you can visit democracynow.org for in-depth coverage of rio plus 20.20 seconds. ♪ [music break] ♪ [music break] >> this is "democracy now!," democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. the rio plus 20 earth summit has concluded. we return to our conversation with david suzuki. i spoke to him about the largest u.n. conference ever and asked him about his own family background and how he became the renowned environmentalist he is today. >> i was born in vancouver, british columbia in 1936. i am with japanese called a third generation canadian. i father and -- mother and father had never been out of canada. they could not vote until after world war ii. when the war happened, although we were full canadians by birth, we were regarded as enemy aliens as for japanese americans. we were incarcerated in camps. as the war was coming to an end, we were told we could either sign up and get a one-way ticket to japan, for us was a foreign country, or get out of british columbia and go east to the rockies. because we only knew canada, we went east t

we're going to rio plus 20, rio de janeiro in brazil to talk about the largest u.n.it on climate change ever. stay with us. ♪ [music break] ♪ [music break] >> this is "democracy now!," democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman with nermeen shaikh. >> these are meeting in brazil for the start of the rio plus 20 earth summit, the largest united nations conference ever. the conference comes 20 years after the u.n. earth summit in rio de janeiro pledged to protect the planet by endorsing treaties on biodiversity and climate change. little has been done in the intervening years to reach developing goals in areas like food security, water, global warming, and energy. you and environment program executive director said leaders had to show more commitment now than they did 20 years ago. >> 20 years after rio, after all the negative trends we've described, we cannot stand before people and claim the last 20 years have succeeded in turning these trends around. >> all the negotiators have already agreed on a draft document to be approved by world leaders, many

. >> we were talking about rio plus 20. this next week is stockholm plus 40. the first science-driven talk about global sustainability is getting in stockholm. their predictions of what would happen 40 years before 1972, if nothing was done to help the environment or the current state of the world. what's new now and where are we moving in stockholm plus 40 conference next week? >> who wants to tackle this one? >> their predictions 40 years ago, it's worse now than they predicted. i have been focusing on rio plus 20 because the united nations focused on that. you are right. that's where it began. we are worse off than the predictions 40 years ago. time to take action and time for sacrifice by the way. i know people think that perhaps we shouldn't ask the american people to sacrifice very much from just about anything these days, but we have to sacrifice. we have to sacrifice our old ideas. i was involved in the first day in 1970 for stockholm plus 40 conversations. the really important thing that is missing right now that was available in 1970. when the first

and they're ready to launch it into the world as the -- in preparation for rio plus 20. we haven't talked about the failures of rio 20 years ago. a lot of wonderful things happened 20 years ago. i mean we had negotiated agreements around sustainable development. and then nothing happened. so here it is 20 years later, we're getting ready for rio plus 20. and we need something that is going to push people into action. so this is -- so we're trying this with the gross national happiness index, which is a very sophisticated index of human progress and development. hopefully we're going to be able -- and i want all of you to help. i'm going to be saying this at every panel i'm on this week. hopefully we'll be able to get this on every agenda at rio, which starts in just, i think about eight weeks, it's in june. so i wanted to mention that. we have to change hearts and minds. and we're trying to figure out how to do this. in the panel that i was on yesterday, i got a question from the floor about how do we change hearts and minds? how do you change the habits and the mind sets

final round of negotiations begin in rio today to produce a draft agreement ahead of next week's rio plu 20 summit. the summit will discuss issues such as water and food security, a fossil fuel subsidies, but many world leaders are expected to stay away while they tend to economic crises at home. hundreds of firefighters are tackling a wildfire in the u.s. state of colorado, which has left at least one person dead. the blaze near fort collins has spread to an area nearly 110 square kilometers. half of america's firefighting airplanes are fighting to control the fire. >> it is one of the biggest wildfires colorado has ever seen, and it is still burning out of control. the warm weather and high winds have spread it quickly across dry hillside. flames have been dropping flame retardant to try to stop the fire from spreading. some big water tanker aircraft have been grounded from the winds. many homes have already been destroyed. hundreds of extra firefighters have been drafted in, trying to contain the blaze. >> we have not turned a corner yet on this. however, we have made progress. before

she is the former minister for energy and environment of barbados and now the coordinator at rio plus 20 for developing countries. we asked her for her bottom line of what needs to come out of rio. >> some of the other things i think we'll definitely come away with are agreement on issues like water, and energy and food security, which are all very important. how do we do it in three days? the truth is that the process is already very much ongoing. we've been negotiating now at the government level since january of this year. fossil fuel interests are powerful and entrenched. and it is easy to live with what we already know. it's easier to remain where you are than to get up and go somewhere else. so that change is never easy. there is some lip service, but i think that the market itself is driving changes. you have the fact that consumers are making choices which are more environmentally safe, which are more environmentally sound. there is a whole movement toward whole food and organic products and goods and services from ethical locations or where ethical practices have been used in

s rio plus 20 conference on sustainable development starts next week in rio de janeiro. chinese delegates are among those trying to balance economic growth with environmental concerns. nhk world's susumu koijima takes us to a place where a tourism boom is threatening an important natural resource. >> reporter: one of the most popular tourist destinations in china is lijiang in yunan province. this asian town dating back some 800 years is now a unesco world heritage site. another popular tourist site is a nature reserve about ten kilometers from beijing. it's an important habitat with more than 70 species of birds. it is now listed under the convention for conserving wetlands. recently it's become popular with city people keen for a break from the pressures of life. >> translator: when i am here, i feel free from all the stress from my work and life. >> reporter: but there is growing concern about the rapid increase in the number of visitors. he set up an ngo nearly ten years ago to protect the environment around the site. chen is worried that the huge amount of garbage l

s rio plus 20 conference on sustainable development starts next week in rio de janeiro. chinese delegates are among those trying to balance economic growth with environmental concerns. nhk world's susumu kojima takes us to a place where a tourism boom is threatening an important natural resource. >> reporter: one of the most popular tourist destinations in china is lijiang in yunan province. this asian town dating back some 800 years is now a unesco world heritage site. another popular tourist site is a nature reserve about ten kilometers from lijiang. it's an important habitat with more than 70 species of birds. it is now listed under the convention for conserving wetlands. recently it's become popular with city people keen for a break from the pressures of life. >> translator: when i am here, i feel free from all the stress from my work and life. >> reporter: but there is growing concern about the rapid increase in the number of visitors. chen set up an ngo nearly ten years ago to protect the environment around the site. chen is worried that the huge amount of garbage

protests continue at the rio plus 20 u.n. conference on sustainable development in brazil. on thursday, civil society delegates staged a walkout of the talks to call for bold action against global warming. meanwhile, hundreds of indigenous activists marched through the streets to deliver a petition demanding fairer treatment over land and other rights. >> what we are concerned about is that mother earth is not for sale. mother earth is not a commodity to be traded on the trading system. the trees are not for sale. >> indigenous leader tom gold tooth. speaking to world leaders inside the summit, the bolivian president called on rich western countries to change their attitudes toward the world's ecosystem. >> it is not possible that the so-called 200, 300-year-old civilization is able to destroy the harmonia's life that the indigenous people have lived for 5000 years. this shows the enormous difference between the eastern nations, the south countries, and especially the social movement that lives in harmony with other earth. >> to see our coverage of the rio plus 20 summit, g

. >>> 50,000 people are expected to attend the rio plus 20 conference including the leaders of 150 countries and representatives ngos and the private sector. >>> people in jap's northeast are focused on overcoming the challenges of the 2011 disaster but it won't be easy. they have to rebuild homes, businesses, entire communities. we'll show you their struggles and their successes on he roa aahead" every wednesday at 1:00 p.m. japan time here on "newsline." >>> the japanese government has admitted to another case of withholding reliable data about the fukushima accident. the u.s. government offered the japanese government a map showing the spread of radiation soon after the nuclear accident occurred at fukushima daiichi. however, the japanese authorities did not release the data to the public. the u.s. energy department created the map using data collected by u.s. aircraft from march 17th to 19th last year. it shows radiation spreading northwest from the accident site. energy department provided the map to the japanese foreign ministry on march 18th and 20th. after that the ministry passed on

conference on sustainable development known as rio plus-20 opened on wednesday at the 20th anniversary of the groundbreaking earth summit in rio de janeiro. the leaders are discussing how to make the transition to a green economy, or eco-friendly economic development. the conference is split between industrialized and developing nations. poorer countries fear that the transition may restrict their economic freedom. the difficulty of bridging that gap means the final text on friday will likely contain no specific road map for the green economy. >>> japan's diet has enacted a law to provide compensation for accidents involving tankers transporting crude oil from iran. the move was made in response to eu sanctions, banning insurance on shipments of iranian oil. the law unanimously passed the upper house planary commission on monday. japanese shipping companies that operate oil tankers typically seek insurance policies from japanese or european insurers for coverage in the case of oil spills or other serious accidents. but concerns have been growing about japan's oil imports from iran, aft

all right so let's get to what you might not know it or you do now a currently the rio plus twenty conference is taking place and marks twenty years since the earth summit in one thousand nine hundred two for hope and optimism were in full force it took just days to negotiate an agreement that later would lead to the kyoto protocol this time around things are a little different world leaders like barack obama and bill are merkel and david cameron they won't be in attendance the global economy is in crisis is the top priority of the g twenty along with of course a lot of people in the middle east and the final draft release of the sustainability conference is already gotten its fair share of critique it's been presented tomorrow but word is that it's not going to contain any timetables definitions or ways to monitor new sustainable development goals and as the guardian wrote instead civil society groups say if the new tech simply acknowledges the world's dire environmental and social problems without spelling out how to deal with them to the environment on the back burner once again here to di

do you know what the rio plus twenty conferences. you know other than a two minute back i don't someone you do you somewhat ok so it's an earth summit that's happening right now where world leaders are meeting so do you think that the environment a big issue right now yes so i read you some of your sponsors and then you tell me what you think why has the ability to commit to environmental protections changed in the last twenty years well people on you tube wrote in to say nobody wants to commit to environmental protection because the big dogs all think it's frivolous do you agree. i don't feel that this issue is frivolous i do they by i do think that law society is changing in the past twenty or so years and up on facebook wrote in to say an unrelenting campaign by various industries and their lobbyists is what's keeping environmental protections from being enacted do you agree with that meat alex possibility do you think there are other pressing issues happening right now that's why environments on a backseat get in the soldiers hom

rio. next week is actually stockholm plus 40. the first big major science driven talk about global sustainability is again in stockholm and their predictions for what would happen 40 years from 1972, if nothing was done to help the environment or the current state of the world. so, what is new now? where are we moving in the stockholm plus 40 conference next week? >> who wants to tackle this one? >> you know their predictions 40 years ago, it's worse now than they predicted actually. so you know i've been focused on rio plus 20 because the united nations focused on that but you're absolutely right. that is where it began. here we are, worse off than even the predictions 40 years ago. so it's time to take action and it's time for sacrifice by the way. i know people think that perhaps we shouldn't ask the american people to sacrifice very much for just about anything these days but we have to sacrifice. we have to sacrifice our old ideas. >> i would like to add to that if i may. i was involved in the first earth day, 1970 around th

here it is rio plus 20 and they have done very little. federal governments and even state governments within countries basically have been immobilized by conflicting interest, conflicting views of what science is and the ability to -- the inability to lead. they are immobilized because they don't want to take tough votes and alienate half of the constituency. mayors don't have that luxury. mayors are responsible to the people every single day. the press is there. people can see the results. they hold the mayors accountable. so if you look, all the improvements in education or fighting crime or the environment, the pressure for change in immigration laws, the pressure to get rid of guns in america or on the streets, these all come from may yors. >> take the issue of greenhouse gas emissions. you've taken a very strong position. you're really trying to move it down. you want new york to have lower and lower greenhouse gas emissions. >> yes. >> you know this is a subject of great controversy in the united states. what do you as a businessman

to tell us how despite this ridiculous argument house committee reauthorized pfizer today and the rio plus twenty conference is going on in brazil but thanks distractions like the global economy and a lack of desire to commit it just looks like the stage is set for yet another failed environmental conference we're going to have all of that morphia tonight including a dose of happy hour but first let's take a look what the mainstream media decided to miss. so despite covering some world affairs that are going on the mainstream media is still devoting a considerable amount of time to the presidential race and that's despite the fact that there really isn't all that much to talk about so what do they do well they create a story out of a no on story. so much for romney rubio take has there been some reports this morning that former senator marco rubio who is of course just on everybody's short list from b.p. hasn't been vetted yet by the romney campaign he has not been asked to fill out papers to be vetted as a vice presidential candidate he is not currently being vetted not in contention rubi

rio plus 20 is a global and environmental checkup. th summit in rio, world leaders promised to take action to protect the planet. one speaker stole the show with her impassioned plea to the world. shasta darlington has the story. >> reporter: a quick internet search of the name suzuki brings back more 00,000 hits. all because of the speech the 12-year-old gave to a room full of world leaders at the first united nations earth summit. >> in my life, i have dream of seeing the great herds of wild animals, jungles and rain forests full of birds and butterflies. but now i wonder if they will even exist for my children to see. >> her words had such impact, her name is mentioned at earth summits years later. >> definitely surprised by the notoriety. i mean, who would imagine that people would still be talking about a six-minimum speech that a 12-year-old girl gave so long ago. >> reporter: we met suzuki at rio plus 20 marking the 20th year of earth summits and taking place in the same city where suzuki first gave that iconic speech. the canyo

environment program encouraged activists to seize on the report's findings ahead of the key three rio plus summit this month. >> active is preparing to come to the summit to protest and also lament the inaction that we have seen, to open up a second fund and take a report like this and say -- answer to the public. >> the supreme court has refused to hear a challenge to a case accusing four of protests with the private military firm blackwater of killing civilians in the 2007 massacre at baghdad's nissour square. an appeals court reinstated the case last year after a lower court dismissed it in 2009. the blackwater operative or charge for the deaths of 14 of the 17 iraqi civilians who died when the copper tips indiscriminately opened fire. a reporter for the chicago- based magazine has filed a lawsuit after he was prevented from questioning the ceo of the industrial giant honeywell. the reporter began asking about the gas leak and a honeywell plant in illinois when the microphone was seized from his hand. >> on may 14, there's a 7 and release of gas and it and qualified engineer working on

rio plus 20 summit coming in on environmental sustainability and then also not to mention the 2014 worlde 2016 olympic games. but the government is saying there's alternative ways to handling this trash and what we want to do is find more sustainable ways that are not as harmful to the environment. as you can see, it does lead into the bay there and there is a lot of pollution that can have ramifications for -- on a grand scale. >> i'm amazed at how big those buzzards are. they're as big as those people there. unbelievable. is that first -- look. that is not the first time this received international attention. >> it's not. there is a film in 2010 that was oscar nominated film called "wasteland" that got a lot of attention on this area because of the workers that work there. and they look for recyclable items. it is a whole economy built around this landfill. so the question is, okay, so the government wants to reallocate the trash elsewhere. they're going to lose jobs. the other question is you can't change a generation -- like decades of behavior overnight. so what happens? we'll have

he's just back from the real trust -- rio plus 20 summit.u.s., the limit demonstration has granted permission for part of the southern leg of the keystone xl pipeline from oklahoma to refineries in the gulf coast. bill, from rio to the xl to the wild fires of colorado, hold forth. >> today is one of those days when you understand what the early parts of the global warming era will look like. we have the first -- for the first time in history, we have managed to get the fourth tropical storm of the before july. debby is dropping record amounts of total across florida. in colorado, they have evacuated not only parts of the air force academy, but just evacuate it -- to the ironic -- the headquarters of the national center for atmospheric research outside boulder, or at least part of it, because that is the place for the most important climate science in the place is going on. the most destructive fires in colorado history and, after the warmest weather ever recorded there. you could do the same exercise all over the planet today. this is what i

for many rio plus 20 has already failed.hey eliminated financial commitments and other contentious issues. >> if the end game friday night is what we have on the table today the result is more poverty, more conflict and more environmental destruction. >> reporter: on rios's scenic beaches the indigenous tribes formed a banner to have a greener future. the chief told us that the summit is an important opportunity for his people to be heard. but critics say it risks going down in history as rio minus 20. the best measure of success will be what actions if any governments take to ensure a sustainable future once it is over. shasta janeiro. >> and turning trash to food. calcium rich tums goes to work in seconds. nothing works faster. ♪ tum tum tum tum tums who have used androgel 1%, there's big news. presenting androgel 1.62%. both are used to treat men with low testosterone. androgel 1.62% is from the makers of the number one prescribed testosterone replacement therapy. it raises your testosterone levels, and... is concentrated

rio plus 20.we're still further behind than ever. the science is screaming at us and the planet is sending us an s.o.s. we obviously fail to be held accountable or toempt kbr the commitments we put in place 20 years ago. i spoke earlier of the need to take advantage of the green energy economy. our best economists say that to ward off catastrophic climate change, the green revolution has to happen three times faster than the industrial revolution did. that's why america and the rest. world are facing this moment of truth. will restep up an put in place the policies that galvanized our green entrepreneurs, that reenergize the economy and tackle climate change all at the same time? we are the country that invented solar and wind technology. but the germans, the japanese, and the chinese are the ones who are developing it. it is a tragedy. accelerating the tran significance to a new energy paradigm is the most important single step the world can take in order to reduce the threat of climate change. i

we'll have still more from rio with ross just after the break. >>> plus, a preview of what to expectng day. with the spark cash card from capital one, olaf's pizza palace gets the most rewards of any small business credit card! pizza!!!!! [ garth ] olaf's small business earns 2% cash back on every purchase, every day! put it on my spark card! [ high-pitched ] nice doin' business with you! [ garth ] why settle for less? great businesses deserve the most rewards! awesome!!! [ male announcer ] the spark business card from capital one. choose unlimited rewards with 2% cash back or double miles on every purchase, every day! what's in your wallet? >>> welcome back to >>> welcome back to "worldwide exchange" this morning. these are your headlines today. the federal reserve may launch a fresh round of monetary stimulus. at the conclusion of the two-day meeting this afternoon in the u.s. >>> a close call. the bank of england's governor is outvoted as policymakers vote 5-4 to keep kwan taiftive easing unchanged to june. >>> procter & gamble is cutting forecast citing weaker than demand in deve

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. >> plus facebook picking up two big-name advertisers in its fears over the on-side ad efficiency, so good gm have it all wrong? that's next. >>> rio invest $4.2 billion to develop the tier 1 iron ore business, focusing on projects to generation, and are resilient under any probable scenario. geez, isn't that what we're always looking for in returns? >> the embattled blackberry maker research in motion confirming the rumored layoffs, cease head count reduction. r.i.m. previously said it would save money by -- analysts expect 2,000 to 3,000 jobs in total. >>> kate kelly reportic that it's sewed off nearly -- the bank has sold the majority of its long holds in the cdx ig-9 ten-year index, we still don't know the exact size of that loss. that is yet to be seen when the company reports its earnings, but jpmorgan shares are up right now. when you look at the trading patterns, how many stocks have leaned into that stock? rich peterson sent me this stat, since june 12th, jup morgan has added $8.7 million, so quite a nice turnaround, but against a big market rally. let's not forget. what i this i is interesting behind the scenes traitoff h

the world leaders are gathering in rio day janeiro right now they're down there gathering at the rio plus 20 sustainable development conference. let's remember what happened 20 years ago. 1992, the conference in rio where they all got together and they were going to be doing all these things on gases and all of that. president obama who is now pretending to be a fossil fuel president to garner votes will not be attending but he is sending his green team to negotiate on his behalf. what is this conference really about? as fox news reported back in april, -- quote -- "the main goal of the much-touted rio plus 0 united nations conference on sustainable development is to makes dramatic and enormous changes in, as one of the documents put it, a fundamental shift in the way we think and act. utility mact is huge part of this effort to change the way we live and to spread the wealth around." and that's what they're talking about down there. we start invoking new tax system. it was secretary-general of the u.n., he proposes how sustainable development changes must be addressed. he included, i'm q