we will speak with the former fcc commissioner michael copps. then we look at the crisis in venezuela as pope francis calls for dialogue between the maduro government and opposition leaders. >> i would like to assure this nation they are in my prayers and express my closeness to the families who have lost their children. i appeal for an end to the violence and a peaceful and democratic solution to the crisis. amy: we will host a debate on the crisis in venezuela. all that and more, coming up. welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. scientists are warning that the earth's sixth mass extinction is already underway. in a new study published in the journal "proceedings of the national academy of sciences," the researchers said billions of populations of animals have disappeared from the earth amid what they called a biological annihilation. they said the findings were worse than previously thought. the scientists say the main causes of the mass extinction of wildlife is human overpopulation and over-co