenous peoples who have relied upon that for the ongoing of teaching, as i say -- because our lands -- that is our universities. about inhat we are all terms of that connection.. d direction in that of unsnsustainablele way to dame further what is pristine, what is precious to us because we protect what we love and we love our ways of life. we love our land and the air

that we breathe. and so the world has to start to make those connections for themselves as well and fall back in love with nature and with how -- the wonders of our world is and our planet. wise to go inot that direction. amy: sheila watt-c-cloutier. withssor, at this point, the trump administration saying they're pushing for more drilling and fracking in the arctic refuge, what are -- and yet you have a congress with its historic vote, what do you see as the next step? >> the next step is to administration will issue the record of decision within the next 30 days and will likely offer lease sales. one thing the public should know, this fight is only heating

up for in defense of protection. what will happen is that even though they may offer lease sales, all of the major big oil players have departed. --hell. s last month, bp sold their entire alaska operations to a small company in houston. not so small, that has a horrible record. in the last remaining major player in alaska's arctic slope has already announcnced that thy will not bid on lease sales that maybe offer -- so we are talking about -- amy: we have five seconds. >> a handful of companies but also legal. the administration has called -- legal challenges are coming.

vigilant andto be defeat them. amy: subhankar banerjee, thank you for being with us professor , of art and ecology at the university of new mexico. author of "arctic national wildlife refuge: seasons of life and land." ♪