Change is fueling more powerful storms and also driving the mass extinction of parasites that are critical to natural ecosystems and could add to the planets si xth mass extinction. We will speak with the elizabeths winning author and scientist colin carlson. Then we look at hurricanene irs impactct on haiti and the caribbean. Hurriricane irma is the strongest and largest storm ever that has come out of the atlantic. It caused devastation throughout haitiribbean, texas, and was severely damaged by this. Amy y and we will hear voices f the earthquake in mexico. The survivors. All that and more, coming up. Welcome to democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. At least four people have died and nearly 6 Million People are without t power in florida after Hurricane Irma made landfall on sunday on the florida keys as a category 4 hurricane. The storm also flooded the streets of downtown miami, turning the citys main strip brickell avenue, into a , threefoot high raging river. Its arrival sparked one of the largest Mass Evacuations in u. S. History, with nearly 7 million ordered to leave their homes. Before hitting florida, irma caused widespread devastation across the caribbean, killing at 37 people and leveling nearly 90 of all structures. It displaced more than 100,000 haitians and destroyed crops in the north of haiti. Cuba has dispatched more than 750 Health Workers to caribbean nations to help assist in the aftermath of the most powerful storm ever recorded over the atlantic ocean. Irma, now downgraded to a category 1 storm, is now barreling across more of florida and then on to georgia, alabama, and mississippi. Well have more o on irma andnd change after the headlines. President trump is usising Hurricane Irma as use to push for tax cuts for the rich. This is trump speaking saturday. Pres. Trump to create prosperity, we will be discussing our plan for dramatic tax cut and tax reform. I think now with what has happppened with the hurricane, i am going to ask for it to speed up. Amy now mclean tweeted more one for the shock doctrine record books will stop trump uses irma to push for tax cuts while the e storm is still happening. In mexico, the death toll from thursdays devastating 8. 2 magnitude earthquake has risen to 90 people as rescue teams continue to searchch through t e rubble in parts of the sououthen states of oaxaca and chiapas. This is survivor oscar morga in oaxaca. We are practically left with nothing. Did you lose everything . Absolutely everything. A friend came to hehelp me becae authorities are not helping us. They just cast us by. They are not helping us. Amy well have more voices from mexico on the earthquake later in the broadcast. Meanwhile, in italy, an unexpected flooding in the western port city of livorno has killed at least six people. This is livorno resident, piero caturelli. In all my years, i dont remember a storm like thihis tht has caused all this damage. It is incredible. Itit started around 1010 00 p. Pd contininued until ththis warnin. In my living memory, there is never been anything like this. Amy the u. S. State department has approved a nearly 4 billion weapons deal with bahrain. The 3. 8 million dea includess 19 Lockheed Martin f f16 fightr jets and o over 200 ytytheon antitank k missiles the apapproval of the weapons dl came aftfter secretary o of stat rex tillererson dropped d human rights issues as a condition of the sale. Bahrain is a close u. S. S. Ally, home to the navys fifth fleeee. In syria, the local l journalisc group raqqa is being slaughtered silently reports the u. S. Led coalition fired White Phosphorus into raqqa on friday. White phosphorus munitions can burn human flesh down to the bone, and wounds contaminated by the chemical can reignite up to days later, poisoning victims and leading to organ failure or death. The group also reports that u. S. Led Coalition Warplanes have bombed at least 25 mosques since the battle to seize raqqa from isis began in june. Meanwhile, in more news on syria, the syrian observatory for human rights says russian airstrikes near the city of deir ezzor killed at least 34 civilians, including nine children, on sunday. Kenya is preparing to hold a rerun of its contested president ial election next month, after the first election was nullified by kenyas supreme court. The court ruled there were flaws in the tallying process for the august 8 election. At least 24 people were killed in postelection protests. Incumbent president Uhuru Kenyatta will now face Opposition Leader raila odinga again in a new election on october 17. The u. N. High commissioner for human rights, zeid raad al hussein, says the burmese militarys widespread violence against Rohingya Muslims is a textbook example of ethnic cleansing. Nearly 300,000 rohingyas have fled to neighboring bangladesh since last month, as burmese soldiers have killed and raped civilians and burned down whole villages. The burmese government rejected a ceasefire proposed by a rohingya militant group on sunday. In the gaza strip, Health Officials say theyre witnessing a sharp rise in suicide attempts, as the ongoing israeli blockade has made the palestinian territory unlivable according to the United Nations. Among those who have taken their own lives is 22yearold short story writer mohanned younis, who committed suicide two weeks ago. This summer, israeliimposed electricity cuts left gaza residents with power for only four hours a day. This is s red cross president peter maurer. Jusust for a minute imagine how life is with four hours of electricity, with waste water pump not functioning, with Running Water not functioning. And i think it is the reality at the moment. Amy hes the president of International Committee of the red cross. In kashmir, hundreds of people protested against indian rule and violence by security forces, after Indian Government forces shot dead two people today and another two on sunday. Indian authorities are claiming all four were armed rebels. Indian Government Forces have killed over 140 suspected rebels and deployed thohousands of additional soldiers to the occupied territory of kashmir so far this yeaear amidst an offensive dubbed operation allout. In london, organizers say as many as 50,000 people marched on saturday to oppose brexit, britains plan to leave the European Union. Today in the british parliament, some Labor Party Lawmakers are planning to vote against the legislation outlining plans for brexitknknown as thehe European Union withdrawal bill. Australia held the largest demonstration for lgbt rights in the countrys history on sunday. More than 20,000 people poured into the streets of sydney to demand equal rights regardless of Sexual Orientation and gender identity. This is australian activist joy kyraicou. I think it is amazing. Lgbtq rightsargest rally. Very proud to be here. I am here with my family, with my wife. We are reallyly happy to be her, too. Amy in san francisco, residents gathered for a candlelight vigil to mourn the murder of transgender activist, artist and dj bubbles torres, who was shot and killed early sunday morning. Bubbles was a beloved member of the lgbt community, who had lived in san franciscos tenderloin neighborhood for nearly two decades. Prisoner advocates say black Panther Herman Bell was attacked by a half dozen Prison Guards at the great meadow correction facility in new york state last week. The guards reportedly broke two of his ribs, bloodied his face, and damaged his left eye by spraying mace directly into his eyes. 69yearold d herman bell has bn imprisoned for more e than 40 years. And saturday marked the First Anniversary of the largest prison work strike in u. S. History. On september 9, 2016, prisoners launched a nationwide work strike that spread across 29 prisons to include more than 24,000 prisoners. Last year, the strike launched on the anniversary of the 1971 attica prison uprising,s part sparked widespread retaliation by Prison Guards, including in michigans kinross correctional facility. This is prisoner, poet and abolitionist Fred Williams, speaking about the strike and the retaliation in an interview just r recently released by rustbelt abolition radio. Protest the food, the ventilation, the livining conditions overall. Stood outside, walking in circles, chanting equal work, equal pay. They were calling for other guys to come out and stand with them in solidarity. And it worked. They walked circles of the common area and the crowd grew larger and larger and larger until the e point where i looked out the window, and it looks lilike maybe 500 or 600 guys out there. In, emergencyd response team. It took four or five hours. Timeis the first or second that allowed for live ammunition. Amy that was prisoner Fred Williams at michigans kinross correctional facility. In an cardio archive just released because somewhere sent to solitary confinement for nearly a year as retaliation. Today is the 16th anniversary of the september 11 attacks. This is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. As the country deals withh unprecedented floods and hurricanes, a new study has revealed Climate Change is driving the mass extinction of parasites that are critical to natural ecosystems, and could add to the planets sixth great mass extinction event thats currently underway. The report in the journal science advances warns that about a third of all parasite species could go extinct by 2070 due to human activity. The loss of species of lice, fleas, and worms could have profound ripple effects on the environment and might pave the way for new parasites to colonize humans and other animals with disastrous health outcomes. This comes as scientists are warning that the earths 6th mass extinction is already underway. In a study published last month in the journal proceedingngs of ththe national a academy of sciences, the resrchersrs said billllions of populations ananims have d dappeared from ththe eah, amimiwhat they called a biolocal annihilati. They said the findings were worse than preously thout. Scientists say the main causes of the mass extinction of wildlife is human overpopulation and overconsumption, especially by theich, the destruction of anals habitats, toxic pollution, and Climate Change. The report also warns that humans will be impacted by this mass extinction, writing the resulting biological annihilation obviously will have serious ecological, economic and social consequences. Humanity will eventually pay a very high price for the decimation of the only assemblage of life that we know of in the universe. Were joined now by two guests. Colin carlson is the lead author of the parasite extinction report published last week. Hes a phd candidate in environmental science, policy, and management at berkeley. And joining us via democracy now video stream, were joined by Elizabeth Kolbert is an awardwinning journalist and a staff writer at the new yorker magazine, where she has reported extensively on Climate Change. Her most recent piece is headlined Hurricane Harvey and the storms to come. She was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for her 2015 book the sixth extinctition. We welcomeme you both to democry now Elizabeth Kolbert, lets begin with you. As you see texas with Hurricane Harvey and now as Hurricane Irma has barreled through the caribbean, making landfall in florida this weekend and heading its way up, c can you talk about the connection between Climate Change and hurricanes . Well, there are a few things that are pretty clear. One is simply that sea levels are rising and sea level rising is accelerating large part in ice melt off of greenland. Levels,ave higher sea obviously, when you get a storm surge, it will go higher and further inland. That is a very basic connection between hurricanes and sea level rise. Then we also know that howicanes draw their power, they get their energy, is from surface waters of the ocean. That is why we get hurricanes in the summertime because they need warm water. The theory suggests and models suggest hurricanes strength will rise as the temperatures get warmer. Youre getting this weird argument about hurricane frequency. That is not clear what will water to the frequency as to pitchers rise, but the strength should rise and we are probably already sing that. The third thing we know is warmer air holds more moisture. Were getting more evaporation. As you get m more evaporation, youll get more rain. Wewe are also seeingng that, to, nonot necessarily y in hurcanes, butn generaral rainfall, tting more of these massive downforce. That is quite well documented. About an you talk there are two things gogoing on. You u have the president of the United States in texas, the leadership, the Republican Leadership there all well known Climate Change deniers. But then you also have the fox, which outside of have been fiercely critical of President Trump. It when it comes to coverage of these hurricanes and it is almost walltowall coverage, explaining everything scientifically, how the surge is happening, except using the words Climate Change or Global Warming or climate chaos. Can you talk about the lack of discussion in this one wall coverage of these severe, more frequent hurricanes that we are seeing . There are ahink couple of things going on. And some of them are legitimate. I dont want to criticize my colleagues in the news media who are trying to do a very difficult job under difficult circumstances, standing outside in hurricane, but any individual hurricanes you alwaysys get this conversation. The behavior of any individual hurricane, there are so many random factors in the weather system, so that is not an event that can be directly traced to Climate Change. So you get this climate desk constant, can we attribute this to, change. The answer is no. We cannot attribute irma or harvey to Climate Change, we can only say these are the kinds of events that had been predicted by the models of Climate Change. Over time, you get these data sets and you can say more and more. I think that people are in a complicated situation right now while hurricane is going on. And this is a political test people accusing journalists of politicizing hurricane and other people point out, look, by pointing out the connection between fierce storms and Climate Change, we are politicizing hurricane. It is actually the reverse. People who are refusing to point that out are politicizing the science. The science is very clear on this. Amy on thursday, Environmental ProtectionAgency Administrator scott pruitt appeared on cnn. He said daddy any kind of focus on the cause and effect of the storm versus helping people are facing the effect of the storm, is misplaced. On ise need to focus access to clean water, dressing these areas is super fun activities that may cause an attack on water. These issues of access to fuel. Those are things so important to citizens of florida right now. To discuss the cause and effect of the storms, there is a time and place to do that. It is not now. Elizabeth kolblbert . That is always what you get. Someone p put out a. A very cler tweet about how it is never the right time before the storm is not the right time to talk about Climate Change, and during the storm is n not the right ti, after the storm is not the right time. D dust its no storm, isis never the rigight time e tk ababout Climate Change for peope like scott pruruitt. That is clearly w well thoughght out. That is always the t tactic. We, as ththe public, need to demand that people like scott pruitt talk about Climate Change. The fact that scott pruitt runs the epa, someone who is denying and denouncing basic science in this country, is a very scary and should be very scary to people. In reading from your piece the new yorker, you write not as rainfall totals in houston were topping 40 inches, secretary of state Rex Tillerson told congress he was planning to eliminate his departments special envoy for Climate Change. Lamar smith, republican who represents parts of san antonio, chairs the House Committee on science, space, technology, said the better part of his career harassing climate scientists. In a recent oped, at site sponsored by the heritage foundation, he celebrated the effects of Global Warming arguing there were producing beneficial changes to the earths geography. You talk about a town hall meeting in april, joe barton, chair of the Energy Commerce committee, repeated the old denier clouds are the cause of Climate Change. In june, House R