joining us now, bill mckibben, founder of 350.org. bill mckibben, welcome to democracy now!r response to the state of the union last night. >> well, as you said, he barely mentioned and did not mention what is probably the single biggest problem facing the planet. that is because he doesn't think it is a problem. the president is under the illusion that climate change is a hoax invented by the chinese. i mean, bybout coal, this point everybody knows that clean coal is an oxymoron. the beautiful clean coal part was strange. it kind of perjury's impoverished fantasy -- portray impoverished fantasy or something. they be the scariest part was exxonmobil's plan to invest another $50 billllion, building network pipelines and yet more fossil fuel of a structure in this country that is clearly what president trump was to take us, clearly flying in the face, not only of climate change, but of the economics of energy which wants to send a straight in the direction of the sun and wind. this wasas very,y, very backward lolooking speech. not only on immigration,n, which was s horrible to

when you talk about the , theonment, bill mckibben guy who started 350.org, he said there is no way that we will ever be able to tackle climate change from a legislative perspective unless we first deal with money in politics and reduce the power of the influence industry. when the democrats have the house on the white house, they attempted to pass a cap and trade bill, which started as a conservative idea piloted by the heritage foundation, picked up by republicans over the years, and they couldn't get that done because the power of the call theislanders asked the -- coal and oil industry was just too strong. 15 blocks away, they spent $500 million trying to reduce obesity in america, on programs trying to reduce obesity in this country. at the same time, reuters came reporth an investigative about attempts at the state, local and federal level to reduce obesity through legislation. the conclusion of the report was that the sugar and fast food industry and corn industry have battle.y major whether it is a public health concern, an environmental concern, health care, serious reform on an

in response, 350.org co-founder bill mckibben tweeted -- "one of the biggest days in 30 years of the climate fight. earth's mightiest city now in full-on fight with its richest, most irresponsible industry." the trump administration has announced it's dropped plans to open up the waters off the coast of florida to off-shore oil and gas drilling, following fierce opposition by florida's republican governor rick scott. the announcement comes after the interior department moved last week to allow offshore oil and gas drilling in nearly all of the united states' coastal waters. the reversal of the obama-era restrictions would open more than one billion acres of water in the arctic, pacific, atlantic , and gulf of mexico. the reversal came after the interior secretary ryan zinke met with governor scott in florida. in louisiana, a middle school english teacher named deyshia hargrave was arrested in a now viral video after she stood up at a school board meeting and questioned why the superintendent was getting a raise when the teachers hadn't gotten a raise in years. h how are you going to

you know bill mckibben, the guy , who started 350.org, he said there is no way that we will ever be able to tackle climate change from a legislative wespective, d unless firste-rig the system -- we system, deal with the money in politics and reduce the power of the influence industry. in 2009, when the democrats have the house on the white house, they attempted to pass a cap and trade bill, which started as a conservative idea piloted by the heritage foundation, picked up by republicans over the years, and they couldn't get that done because the power of the call -- the coal and oil industry was just too strong. you could go on and on. think about this foundation here in washington about 15 blocks away they spent $500 million , trying to reduce obesity in america, on programs trying to reduce obesity in this country. right at the same time, reuters about the same time they said they were going to honor their $500 million pledge reuters came out with an , investigative report about attempts at the state, local and federal level to reduce obesity through legislation. and the conclusion of