Amy Goodman: 'The U.S. needs to lead' on climate change

Democracy Now host Amy Goodman appeared on Up with Chris Hayes Saturday morning to discuss the upcoming United Nations' Convention on Climate Change in Durbin, South Africa.

Goodman targeted the United States' failure to lead on climate change as the top theme of this year's convention.

"This is not just the fiction of the future, we are experiencing more extreme weather all over the world," she said. "The Pentagon understood this, under George Bush in a report that was suppressed and finally let out. The Pentagon said, 'This is one of the gravest threats to us, far worse than terrorism.'"

"And so people are gathered here in Durbin, South Africa to take this on, and they are deeply disappointed at the role of the United States right now."

Goodman went on to mention the letter 16 different environmental organizations sent to Hillary Clinton this week condemning President Barack Obama for not following through on his 2008 pledge to 'vigorously' fight climate change. The groups felt that instead of "being a leader", the United States is becoming "the biggest obstacle to climate change" in their perspective.

Hayes brought up the important role that China also plays on climate change, something Goodman acknowledged. But she kept the pressure on the Obama Administration.

"Still, the United States is the largest per capita emitter of greenhouse gases in the world, even more than China," she said. "Now China definitely has to regulate its emissions as well. But that does not pre-empt a discussion as the U.S. being a leader as President Obama promised."

"The U.S., because it is the major greenhouse gas emitter per capita, larger than China, must be the leader here, even when it comes to our own country. It's not about being altruistic to the rest of the world. We're taking about freak and extreme weather like we have never seen before in our country that cost millions of dollars in damages."

WATCH: Video from MSNBC, which was broadcast on December 3, 2011.

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