first i want to go to ththe mckibben speaking at the first hearing a wednesday. >> i am bill mckibben from the green mountain state of vermont. it is good to be here in what is the hottest year we have ever recorded on this planet. great pleasure for me the last few times i have come to washington, d.c., have ended up in jail, so this is a much nicer -- [laughter] a much nicer surroundings. we're in a country with a lot of people who are distrustful of our political system. and i hohope that as a committe, we are able to provide them with some reasons to be less distrustful going forward. amy: michelle chan, talk about what is being hammered out. larry cohen just mentioned a very different platform, democratic platform. what does that look like now? what are you recommending? >> from the environmental point of view, we hope we can sesee through ththe platform,m, the didifferences we have se betwewn bernie s sanders and hillary clininton on environment issues. one of the huge differences betweenn t the two is with respt to fracking. sanders has b been clear from te beginning that he su

coolll mckibben from the and verdant mountains of vermont. >> senior policy advisor for hillary clinton. honor to be here. rep. cummings: thank you very much. howard berman could not be with us here today. keith ellison and carol browner will be joining us later in the .roceedings again, i want to thank all of the committee members for being a part of this very important committee. also seated with us are two of the many individuals giving our staff support throughout this weekend. andrew grossman and patrice taylor. andrew is a national platform director. patrice is the director of the dnc office of party affairs and delegate selection. the staff has been absolutely wonderful, done a tremendous job. let me take a moment also to thank debbie wasserman schultz for her tremendous leadership. she and i have been talking almost every day trying to make sure these proceedings are transparent, open, and fair. i want to thank her for her tremendous leadership. finally, i'm pleased to .ntroduce our parliamentarian hopefully, she will not have too much work to do. dnc'smcfadden is the parliament

mckibben: i take your point about the environmental racism. in the case of flint, i would underscore it by reference to the fact that the emergency ,anager made these decisions one of eight emergency managers across michigan which somehow had been imposed on the city where there are majority black populations. no coincidence. also the financial dimensions of what we learned in flint. would you concur that in addition to the racial dimension of it, there is also the austerity economic policy at the root of the short sighted decisions that were made in flint, the systematic over a period of years, depletion of state aid to cities, not just flint, but other cities in michigan, that played a role in the optionsing available, and then they made this terrible decision to save a few bucks by diverting from the previous water supply that has caused this calamity that's going to last for years and , and the kids going up will grow up with that led? but the crucial decisions are , also crucial here, that we need to reinvest in the infrastructure of our

mckibben. add heibben: you could started turning green in his role as the hulk. [laughter] mr. mckibben: mark, just to make absolutely clear, sometimes there are people who have described natural gas as clean energy for america. could you describe what you mean by clean energy and could you talk about the campaign you help wage about fracking in new york state, ultimately successful with governor cuomo's cooperation? mark ruffalo: sure. for a long time, people in the environmental movement felt natural gas was going to be the bridge fuel to the future. but what we came to find out and what science has consequently proof is natural gas is a gangplank to a more rapidly changing climate. natural gas is 100 times more damaging a greenhouse gas, heat trapping gas, than co2 in a 70-year period, which makes it particularly dangerous. to keep seem to be able it from leaking no matter how hard we try and where we try to do it. we thought weins were making by transitioning to natural gas have basically exploded in our faces. accidenthink it is any climate change is -- has accelerated muc

. >> i am bill mckibben from vermont. it is good to be here in what is the hottest year that we have ever recorded on this planet. it is a great pleasure for me. the last few times that i have come to washington dc i have ended up in jail. so this is a much nicer surrounding and we are in a country with a lot of people that are distrustful of our political system and i hope that as a committee we are able to provide them with some reasons in order to be less distrustful going forward. >> i am a advisor for hillary clinton and i am honored to be here. >> thank you very much to all of our committee members. it is a tremendous honor to serve with all of you. and so i would like to note that one of our members is not able to join us today. but she will be with us tomorrow. wendy, as many of you know is an expert and she will be joining us again in the morning. also seeded with us are two of the many individuals who are giving us support throughout the weekend andrew grossman and ms. taylor. and so many folks are not going to

i just want to insert one point, and i feel my friend bill mckibben on stage with me now who is fighting a sweaty phoenix hotel room, trying to get the best language in the democratic party platform possible, trying to make sure it has strong anti-fracking language and strong language be counting out new fossil fuel leases on federal land. he has been there. and if he were here, and he wishes he was, you know what he would say? we have got a deadline, folks. yes, we are winning, but we do not have all the time in the world. the thing about climate change is, you know, whoever the next to power is, they come with their backs up against the wall when it comes to climate change, which means there is no honeymoon, baby. chance, no give her a you know? i mean, we have to be in their demanding no new fossil fuel infrastructure. we need to build the infrastructure of the future. [applause] money.il fuel we're going to shame them for every dollar they take from an oil and gas company. [cheers and applause] yes, we are to make it toxic. i may writer, and i think deadlines help. this is the thing

. >> bill mckibben from the non battleground state of vermont. [ laughter ] >> maya harris, senior policy adviser for hillary clinton. honored to be here. >> thank you very much. as we move into session two, moving america forward: education, jobs and the economy, we will hear recommendations, concerns and solutions for ensuring successful america's families. we want our children to succeed in school, but we also want them to succeed in life, and we want to make sure that all men and women have access to jobs and economic opportunities that are fair and equal. the issues we will discuss this morning are particularly personal for me. while my parents had limited opportunities for education, they knew it was important for me, and i benefited greatly from that. the democratic party is a force for educational opportunity and equity. when medicare and social security are under attack by the republicans, it's the democrats who consistently stand up for our seniors to make sure that they are protected. people working harder and harder and still making less. they have to pay rent, and too many ar

she is working on recommendations fofor enenvironmentalist andnd 350.org co-fouounder bill mckibben, onef sanders' selectitions on the democratic platform drafting committee.