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Millions protest over Climate Change. TRANSCRIPT: 9/20/19, All In w/ Chris Hayes.

Millions protest over Climate Change. TRANSCRIPT: 9/20/19, All In w/ Chris Hayes.

GRETA THUNBERG, CLIMATE ACTIVIST:  We are doing this to get them to act.  We demand a safe future.  Is that really too much to ask?

CHRIS MATTHEWS, MSNBC HOST:  No.  And that`s HARDBALL for now.  "ALL IN" with Chris Hayes is next.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHRIS HAYES, MSNBC HOST:  Tonight on a special edition of ALL IN.

THUNBERG:  Why should we study for a future that is being taken away from us?

HAYES:  It is the single biggest story on the face of the planet.  This man-made catastrophe.  As protest rage across the globe, as candidates convened a call for action.

SEN. CORY BOOKER (D-NJ), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE:  There is a global extinction going on right now.

HAYES:  Breaking news about how the Trump administration is actively working to make things work.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE:  You`re telling me that major automakers are scared of the president?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE:  Because Donald Trump is threatening them.

HAYES:  Our special report on a climate in crisis.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE:  When it rains around the country, it pours.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE:  The glacier height was of the height of the mountain.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE:  There have been four years of a water crisis and because of that, there`s no jobs.

HAYES:  This is a special edition of ALL IN climate in crisis.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HAYES:  Good evening from Washington D.C. I`m Chris Hayes.  Today, the crisis of climate change became the biggest story on the face of the planet.  It was an enormous day of protests across the globe.  Millions of people participating in coordinated actions in more than 150 countries.  In Australia, the biggest protest in years.

Organizers saying more than 300,000 people report in the streets.  In London, a massive turnout as well.  Protesters blocking roads around Parliament for hours.  In Johannesburg, activists calling on the South African government to declare a climate emergency.  In Kabul, Afghanistan, a March led by brave young women flanked by armed guards.

In Bangkok, a diet led by young climate activists at the Thai environmental ministry.  In La Paz, protesters time themselves to trees as wildfires rage across Bolivia.  And that is just the start.  This video from Uganda was shot by a 15-year-old climate activist in Kampala.  This one by a researcher and musician in Islam about who tweeted that, "there is suddenly a climate movement in Pakistan.

In the U.S., there were protests and more than 1,000 locations, including right here in Washington D.C.  At least one protest in every state of the union.  Hundreds of thousands marching in the streets of New York, and San Francisco, Philadelphia and Boston, and all across the land.

Tonight, we have a special report.  We have reporters standing by across the country and beyond with updates and breaking news on the state of the climate, the effort to get the world to act, and the attempts by the Trump administration to block that action.

Here in Washington D.C. a site of our two-day climate forum, we spoke to 11 presidential candidates hoping to become the nominee for the one party that is taking this crisis seriously, plus one Republican who says it`s time for his party to join the fight.

And we`ve come to Washington D.C. because the one place on this entire planet where we have the greatest chance to do something to avoid the most catastrophic effects of global climate change is in that building behind me and the one down the street at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

This is the capital city of the most powerful country in the world.  It is ground zero for the civilization struggle we`re engaged in.  And right now, the occupants of that building and the one down the street are failing all of us.

There`s no better example of this than the breaking story being reported tonight by NBC News correspondent Jacob Soboroff, and Julia Ainsley.  The story that the Trump administration has determined that climate change played a role in driving the record migration from Guatemala to the U.S. recently.  And rather than acting on it decided to ignore its own internal report, and even cut off aid to that Central American nation.

Jacob Soboroff is live tonight from Guatemala City.  Jacob tells about the story you broke -- you and Julia broke earlier today.

JACOB SOBOROFF, MSNBC CORRESPONDENT:  Chris, the Trump administration had in hand evidence presented to them by Customs and Border Protection CBP, in which they collected data that indicated very clearly that climate change caused hunger, food insecurity, acute food insecurity, starvation, basically, was causing migration to the United States.

Hundred thousand plus people have left Guatemala over the course of the last couple of years, the largest sending country from Central America to the southern border.  And instead of take that evidence and double down on foreign aid here in Guatemala, the Trump administration entirely suspended foreign aid that would help exacerbate -- excuse me, would help mitigate what was going on down here in Guatemala and they put that money towards more militarized approach ultimately to stemming migration.

HAYES:  Now, you`ve been down there reporting on how the climate and how the climate crisis has been affecting Guatemala and Guatemalans.  What have you learned down there?

SOBOROFF:  It`s a dire, dire situation, Chris.  People are literally starving to death and that is why they are leaving.  They`re not leaving to go get a job or some sort of light -- future in the United States that the President has sort of talked about.  People are leaving because they are looking to save their lives and their families lives.

Honestly seeing it as something I never expected to see.  It`s something that I hope that the President sees and I want everybody to see it.  Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SOBOROFF:  We started here in Guatemala City, leaving early to follow our guides from the World Food Program on a journey deep into the country.  But we didn`t have to go forward to see the hardship climate has brought here.

I`m a couple of hours drive outside of Guatemala City and I`m here with these guys from Columbia University and the World Food Program.  They`re studying how climate change and climate variability affects the livelihoods of small farmers in places just like this, and how that contributes to migration to the United States.  We started talking to one of those small farmers who showed up to sell bananas.

You know, at least 100 people that left to the United States.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator):  No less than 100 people.

SOBOROFF:  Most who have left who were in the coffee business like him.  They`ve been hard hit by drought and a plant-killing fungus.  He says he`s barely surviving by selling bananas instead.  Diego Ponce is an Applied Climatologist at Columbia University.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE:  He`s going to remain in the country despite the prizes, that he`s been using bananas as a --

SOBOROFF:  As a backup.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE:  As a backup.

SOBOROFF:  But not everyone has a backup plan.  We carried on to Chiquimula, and four hours later drove through the town of Esquipulas on our way to a village only reachable with four-wheel drive.

And you can tell that the paved roads have ended here and we are on our way to the (INAUDIBLE).  The World Food Program brought us here because last year five kids in the village died of starvation brought on by climate- induced crop failure.  Many of their parents have left for the United States as a last resort.

Now, in an emergency response, the U.N. agency is feeding kids at this school.  Nearby, we met this man a village leader.  He took us to some coffee plants that would normally be as good as cash, but today are becoming worthless because of a fungus spreading rapidly due to climate change.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator):  This is the fungus.  It is the consequence of drought in Guatemala.  Before, there were really good-paying jobs.

SOBOROFF:  The climate crisis here hit just as prices failed to a quarter of what they were previously because of global competition.

Can you survive on that amount of money?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator):  It`s not possible.

SOBOROFF:  And so people are leaving.  A few hundred yards down the road, we met this woman who now lives alone.

Where`s your family?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator):  They migrated to the United States, my husband, and my daughters.

SOBOROFF:  When did they go?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator):  Four months ago.  When there`s drought, there`s no work.  And they migrated after four years of water crisis.

SOBOROFF:  There have been four years of a water crisis.  And because of that, there`s no jobs.

Later that afternoon, we began the bumpy journey out of (INAUDIBLE).  There`s a lot of talk about a humanitarian crisis at the southern border, the United States.  But the reality is that conditions -- the real humanitarian crisis is right here.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE:  It`s right over here, yes.  It`s all tied together, lack of opportunities, no credits, no insurance.  Just think about starting into agricultural entrepreneurship without all the safety nets that any other farmer in the world will have.

SOBOROFF:  We left Chiquimula and headed towards our next stop, an even drier part of the country Zacapa.  The following morning, we made our way to another rural village where different crops and the farmers who tend to them are also struggling.

This is literally the way into the -- into the community here.  This is the reality that a lot of small farmers deal with out here.  I mean, not only he`s saying you got to pay attention for rattlesnakes, but you can drive as far as you can get and then you have to hike.

This is Elizabeth.  We`ve made it to her farm and she`s showing us what she grows here or I guess more accurately would say what was not growing here anymore. 

This is corn and obviously, this corn is dead.  Melon?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE:  That is a watermelon.

SOBOROFF:  This is a watermelon.  And this would happen when some watermelon doesn`t have enough water.  This type of situation, what`s happening to her and what`s happening to our crops is exactly what you`re trying to avoid.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE:  Correct.

SOBOROFF:  How do you do it?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE:  Well, we`re trying to do is with a new seasonal forecast system trying to tell them exactly how much water they`re going to get throughout the year, so they can adjust their agricultural calendar to avoid failing of crops.

SOBOROFF:  While the search for long term solutions continues, desperate farmers here are turning to their last resort.

Your daughter who was 16 went by herself is now in Philadelphia trying to make a better life.  What did she tell you about when she got to the United States when she crossed?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator):  She felt really happy.

SOBOROFF:  This is Elizabeth`s house.  Everywhere inside there are reminders her daughter left behind.  This butterfly, this was done by her daughter in the U.S.  She shows me other drawings too.  What`s it like to see them, I asked her.  She says, I feel sad.

A familiar story to the tens of thousands of Guatemalans leaving on roads just like this to the United States.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SOBOROFF:  Chris, I don`t think I can be any clearer.  The President of the United States, at least the Trump administration had in hand exactly a year ago, a report that described to that administration exactly what I saw on the ground here, that people are starving to death leaving for the United States as a result of that.

And that starvation is exacerbated by climate change that`s happening on the ground here.  And instead of fixing that situation, they totally pulled funding from USAID and other organizations here.

HAYES:  What is the U.N. or what are any NGOs or anyone doing to try to make sure that these folks have some kind of recourse, some kind of safety net?

SOBOROFF:  Well, the U.N. specifically the World Food Program who took us out does not rely on funding from the United States government.  But there are plenty of other organizations that do it.  I talked to a source on the ground here today in Guatemala City who said that money has already been pulled from some of these organizations.

So they`re going to have to rely on money that doesn`t come from the U.S. government. And for instance, Diego Ponce, the climatologist from Columbia University, just launched was known as the next-gen program with the Guatemalan Ministry of Agriculture here for a seasonal forecasting system.  They cannot rely they don`t rely on United States funds.  And for the time being, that sounds going to be.

HAYES:  Jacob, that was an incredible, incredible piece of reporting.  Thank you so much for that.  That was really great.  Meanwhile, we also found out this week the Trump administration is trying to actively sabotage efforts by the state of California and major automakers to raise emission standards above the national average.

For that, I`m driving NBC News Correspondent Jo Ling Kent reporting from Glendale, California.  Jo?

JO LING KENT, NBC NEWS CORRESPONDENT:  Hey, Chris.  We`re in California here where there are more cars sold in this state than any other.  And that`s why the state of California along with 23 other states is bringing a new lawsuit dropped today against the Trump administration because they want to win back their right to set their own greenhouse gas emission standards.

And because California often sets the tone for the rest of the nation, this could soon impact production lines across the country.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KENT:  This is Marysville, Ohio where inside this plant about the size of 39 Walmart`s, Honda North America is manufacturing electric and hybrid vehicles around the clock.

What`s the demand like on this car right now?

RYAN HARTY, HONDA NORTH AMERICA:  This is great.  Sales have been up.  We doubled from two years ago.

KENT:  This is the hybrid edition of The Accord, one of hundreds of bestselling cars, and it`s at the center of a nasty high stakes political battle.  So we suited up in their safety year to see what`s on the line.

In July, Honda, along with Ford, Volkswagen, and BMW voluntarily struck a deal with the state of California to meet stricter tailpipe emission standards.

HARTY:  Climate change is real and we have to address it through improving the fuel economy of our products through transitioning the fuel that our products use from gasoline to electricity.

KENT:  The goal of the deal increased fuel efficiency to nearly 51 miles a gallon by model year 2026.  13 other states are following suit.  By contrast, the Trump administration wants to drive in the opposite direction and roll back Obama era standards to 37 miles a gallon.

Do you feel customers want that increased fuel efficiency?

HARTY:  Absolutely.  So fuel efficiency translates for the customer as you know reduced energy costs, reduce gasoline costs for driving their car.

KENT:  To avoid making two different types of cars to satisfy both California and the White House, the four automakers plan to apply the stricter standards to all vehicles sold nationwide.  And the fact that these automakers want to regulate themselves has Trump furious.

Do you think President Trump is taking this emissions issue personally?

GOV. GAVIN NEWSOM (D-CA):  Yes, I think it`s all personal for him.

KENT:  California Governor Gavin Newsom says his state has the legal right to set higher standards.  Under the Clean Air Act, it can lay out air pollution rules that are tougher than the federal government`s.

The President tweeted that California will squeeze companies to a point of business ruin.  What`s your response to that?

NEWSOM:  Well, ask Bill Ford.  Ask the folks at VW, BMW, and Honda.  Ask in the privacy of an off the record conversation.  The vast majority of the other automobile manufacturers, 17 representing 90 percent of the market that wrote a public letter to Donald Trump and to me saying compromise on this, we don`t want to abandon the Obama era rules.

KENT:  Undeterred, Trump`s Justice Department turned up the heat in August suddenly launching an inquiry into the four automakers for antitrust.  The Justice Department confirmed the antitrust letters were sent, but wouldn`t comment on the ongoing investigation.

NEWSOM:  It`s honestly laughable.  They`re desperate.  These four companies voluntarily agreed to higher standards and they are somehow claiming they have no right to voluntarily agree to higher standards.

KENT:  So you think that the DOJ investigation into antitrust regarding these --

NEWSOM:  Purely political, pure politics, and it`s disgraceful politics.  And unless he can get them to back off on the voluntary agreements, then they`re going to go with the higher standards.  Trump will lose.  There`s no way out for him.  So he has to beat them down.  What a pathetic state of affairs.

KENT:  Newsom believes the U.S. economy depends on making cars with lower emissions to survive.

NEWSOM:  These domestic automobile manufacturers will get crushed unless they`re able to compete on the international market.  That`s why this is a jobs killer.  That`s why this is an innovation killer.

KENT:  The fight has had a chilling effect on car makers like Mercedes Benz, which reportedly wanted to join the agreement, but recently backed out.

You`re telling me that major automakers are scared of the president here?

NEWSOM:  We are not one but two companies who are about to be public in their supportive of voluntary agreement.

KENT:  And they`re not because?

NEWSOM:  Because Donald Trump is threatening them.

KENT:  Just days after I sat down with the governor, California his new emissions requirement facing another setback when the Trump administration stripped California of the ability to set their own emission standards.

ELAINE CHAO, SECRETARY, DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION:  No state has the authority to opt out of the nation`s rules and no state has the right to impose its policies on everybody else in our whole country.

KENT:  Governor Newsome doubling down on his states goal.

NEWSOM:  It begs the question, Mr. Trump, what and who is this for?  The companies, the automobile manufacturers don`t want it.  It`s about the oil industry, period, full stop.  It`s not about the car manufacturers, not about consumers, it`s not about the health, it`s not about our economy, it`s about oil companies.

KENT:  Honda says it`s staying the course.  It plans to roll out new hybrid versions of all of its cars in the coming years.

I want to know, does Honda ever feel caught in the middle?  Does the company feel caught in any sort of crossfire here?

HARTY:  We know what we need to do as a company to meet our part of the global responsibility to reduce CO2 emissions.

KENT:  That`s full steam ahead.

HARTY:  Full steam ahead.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KENT:  Now, the other three automakers that have signed up for the California deal voluntarily have also not indicated they plan to change any of their production plans at least yet, Chris.

HAYES:  Jo, you`ve been reporting the story for a while and I`m curious if you`ve seen the effects of the announcement of the antitrust investigation, which is a serious thing and it strikes me that carmakers are scared about that.  What is your reporting suggest?

KENT:  Well, there`s certainly a chilling effect when we do talk to these companies.  They`re very concerned about what the Trump administration might do or say, what the President may tweet as an X-Factor.

And by the way, this lawsuit that came down today from the State of California, you know, this is probably going to go all the way.  The state of California has a pretty good record with federal judges when it comes to fighting the Trump administration.

But analysts are telling us that, you know, the Trump administration`s desire for uniform emission standards across the country may actually have some legs.  So, Chris, this is probably or maybe going to the Supreme Court.

HAYES:  All right Jo Ling Kent, great work.  Thank you very much.  We have an hour packed with amazing and in-depth stories from Trymaine Lee on the month-long flooding in Mississippi, to Al Roker is reporting in Greenland, and the youth activists that are taking charge.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HAVEN COLEMAN, CLIMATE ACTIVIST:  Climate change is a manmade crisis where the main generation that`s going to be affected.  My name is Haven Coleman.  I am 13 years old.  I live in Denver, Colorado.  I`m a climate activist.

I got -- educated myself and I went to the climate reality training and I brought my own mom along since I`m a minor.  I educated the students in my school, I educated students in the surrounding area across U.S., and they started speaking at rallies, marches, talking to politicians and stuff like that, and that really, really, really snowballed.

People are helping me in that I am in something greater than myself.  I`m in something that will help my future as well as millions across the world.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LEVI CAMDEN DRAHEIM, CLIMATE ACTIVIST:  I`m really angry at the grownups, the adults that have been knowingly taking the actions to cause climate change.  And they need to know that they are threatening youth`s future and killing people by doing this.

My name is Levi Camden Draheim and I am from Indian Harbour Beach, Florida and I`m 12 years old.  There`s more hurricanes, and those -- all the things they threatened my islands future.  If this area got destroyed, that would be devastating for me.

I`m part of a lawsuit with 20 other youth plaintiffs who are suing the U.S. government for their actions to cause climate change.  Basically, we are asking the U.S. government to put a science-based climate recovery plan into place.

After I give a speech people come up to me and they oftentimes say that, like I give them hope.  And I don`t want their hope, I want them to be taking action.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HAYES:  We`re back here in the Nation`s Capital in front of the people who are out there protesting today.  We`re still getting images from the climate strike around the world.  Thousands of people took the streets of Paris, France aside of a brutal heatwave this year, and one of the many reasons that this issue right now is become so urgent is that so many of the effects are so clear around the globe.

From Greenland, to Montana, to Mississippi, we have report from all of those locations.  And we begin in Greenland where Al Roker traveled to see the effects of climate change firsthand.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

AL ROKER, NBC NEWS WEATHER ANCHOR:  Greenland, a massive Island at the top of the world, and one of the most remote locations on Earth.  This breathtaking landscape is ground zero for climate change, where the Arctic is warming twice as fast as anywhere else on the planet.  I traveled there to see the devastating of facts first hand.

This is the Apusiaajik glacier or what`s left of it.  Glacier guide Nicco Segreto has witnessed its retreat over the past several years.

Nicco, what does this glacier used to look like?

NICCO SEGRETO, GLACIER GUIDE:  The glacier height was at the height of the mountain right there.  So this, to me is a very big volume of water that today is in the ocean and is not on land anymore.

ROKER:  It sounds very hollow almost where we`re walking.

SEGRETO:  Yes, but it`s full for at least 100 meter below us of ice.

ROKER:  As we continued on, I got to witness climate change in real-time.  That`s a chunk of the glacier breaking off.

SEGRETO:  It`s very important here standing on ice to realize that we are on the first step of a domino effect that then later we call climate change.

ROKER:  New York University Professor David Holland is studying the warming oceans impact on the glaciers.  In 2018, Professor Holland and his wife capturing a spectacular event, a four-mile wide, half-mile deep, and more than mile-long chunk of ice breaking away from the Helheim glacier, dumping ten billion tons of ice into the ocean.

I joined him on board his research boat where he and his team spend up to a month at sea gathering data along Greenland`s southeast coast.

Is the rate of warming something you`re looking at?

DAVID HOLLAND, PROFESSOR, NEW YORK UNIVERSITY:  So when we look out on the ocean here, it`s very cold water.  And it`s the top several hundred feet are all coming from the Arctic Ocean pouring southward.  But surprisingly, water from the tropics, the Gulf Stream is lying underneath all of this, and it`s flowing towards that glacier and others.  And when it hits them, it melts them like crazy.

ROKER:  Today, mission, retrieve then redeploy a mooring that`s been sitting on the ocean floor for the past year, taking daily readings of temperature, salinity, and depth.

HOLLAND:  We`ve been observing that those deeper waters are warming and we`re trying to find out why.  They come in here and they go up that fjord all over Greenland and meet glaciers deep.  They like them on fire.

There it is.  It`s up.

ROKER:  Once we raise it from the deep, data is removed and batteries check.  Warm water was detected, but the actual rising temperature will take up to a year to analyze.  Meanwhile, it`s time to re submerge.

AURORA BASINSKI-FERRIS, GRADUATE STUDENT, NEW YORK UNIVERSITY:  The warmer water on the bottom from the tropics is what`s leading to a lot of melting of the glacier.  So it`s important to keep track of that layer and how warm it is and how thick it is.

ROKER:  Al Roker, NBC News Greenland.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HAYES:  While Greenland is on the front line of climate change, closer to home in Mississippi, flooding this spring left parts of the Delta underwater for months.  MSNBC Correspondent Trymaine Lee joins me live from Vicksburg, Mississippi with more.  Trymaine?

TRYMAINE LEE, MSNBC CORRESPONDENT:  What happens upriver has a downriver effect.  And few places is that more evident that along the banks of the Mississippi River where historic flooding is that devastating consequences.  Now we traveled a stretch of this river here in Mississippi, and we learned firsthand just how connected people`s lives are to the fate of the mighty Mississippi River.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LEE:  The Mississippi River is a source of life, commerce and recreation for millions of people.  From Minnesota to Louisiana, the river stretches more than 2,300 miles, fed by waterways in 31 states that encompass 41 percent of the country.

But this year, many communities were hit with unprecedented rainfall.  In the Mississippi`s namesake state, the river overflowed its banks, swamping cities like Greenville with the worst flooding in nearly a century.

Mayor Errick Simmons says the flood of 2019 is reminiscent of the most devastating flood in Mississippi history.

ERRICK SIMMONS, MAYOR OF GREENVILLE, MISSISSIPPI:  It brings me back to the 1927 flood.  When the flood came, it was poor folks and black folks who were left and displaced for days and four months.

And now we have the flood in 2019.  Here I am as black mayor, but I can see the effect that is having on poor folks and black folks.  Communities like this have been historically neglected.  And then when you have high flood events like this, they get hit hard.  So when it rains around the country, it pours here.

LEE:  It wasn`t just the city that flooded.  Hundreds of thousands of acres of farmland in the Mississippi Delta were inundated leaving farmers like Ed Jenkins who grows corn and soy with sad and unusable land.

EDWARD JENKINS, FARMER, MISSISSIPPI:  This is probably been the worst one that I`ve had in my 30 years of farming.

LEE:  30 years of farming and  this has been the worst?

JENKINS:  This has been the worst.

LEE:  Does it give you concern about what might happen next year or the year after that?

JENKINS:  Wish I was old enough for retirement.

LEE:  Normally when the Mississippi River floods, the Army Corp of Engineers tries to protect surrounding communities by redirecting excess water through spill ways, but this year the river was so swollen that the Corps opened Louisiana Bonnie Carre spillway for longer than it ever had, dumping an estimated 10 trillion gallons of water into Lake Pontchartrain, increasing the lake`s water volume seven fold.

All of that water ended up off the Mississippi Gulf Coast, causing extraordinary harm to marine life.

MOBY SOLANGI, INST. FOR MARINE MAMMAL STUDIES:  Well, we`ve had the largest number of dolphins die since the BP oil spill.  We`ve had about 143 dolphins and about 195 sea turtles, which are the most endangered in the world.

LEE:  What`s killing the dolphins?

SOLANGI:  The primary factor is the river water coming through the Bonnie Carre Spillway.  It has mud, clay, insecticides, pesticides, fertilizers, which creates algae blooms, toxic algae blooms.  And what we have seen is basically an aquatic hurricane.  We`ve seen many animals with fresh-water legions.  These are saltwater animals that are exposed for a prolonged period of time to fresh-water.  And those legions become sores and the bacteria and the fungi enter into it.

LEE:  In the era of climate change, this is the new normal -- more rain, more flooding, more damage to communities across Mississippi.

And those whose lives are rooted by the water will have to prepare for what comes next.

LOUIS SKRMETTA,  CHARTER BOAT CAPTAIN:  We`ve had hurricanes.  Katrina obviously was one of the worst.  But I have never seen a situation where one event would totally wipe out the seafood industry and the tourism industry.

There`s a governors race on right now, and the two guys running for governor are claiming that they`re going to help out, but you don`t hear the word climate change in there -- on they`re on their platform in Mississippi.  Elected officials are so afraid that they`re going to lose their voter base if they even mention the word...

LEE:  Can`t say the words...

SKRMETTA:  Can`t even say the word climate change.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LEE:  While many politicians are reluctant to face the issue of climate change head on, people here on this river whose lives are rooted here say they think about their futures and what will be left  for their children, and most of all, Chris, they want this issue to be taken seriously before it`s too late.

HAYES:  Trymaine, that was an incredible report.  I`m curious on the folks you talked to how they think about their future there, if they think there is a future for them there.  People obviously have been living with water in the delta for as long as they have been down there. It`s obviously things are getting worse down there.  How do they think about whether they can stay?

LEE:  You know, I`ve talked to a number of people -- the steam boat captain, a number of farmers who are generations into this lifestyle and this livelihood -- and they say they`re not urging  their sons and daughters to go into this business.  It`s not just about money and it`s not just about business, it`s about their livelihoods and their traditions.

But where they live, the delta, the Mississippi Delta in particular, the land is so rich and fertile, but it is a former wetland, right.  So conservationists say in order to restore what has been lost we have to restore the wetland, but this is home. People are making their money, dredging a living out of this ground.  And so now they`re just hoping something will disrupt the current course of things, Chris.

HAYES:  All right, MSNBC correspondent Trymaine Lee live for us in Mississippi, that was fantastic.  Thank you very much.

Some 2,000 miles to the north of Mississippi near the Canadian border in Montana, the glaciers are literally disappearing from Glacier National Park, because of the warming climate.

NBC correspondent Cal Perry is in Glacier National Park.  He joins me live tonight with more -- Cal.

CAL PERRY, NBC CORRESPONDENT:  Hey, Chris.  It`s in the name, right, Glacier National Park, it`s why people come here to visit.  And when the park was established in 1910 there were over 100 glaciers.

Today only 25 remain.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PERRY:  Glacier National Park is in many ways a climate change marker.

DAN FAGRE, U.S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY:  If you want to see glaciers in Glacier National Park and you want to see them in a state where they`re kind of impressive, it`s better to come now than later.

PERRY:  If this park is a litmus test of how our natural wonders are standing up against climate change, we`re in trouble.  According to the park`s own literature, northwest Montana is warming twice as fast as the rest of the planet.

The before and after photos displayed by the National Park Service, a frightening example of the now in climate change.

For Dan Fagre, who measures the glaciers for the U.S. Geological Survey, his field of study is disappearing at an unprecedented rate.

How much more is your job every day defined by climate change?  It`s on the t-shirt now.

FAGRE:  Yes, we do science for a changing world and the world does change, and we`re going to keep doing the science to document that.  So, the USGS` mission is to provide the best possible science for decision makers and the public to figure out how best to manage a park like this going into an uncertain future.

PERRY:  Professor Diana Six studies forest fires and entomology.  Her work is now too consumed by the changing climate.

DIANA SIX, UNIVERSITY OF MONTANA:  It`s changed my entire way I have to do my research.  I never had any intent on studying climate change.  You know, 80 percent of my work is climate change driven, because I don`t really have an option.

PERRY:  Here in the northwest corner of the park people travel to see one of the last 25 remaining glaciers, this the Jackson glacier.  And in this part of the state, nothing escapes the issue, the signage even explains what`s going on behind it.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE:  It`s gorgeous.  And we`re worried about the receding glaciers.  Every time we come, we hope they`ll still be as much there the next time, but they`re disappearing slowly.

SIX:  I think the oh my god moment is going to be seeing the places they love, the places close to them, go down and realizing that their kids are not going to be able to experience that and that the quality of the lives of their kids and grandkids are going to go down and not up.

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PERRY:  That increase in temperature is having a profound effect across the park.  We`ve seen a three fold increase in the last hundred years in days over 90 degrees Fahrenheit.  It`s causing the trees to move uphill.  So that tree line you see behind me now constantly on the move because of climate change, Chris.

HAYES:  Cal, the scientists you spoke to talked about the fires there.  What is the warmth and the heat done to the fire season out there?

PERRY: So compared to the 1970s, we`ve seen an increase in fire season of 70 to 80 days.  They`re burping hotter and they`re burning longer.  And when you talk to scientists, you talk to Professor Six, she`ll also tell you it`s about these invasive, these invasive species that are now in these forests.  They`re decimating the forests.  And we worry, of course, about that tipping point.  The forests are supposed to be absorbing that carbon, but sooner or later they`re going to turn toxic and start emitting that carbon, Chris.

HAYES:  All right, NBC News correspondent Cal Perry, the amazing report live in Glacier National Park.  Thank you for that.

More live from Washington, D.C. where students filled the streets today joining with millions of people who took part in the protests around the world.  I`m going to talk with some of those activists next.

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XIUHTEZCATL MARTINEZ, 19-YEAR-OLD CLIMATE ACTIVIST:  This is something that is much bigger than just the environment.  This is actually a human issue.  This is about communities.

I`m Wanuesh Tadeska (ph).  I`m 19 years old,.  I`m a descendant of the Mexica peoples, climate activist, youth director of Earth Guardians, and hip hop artist.

When I got involved in this when I was like 6, 7 years old when I first started public speaking  around the environment and the climate I was the only one at many of these events that was my age, the only young brown person.  And so now everywhere that I look young people are revolutionizing movement culture.

For the youth trying to plug in, this is really good topic to do that because of how many young people are on the ground with projects, you know, calls to action, days of action movements that we`re building towards.  If we make it and if we like hit the mark and we do the work that needs to be done, the future is going to be really dope.  It`s going to be abundant and beautiful and just are we have a lot of work to do to get there.  But we`re only going to do it together.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAMIE MARGOLIN, CLIMATE ACTIVIST:  I`ve been doing this work since I was about 14.  For me, there was never a time in my life where the climate crisis wasn`t a reality.  My name is Jamie Margolin, I`m 17 years old, and I`m a climate justice activist here in Seattle.  I`m going into my senior year of high school, and I am the founder of the Zero Hour Youth Climate Action Movement.

We`re called Zero Hour, because this is an emergency.  There are zero hours left to take action.  And over the course of an entire year we organize, we mobilize.  We have been able to put together this massive coalition that organized 25 youth climate marches all over the world in 2018. 

The first step to getting out of a hole is to stop digging.  And right now we`re still in my state and all over the country, we`re still digging ourselves into this problem.

I am a plaintiff, along with 12 other young people, who are suing the Washington state government, because here in my state there`s a lot of new fossil fuel infrastructure being built and  proposed. 

A lot of times the way climate change is talked about, like especially with the presidential debates, they`ll have like, OK we`re going to talk about health care now, OK, great, next topic climate change, OK, next topic race, when in reality we should be talking about all these issues within the context of the climate crisis.

We should not have to be begging our leaders whose job it is to protect us for the basic thing you can have, which is livable future and a livable planet.

(END VIDEO CLIP)\

HAYES:  We`re back.  We`re live here in Washington, D.C. with this group of young climate activists who took to the streets today, along with other activists all over the world.  And while they were doing that, my colleague Ali Velshi and I spoke to the 2020 candidates at the second day of our climate forum, organized along with our partners at the Georgetown Institute of Politics and Public  Service, and the McCourt School of Public Policy, and our media partner New York Magazine and Our Daily Planet.

I kicked off the day by talking to Senator Cory Booker of New Jersey who told  me about his vision for how we need to transition the economy and jobs to curb carbon emissions.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HAYES:  How concerned are you about that argument, right, which is there`s a lot of people working the oil fields in West Texas.  There are people who work for natural gas companies.  There are all sorts of folks whose livelihoods might be disrupted or even ended in their current form by the transition to net zero carbon emissions.

SEN. CORY BOOKER, (D) NEW JERSEY:  I think there has to be a just transition, as a lot of people are now saying.  And I think if you go to coal miners and basically say your family -- my ancestors are coal miners - - your family, what you`ve been doing for generations, which helped you to raise your kids, to carve through the earth through your labor, your American dream, and this country is now going to turn your back, when you by the way helped to fuel industry, light up peoples lives literally and now we`re going to turn your back on you, for shame.  If I heard that and I was a coal mining family, yeah, I`m going to vote for the person that tells me I`m going to protect your jobs.

And so the Democratic Party cannot look down upon any profession, anyone who`s trying to do what they think is best for their family.  What we need to be doing is show them a future that includes them and their family, that, hey, we need to urgently transition off of coal.  And we will do that.  But we have a plan to make sure that you will not have to lose your coal job and go to a minimum wage job where you`re not going to be able to feed your family.

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HAYES:  So, I`m here with a group of climate strikers who are out on the streets today.  What`s your name?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE:  My name is Tokata Iron Eyes (ph).  And I`m 16 years old from the Standing Rock Reservation.

HAYES:  You know, what do you think about the politics of this where there are some people who are watching the climate strike who do work in oil fields or work in coal and are thinking, like, this is going to leave me out?  What do you want to say to them?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE:  I want to say that as a person of this generation, you know, it`s not about jobs for me.  And I recognize the value and importance of job, but when we`re talking about the climate crisis, we`re talking about a matter of whether or not there will be a future.

So, when we`re talking about jobs, we`re talking about provide for the right here and the right now.  What we need to be looking at is what does life look like for our children, what does life look like for our grandchildren?  And it really is, it comes down to a matter of life and death.

HAYES:  How did you get started doing this kind of work?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE:  When I was 9-years-old, and before that my parents have been raising me with the indigenous values of the Lakota people, so knowing inherently I was related to everything that lives upon the Earth, sort of made me an activist.  And I started public speaking when I was 9 because there was a proposed project to mine uranium in the Black Hills, which is a sacred site to indigenous people.

HAYES:  What`s your name?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE:  Olivia Warblin (ph).

HAYES:  Where are you from? 

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE:  I`m from Sonoma County, California.

HAYES:  Do you feel like you have seen climate change up close?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE:  Oh, definitely.  I was completely affected by the California fires.  I am luckily I`m an emergency firefighter and one of my friends was extremely affected.  She called me one day by the fires and she was surrounded by flames, and luckily because, again, I am a firefighter I was able to -- my team and I were able to get her out safely.

HAYES:  You got her out of the fire? 

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE:  Yes, we did.

HAYES:  Were the folks around you as they were recovering from that fire, which was horrifying, do you feel like that was kind of a light bulb moment for some people about what it means and how close this threat is?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE:  Oh, absolutely.  I wish -- I honestly wish it was, because I`ve been telling my story multiple times, and yet every time people are affected.  But at the same time this -- why do I have to tell people?  They should already be experiencing this.  They should already know about this.  It`s not something you can just blow over.

HAYES:  I want to ask you something that I asked folks last night about the way you think about it and feel about it.  Do you feel anxiety about the future?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE:  Yes, 100 percent.  I worry too much about what my future looks like.  When I`m talking about school and just day to day life, those things are always skewed by the fact we don`t know what the immediate future looks like, especially when we`re looking at the catastrophic events that are caused by climate change.  They are affecting everybody personally.  And if you haven`t seen it yet, you aren`t looking.

HAYES:  Do you feel like politicians are listening now or listening more?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE:  No.  No, I honestly wish they did, because this isn`t about sides anymore, this is about coming together as one.  And we`re not being heard.  That`s why we`re here.  And it`s -- I don`t understand why we have one side versus the other, we`re  fighting for survival at this point and it doesn`t make sense to me.

HAYES:  You guys, I really appreciate you taking the time to talk to me.

We`re going to have much more here from Washington, D.C. on today`s historic protests.  Don`t go anywhere.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP))

CROWD:  Hey, Hey, ho, ho, climate change has got to go.

ALEXANDRIA VILLASENIOR, CLIMATE ACTIVIST:  It`s upsetting that the climate crisis has been put on my generation`s shoulders, where we have to be the ones fighting for a livable planet.  And it`s unfair, especially how world leaders didn`t act in time.  So now it`s time the time for students to go down the streets and demand that they act on the climate crisis.

My name is.  I`m a 14-year-old climate activist living in New York City.  Every Friday, I strike school and I`m outside the United Nations headquarters, because it`s where all the world leaders come  together to make big decisions like reducing our global greenhouse gas emissions.  So it`s really a symbolic place for a global message.

When I first started my climate strike I was alone, but as the weeks progressed more students started to come out and the movement here in New York City started to quickly grow.  Everything I do is from the heart because my generation is truly pushing for change and we have to be the ones out here  demanding action.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE:  We match because indigenous people are disproportionately  affected by climate change.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE:  This building behind me, built on the backs of our ancestors, now has the power to make real change.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE:  And we demand a safe future.  Is that really too much to ask?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE:  You are the David that will beat the Goliath.  You will beat the fossil fuel industry.

BOY:  I`m really excited to fight against the government.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HAYES:  We are back here in Washington D.C..  That was just a taste of the incredible climate protests we saw today across the country and the globe.  We are here in the nation`s capital.  My colleague, Ali Velshi and I, got the chance to talk to several 2020 candidates about their plans to address climate change.  Take a listen to what Mayor Pete Buttigieg told Ali about his personal investment in this fight.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VELSHI:  What is your personal stake in this?

PETE BUTTIGIEG, 2020 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE:  Well, I`m hoping to be here in 2050.  And that means...

VELSHI:  That`s good.

BUTTIGIEG:  And that means -- so, you know, to me this is not abstract, you know, my grandkids kind of thing.  Obviously, I hope to have grandkids and I hope they do great.  But I think I want to be here.  And...

VELSHI:  It`s going to be hot.

BUTTIGIEG:  Yeah, and it means for one thing I will be held accountable.  I think my generation will be held accountable, because it will be on our watch that this thing played out.

I actually think this is one of those moments that, like many moments in American history, really pivotal ones, like maybe the American Revolution itself, the struggle for civil rights.  It may be that of all of the things that we`re doing right now, the thing we`re going to be remembered for, will boil down to where we were on this issue.

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HAYES:  I`m back with young climate activists who are among the millions marching around the world today.

What`s your name?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE:  My name is Jerome Foster II (ph).

HAYES:  Where are you from?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE:  I`m from Washington, D.C. 

HAYES:  The mayor there was talking about the sort of generational drive here.  And it`s obviously the case that like this movement has been youth lead from the beginning.  It is youth led now.  Why is that?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE:  Because we`re on the midst of a global emergency and we must act as such.  And we must make sure we`re holding our elected official accountable, because right now they lack the moral integrity to care.  And that`s why millions of young people are striking all around the world, because we have to have a moral call to action.  And that`s why I founded one million of us, it`s to mobilize young people across the country to register to vote.

HAYES:  What have you learned about registering to vote and organizing in the time you`ve been doing this?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE:  I think that what we have learned as a movement is that we have to continue to engage young people, because young people bring energy to any movement they`re a part of.  And that`s why we understand that we`re not the last generation and that we will will continue to go on.

HAYES:  What`s your name?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE:  My name is Nadia Nasser (ph).

HAYES:  And you were one of the organizers for the march here in D.C., right? 

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE:  Yes.

HAYES:  What`s it like trying to bring together thousands of people?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE:  It`s amazing trying to bring together thousands of people.  It is a lot of hard work, hours and hours of work.  And as Jerome was saying, like we refuse to be the last  generation.  And we were given the name Generation Z, the last letter in the alphabet.  And it is absolutely terrible that people expect that we`re going to be the last generation.  And we refuse for that to happen.

We are Generation GND, Generation of the Green New Deal.

HAYES:  What do you say to people that say you guys are young and young people are always sort of fired up with ideological vigor and conviction, and when you get older you realize that, like, we`ve got a crisis, but we can take care of it.  It`s not that pressing.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE:  It is super pressing.  Climate change is the biggest...

It is very pressing.  And I think our energy comes from that.  And I think that the youth have a different perspective on the climate crisis, because we are going to be the ones actually experiencing it.  And to have that looming over our heads, to understand that we may not have futures, our children may not have futures.  We may not have clean air and clean water to live, that`s not OK.

HAYES:  You talked about registering to vote, how much do you see politics and voting and engagement with the current political system as part of the movement?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE:  I believe that engaging in the current political system is essential, because we must believe in the politics of today, because by the time we are able to run to be able to vote -- run for office, or run for congress, or run for president, we won`t have the time.  We`ll be past the tipping point for the climate crisis.  So, we must elect officials that represent the people and representing our democracy and representing the people of America.

HAYES:  You know, one of the candidates we talked to today was Tom Steyer who is running for president on the Democratic side.  And I spoke to him a little bit about climate justice, about the ways in which both pollution and climate change fall disproportionately on certain communities.  Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TOM STEYER, 2020 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE:  America has concentrated I its pollution in the low income neighborhoods that don`t have political power.  So if you look, for instance, in my home state of California, in the city of Fresno.  In West Fresno, people have a 22 year lower life expectancy than people who live two miles north of them.  The pollution is concentrated.

So, to me, it`s essential to go to those neighborhoods and make sure that this plan reflects the needs of those communities that have been so targeted for pollution.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HAYES:  Obviously -- what`s your name?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE:  Lauren Manas (ph). 

HAYES:  That has been a big focus of the climate movement, is sort of climate justice.  Do you think you`ve transformed a bit the conversation even that politicians are having about...

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE:  Definitely, so we`re with Sunrise, and like Nadia (ph) said, Generation GND.  We`re fighting for a Green New Deal, to s top the climate crisis and create millions of good jobs in the process.

We see this as a historic opportunity to not only tackle the climate crisis, but also to reverse historic and systemic racism and economic inequality in this country.  And talking about those and taking those intersections seriously is how we`re going to win.

HAYES:  Do you feel hopeful and confident about winning?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE:  I do.  I think that is the only way that we`re going to win.  I`m really proud of the incredible work that we have already done to set the terms of the debate this far.  Every single major presidential candidate has backed the green New Deal as the most ambitious solution to tackle this crisis.

HAYES:  All right, thank you guys all so much for coming out.

That does it for this special edition of ALL IN.  I want to thank you all for watching.  I want to also thank the incredible team, all reporters and producers who fanned out across the world to put that  together.  Special shout out to the team that brought that home.  "THE RACHEL MADDOW SHOW" starts now with Joy Reid in for Rachel. 

Good evening, Joy.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED. END