Transcripts For KCSM Democracy Now 20141117

Then to the keystone xl pipeline. On friday the house approved construction, the senate is expected to vote tomorrow. The bill is backed by louisiana democratic senator who is facing a runoff next month. If the bill passes, will obama veto it . We will speak to naomi klein, author of, this changes everything capitalism vs. The climate. You look at obama who for three years has been spinning his wheels over the keystone xl pipeline. You just cant bring himself to just say no to this project that now has so many liabilities and isnt necessary to fuel the u. S. Economy, but it just seems like the word no cant seem to escape his mouth. And then meltdown terror at the top of the world. We will hear the story of seven american hikers who win on a Wilderness Adventure the polar bear country in Canadas Arctic tundra. Everything changed about polar bears for me. Polar bears have become such an icon for global warming, but they are cute and adorable and furry and that is not who they are. They are the top of the food chain. They are predators. As we destroy their habitat, were destroying this am believably magnificent animal. All that and more, coming up. Welcome to democracy now, democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. The Islamic State militant group has beheaded us aid worker peter kassig. A video released sunday shows the mass beheadings of a group of syrian soldiers, followed by an image of kassigs severed head. Unlike four previous videos involving american and british hostages, this video does not show the actual execution or any statement by kassig. The shift has caused speculation kassig may have resisted and managed to disrupt the filming. Kassig, who was 26, converted to islam in captivity and was also known as abdulrahman. He was a u. S. Army ranger who deployed to iraq in 2007 and later founded an aid group to help syrian refugees. Obama called the killing pure evil. A top u. S. Military officer joint chiefs of staff general martin dems he made a surprise trip to iraq over the weekend. History came two days after he told a house panel was considering sending combat troops back to iraq. A new analysis of mainstream tv news has found there was almost no debate about whether the United States should go to war in iraq and syria. More than 200 guess that appeared on Major Networks and found that of the more than 200 guests who appeared to discuss military options in iraq and syria in in afghanistan, a female Parliament Member who advocates for womens rights has survived an assassination attempt. Shukria barakzai was slightly wounded and three other people, including a young girl, were killed in the suicide bombing. In a separate incident, a u. S. Soldier was killed in kunduz province, reportedly from small arms fire during a combat operation. In burkina faso, a former foreign minister and ambassador to the United Nations has been tapped to lead the countrys transition to elections following a military takeover. The army seized power on last month amidst mass protests that ended the 30year rule of president blaise campaore. Michel kafando will serve as interim president until elections to be held within the next year. In texas, federal investigators have launched a probe after a toxic chemical leak killed four workers at a dupoint plant. The workers were killed by a leak of methyl mercaptan, which is used to make insecticides. Plant manager Randall Clements said the cause of the leak is unknown. Crooks is with deep regret im here today to inform you that today we lost four of our family members. We had the incident this morning that resulted in exposure of five employees, four of which were fatally exposed. The fit is in the hospital and expected to make a full recovery. We will continue to cooperate with local authorities and make sure we investigate this fully. We will find the cause. House lawmakers have passed legislation to approve the Keystone Xl Oil pipeline, which would bring carbonintensive Tar Sands Oil from Alberta Canada to the texas gulf coast. The senate is expected to vote this week on a similar measure. Well have more on keystone later in the broadcast with journalist and author naomi klein. Another crude oil train has derailed in casselton, north dakota. The town was the site of a prior derailment in december when a train carrying volatile oil from the bakken shale caught fire, prompting the evacuation of half the town. This time the oil cars were empty, so there was no explosion. Halliburton has agreed to buy baker hughes in a 34. 6 billion deal that will see the two Major Oil Companies merge. The company will keep the name halliburton and be led by halliburton ceo david lesar. The state department shut down its email system in an unprecedented move following a data breach. The breach follows similar attacks announced in recent weeks at the white house, postal service, and National Oceanic and atmospheric administration. In japan, voters on the island of okinawa have elected a new governor who opposes the construction of a new u. S. Military base. Takeshi onaga, a former mayor, has ousted the current governor, hirokazu nakaima, who was backed by japans ruling party. Nakaima supported plans to move futenma airbase to a new, stateoftheart facility. But onaga says the base should be expelled from the island. Okinawa is home to about twothirds of the 50,000 u. S. Troops stationed in japan. For decades, residents have called for the expulsion of u. S. Troops, citing Environmental Concerns and sexual assaults. World leaders have wrapped up the g20 summit in brisbane, australia, where economic Climate Change top the agenda. President obama unveiled a 3 billion pledge to help poorer countries deal with Climate Change, a step friends of the earth called, a step in the right direction [that] falls far short of what is actually needed. French president Francoise Hollande said leaders made progress ahead of next months u. N. Climate summit in lima, peru. Lima, the location of the next Climate Change conference, will be a very important step, to be achieved before we all meet in paris to fund a global agreement, which gives a chance for our planet to avoid the warming which could reach three or four degrees celsius, according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change experts, which could trigger disastrous and even wars. Way to avoid conflict and disasters is to make decisions. Russian president Vladimir Putin left the g20 summit early amidst criticism over russias involvement in ukraine. In india, victims of the deadly bhopal gas leak have won a major victory weeks before the disasters 30th anniversary. Five women launched a Hunger Strike last week to demand the Indian Government expand its compensation claim against Union Carbide over the catastrophic leak at its pesticide plant. Amnesty International Says an indian official agreed to demands including a revision of the governments claim only about 5,000 people were killed and another 5,000 disabled. Campaigners say the actual death toll is about 23,000, with more than half a million more poisoned. The toxic legacy continues to this day as both Union Carbide and its current owner, dow chemical, have refused to pay for cleanup. A new report finds the federal government has fast expanded its use of undercover agents with officers from at least 40 agencies posing in roles ranging from welfare recipients to protesters. The New York Times reports these of undercover officers has expanded to virtually every corner of the federal government, including the department of education, nasa, and the smithsonian. Police disguise themselves as due to protesters at demonstrations over issues like abortion. Ferguson, missouri newly released video footage , shows the Police Officer who shot unarmed africanamerican teenager Michael Brown threatening and arresting a resident for filming him last year. The video posted to youtube shows officer Darren Wilson after he arrived at a home to serve a summons. The resident asks his name and wilson threatens to lock [his] ass up. Listen carefully. What is your name, sir . [inaudible] sir, i am recording this incident, sir. Do i not have the right to record . Come on. Sir, you just the resident, mike arman, was then arrested. The st. Louis postdispatch meanwhile has released Police Dispatch audio from the day Michael Brown was shot. It shows the Fatal Shooting took place in less than 90 seconds. The paper also released Surveillance Footage which shows gear and wilson leaving the Police Station for the hospital two hours after the shooting, the returning a few hours later. Attorneys for Michael Browns family say it shows initial claims wilson was injured in the counter were exaggerated. The grand jurys decision on whether to indict Darren Wilson the shooting come any day now. And those are some of the headlines, this is democracy now, democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman with juan gonzalez. Welcome to all our listeners and viewers from around the country and around the world. We begin todays show with news that president obama is considering taking an executive action that would protect up to five million undocumented immigrants from deportation. According to news reports, obama obamas executive actions will not provide any formal, lasting immigration status but many immigrants will receive work permits, which will give them Social Security numbers and allow them to work legally under their own names. Another key component could prevent the deportation of parents whose children are u. S. Citizens. Speaking at a News Conference in burma obama vowed to take action , by the end of the year. I believe america is a nation of immigrants. Everybody agrees the system is broken. There has been ample opportunity for congress to pass a bipartisan immigration bill that would strengthen our borders, improve the Legal Immigration system, that millions of people out of the shadows so they are paying taxes and getting right by the law. It passed out of the senate. I gave the house over a year to go ahead and at least get a vote to the senate bill. They failed to do so. I indicated to Speaker Boehner several months ago that if in fact commerce failed to act, i would use all Lawful Authority that i possess to make the system work better. And that is going to happen. That will happen before the end of the year. President obama speaking friday. Republican House Speaker john boehner has vowed to fight any such action tooth and nail. Meanwhile, last week, the National Day Laborer organizing network filed a lawsuit against the department of Homeland Security over obamas Record Number of deportations. The group says the agency violated the law by failing to respond to a rulemaking petition seeking relief for millions of undocumented immigrants. Before we go to our first guest, juan, talk about the significance of president obamas words and plans. The president clearly made he made the statement right after the election that this is the direction he was going to go to. But what happened on friday, it is becoming clearer it is going to happen sooner rather than later as we head to the end of the year. But i think the key thing being missed is the numbers being bandied about between 2. 7 and 5. 3 million undocumented, that number includes the 1. 2 million young people that are already under a protected status or deferred deportation under daca. It is a much more modest number we are talking about. And the difference is, it is still a question of what plan president obama takes. Whether he will require the parents of u. S. Citizen children to have been here at least 10 years or five years, which would affect the final number. And whether he will include the parents of the daca young people who have artery received a deferred deportation situation. And of course, this is tempered because congress can change it at any moment. I think it is a pretty modest proposal, whichever way president obama goes because even at the most expansive plan, which would be about 5. 3 million people, that is still less than half of the undocumented that are in the country currently. President obama having said in the past he is not king, sort of raising questions about whether he would issue an executive order. He certainly has changed his tune. I think there is been no question that he signaled from the beginning of the year, pretty much, that he was at some point going to act if congress did not. So i think he is merely following through on what his initial promise to the congress was, if the republicans could not pass an immigration bill remember, the senate bill that was passed more than a year ago, if there is not in a company bill by the house by the end of december, that bill will be void. And both the senate and house would have to start all over again in january. For more we go to chicago where we are joined by two people who could be directly impacted by president obamas executive order on immigration, Rosi Carrasco and her daughter, Ireri Unzueta carrasco. Rosi carrasco is a member of organized communities against deportations. We first interviewed her when she was about to get arrested at the Democratic National convention in 2012, calling for president obama to stop deportations. Here to ask president obama what his legacy will be. Will he be president that has the courage that must people in u. S. History or will he recognize our dignity and our right to organize . Arrest. , were risking that was Rosi Carrasco in 2012. At that point, she had lived in the United States for 18 years. Now it has been 20 years. She is originally from mexico, and came out as undocumented after her daughters did so first. She is one of the parents of the socalled dreamers who could potentially benefit from obamas executive action proposal. And Ireri Unzueta carrasco is an undocumented immigrant and recipient of the deferred action program. Shes also a member of organized communities against deportations and undocumented illinois. The daughter of rosi. Welcome both of you to democracy now. Can you respond to the latest news of the possible issue of executive order by president obama . For having us. This is something that we have been fighting for. Weve been organizing for. I think it is a step in the right direction. President obama will do what he needed to do a longtime. I know he can grant the deferred action. It tolly, he will expand cover as many people as he can. We are happy to get to this moment and we will continue fighting to stop deportations of everyone, not only the parents a citizens and the parents of daca recipients. I would like to ask Ireri Unzueta carrasco, what is this meet you, the first order of the president , the doctor order that was issued a couple of years ago . What has been the impact on you and other young people like yourself that are in similar situations . Good morning. Been ay, i think it has good experience. On one hand, ive had access to jobs and opportunities that i did not have before. Right now i have a job that i love working with young people here in chicago. I remember owing to one of my first days when i was signing my contract and i had to bring in my work permit, my little piece of plastic that i did not have for over 18 years. At the same time, ive been able to see a lot of people who have not had access to that who are still seeing doors being closed to them about these opportunities that i believe everyone should have, like the right to be able to work according to your abilities and to be able to have better opportunities. For me, it has been a bittersweet experience. I am happy that other people will have these opportunities now, but i also know were going to have to keep fighting to make sure that everyone has access to well and if i jobs. And your concern over the last year as president obama first promised to take action, then held back and promised again, then held back, and now has promised this week, finally, the third time he has promised to take action your concern over this back and forth from the white house . Honestly, for me, every time that president obama does this, it is a little bit sad. We are here in chicago where he was a senator and then he became our president. Just to see while congress was debating and while president obama was delaying action that he could have taken, we lost a lot of Community Members to deportation. Some are back in the countries they came from. Some are figuring out what to do while they are in detention. This action cannot come soon enough. Republicans in congress have vowed to fight president obamas plan to change immigration laws through executive action. This is House Speaker john boehner. The president is threatening to take action on immigration, even on the path he is made clear he did not believe yet the constitutional responsibility or authority to do that. And i will just say this. Were going to fight the president to send mail if she continues two and nail if he continues down this path. Govern. The wrong way to this is exactly what the American People said on election day they did not want. So all of the options are on the table. Were having discussions with our members. No decisions have an made as to how we will fight this if you proceeds. , i would likeco your response. Im going back to 2012 in charlotte in front of the Democratic National convention, the first day in the pouring rain, when you got arrested as did her husband, martin. I remember just before he got arrested, he said, i pay taxes and im paying more taxes than citibank. As well as your other daughter. Boehnertalk about what says and where you see this country headed . You know, i think it is time to stop listening to the republicans threats. In document it immigrants have been having the courage undocumented immigrants have been having the courage to fight for their rights. We wont stopat until we see the deportations stopped. We will continue organizing. We have been doing protests and front of the detention centers. When obama came here to make fundraising, we did a protest in front of the hotel. For us, were not going to stop. If we as undocumented immigrants have the courage to fight, i think democrats can do it, too. They need to stood up to the immigrants in congress and do the right thing. They have an opportunity to do the right thing. I hope they will do it. Rosi carrasco, you have been here now in the United States 20 years, undocumented. Could you talk a little bit about the toll it has taken on you to be able to raise a family, be able to survive and maintain your self with this constant threat of the possibility of being deported . Yes. It is really hard to be in this country for 20 years. It is sad to see how you have to fight for things that are to livelike the right without being afraid to have your family divided, as you mentioned. However, we are here. We are working, paying taxes. We have our families. I love my daughters. I love my family, my community. This is fighting what i have. It is a human right that everyone should have. , to be as close as we are now, to be able to have that opportunity to be considered as human beings, to be considered someone that can live happy with their family and work and make contributions to this country is something very important. I know we will stay here and continue to be here and we will continue working for our communities. I hope this is cited this congress, this government recognizes this right that we have. Your decision to come out . Ireri unzueta carrasco, you eventually were granted the right to vote. It was because of your activism, ultimately, and so many other young peoples. But that time years ago when you were deciding whether you could do this given that you could be deported at any one of these actions were anywhere you spoke . Honest, the right to work is a great thing, but before i had the deferred action, anything could put me in deportation. Any small mistake, being at the wrong place at the wrong time, i really wanted to travel and traveling isnt something that you can just do necessarily. Sometimes there are risks involved. There are different ways to get stopped. This is a risk i was running every day. To me, when i decided to come out publicly and talk about my status, it was a decision about that. This is something im taking facing everyday, then i need to be a live show my side of the story publicly and be able to use that to benefit other members of my community. So coming out as undocumented to me is something that was taking back that power that sometimes ,s taken away by the government but people saying i dont belong in this country and saying, look, this is where i have grown up and where my family is, where my work is. This is where i love here and all my family, wherever they are. For me, coming out is part of that. Commentt to ask you to also on the soul issue that many americans, not just republicans, but other americans were not familiar with the immigration issue raised that why should you get legal status or your mother get legal status whenever millions of people who have been waiting on line other countries to come into the United States . Even though we did have in 1986 and immigration bill that legalized the status of about 3 million people, and even though president reagan himself the following year issued an executive order giving 200,000 nicaraguans legal status in the United States, im just wondering how do you respond to those americans who say you should be getting to the back of the line with others are trying to get into the country . Well, i believe immigration system needs to be fixed and theres a lot of components that need to be fixed including how long people have to wait to be able to come into the u. S. I know friends here who ended up coming across the border because they could not wait the 18 or 20 years that it takes to get in here. For me, just making sure that were taking care of our community including the people that are living within our borders now, whether or not they very, veryented, is important. And so i wish for people to take a look at their neighbors, their friends, and there are undocumented people amongst all of us. We are struggling and we are considering. Yes, there are people that are waiting and i believe we need to fix all of these things and stop terrorizing our communities through programs like secured committees and other immigrations customs enforcements actions. Thank you, Ireri Unzueta carrasco and Rosi Carrasco, both undocumented immigrants. Ireri became document of the river activism became documented through her activism. This is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. We will be back in a moment with naomi klein. [music break] the browning of america by olmeca. The video for their song was made in collaboration with puente vision and the National Day Laborers organizing network. This is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman with juan gonzalez. House lawmakers passed legislation friday to approve the Keystone Xl Oil pipeline. The pipeline would bring carbonintensive Tar Sands Oil from alberta, canada, to the texas gulf coast. It has been in the works for more than six years amidst mass protests over its potential to accelerate Climate Change. The senate is expected to vote this week on a similar prokeystone bill backed by louisiana democratic senator Mary Landrieu. Landrieu is facing a tough battle to keep her seat in a runoff next month against republican congressman bill cassidy, who also happens to be the sponsor of the prokeystone bill in the house. Landrieu spoke last week about her support for keystone. This is part of what she said. It needs to get done on its own because it is standing alone, it will go to the president s desk, standalone. And then i believe the president will have to make an important decision. Im hoping he will sign it. But if he doesnt, that is the process. I hope that he will, and i will be urging him to do so. The casillas administration his state department, his epa and history Protection Department has urged him to support this piece of legislation for the strength of our economy, a signal to our allies to strengthen america here and abroad. Louisiana democratic senator Mary Landrieu speaking last week. Meanwhile, during a state visit to burma, president obama was asked about the keystone xl. He refuted claims that it would create jobs or reduce the price of gas in the u. S. By government believes we should judge this pipeline based on whether or not it accelerates Climate Change or whether it helps the American People with their energy costs and are gas prices. I have to constantly push back against this idea that somehow the Keystone Pipeline is either this massive jobs bill for the United States or is somehow lowering gas prices. This project is providing the ability of canada to pump their oil, send it through our land down to the gulf where it will be sold everywhere else. It doesnt have an impact on u. S. Gas prices. That is president obama speaking to reporters last week. To find out more about the keystone xl, were joined now via democracynow video stream by naomi klein, journalist and bestselling author. Her latest book this changes , everything capitalism vs. The climate. Her previous books are no logo and the shock doctrine the rise of disaster capitalism. She is speaking to us from her home in toronto. Welcome back to democracy now can you respond to what president obama just said . I think you said some important things. The idea it is still up for some kind of debate whether or not the keystone xl has a Climate Impact, it is absurd. Keystone is a pipeline that is intimately linked to plans by the oil and gas industry to dramatically expand production in the alberta tar sands. They have pipeline capacity, more or less, to get the oil out there producing right now. But they have active plans to double and triple production in the alberta tar sands, digging up one of the highest carbon fuels on the planet with tremendous local impacts, health impacts, to First Nations people, to indigenous People Living in that region, violating their treaty rights. And of course, when that oil is burned, it has tremendous Climate Impacts. It also Climate Impacts and the fact it is really, really difficult to get that tarry oil into a product that can be burned because it isnt liquid. It is semisolid. It takes a huge amount of energy. This is why it is so carbon intensive to extract it and refine it. Also it takes huge amount of water. It obviously has a Climate Impact because it is linked to the expansion of the tar sands. Now when this debate really started heating up a few years ago, the tar sands were booming and the message was, when we first saw the first assessment out of the state department, basically, they were saying keystone doesnt matter to climate because they will be able to get that expanded oil production, able to get it out another way, whether it is through trains or whether through other pipelines built through british columbia, for instance, or built eastward through eastern canada. What has shifted in three years is that that claim cannot be made now because the tar sands are really surrounded. Everywhere they try to build a new pipeline or expand a new pipeline, theyre facing fierce direct action as well as legal challenges by Indigenous People and by other interest. If you dont build keystone, they will get it out anyway him is absurd. Keystone is not a drop in the bucket when it comes to tar sands. If obama said no to keystone now, it could be vanilla coffin fort industry that is in crisis on multiple fronts because they have this huge problem of having a landlocked pardon and no viable way to get that oil to the sea if they increase production at the levels it would like to. Correct me if i am wrong, but the statement by president obama seems to be the most clear statement on his part that he wasnt buying the general line that Republican Party in the Energy Industry has been putting out about keystone for quite a while. It is an encouraging line and that he is challenging the claim that this is a big job creator. It is an encouraging line and that he is clearly stating this is about exports. It is not about supplying oil to the u. S. To mastech market am a because that pipeline is being built to export terminals. Frankly, there is a glut of oil shale u. S. Because of oil. This is also something that has shifted since the debate really kicked off more than three years ago. At that time, it was sort of freedom mastech oil boom in the u. S. So the idea that oil was needed, that argument could be made or credibly, much more credibly than it can today. Theres actually an oversupply. It is still aat technicality he is waiting for yet another Environmental Assessment. Based on the assessments weve seen so far, im not holding my breath for an Environmental Assessment that is genuinely sciencebased, that takes into account all of these other challenges faced by the tar sands because of all of the resistance to the other pipelines, because of the fact that communities dont want more oil trains coming through their towns and facing potential disasters like the one in quebec. Or even the fact the price of oil is now much lower and eventually, that is going have a real impact on the alberta tar sands because in addition to a high an extremely carbon extractive process, it is enormously high cost expressed extractive process. Because so much to get it out that the price of oil has to stay high in order to investors an order for investors to keep putting money into expanding their mines and so on. Investors are already getting cold feet. There are three major tar sands expansion projects. These are mines that were supposed to be built to dig up that tar. Three of these big projects have already been canceled in the past year. Shell canceled a project, french oil coming canceled and in the region oil cup in a canceled a coming Norwegian Oil canceled a massive project. And they made that decision to cancel, one of the reasons they cited was limited pipeline capacity. In other words, they are afraid if they dig up that Tar Sands Oil, they wont feel to get it out. So this is why am saying if obama says no to keystone, it would have tremendous impacts in terms of sending a message to the market that this whole idea of digging up this pool of carbon that did not used to be counted. A little more than a decade ago, all of this oil in the tar sands wasnt even counted as part of the worlds Global Carbon reserve because the Global Oil Industry did not believe they could get it out. And now were starting to get a few messages that investors are starting to reassess the viability of digging up this carbon. And that is important because the whole idea from a climate perspective of drawing the line and saying, no more tar sands pipeline, is about saying, look, when you are in a whole, you cant keep digging. We need to move away from extreme energy. We cant keep doing the very thing that is at the heart of this crisis. We need to move toward renewable energy, yes, but we also simultaneously need to stop digging up high carbon reserves, high carbon sources. I want to get your response to comments made by transcanada ceo russ girling over the weekend. I think theres a high probability this pipeline gets built. Since we started the project, the demand for it has continued to increase. Production in the u. S. Is up by about 2 Million Barrels a day and canada, about one Million Barrels per day. The need of transportation continues to grow. The place where they want to put these barrels is in the gulf coast of the United States. Our shippers have not wavered one bit over the last six years. They still want this to happen. As long as they are there, we will continue to push to make it happen. That is transcanada ceo russ girling speaking on abc this weekend. One sign reads can you talk about girling and the fact it is the democrats now that are supporting the keystone xl . First of all, what were hearing from girling is he is panicked. Has is a company that several Pipeline Projects that are being blocked. Theyve already invested significantly. Dont forget transcanada was so sure it was going to get an easy thumbs up that it went ahead and bought the pipe for the keystone xl pipeline and is been having to pay for storage. So when he says hes sure it is going to be approved, he is talking directly to his backers to say, dont worry, dont panic, dont abandon transcanada. Just today, a Court Injunction just outsidee vancouver because there are protesters there opposing an expansion of another Transcanada Pipeline carrying Tar Sands Oil that would go would be to getg it west to try on tankers there. It is facing fierce opposition from local people. Most important, from first nation people, Indigenous People, whose rights have been affirmed a Canada Supreme Court again and again and again saying you cannot have these massive for structure projects ever structure projects without the consent of First Nations people. He is panicked because several projects are being legally challenged. He has to send a message to his backers. In terms of the protest happening against Mary Landrieu, think it is fantastic. I think the world is watching in becomes he climate and this broad billion visa liantical theater vaudvil byce of political theater pushing this through the senate. I believe it will be tomorrow so that she looks more prooil. Ofis really an expression the capture of american politicians by the oil industry. She is speaking to her backers. She is setting herself up not just potentially to win the election, which looks very unlikely, but maybe for what she will do which he loses the election, which is very likely gasing a job as an oil and lobbyist. She wants to be able to say she worked as hard as possible to get keystone past because the refineries on the gulf coast want to process that dirty oil. Naomi, i would like to ask you about the upcoming vote in the context of the recent announcement of a deal between china and the Obama Administration over Carbon Emissions reduction of Carbon Emissions over the next few decades. Could you talk about the significance of that deal and to what degree president obama has any ability to impact such a longterm commitment . The point is, obama does have the ability to impact the commitment he made in na, which there are things it is important to say this deal matters in the context, the political context of the United States postmidterm elections, where i think theres a tremendous amount of hopelessness in climate circles about how the republicans control of congress is going to translate into climate and there is an important negotiation coming up in 2015 in paris. That deal was important in signaling, ok, dont count the u. S. Out, dont count china out as well anyone else who is covered, negotiations as you have that democracy now , knows these summits honest and verbally dissent into fingerpointing between the u. S. And china as they accuse one why no progress is possible. To begin the next row with u. S. And china vaguely on the same page is moderately good news, but if you look at it from a scientific perspective, the commitments being made both by china and the u. S. Are nowhere near the level of Emission Reductions necessary to avoid temperature increases beyond what these governments have themselves agreed to. In copenhagen, china and the u. S. Agreed to keep temperatures below two degrees warming warming below two degrees celsius a preindustrial levels. But the targets they both agreed to, we will send they will send temperatures much higher than that. We have this gap between a political reality of physical reality. What is politically possible in the context of the United States clashes directly with our planet, what it needs to avoid destabilizing Climate Change. I was just going to say, that is why make the argument in my book that we will not do what we need to do to prevent catastrophic warming unless we radically change what is politically possible. That is why this is not just about the one vote in congress or the one deal that is made between china and the u. S. This is radically shifting the political cold away from this extreme rightwing market and that dominates both Political Parties and creating a sense of the political possibility. This is really a political project. It is not some technocratic challenge. Finally, naomi if i could add one more thing. One thing that is important to stress is that the commitments that obama has made are mostly commitments that his successor is going to have to deliver on. Even though the Emission Reduction targets are insufficient, the hardest ones kick in well after he is in office. So one thing he can do right now is not make the job of this assessor harder by locking in Infrastructure Projects like the keystone xl pipeline that will increase in missions. The one thing he can do is say no to keystone xl to prove that he isnt just kicking the can down the road. Politics are being determined in the u. S. And canada around oil politics. You have greg or robertson reelected is a vancouver mayor, how significant is this . You were arrested in front of the white house. Along with 1200 other people like Bill Mckibben and others, protesting the keystone xl, what, three years ago . Do you think progress has been made . Saying, it hasen shifted dramatically in those three years. I think it has shifted. When i think about what we were doing three years ago outside the white house, our counter arguments were, well, doesnt really matter. As i said, we will get the oil out some other way. And now all of the other arteries that would carry that out of alberta are facing challenges. The reelection of robertson and the fact vancouver stood up to huge amount of money coming from the oil industry to try to beat whoor robertson and others are opposing vancouver being more of an Oil Export Terminal than it already is, is an indication of future amount of to all ofposition these projects. It percent of people in her disclosure proposed increase oil coast. On their pos spent to getney their candidate elected, they were defeated. Naomi klein, thank you for being with us journalist and , bestselling author. Her new book is called, this changes everything capitalism vs. The climate. When we come back, meldown terror at the top of the world. Stay with us. [music break] neil young, whos gonna stand up . This is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman with juan gonzalez. We continue to look at Climate Change now, as we turn to a major new investigation by the pulitzerprize winning website, inside climate news. Its called meltdown terror at the top of the world. It tells the story of seven american hikers who went on a Wilderness Adventure into polar bear country in Canadas Arctic tundra and faced a harrowing attack. The trip was led by two sierra club guides, including rich gross, who will join us in a minute. But despite taking proper steps to protect themselves, a polar bear came to their camp in the middle of the night and pulled one of the hikers out of his tent. In this clip from a vice documentary with the report, matt dyer what happened after the bear clenched his head in his mouth, and dragged him into the forest. I had a broken jaw. I had a collapsed lung. I had cracked for to break in my neck, broken neck. But it didnt get into the spinal column. This hand was kind of crunched. So he broke some of these bones. His bottom john dug in here and his top one was over in here and he kept hitting me like that. I can remember looking out, i could see his belly and his leg and everything. He did not dig his claws into me, which is good. Me outjust trying to get of the tent with his mouth, probably trying to hold it tent down this hands. I dont know. Thats a clip from the vice documentary that is being published in three parts next week along with the new ebook , meltdown terror at the top of the world, by sabrina shankman, who joins us now. She is a reporter with inside climate news. And in San Francisco were joined by rich gross, a sierra club guide since 1990, and one of the two guides on the arctic trip documented by shankman. Welcome both of you to democracy now rich, take it from there. You were there. Describe further what happened. So we had gone to the mountains in part to see bears and impart a seat remote area in see actic in part to remote area in the arctic. It was the third day on the trip. Weve seen a mother and cub and before that a large male bear before as well. T was our third night i heard up to hear matt screaming, help me, have me. I tore out of my tent, grabbed a flare gun, which was one of the pieces of protection we had that we brought with us. When i got out of the tent, i saw matt being dragged away from our camp. An camp was surrounded by electric fence. The bear was dragging matt by his head away from camp. I took out a flare gun and shot at the bear. The berridge rocked matt and started running away the bear dropped matt and started running away, got about 50 yards and started coming back for matt. We thought matt was dead at that point. I shot at the bear again. The bear ran away. We then went out and got matt, sound he was not dead, thankfully, and carried him back to camp and started arranging for his evacuation and then later on, our evacuation. Night, ie rest of the mentioned you must have been up all night fearing the possibility of a bear coming back 11 17 14 11 17 14 we were. That was the fourth bear we had seen. The large bear was all the day before we had to scare away with a flare gun as well. Eightrted out with cartridges. There are 12 gauge flare cartridges. At that point we use three of them. We knew we did not know that there wasnt coming back or that some other bear wasnt coming back. T was a long night at least when it turned light, we could see a bear coming. That was the scariest part. We were sure how long would take to get mad evacuated or to get our own evacuation. Sabrina shankman, youre with the pulitzer prizewinning news news. E inside climate you turn the story into a book. Talk about what this attack means for Climate Change. Only first heard about this attack, was interesting because it is on par almost with what is expected. You cant ever say a specific polar bear attack is related to Climate Change because you cant get inside the head of a polar bear, but what we do know is that biologists have been predicting for a couple of years sea ice as the continues to disappear, the habitat from which polar bears hunt, theres going to be an increase in these kind of human a polar bear interactions. That is exactly what you see. Matt attack was terrific, but it is one of a number that have happened. On are looking at we are course for about 35 attacks this decade, according to one of the researchers i spoke with. In the past, in the 1960s and 1970s, talking about 10 per decade. Exactly what the biologists has said what happen as Climate Change progresses, is what were seeing. And more people are going there . Is it that there are more people going there . Possibly. A gossipy polar bears are iting further inland, is also possible bears are traveling further inland. Last year on churchill, or were two people about a month apart who are walking home on a main street late at night or early in the morning and they were attacked not by a mugger, but a polar bear. Can you talk, about the change in the terrain you witnessed over these years . Sure. It is a slow change. To remote places throughout the arctic. Weve seennk particular change over years because we dont go back to the same places, but whenever you talk to native people, they will talk about the change in both hunting and the animals behavior. This is just an example of that. Sabrina, how it starts lower down from the polar bear, the melting see guys, what does this have to do with polar bear attacks . People talk about polar bears a lot when you talk about simon change has as one of these , one explained it to me they are on the thin edge of Climate Change, experiencing impacts right now. It is not just about the polar bears. These impacts happen throughout the sy sea ice and the sea ice is disappearing. So when that happens, it sets off or triggers these impacts that start at the very smallest organisms, things you can barely see, and works its way up in impacts the fish and seals and eventually gets to the polar bears. Were going to do part two after the show and post it at democracynow. Org. Sabrina shankman with inside climate news and rich gross, sierra club guide since 1990, who experienced and helped to save a man from this attack. The new book is called, meldown terror at the top of the world. For our show. It a clarification, after our interview, naomi klein contacted us to say the burnaby pipeline that just got an injunction is owned by kinder morgan, not transcanada. Transcanada is pushing a different canadian pipeline, energy east, also facing opposition. The surgeonnews, brought to the United States over the weekend for treatment after contracting ebola in sierra leone has died. s death marks the second fertility in the United States. Democracy now is looking for feedback from people who appreciate the closed captioning. Email your comments to outreach democracynow. Org or mail them to democracy now p. O. Box 693 new york, new york 10013. [captioning made possible by democracy now ] i think im home, i think im home how nice to look at you again along the road, along that road anytime you want me you can find me living right between your eyes, yeah oh, i think im home oh, i think im home. Today on cooks country, bridget reveals the secrets to making grandma pizza at home. Then jack challenges chris to a tasting of tortellini