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Details for the Steppin' Out of Babylon: Radio Interviews Podcast
Radio Interviews by Sue Supriano.
Description
Radio Interviews by Sue Supriano. Featured issues: peak oil, climate change, 9/11, media, indigenous people, fraudulent elections, oil, environmental pollution and toxicity, chem trails/aerosol sprays, human rights, civil rights, racism, militarism, weapons, immigrants, genetic engineering, Buddhism, resource depletion, health, communication. "Babylon" is the "isms" and "schisms" not only within the system but within ourselves. Let's organize, unify and step out of Babylon.
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Episodes
1 - David Chandler
David Chandler is a physics teacher, a Quaker peace activist, and an independent 9/11 researcher, active with Architects and Engineers for 9/11 Truth and on the board of the International Center for 9/11 Studies. He noticed that something was amiss with the way the buildings fell on 9/11 and did precise measurements of the motions associated with the building collapses and straightforwardly applied Newton's laws of motion to show what this implied about the forces at work. Chandler thinks that the free fall of the buildings is one of the clearest smoking guns for the use of explosives on 9/11. A paper describing his analysis can be found online at the Journal of 9/11 Studies. Chandler's' analysis proves that approximately 90% of the structural support had to have been removed from the North Tower for it to come down with constant downward acceleration as it did. Building 7 (the third building to undergo rapid, total destruction on the evening of 9/11) came down at absolute freefall as well so that also had to have its existing inner structure previously removed. Besides clarifying the dynamics of the building collapses, David Chandler has built a solid case that the official NIST (National Institute of Standards and Technology) investigation was an elaborate coverup, involving not just errors, but that it was fraudulent. Chandler is working on a documentary DVD that will tie together all of his work. Go to his website below and the numerous analytical videos posted by him on YouTube for more details.
2 - David Cobb
David Cobb is a community organizer and attorney living in Eureka, CA when he's not on the road sharing his concerns and organizing for a more democratic USA. He has run for president on the Green Party ticket in the past. Presently he is a leader of the group Democracy Unlimited of Humbolt County, a group which is working toward leading a non-violent grassroots uprising to make democracy real and legal in the United States. Democracy Unlimited’s present focus toward legalized democracy is a response in particular to the recent Supreme Court decision that gives corporations the same rights as an individual. In the past, if a person’s constitutional rights were being infringed upon, that person could go to the court system and find relief. However, with the January 2010 Supreme Court decision, now corporations have that same right as well. This means that now any effort to control the corporation’s conduct through legislation is subject to being overturned in court. Cobb says this particular legislation giving corporations the same rights as an individual person is very dangerous. He urges people to get involved, either at a federal level (www.movetoamend.org) or at a local level (www.duhc.org) to make change. Cobb believes that great change can be produced by joining together with your community of radicals, conservatives, democrats and republicans—because on a basic level we all have the same goals. We want clean air, good food, clean water and security. Our government and court systems will not provide these things for us without pressure. Historically these established institutions have instead worked to protect the property rights of the elite. We can change this through local nonviolent acts of civil disobedience. He urges all of us to organize and connect with this very very important campaign. www.movetoamend.org- Tel.; 702-269-0984 www.duhc.org- Tel: 702-269-0984 Interview conducted in February, 2010
3 - Dr. Michael Fry
Dr. Michael Fry, a wildlife toxicologist, is the Director of Conservation Advocacy at American Bird Conservancy and the Committee Chairman for the Federal Advisory Committee for Minerals Management Service. He says the EPA (Environmental Protections Agency) began developing technology 14 years ago with which it is just now beginning to test the chemicals all around us that are, as Dr Fry explains "endocrine interfering" chemicals which, though they are rarely mentioned, can have huge affects on humans and other animals and their endocrine systems (eg., gender development). He mentions that plastics are a major source of our contacts with these chemicals. Plastics numbered 3, 6 and 7 are toxic and should be avoided. Plastics numbered 2, 4 and 5 are non-toxic. On another matter, Dr. Fry explains some risk involved with wind as an alternate energy method. The problem is that windy places are also places where birds are. At Altamont Pass--east of San Francisco-- 1000 golden eagles and 1700 hawks and owls have been killed in the last twenty-five years. Windmills interrupt migratory paths of birds as well. Dr. Fry wishes to help develop guidelines for windmill production in order to encourage the least risk to birds. His view is that the mindset of endless growth is not sustainable. Development, while it cannot be stopped altogether, needs to not affect wildlife adversely. Interview conducted in Jan. 2010
4 - Ramona Africa & Fred Riley
The MOVE organization was started in the 1972 by John Africa and included members from different religions, race and gender but all were cemented by the belief that nothing is more important than life. The members of MOVE staged demonstrations at institutions they felt exploited life on earth, including circuses and zoos, chemical plants that were polluting our water, and homes for the elderly where residents were not being treated with respect. The police didn't appreciate the protests and reacted with brutality and bombings many times over. This brutality came to a head twice in MOVE's forty year history -- once in August of 1978 and again in May of 1985. Both times homes and lives were lost in the fight. In 1978, police officer James Ramp was killed. Nine members of the MOVE organization were convicted of the murder and, over thirty years later are still in jail. In 1985, the police came to the new MOVE house under the guise of following up on complaints by neighbors. The police tried to remove the MOVE members from the house. When the MOVE family refused to leave, the police bombed the house, killing 11 people. Twenty-five years later Ramona, the sole survivor from that blast, is still heading the movement to fight oppression, to not stand down in the face of danger, to not be bought by the highest bidder. Fred Riley, also a member of the MOVE family warns, however, that the stronger you stand in defiance of oppression, the more the hostility and brutality will increase. Regardless of this fact, Ramona Africa says that people need to "love themselves enough to fight." MOVE can be contacted at (215) 387-4107 or by email at onamovellja@aol.com It is the self within ourselves that we have to sacrifice. It is our own heart that has to be torn out of the false being and offered to the light. Interview conducted March 2010.
5 - Terry Hurst
Terry Hurst had ridden his bicycle from Salt Lake City, Utah to Eugene, Oregon when Sue Supriano met him. His destination was the San Francisco Bay Area. He’s a Board Member of the Mestizo Center of Culture and Arts in Salt Lake City—a nonprofit culture and arts organization on the west side of Salt Lake City. Salt Lake City is very ethnically diverse. Hurst’s neighborhood is 45% Latino, 3% Native Amer., 3% African American, 8% Pacific Islander, 6% Asian and 30% Caucasian. There are also many refugees—Tibetan, Vietnamese, Serbian and Ruandan. Of course these groups, including the GLBT population have their own churches, temples and centers.etc.—just in his neighborhood. The truth is that this diversity is the model for the US. Hurst believes that when you see people as the problems you build more jails and more “at risk” programs. When people are seen as the solutions you build more businesses, banks, community gardens and green programs for the neighborhood. Since the latter is the attitude of the organizers and organizations in his community this neighborhood now has the lowest crime rate in the city. They even had kids fixing up the living spaces of the elderly and other types of jobs which accomplish more than one thing. The reason why Hurst is riding his bike, something he has never before done, is to raise money in small amounts from many people to build this “green” building on the West Side of Salt Lake City. It will be built by and for the youth he works with, thus changing the culture of the area by showing that it can be done. His dream is to get $1.00 from lots of people and to rebuild networks and movements of positive social change in the world. We can be good mentors and help these kids who respond so quickly. Hurst urges people to invest in programs like theirs which get folks working together and building community—“green” communities at that. More info at: bikeforart.com, mestizoarts.org, blog.fivemilliondollarfund.org and look for videos on U-tube. Recorded in January, 2010
6 - Elvy Musikka
As a child Musikka suffered from congenital cataracts, which developed into glaucoma after several surgeries. She began using marijuana to treat this condition despite the opinion of her ophthalmologist who felt that she should have surgery instead. Musikka chose to have the surgery on one eye, while continuing to treat the glaucoma using marijuana, obtained illegally to treat her other eye. She was in constant fear of getting arrested and losing her children, but the marijuana was working. By 1987 the eye she was having surgery on was blind and Musikka was arrested for possession of marijuana. By this point her children had left home for college. The press was alerted to the story and followed every move from her arrest to her trial. At the trial, Dr. Palmberg convinced the judge that no marijuana for Musikka would be a “life sentence to blindness.” On August 15, 1988 Musikka was acquitted. Later that same year she was enrolled in an experimental program run by the Federal Government that annually supplies her with a year’s worth of marijuana. Although she also completes a progress report every year it is never published, because, according to Musikka, the government is driven by the demands of the pharmaceutical, tobacco, alcohol and prison industries which all gain by the “hideous prohibition” of medical marijuana. Since her acquittal, Musikka has become an activist to help other patients who are in the same position she was. In September 1988 Francis L Young of the DEA stated that “marijuana in natural form is a benign therapeutic substance.” He also stated that for a government to come between patient and health benefits of medical marijuana is “capricious, unreasonable and arbitrary”—Musikka adds that it is also unconstitutional and immoral. Musikka travels the country speaking with legislators to push for changes in the law regarding medical marijuana and also speaks at educational functions in order to raise consciousness about this issue. There are 20 million people in jail for drug possession. There are one million drug related arrests per year. Elvy Mussika says (citing the source www.medicalcannabis.com) that our government is “arresting and robbing own citizens.” She also says that it is our own “personal responsibility to end this hideous prohibition.” If we don’t, the consequence will be on us. Recorded in January, 2010
7 - Ian Hill
Ian Hill is the founder and CEO of Oregon based Sequential Biofuels which consists of both a biofuel production company, producing a yearly five and a half million gallons of fuel, including ethanol, in the plant in Salem, OR and a filling station in Eugene, Oregon. At the time that Hill came from Tennessee to Oregon there was no demand for biofuel. After lots of study and believing that of the advantages of the lower carbon emissions of biofuels, and using recycled oil for the fuel would be a factor in making the world a better place SeQuential Biofuel was founded in 2002. Ninety percent of the fuel is made from recycled cooking oil which is very important to make this fuel sustainable without the many down sides of using land for growing fuel instead of food. Hill believes that we humans have ruined our own nest and feels strongly about not further perpetuating that model. The Eugene filling station is the first and only of its kind in that it is a passive solar building that uses 35% less energy than most convenience stores, has solar panels, produces 45% of its energy needs on site, has organic snacks, a “living” roof and the founders promised themselves they would never try to grow bigger than the food stock that was regionally sourced. For them, it’s about building community based wealth which means relying on locally made fuel and focuses on building local economies. The farms in E. Oregon that do grow some corn for use as fuel use human waste from Portland as fertilizer. Hill also makes the point that still the biggest impact we can have is to use less fuel in general.
8 - Jan Spencer
Jan Spencer lives in Eugene, Oregon where he is an elder activist for more sustainable living as well as an artist . In this interview we talk about the transformation of his standard ranch style house with a medium sized yard into a permaculture paradise producing lots of food, biological richness and beauty. Spencer says “permaculture is a big toolbox designing interrelated systems that work with each other and enhance the positive functioning of the larger system. It can apply to any region from one’s backyard to the world. It takes in economics, the larger system, the environment and the person designing the system. It can change the whole world for the better and much of it is using our common sense which too often we’ve lost track of. Spencer rides a bike, leads tours of Eugene neighborhoods for others who he encourages to be on bikes as well, gives talks and works tirelessly to bring people’s attention to the “system” that tends not to be good for us and encourages others to make important changes in their lifestyles, private backyards, and thinking. Spencer points out that, in this system which, in his opinion, often encourages people to do the wrong thing, the word “sustainable” is too often used as a marketing mechanism to encourage people to do more of the “wrong thing”—as in “sustainable cars”. The “psychology of previous investment” makes people servants of the economy and making “dumb choices” like building more roads in a time of “peak oil” rather than a system, which has a mythology that actually works for the health of our planet and us. Cheap oil and cheap credit haven’t been in our interest really. Both are going away. To acknowledge these mythologies is important as well as to look at what we have now that will serve us well in the future and nurture those qualities and services that will be assets for our future. Neighborhood organizations and working locally are very very important for the future. He sees the goal of civilization to nurture and bring out the best people have in themselves. Downsizing our needs and localizing the meeting of our needs to be more local is crucial. Do we value ourselves enough to demand and participate in creating a way of life we can be proud of that’s peaceful and uplifting spiritually is a question that is core to the issue.
9 - Jyoti
Jyoti is the Spiritual Director of the or California based Center for Sacred Studies which is, among other things, sponsoring and supporting the International Council of Thirteen Indigenous Grandmothers. The Center for Sacred Studies is in the mountains of N. California. It is a place for people to pray in whatever form they wish and much of their prayer is to heal and transform the history of violence against the Native Miwok and other Native people who were driven off their lands. One of the elders of Jyoti's larger international community, Kayumari, brought a message that one of the main purposes of the Center is to preserve different lines of prayer. Jyoti went to Africa to learn about the Iboga plant and there she met Bernadette Rebienot who is now one of the Grandmothers on the Council. Bernadette had made contact with the ayahausceros of the Amazon—ayahausca and iboga both being "plant" medicine/teachers that come out of the pharmacy of the earth. The people from the South American Amazon and Africa need to speak with soldarity and insist that their sacred plants need to be protected can no longer be taken from their communities and their natural homes to be used by pharmaceutical companies or whatever else. Jyoti got the spiritual message to organize the Council of 13 of Indigenous Grandmothers, contacted them and they all met in a the Dalai Lama’s Medicine Buddha’s Retreat Center in Ca. where Jyoti learned of the many First Nations that have a prophecy that the 13 Grandmothers would come together. The grandmothers are from North and South America, Africa, Africa and Asia. Grandma Agnes Baker Pilgrim, of the Siletz Nation in Oregon is 85 years old, the oldest and the chairwoman of the group. This August, 2009, the Grandmothers are meeting in Lincoln City, Oregon to do prayers and workshops. They visit each others homes twice a year as well as do other events. They will be in Sedona, AZ in Dec. 09 visiting Grandmother Mona who lives there. When they come together and hold public events they pray for peace together but in their own ways. Jyoti is a most impressive woman as well. She worked with children in Texax for 13 yrs. who taught her about the strength of spirit since there lives were so hard. She studied at Jung Institute, worked with severely disturbed kids, was the Director of the Spiritual Emergence Network in SF started by Stan and Christine Grof and and trained people in Europe to do similar work with people going through tumultuous times while “awakening” which some people mistakenly called "psychosis". She brought attention to the fact that, in fact, these people are often our healers. She has developed her own style breathwork, studied in India is married and a grandma and talks about "listening to the divine mother” for guidance. The Grandmothers are reminding us we need to go back to our roots because there we will find a history of people living in balance, marking the seasons and calling on and thanking the Great Mother because they knew she provided everything. Unfortunately temples and churches were built on those sacred sites of the original people's and She was thrown out of her house. When She is back on her house and we call on her we won’t have wars and we’ll be back in balance. We have this ONE chance says Grandma Aggie. First Nation people and people that are holding a vision of new world and one that is based on kindness and regard are standing up and meeting more and more frequently all over the world says Jyoti. The film about the International Council of 13 Indigenous Grandmothersm, For the Next Seven Generations, can get be previewed and purchased online at www.forthenext7generations.com and the book about them, "Grandmothers' Council the World" can be found in nine different languages in bookstores or over the internet. Meet the International Council of Thirteen Indigenous Grandmothers, introduced by Janet Weber: www.youtube.com/watch?v=ASE0Ri_0F8g
10 - Mary Wood
Mary Wood is a Professor of Environmental Law at the University of Oregon School of Law. She calls the issue of climate change a "planetary emergency" and a matter of survival. Her idea is that it is crucial for the U.S. Government to hold the environment in public trust for the future of our children. Wood states that since it’s unclear whether we’re now past the “tipping point of no return”. Our best hope at survival is to act like we haven't past it and continue to try to lessen the negative effects of climate change. However it is clear that we will be over the tipping point very very soon if we don’t radically reduce our carbon emissions. Climate scientists are saying our carbon pollution will produce a “transformed planet” and it is a threat to humanity and to civilization as we know it. Wood challenges every parent to look their children in the eyes and know that our actions NOW will affect our children and all of life on the planet as we know it. Wood wants to re-frame the issue and say that the environment is a legal trust that the government and people hold for future generations. The air, the atmosphere, the forests, the wetlands and the wildlife are protected natural assets, held in perpetuity and managed by the government so these resources can support the children in this country and in the world in perpetuity. Carbon dioxide and methane are the two main contributors to climate change and we can certainly control those if we choose to. We can do this by moving away from burning fossil fuels and use wind and solar and other renewable sources to create the energy we need for survival. Scientist warn we are “looking the tipping point in the eye”. The seas can’t absorb any more carbon. They are releasing carbon now as well as is the melting permafrost in Alaska. The seas are so acid the shellfish can no longer survive, there are “dead zones” in the ocean stretching tens of thousands of miles, every single big commercial fishery in the world is at the point of collapse. “Our ways” of our modern industrial society are the primary cause of all this. Our legislators are negligent and uninformed and acting very irresponsibly—consciously or not. Regulators are not doing their jobs. We need to inform ourselves and actively pressure the agencies to be well informed and act in the interests of all of us. There is no sign they will change without massive public pressure. Wood is urging people to join with others all over the world who are already volunteering to be “climate victory speakers” and educate people about the facts and what we still have a chance to do. We have to write, write, write and call, call, call our representatives!!!! True sustainability is “doable”. We can live off the interest of the environment, not the capital. Recorded June, 2009
11 - Haunani-Kay Trask
Trask has represented Native Hawaiians in the United Nations and various other global forums. She is the author of several books of poetry and nonfiction, an activist and outspoken advocate for the Hawaiian sovereignty movement (ke ea Hawai‘i), which consists of organizations and individuals seeking some form of sovereignty for Hawaii. In this interview she speaks of the ailing economy in the Hawaiian Islands and the negative effects of Hawaii’s tourism industry on the welfare of the Hawaiian people. She refers to the huge United States military presence in Hawaii and its devastating effects on self-determination and self-governance for people of whole or part native Hawaiian ancestry in their homeland. Hawaii is not surprisingly experiencing the effects of the economic collapse of the US and the wider world. Trask thinks its very sad that rather than planting food in these sunny, fertile islands with a year round growing season, too many local people are focused on getting more tourists to come to Hawaii. She brings attention to the fact that more native Hawaiians now live outside of Hawaii, mostly on the US mainland, while sadly the population of the Hawaii includes more and more non-Hawaiians, many of whom are so rich that they build huge houses there where they spend only a few weeks a year. Trask vividly draws a picture of the economic, cultural and spiritual elements behind her opposition to the tourism industry and briskly states how non-native listeners can best be a positive element for change by not visiting or residing in Hawaii. Interview conducted in May 2009
12 - David Weisman
Media activist David Weisman from the California organization Alliance for Nuclear Responsibility (www.a4nr.org) reminds us that the negative effects of nuclear energy far outweigh the benefits. He recaps the problems experienced by such reactors as Diablo Canyon, Rancho Seco and the Three Mile Island meltdown and release of radiation. The problems that these older reactors had have not been solved since those times, and we run the risk of repeating them. Human error can have serious consequences at reactors, as was seen at Three Mile Island. Disposal options for dangerous “spent fuel” the negative effects of which last for millions of years, are still limited to storage in low-population areas such as Nevada, where there are already problems with contamination of soil and water. Contact with plutonium and nuclear waste result in deadly serious health problems including cancer. Another issue to consider is the security threat posed by countries moving to weapons manufacturing after establishing nuclear power plants built for peaceful uses. Finally Weisman points out that even if these issues could be solved in theory it will not happen soon enough to make any difference in global warming about which experts predict that we have 10 or at the most 15 years to make significant changes. Weisman’s film, Everything Nuclear (www.everythingnuclear.org), gives more historical and technical background on all of these issues. Weisman concludes that efforts to find new ways to generate power should focus on other sources with fewer problems, such as solar and wind power. Recorded February, 2009
13 - Riki Ott
Riki Ott is a marine pollution scientist, author and activisit. She speaks here about her recent book Not One Drop: Betrayal and Courage in the Wake of the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill. The Exxon Valdez oil spill occurred in 1989 in Prince William Sound, Alaska. In this interview, she goes beyond the damage caused by oil tanker spills and by the oil industry as a whole (through extraction and automobile exhaust) to look at the bigger picture: how corporations are able to amass money and power, which in turn are destroying democracy. Ott speaks about how the courts ordered the Exxon Corporation to pay economic compensation to the citizens affected by the spill – for example, the pink salmon and herring industries collapsed – but the emotional cost of the spill, the damage done to Native culture and the way of life in Cordova, were not considered a “real” loss. Ott began to realize that the issue was greater than an oil spill: the crux of the matter is that corporations are granted human rights which are allowed to trump private lives. Corporations became persons in the eyes of the law in 1886. These corporate persons have since then usurped many personal rights that the Founding Fathers only intended for real human beings. For example, corporate persons can use First Amendment protections to pour money into political campaigns. Ott has launched a campaign (see ultimatecivics.com) to support repeal of the 28th Amendment, which would strip corporations of their human rights and hold corporations accountable for the consequences of their actions. Ott also addresses the damage that oil does in terms of health and political instability. Current medical research links polycylic aromatic hydrocarbons (the “backbone” of oil) to asthma and reduced lung capacity in children. Oil spill workers show similar symptoms. PAH’s are persistent and bioaccumulant. Ott believes that oil corporations have suppressed this information. Governments have not envisioned a future beyond oil, although oil is a toxic substance that causes damage every step of the way from extraction through combustion. Recorded February, 2009
14 - Anonymous War-Tax Resistor
A veteran war-tax resistor, who wishes to remain nameless, talks about her twenty-year history beneath the radar of the Federal government. Living in anonymity, the Resistor has paid only $35 to the government since her decision not to pay war taxes. She is independently employed and rather than doing her taxes in April, she calculates what she would owe and uses the money to benefit the community directly, through loans, grants, and other support for under-represented citizens. The Resistor is active in the National War Tax Resistance Coordinating Committee. While these resistors have all chosen to protest the government’s funding of violence, there is diversity in both tactics and motivation. The Resistor maintains that they are not protesting taxes, but advocating for citizens to conscientiously object to paying for war. As the Resistor states, “bodies and money are the requirements for war. To pay for murder is to murder.” The Resistor argues that the benefits of this lifestyle choice outweigh the risks. Fear is counterbalanced, she says, by living in accord with her own ethics. Ultimately, the Resistor states that “Our inconvenience is nothing” compared to the atrocities and violations experienced at the other end of our military spending. Recorded in January, 2009
15 - Alexis Zeigler
Alexis Zeigler, author of Culture Change: Civil Liberty, Peak Oil and the End of Empire, takes a broad and integrated view of economy, ecology, culture and politics to propose a deeper truth about our current civilization. We have subscribed to a top-down “mental” view of societal change while for the most part ignoring the ecological and economic underpinnings that drive change from below. Zeigler uses the example of the women’s movement in this country, which has not been a linear trajectory towards liberation, but rather has had ups and downs which have been tied to the need for women’s economic contribution to society. He speaks about the efforts to control women’s sexuality by the anti-abortion movement as a symptom of increased restrictions. Zeigler observes that civilizations generally achieve the peak of democracy at the height of their colonial power and he sees the shift to an economy not based on growth, which is crucial, also as a time of potential restrictions to civil liberties. We are in trouble because we do not have anyone formulating a coherent view of the future. We need to get “ahead of the curve” and take action to ameliorate the effects of global warming rather than react when it is too late. Many are in denial about peak oil, and even those who see a solution in green energy are blind to its high cost. (Zeigler addresses this issue in particular in his book Beyond Greenhype: Real Solutions for Global Warming, downloadable from his website, listed below). Zeigler advises localization of economics and power, reduction of energy consumption, empowered child-rearing and community use of resources. Recorded in January, 2009
16 - Grandmother Agnes Pilgrim Baker
Grandmother Agnes Pilgrim Baker, the oldest living member of the Takilma Siletz nation of Southern Oregon, is the Chairperson of the International Council of 13 Indigenous Grandmothers. The Grandmothers who are from Brazil, Nepal, Africa, Mexico, Tibet, Japan, the U.S. etc. travel all over the world sharing the knowledge, wisdom and hope gained through a lifetime of experience. Grandmother Aggie speaks on behalf of all Grandparents, and all those who would learn from indigenous, inherited knowledge in these times and will light our way through the uncertain future. She describes the Council, their mission, and some of their many adventures. She speaks passionately to the Elders of every society and to us all; calling us to greater action, appreciation, and gratitude for the world in which we live. From meeting with the Dalai Lama to agitating in the Vatican City, the Grandmothers stand as a reminder of the knowledge and prayers that we desperately need in our time for the healing of Mother Earth and her inhabitants. Grandmother Aggie asks us to know the history of our lands, and to build a more positive and beautiful history for the generations that are to come. For they, and not us, own the world. The grandmothers will be visiting Grandma Aggie this August, 2009, in Oregon where they will be holding public events. Grandma Aggie's book: Grandmothers Counsel the World: Women Elders Offer Their Vision for Our Planet (Paperback) Interviewed in February 2009
17 - David Bacon
David Bacon explains that what the US government and the governments of other rich industrialized countries do through their actions and policies towards poorer and developing countries is, in fact, designed to benefit the economies and large corporations of those “developed” countries and that these actions and policies often lead to what he refers to as “forced migration”. The policies of the IMF (International Monetary Fund) and NAFTA (North American Free Trade Agreement) are terrible for working people of poor countries. In fact, the workers in both North and South America lost out with NAFTA. Workers in the U.S. lost when 800 jobs went to Mexico and Mexico lost a million jobs. Another way in which NAFTA creates poverty, for example, is that it allows U.S. corporations such as the huge food corporation of Archer Daniel Midlands to dump its products on the Mexican market at a very low price thus undercutting the price of local corn that has been grown by s¬¬mall farmers for centuries. As a result the local corn farmers have to go elsewhere to get money to feed their families. They often migrate to cities, to the U.S. and to the maquilladores --factories along the U.S.-Mexican border, which pay little and often mistreat workers. From 1994 when NAFTA went into effect until now about six million people have come to the U.S. from Mexico because there was no other way for their families to survive. Corporations want this flow of “cheap labor” because they profit from it but they want it in a certain controlled way in which people leave if they aren’t working and have no rights while they do work in the U.S. Twelve million people are now in the U.S. without visas and therefore have no political or labor rights. “Illegal” means you’re without rights and can be controlled. The same was true for the Chinese, Japanese and Filipino immigrants of the past. Notice as well the inherent racism, the stereotypes of “illegal” people are overwhelmingly people of color. The Real ID Act and the Patriot Act make working outside of federal recruitment plans mean one will go to prison, as thousands of people do. There is a court in Tucson, Arizona where so-called “illegals” are brought in wearing chains, and then approximately seventy people a day from this group go to federal prison, thus making an example of them for the others. Local police and immigrations authorities work together—e.g., police set up roadblocks looking for driver’s licenses in the attempt to identify and arrest immigrants. To contact David Bacon: dbacon@igc.org Recorded in February 2009
18 - Leonardo Cerdo
Leonardo Cerdo, a young indigenous Ecuadorian, has been an activist since he was nine years old. He works with issues of the terrible environmental and human health issues in Ecuador caused by Shell, Texaco and Chevron who have been drilling for oil in Ecuador for thirty years or more, mostly in the northern part of the Amazon region. For twenty years people were afraid and not allowed to speak up until recently. Due to the extensive and horrible effects of oil development, many groups are now speaking up against the companies as they move south causing terrible skin, breathing, pregnancy problems and very, very high cancer rates for children as well as adults. Where the oil companies go there are swamps filled with toxic water and huge toxic pits--all together more than the size of Manhattan. Now people need medicines to battle these new sicknesses with pharmaceuticals (for which they need money) since their local plant herbal remedies are also polluted. People’s life styles have changed and are more money centered. Cerdo and other activists educate about sustainability options in the Amazon and in the city, including schools and universities. “We don’t think nature belongs to us, we think we belong to nature” says Cerdo. The land belongs to the future people as well and it’s all we have. He works with a human rights club there at his university in Quito and wants to let students, most of whom are from privileged backgrounds and unaware of much of what’s happening to the less privileged. He wants them to know what’s going on, especially with the indigenous people. Cerdo is part of a collective in Quito, FAOICIN, which is part of the larger collective La Casita del Arbol. They work against mining companies, and with collectives of urban people who go work on the land and see where food comes from as well as many other campaigns in the Amazon, etc. They all work together. People need to eat so they work together to strike for their rights. They also have a co-op of products to put the growers and the urban folks together. The movement is large and made of groups of indigenous, students, urban groups, rural groups-- all working together and helping each other out. Cerdo is part of Rising Tide—a big network in the US--www.risingtideinternational.org. He’s also in charge of networking and grassroots organizing for a huge and open gathering next summer where all will be talking about climate change, social justice and environmental justice. If interested in helping out/being involved contact Leo at leosacha@gmail.com. His organization’s contact is: FAOICIN@gmail.com Recorded December 2008
19 - Kathy Kelly
Kathy Kelly is a nonviolent peace activist, founder of Voices in the Wilderness, now renamed-- Voices for Creative Nonviolence, and an active participant in the Catholic Workers. Since 1996 she has been involved in matters of Iraq and since 2006 has been living and working with Iraqi people in Jordan. At the time of this interview she was working to help Iraqis who have come to the U.S. In this interview Kelly remarks how protective and concerned American families can be about their children and that Iraqi families are the same. However due to the commonness of death threats, family members in prison, houses being destroyed, dealing constantly with multiple traumas and symptoms of post traumatic stress syndrome etc., it’s an immense challenge to stay calm and positive. People get through the days by drawing on wells of deep courage. It is by taking inspiration from the others around her that Kelly personally keeps going with her work in war zones and her time in prison. Kelly speaks about the plans for the Voices for Creative Nonviolence Camp Hope project-- a 19 day encampment in Chicago from New Year’s day to Jan 19, 2009. They camp near the Obama’s house in Chicago because they wanted to tell Obama that they hold him responsible to follow through on his campaign promises—e.g. close Guantanamo, ratify the Kyoto Protocol, seek full employment, declare a 90 day moratorium on housing foreclosures, bring the military back from Iraq, take nuclear weapons off air-trigger alert, stop the immigration raids and work on health care coverage for all. Kelly points out that even if all 40,000 combat troops came home there would still be 180,000 private, armed, security contractors working in Iraq who can be very dangerous—some names are Blackwater, Triple Canopy, Dyncorps, Halliburton, Bechtel, Kellog, Brown and Root. Kelly reminds us it is our tax money that pays these companies and these expenses in Iraq, which some people are resisting using a war tax boycott. One can start small and take $100 of taxes owed by them and redirect it to either Common Ground Clinic in New Orleans working with victims of Katrina, and/or to the Direct Aid Iraq Initiative to pay the medical bills of Iraqis who have escaped Iraq to Jordan and can’t pay medical bills. Kelly emphasizes that we need to stop funding the killing of people. Voices for Creative Nonviolence link: VCNV.org Tel: 773-878-3815 Link to: National War Tax Resistance Coordinating Committee Link to: Camp Hope 2009
20 - Pablo Miriman (translator: Seline Jaramillo)
Chilean Miriman is a University Professor of History, author of the book, Escucha Winka, and a person of Mapuche (indigenous people of S. Chile) heritage. Seline Jaramillo, also of Mapuche heritage, translates. The Mapuche people, who make up over ten percent of the population of Chile, have been asking for their human rights to be protected since the 1970’s and especially during the last ten years. Their cultural has a very rich knowledge base. They know about medicines and healing, their governing system is built on horizontal, non-centralized distribution of power, their economic structure is in relationship with their environment and some of their traditions have never been interrupted. The Mapuche lived independently and were unaffected culturally until about 100 years ago. The present oppressive situation started about thirty years ago with a decree by the military dictatorship of Pinochet, which divided and put up for sale the communal lands of the Mapuche people so they would serve the interests of the market. The Pinochet government said that as long as there are no Mapuche in Chile there are no Indians and the people are all the same. When the Pinochet dictatorship came to an end the Mapuche were disappointed to find that the same attitudes and the neo-liberal economic policy went on the same as before. No one cared what the Mapuche thought about the damage that was being done to their lands and their lives. When the Mapuche speak up, they and their supporters are targeted with anti-terrorist laws which can put them in prison. Since there is no reason to trust the system of justice Mapuche activists go into hiding rather than to trial. They don’t want to be victims of development. They ask for respect of their rights, which are “human rights”, and a healthy relationship with the environment as a basic principle. They want to resolve their differences with the government peacefully. They want an autonomy model wherein they can rule themselves or, if they live in a mixed community they can share power with others. They want “interculturality”, which means that equal respect should be given to the Mapuche vision of health, education, culture and economic development. They want to live in their own culture, not assimilate and actually be respected. The politics of segregation and repression lead only to more conflict. Interviewed in October, 2008
21 - Dr. Xi Gang Sha
Dr. Sha says his total mission is to create a peaceful and harmonized world and universe by transforming the consciousness of humanity and souls in the universe. He immigrated to Canada from Asia in 1990. In 2003 he had an awakening about the soul and soul healing and, since then, he has offered enlightenment retreats to thousands of people. Within six months he, along with five helpers, did 140 events worldwide. 95% of the money he got for his healings went to the mission, to pay for the trip expenses, to “service” in order to better serve people and to researching for what he calls, the “soul wisdom knowledge”. Karma is the root cause of success and failure in every aspect of life, both on the individual and planetary levels. For example people have taken out oil, destroyed the forest and the balance on the earth. People warred, were greedy, fighting, and now we have natural disasters, etc. Right now Mother Earth is going through a spiritual purification, which will take a few years. If we join in our hearts with love it will help Mother Earth’s transition. He teaches about the soul because everybody and every thing has a soul. He is creating an international practice. Every Friday 5:30-6 pm you can participate by telephone from anywhere and sing soul songs for world peace and healing with hundreds, and maybe thousands of other people. There is a daily free teleconference to teach about the power of the soul. Dr. Sha sings a soul song about which he says, “This is just the beginning for us all over the world for healing and life transformation. I love my heart and soul is for self healing, I love all humanity is to give service, consciousness, join hearts and souls together is a divine calling, and for love peace and harmony is because after Mother Earth’s transition we will create peace, love and harmony for all humanity, mother earth and all universes.” He thinks this transition will take at least six or more years. He urges people to prepare because from now on the challenges could be heavy. Prepare in heart and mind. Sha’s three empowerments are 1) be a universal servant and offer universal service 2) teach healing to empower people to heal themselves and others 3) teach soul wisdom to empower people to enlighten themselves. We have to go through this. One of the most important ways to make our life easier is to chant because a chant shares the vibration of love. Link to Dr. Sha's Soul Songs website.
22 - Ethan Hughes
Ethan Hughes talks about the continued commitment of he and his partner, Sarah, to Radical Simplicity, "inner" --personal/spiritual-- work, and political activism. Ethan and Sarah put out to the universe and their contacts that they wanted a community that embodied those qualities and very quickly raised the funds with which they bought,sight unseen, an 80 acre farm in Missouri . They never use cars except in dire emergencies so they took the train to Missouri and rode their bikes the four miles to their farm to see it for the first time. Ethan personally has been in a car seven times in the past ten years. On their farm they grow organic food and live sustainably. Their place is electricity free and therefore is also free of computer and other electricially powered technology. Over 600 guests have visited so far. They invite others to visit. Their community is also the Headquarters for the Super Heroes, an organization Hughes founded of young folks who go out to help where they're needed as, for example when 25 young people biked to New Orleans to help for a few months or more with the Katrina disaster. One of the important guidelines by which they live and are consciously creating the future is the importance of experiencing joy in what they do. If they are not feeling joy they stop what they're doing until they deal with whatever is in the way and they return to joy. Nonviolent communication is also a way of life as is not paying taxes for war as well as creating their own art and entertainment. Hughes shares that one of the most interesting and wonderful things that they're learning in their local rural Missouri community is that the kindness of people is totally unrelated to their political affiliation and ideology which has been so influenced by the corporate media. The most important thing is to be in your heart path! Contact info: The Possibility Alliance, 28408 Frontier Lane, Laplata, Missouri 63549 tel: 660-332-4094 Recorded February 9, 2009
23 - Ruth Rosenheck
Ruth Rosenheck is a Canadian who has been living for some time in Australia where she is Co- Dir. with John Seed of the Rainforest Information Center. They work on issues of the environment and environmental justice and one aspect of their work is leading workshops, based on the work of Joanna Macy as well. They are called by different names-- The Work that Reconnects, Deep Ecology, Despair and Empowerment. This interview was conducted during a workshop in S. Oregon and includes interviews with a few of the participants as well. Ruth led, in order to train us to lead ourselves, a workshop she calls “deep ecology” because it focuses on how we’re part of the earth and when we destroy the web of life we’re destroying our own home—ie, when we toxify the water, cause the extinction of other species, etc. we’re weakening the fabric of life, the biological web that we depend upon. Ecological collapse is looming before us in ways we have no idea about. It is normal to feel anxious or afraid or sad or angry about the injustices that occur in the world. There’s a strong taboo in this society about showing feelings so by the time we’re adults we are likely to push the feelings down and judge ourselves for having them. We’re so numbed we don’t even notice we have feelings. If we do we may think we’re weird and feel isolated and self-doubting, wonder what’s wrong with us, go to therapist who may make it a “personal” problem and we leave with anti-depressants. Rather it could be seen that these feelings are a natural and healthy reaction to what’s going on with the destruction of our earth that we love,. These feelings can be seen as part of our ancient intelligence of instinct and intuition that enabled us to survive time and time again. We could walk out of therapist’s office inspired to work instead of depressed and trying to adjust to a dysfunctional society. The work of Despair and empowerment is to be present and witness these feelings of fear and sadness about the earth in ourselves and each other and acknowledge them as part of our wisdom and vision and, in fact, they can bring us great inspiration and vision to act. Joanna Macy says we can lose our intuition if we don’t let ourselves feel. We’re discouraged from feeling strongly and considered insane if we’re either too sad or too happy. In fact, it is healthy, crucial and revolutionary to feel and not push it away—and if you feel it it’ll move right on along and out. Joanna’s book on this work is entitled “Coming Back to Life”. We are wrong to think we can necessarily “solve” everything but we can do the best that we can—both inner and outer work—with love is the best that we can do. Rosenheck has also produced a film, “Earth, Spirit, Action”, which she describes as a 15 minute prayer for the earth that asks for a radical change to occur planetary-wide. It includes herself, Starhawk, Vandana Shiva, Mathew Fox and John Seed and herself speaking on Deep Ecology, Living Democracy and Revolution in Consciousness. Toward the end of the show Lilith Rogers speaks of how happy she was during the weekend to be able to talk about and perform her one woman play about Rachel Carson, who wrote in the early ‘60’s and is often referred to as the mother of the environmental movement. Carson is the author of Silent Spring, The World Around Us, and the breakthrough book called “The Sea Around Us. She talked about the dangers of pesticides, particularly DDT and it got the public focused on those dangers and their use and DDT banned. Tina talks about We Moon--a calender produced at this land and a must have book for many women who want the ecofeminist voice. Another woman talks about making a cob studio on their land as self-sustaining as it can be. Recorded September 2008 To hear/see Joanna Macy speaking about her book, Coming Back to Life, & her specific group work go to http://www.turntowardlife.tv/ and/or get the book.
24 - Paul Scott
Paul Scott, Co-founder of Plug-In-America and Chairperson of the Electrical Vehicle Association of California, owns a Toyota Rav 4. He’s driven the car 63.000 miles in 6 years, charging it with electricity from his solar panels. There is no oil to change, no gas to buy, nothing to fix. Every day he gets in, turns it on and it operates perfectly. Every day he gets in, turns it on and it operates as well as the day he bought it. Since he gets electricity from the sun, Scott’s electric bill last yr. was $44.09 for both his house and his car. In 1990 California mandated that by 1998 car manufacturers had to make electric vehicles and make them available to the public so there were some electric cars manufactured. The lobbyists for the gasoline fueled car makers got rid of that law in 2003 and the manufacturers destroyed the cars so no one could say how good they were and how long they lasted. People protested and won against Ford and Toyota and saved about 1000 cars which are still running today and of which one is owned by Paul Scott. These NEVS (Neighborhood Electric Short Range Vehicles) cost from $10,000-18,000, go about 25 or 30 mph and have a range of 30 or 40 miles, but they’re not allowed on roads with speed limits over 35 or 40 miles per hour. There is a growing demand for these cars and that they should be allowed on the highway so car companies are working on developing them. The manufacturing process of a standard car and an electric car take equivalent amounts of energy. Electricity is the best energy. It's domestic and nonpolluting and even if it comes from coal it’s still much cleaner than a Prius. Electricity can be made from solar, wind or hydro, geothermal and tidal instead of coal and/or nukes. Due to government subsidies of solar one can get the cost of the solar panels greatly reduced. An electric car goes about 120 miles on a charge. That’s plenty for Scott who lives in Los Angeles. For a bigger range buy a bigger battery. If you want to go on a very long trip you’d want a plug-in hybrid and can combine with gas but it still uses almost no gas. Mass transit would be much improved using electricity for power as well. In California there is a measure to develop an electric bullet train to go from San Diego to Sacramento. It can use solar panels during the day and wind energy at night. This eliminates the big carbon footprint from flying. Scott describes several models for charging stations—one is like a parking meter where you plug in, do your business and come back to a car that is charged and your money has gone to your municipality, for example, rather than an oil company; another is for a parking lot to have solar panels on top that generate electricity that charges cars underneath while they are keeping cool. The money for the charge goes to whoever owns the parking lot. Contact Paul: Paul@pluginamerica.org Recorded October 2008
25 - Storm and Gerri of West Coast Climate Convergence, Oregon,2008
Storm describes himself as a revolutionary ecologist, activist and meteorologist with graduate degrees. He is a founder of Rising Tide, one of the sponsors of this West Coast Climate Change Convergence in Oregon. The Convergence is a climate justice action group that seeks to confront the root causes of climate change and to do it in a nonhierarchical, equalitarian fashion. Storm says that, of the six great mass extinctions in earth’s history, this sixth one that we’re in now is the biggest and worst one of them, and the only one that’s been entirely human caused. He travels and looks at weather patterns, helping people plan and act proactively for what’s coming to their region and the challenges they are likely to face. Some things he considers most important are: listening to indigenous people because they know deeply about where they live, protecting sacred sites, working for the survival of ALL species and restoration of ecosystems is crucial. Regarding “techno fixes”—he says that what we need are LOCAL solutions and it’s up to us to do it ourselves. Gerri has been on the road as well. She worked in New Orleans with a couple of helping organizations and describes the emergency program where she worked. She describes how 200 victims of Katrina who had nothing were coming back every day to the Lower 9th Ward where they had been living just to eat. Also there were many resources such as child care, referrals to direct people to women’s shelters, public events, washing machines, rape crisis hotlines, clinics, etc.. Gerry did everything from delivering and picking up kids at the school bus to doing dishes ten hours a day—no time to think, process, just cranking it out. When she left there she went to Common Ground, another helping organization in New Orleans. She also volunteered with on the Clearwater, an environmental education sailboat where she worked with youth on the Hudson River. She tells of living outside of a jail house with the Earth First jail support group in Ohio, living and working with Alisa Young who is fighting the coal industry and its horrible side effects in Southern Appalachia. Gerry was happy to be able to attend the Indigenous Environmental Network’s- “Protecting Mother Earth Conference” in Nevada on an Native American Reservation. She found it wonderful to see the land struggles of Appalachian people come together with those of Western indigenous people. These two dedicated activist are shining examples of what folks can do for each other.
26 - Ann Wright
Sue Supriano talked to Anne Wright at the Oregon Country Fair, where she was a speaker in July 2008. Ann Wright spent 13 years of active duty in the US Army, and 16 years in the Army Reserves attaining the rank of Colonel in the Army. In 1987, Wright went to work for the Foreign Service within the U.S. State Department and served as US Deputy Ambassador and other positions in Sierra Leone, Micronesia, Mongolia, Somalia, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Grenada and Nicaragua. She resigned from working for the State Department the day before the invasion of Iraq to which she objected saying that, without the authorization of the UN Security Council the US had no legal right to attack. She objected to the curtailment of civil liberties within the United States as well. While Wright was stationed at Fort Bragg, North Carolina in the early 1980s, one of her duties was to draw up contingency plans for invading several countries, one of which was Iraq. She would later express dismay over what she considered the dismissal of such carefully laid plans in the actual invasion of Iraq in 2003. Wright's eventual resignation was not the first time she had spoken out against U.S. policy. She said that she spoke out against United Nations bombing tactics waged in Somalia and she many times "held her nose" about US policies, continuing her State Department work despite her own disagreements with the policy. Since her retirement from the State Department, Wright has become a prominent figure in the movement opposed to the occupation of Iraq. She has attended many conferences and given numerous lectures on her political views and her experiences before and after her resignation. Wright is on the move 365 days a year-- traveling the US and criticizing the policies of the Bush Administration and their implementation, including and especially the war in Iraq and a pending Iran war. She works with several front line peace organizations including Code Pink, Iraq Vets against the War, Military Families Speak Out, and Women for Peace. She worked with anti-war activist Cindy Sheehan on several occasions, including helping organize the Camp Casey demonstration outside George W. Bush's Crawford, Texas, ranch in August 2005, and by accompanying the southern leg of the Bring Them Home Now bus tour. She also volunteered at Camp Casey 3, the Veterans For Peace shelter for Hurricane Katrina victims in Covington, Louisiana, during the bus tour. Wright has willingly been arrested while taking part in anti-war demonstrations, the first such arrest occurring in front of the White House on September 26, 2005. It has been followed by other arrests too numerous to mention here. She has said in interviews that she does not remove the arrest bracelets attached to her wrists upon the processing of her arrest, but rather collects them. Recorded July 2008.
27 - Shannon Young
Community radio stations fill many roles, especially in rural and indigenous communities where means of mass communication are almost non-existent. Radio is a relatively cheap medium and is financially possible for many communities and organizations. Freelance reporter Shannon Young is a headline editor for Free Speech Radio News (FSRN) and currently lives in Oaxaca, Mexico. She discusses the power of community radio in the context of the ongoing indigenous civil rights/democracy movement in Oaxaca. It is one of the poorest states in the country and has the largest indigenous population in Mexico counting 16 languages amongst its citizens. Many of these communities have found in radio a way to preserve and disseminate their languages and cultures in the face of official neglect and the cultural onslaught of the mass media. In 2006 the local teacher’s union helped catalyzed a popular uprising using Radio Planton, the community radio station they had established in the capital city, as a primary organizing tool. The government eventually stepped in and shut down the station along with some of other radio and news outlets in the capital. The station came back on the air but eventually the operators shut it down out of fear of unjust prosecutions and death threats. This wide-ranging discussion covering the genesis of Radio Planton from a yearly, local teacher’s sit-in to a revolutionary catalyst shut down by the government, provides an interesting overview of the independent media movement in Mexico and broader issues such as control of media, media’s influence on politics, social justice, indigenous liberation movements and much more.
28 - Jesus & Kate Sherman/translator
Jesus, an indigenous artist/painter from Oaxaca, Mexico, describes the ongoing repression and indigenous uprising in response to the oppression that has taken place over the past few years in his home state of Oaxaca. Oaxaca is the 5th largest state in Mexico and very resource rich. At the same time it is one of the poorest states in the country and has the largest indigenous population in Mexico counting 16 languages amongst its citizens. The picture Jesus paints is one of long-term resource exploitation, which the indigenous peoples realize is keeping them impoverished and destroying their local physical and social environments. He illuminates the electoral and physical repression of the P.R.I. government and the effects of corporate imperialism, in which the government is also a partner. Indigenous land is being confiscated and cultural repression is being actively practiced with the destruction of rural communities and their inhabitants reduced to servitude. This is now true in the cities now as well, where many are forced to work for and help expand the tourist trades as well as becoming cheap labor for corporate sweatshops where they work for less than subsistence wages. One of the ways that we in the United States feel the effects of these repressive policies is in increasing illegal immigration to the US. In the past few years the Oaxaca situation boiled over into a full-fledged uprising Jesus discusses the role that independent media played in that process and the ongoing consequences. Many local communities had found in low power FM radio a way to preserve and disseminate their languages and cultures in the face of official neglect and the cultural onslaught of the mass media. In 2006 the local teacher’s union helped catalyzed this popular uprising using Radio Planton, a community radio station they had established in Oaxaca city during a strike. After six months the local government stepped in and brutally shut down the station along with many other radio and news outlets in the capital which the local people had taken over to give voice to their struggle. The federal government of Mexico in response has now created a military police state in Oaxaca under the guise of drug interdiction efforts. These and many other challenges facing indigenous people not just in Oaxaca, but globally, are discussed. -JT Recorded October 28, 2008 in Eugene, Oregon Link to related movie: A Little Bit of So Much Truth, documentary mentioned in the interview about the ongoing struggles in Oaxaca.
29 - Sue Supriano
Ever wonder how Steppin’ Out of Babylon got started and how it has remained fresh and relevant for over (change to "nearly") thirty years? Have you been curious to know a more about the intrepid host/producer who has brought you some of the most important, insightful and inspiring voices from the front lines of the social, political and environmental movements? Then this is the show you’ve been waiting for! In this wonderful anniversary edition, her friend and fellow activist and author, Dr. Margret Paloma Pavel, interviews Steppin’ Out of Babylon creator, producer and host Sue Supriano. She discusses the childhood roots of her interests in radio, social activism and issues of racism and political justice. Supriano talks about many of the early radio documentaries she did, including the first one about her friend Max Scheer the Founder and Editor of the world famous underground newspaper, the Berkeley Barb, along with her early affiliations with KPFA, Pacifica Radio in Berkeley, California. In the early 1980’s during a trip to Jamaica she interviewed many performers at Reggae Sunsplash as well as a range of other Jamaicans which eventually evolved into both a documentary on Jamaica as well as a first show in the Steppin’ Out of Babylon series. This is a wonderful, wide ranging conversation in which Supriano shares not only remembrances of some of the most interesting and intense interviews and stories she has produced, but also her personal vision of social justice, her belief about the power and importance of independent media and low-power FM radio, along with advice for young people interested in getting involved in media activism including an overview of some great existing resources. She concludes with a touching explanation of the values and motivations which have sustained her in this work over the decades and an insightful view as to what the future holds and how we can work toward a more peaceful, egalitarian society. -JT Interviewed by Dr. Margeret Paloma Pavel.
30 - Efia Nwangaza
A life-long human rights activist and people's lawyer in Greenville, SC, Nwangaza is the founder/coordinator of the Afrikan-American Institute for Policy Studies & Planning and Malcolm X Grassroots Movement for Self-Determination, a current representative on the Pacifica Radio Affiliates Board, past national chairperson of the Jericho Movement and ran for U.S. Senate in 2004 as a Green Party candidate. Nwangaza learned the power of radio as an organizing tool early in life from her parents who worked in international evangelical radio broadcasting. During her early years as a civil rights activist she dedicated herself to the betterment of her community and the oppressed in general. As an established activist and lawyer, with the assistance of her community and Prometheus Radio, she helped launch (June '07) WMXP, a low power community radio station. WMXP (95.5 fm), The Voice of the People, is Greenville's only non- commercial, community owned, operated, and funded radio station and is a project sponsored by the Malcolm X Grassroots Movement. The station gives a voice to the voiceless and a home to knowledge, community enrichment and social justice advocacy. Nwangaza's interest in forming the station was driven by her desire to use the power of radio in the interest of liberation of people for political purposes, in a culture of consciousness and resistance. As she puts it: "Media is a life-line, not a commodity.". This is a wide-ranging conversation that shows the power of low-cost, low-power FM community radio as a vehicle for community organizing and local artistic, cultural and polictical expression. Topics include a contextual discussion of racism in today's culture and the criminal in-justice system along with why the station was developed and examples of hands-on community use of radio as a tool in community empowerment and youth leadership development projects, WMXP programming practices and more. Recorded at the Grassroots Radio Conference, Portland, Oregon in July, 2008. Websites of interest: Prometheus Radio Project
31 - Nwamaka Agbo
Agbo is the Green-Collar Jobs Campaign Statewide Organizer for the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights in Oakland, California. She is also the former editor of the African American magazine and organizer of the Pan African Student Organization at the University of California, Davis. As a student athelete and double major, Agbo combined an interest in social justice and civil rights with concern for the environmental struggles of disenfranchised communities. In this interview, Agbo presents a powerful class analysis of the environmental issues, perspectives and solutions as seen through the lens of racism, community development and economic security. As we watch an entirely new "green" economy (the Green Wave) emerging before our eyes, work-force development programs such as the Green-Collar Job Campaign create long-term economic development opportunities and security for disenfranchised populations. This also allows them to become directly involved in the environmental conversations, which directly impact their communities. Examples of green-collar job sectors include solar installation, transportation systems, recycling, bike repair, water conservation and weatherization programs. Similar successful efforts in Los Angeles, Chicago, the Bronx and other cities are discussed along with how these rapidly growing programs are funded. Agbo is passionately committed to the work of the Green Collar Jobs Campaign because she believes that the pressing environmental justice concerns are the civil rights movement of her generation. Agbo gives a very optimistic, concise and information dense interview. Topics discussed are centered on the growing environmental justice movement and the path to eco-equity including: bridging the Environmental Justice and Social Justice movements; teaching anti-oppression and sustainability; creating green-collar jobs and pathways out of poverty; designing model cities; and, encouraging a politics of solution. Campaign link: Green Collar Jobs Recorded April, 2008
32 - Chris Carlsson
Chris Carlsson, Executive Director of the multimedia history project, Shaping San Francisco, is a writer, publisher, editor, and community organizer. For the last twenty-five years his activities have focused on the underlying themes of horizontal communications, organic communities and public space. He was one of the founders, editors and frequent contributors to the ground-breaking San Francisco magazine Processed World. He also helped launch the monthly bike-ins known as Critical Mass that have spread to five continents and over 300 cities. Carlsson gives a hard-edged critique of work and society based on working for money. He reviles the current system of "wage slavery" which forces us to take jobs and do as we are told to earn money, thereby relinquishing our control over the world. We no longer think of ourselves subjectively as political agents who can make a difference in the world through our livlihoods. In fact, he feels that a huge percentage of the "work" currently being done is a complete waste of time, if not actually destructive of the planet-- such work as banking, insurance, real estate, advertising, military production and destruction, production of shoddy products designed to breakdown and be constantly replaced, etc. His vision of radical political change involves a deep transformation of our lives and approach to work. There are some signs though that a radical, community based revolution is beginning to grow and take shape. His new book, Nowtopia, extends his analysis of our current systems and documents how people apply their time and technological know-how to create a better world when they are not working for money. He calls for a move beyond the logic of money, markets and wage labor as the fundamental institutions which guide our society. Recorded June 2008, Eugene, Oregon Links of interest: www.nowtopia.org The Nowtopian (Blog):www.lipmagazine.org/ccarlsson/
33 - Carl Anthony
Architect Carl Anthony has taught at the Columbia University Graduate School of Architecture and Planning and the University of California Colleges of Environmental Design and Natural Resources. He is former president of the Earth Island Institute, founder and Executive Director of Urban Habitat Program, convener of the Bay Area Alliance for Sustainable Development and former Acting Director of the Community and Resource Development Unit at the Ford Foundation, where he also directed the Foundation's Sustainable Metropolitan Communities Initiative and the Regional Equity Demonstration Initiative. He is currently finishing a new book, The Earth, The City, and The Hidden Narrative of Race, examining the connections between environmental justice, community development, and the changing face of globalization. In his book Anthony explores the important but usually hidden connections between the environmental movement, urban/community development and the social justice movement. The basic premise is that the three topics in the book's title (the earth, cities and racism) are generally considered separately. It's as if there's planet Earth, which is a green place that we are protecting, while most of us live in cities where people very often dissociate from the environment-- in fact thinking of cities as the antithesis of the environment. "Race" is usually invisible in both those contexts and it is an unacknowledged fact that many of the environmental problems we have are intimately connected with racism. To create sustainable cities and communities we have to start thinking of these things, not separately, but in relationship to each other. An outstanding, passionate advocate for urban social justice and environmental change, Anthony believes a multi-cultural coalition can lead the way to greener and more vibrant cities that work for all residents. This illuminating interview including topics such as: the paradox of the U.S. being founded on freedom and slavery, cheap oil replacing slavery as cheap industrial energy, the seminal influence of the civil rights movement of the 1960's on the environmental movement, how the environmental movement became a "white" movement, along with examples of the hidden threads connecting race, resources and many of our current ecological challenges. Recorded May 1, 2008 at Earth House Center in Oakland, California.
34 - Dr. Margaret Paloma Pavel
Dr. Pavel is an environmental and social justice activist, founder of the Earth House Center in Oakland, California and editor of the forthcoming book Building Sustainable Metropolitan Communities: Breakthrough Stories. Earth House was founded in 1990 by Dr. Pavel and currently conducts local, national and international projects in a variety of print and visual media including Journey to South Africa: Metropolitan Communities Leaders Reflect on the World Summit, a monograph; Voices from the Community: Smart Growth and Social Equity, a video; and Sustainable Solutions: Building Assets for Empowerment and Sustainable Development, a web-based video project of community-based projects around the globe). Earth House is both an environmental and social justice center in an urban setting. The group has worked supporting organizations working on issues of health, justice, education, legal services and metropolitan development with a series of environmental sustainability groups in the Pacific Rim, including Cambodia and Japan, and in the US. Earth House media projects link communication, technology and social advocacy. Dr. Pavel's educational background includes graduate study at Harvard University and the London School of Economics. As a child Dr. Pavel volunteered in Mexican orphanages, while her father offered free surgery in the clinics of Tijuana. This early awareness of border-crossings and all that it implies about class, race and nations has guided her work in both the environmental and social justice movements. In this interview she discusses issues of urban development and projects that stand at the intersection of these two critical. Where are the borders that need to be considered and crossed between nations, communities and within each individual? One example she uses to illuminate her work is the issue she calls "spatial apartheid" in which the development of a park/greenbelt in Oakland, became both an environmental and racial issue between two ethnically different communities. Other important topics discussed include "inclusionary vs. exclusionary" zoning, smart growth and social justice. Dr. Pavel concludes by discussing real life "breakthrough stories" of urban communities who took planning and the sustainable development of their neighborhoods into their own hands and the amazing, multi-faceted benefits that have been created. This is an uplifting interview that doesn't shy away from difficult truths, but also provides real life examples of successful, inspiring urban renewal and community development. Recorded in San Francisco, April, 2008 at the Ecocities World Summit.
35 - David Solnit
With roots in Art & Revolution, Solnit was one of the organizer's of the 1999 W.T.O. Seattle protests and the post-9/11 protests that shut down San Francisco. He is also the editor of Globalized Liberation: How to Uproot the System & Build a Better World and author, with Amy Allison, of the new book Army of None. In this engaging interview, Solnit ties his roots in protest art, global justice/anti-capitalism activism and organizing to his current anti-war efforts involving counter recruitment efforts around the country. At the core we are experiencing a struggle between human oriented social movements across the planet vs. a global corporate/capitalist economic and political system. He feels the war in Iraq is a military attempt to impose corporate globalization, which is the same goal that the W.T.O., N.A.F.T.A. and similar organizations and agreements attempt to impose economically and politically. In fact, it is truly the frontline in the struggle for international social/political justice. Solnit asks "What would a People Power strategy to address the war and stop it look like?". His answer is to help organize a counter-recruitment movement to stop the supply of troops available for the current war and continued imposition of our troops in other countries (The U.S. currently has over 170 bases in 130 countries along with 6000 domestic bases/facilities). His new book is an attempt to demystify the current recruiting techniques and outright lies being used to enlist young people. Solnit concludes by discussing some recent successful attempts at what he terms true democracies based on "horizontalism", unlike the top-down, command-and-control illusionary democracy we've come to know in the United States. Recorded in Eugene, Oregon
36 - Mathis Wackernagel
Mathis Wackernagel, Ph.D., is co-creator of the concept of the ecological footprint and Executive Director of the Global Footprint Network. He is also an author and/or contributor to over fifty peer-reviewed papers, numerous articles and reports, and various books on sustainability that focus on the question of embracing limits and developing metrics for sustainability including Our Ecological Footprint: Reducing Human Impact on the Earth, Sharing Nature's Interest, and World Wildlife Fund's International's Living Planet Report. He previously served as the director of the Sustainability Program at Redefining Progress in Oakland, CA, and directed the Centre for Sustainability Studies /Centro de Estudios para la Sustentabilidad in Mexico, which he still advises. Wackernagel is also an adjunct faculty member at the Center for Sustainability and the Global Environment (SAGE) of the University of Wisconsin-Madison. The goal of the Global Footprint Network is to advance the science of sustainability. It is an accounting tool that looks at how many ecologic resources we have and how much we use to feed ourselves, absorb our wastes, house our buildings, etc. Calculated in acres, it asks the question "How many biologically active acres does it take to produce what you personally consume or your country consumes?". This is then compared to how many resources are available in your country, region and the world. Doing this we can see to what extent we use resources within the limits of what the earth, or particular region can renew. The Global Footprint Network has a web-based "footprint calculator" for people figure their own personal footprint. In a world of ecological constraints, ecological efficiency becomes increasingly important. People need to understand the interconnected nature of our daily choices and behavior and begin to reduce their footprint and use resources more efficiently. Wackernagel provides a concise overview of how this concept of ecological assets and liabilities, along with efficient resource use, is beginning to change the way individuals, local communities and nations are now planning for the future. He calls for true honesty about our footprints and their implications, including the example of his own somewhat large footprint created by his global consultation and educational activities. His ultimate goal, and the Global Footprint Network's main mission, is to build bridges between government, business, NGO's and academia-- to have a common understanding and language of our planetary resource constraints and how to live within them. Recorded at the Ecocity World Summit in San Francisco, April 2008
37 - Vernon Masayesva
Masayesva relates the story of how the Hopi came long ago to Black Mesa, Arizona escaping an oppressive regime near the Teotihuacan (near Mexico City) area of Mexico. In what is now Arizona at Black Mesa they met, Masa --the Hopi equivalent to Jesus or Buddha-- who taught them how to live in a sustainable, peaceful way in harmony with the earth. Their agreements with Masa are inscribed on Prophecy Rock which claims that when they stray from these sustainable ways the world will come to an end with great suffering and purification. This is exactly what is currently happening today on a global scale. Masayesva is part of the water coyote clan of the Hopi. He explains that our relationship to water is primary. In Hopi cosmology there have been four worlds. The first world was all water, thus we are all originally from the oceans. We are literally "gourds" of water. Black Mesa Trust was founded to protect water and land in the Hopi and Navajo regions of Arizona, which have been used and abused by Peabody Coal Company. Using these aquifers properly is the way the Hopi have traditionally survived growing food in the harsh environment of the desert. Black Mesa Trust's main focus has been to protect the little water available to the Hopi from use by Peabody Coal Company. Now one of its missions is to educate people about the physical and spiritual importance of water as a key foundation of our common existence. On the earth we are at the now 11th hour of the fourth world and still repeating the mistakes that the elders of the third world made. We know what right and wrong is, so we have a moral responsibility to use our special gifts as humans to create a better world, which the Hopi call the fifth world. We still have that opportunity. We have the energy and intelligence to combine science with mysticism, or the soul, to achieve this. This interview is a wonderful presentation showing the wisdom of the Hopi world view and the direct correlations and parallels between their views and prophecies and what we are experiencing in the world today. Recorded at the Ecocities World Summit, April 2008, in San Francisco.
38 - Andrew Mannle
Arcwire.org is a website that functions as a clearinghouse which provides informed news and creates context for what is happening in the green movement. It is a clearinghouse for information regarding various issues and aspects involved in transition to a sustainable global culture including green building design, new transportation, renewable energy, environmental policy, creative capitalism and more. Manley gives a very upbeat, positive presentation. He claims we really need to start asking better questions in relation to where the global culture is headed. For example on peak oil the thing with it is nobody knows whether we hit peak oil last year, two years ago, or will three years from now. The point is it doesn't really matter. The real question is why aren't we switching to the only form of energy this planet survives on which is solar energy. Oil is a form of solar energy. We're taking past solar energy and burning through it as fast as we can in a way that harms our future. Too much of our current focus is on false choices such as should we drill for oil in Alaska, or go to war for another six months or few years of oil. The right questions are: What is all life on this planet dependent on and how can we harmlessly derive our energy, food, buildings, clothes, entertainment etc. from those sources? Instead of talking about energy scarcity we need to be looking at how does this earth survive on solar economy and how can we do the same? There is enough energy from the sun hitting the planet in an hour to power our civilization for a year. Combined with other renewable energy sources like wind, we can design a sustainable energy foundation that can in human terms last forever. Manley is excited about what is called the "triple top line", the idea that we can solve our environmental problems by solving our social problems and improve the economy at the same time. He provides intriguing examples of how this is already starting in many places. Arcwire.org is the nexus he has helped create which provides this information on an ongoing, daily basis. Recorded at the Ecocities World Summit, April 2008, in San Francisco.
39 - Richard Register
There is no clearly accepted definition of a city. The U.N. goes by whatever individual nation-states use, which can vary widely. The pertinent fact to keep in mind is that 85-90% of people live in cities, towns and villages, in other words, the built infrastructure. The ecological health of our infrastructure is Register's focus in both his business and conference organizing efforts. The way we currently design, all the way down to the village scale, is unhealthy. One of the biggest problems is that we design for the automobile and gasoline. People ask is it possible to have cities without cars? "Sure," he says,"we've had cities for 4,500 years without cars and they were healthier than our current cities. Cities we design now are a major cause of climate change, collapse of species diversity and the end of cheap energy. We've burned it all up building the most short sighted, thrill seeking, ego gratifying structure we could think of to live in. It's an ongoing disaster." One of many ideas Register offers, which may seem radical to most, is to give free concrete and steel to developers of ecological cities for the benefit of the city's residents. Currently we give free concrete and steel to the construction of freeways for the benefit of drivers and developers of urban sprawl. They can count on the government subsidizing them with the entire highway system along with the defense of oil supplies via foreign wars. Register feels we are overly mobile and should shift to a more place centered perspective, put some roots down and build decent communities. The interview is rich with other ideas and examples of how this can and is beginning to happen around the globe. But we must act quickly. We need to utilize a large amount of the remaining fossil fuels we have to build the diffuse, renewable energy systems of solar and wind. If we don't invest in this type of energy base before much more fossil fuel burns, we might lose our opportunity and be stuck with infrastructure that can't be supported. In fact, Register points to some initial negative economic impacts from this that are currently occurring. Recorded at Ecocity World Summit, San Francisco, April 2008. Website: www.ecocityworldsummit.org
40 - Peter Droege
Peter Droege is an expert on the role of renewable energy within the fields of urban design, development and urban infrastructure with a wide variety of experience and responsibility. He has directed and developed Solar City, a research development effort conducted under the auspices of the International Energy Agency as well as carrying out academic roles at major universities in the United States and Japan. He is presently Senior Advisor, Beijing Municipal Institute for City Planning and Design, Steering Committee member, Urban Climate Change Research Network (UCCRN), Conjoint Professor, School of Architecture and Built Environment, University of Newcastle, Visiting Professor and Director, Centre for Sustainable Urbanism, School of Landscape Architecture and Planning, Beijing University and Chair, World Council for Renewable Energy (WCRE) Asia Pacific. The issues that drive his efforts are climate change-- caused in large part by burning fossil fuel--and energy security which is now in question due to Peak Oil. He speaks of the shackles" created by our current Industrial Revolution/fossil fuel based urban and socioeconomic infrastructures and the general environmental degradation, including personal health, caused by our current energy systems. Droege discusses how interconnected our life support systems are and how a total systems design approach must be applied as communities take on the transition from reliance on cheap energy from oil, with its multitude of subsidized, hidden costs. One example is the fact that half of all fresh water used in the U.S. today is used to cool oil and coal fired electric power plants. In today's world, he claims, many things seem upside down. It's more expensive to waste than save, but waste is more profitable. Efficiency must become a priority and profitable for individuals. We can't consume our way out of the problem either with a set of quick fix products or programs. We must reverse many of the "flows" which go out of our communities causing damage and decay. Many of the resources needed to make the changes to a renewable culture, can and should be freed up from current inefficiencies. We must change from our current toxic energy source. We can't consume our way out of the problem either with a set of quick fix products or programs. We must reverse many of the "flows" which go out of our communities causing damage and decay. Droege explains his vision of a new paradigm which replaces fossil fuel with renewable fuels as the energy foundation of our culture. This vision encompasses and goes beyond simple techno fixes to the heart of economic and cultural transformation. His vision realized will lead to real urban, social, environmental and economic reform, possibly revolution, by this transformation of our fundamental energy system. He gives examples from a variety of countries of a more self sufficient approach based on relocalization, community and individual empowerment, economic and social incentives and a basic reframing of what globalization is and how it may become a positive force. Interviewed at the Ecocities World Summit in San Francisco in April 2008. Websites of interest: www.solarcity.org, www.wcre.org (World Council for Renewable Energy).
41 - Medea Benjamin & Bob Wing
Many people in other countries ask Benjamin why more US citizens don't speak out against the war in Iraq and the fact that their government doesn't spend enough money on domestic needs such as basic infrastructure, schools and health. Medea assures them there is a large movement of people organizing, mobilizing and inspiring others and that part of the job of activists is to raise people's spirits since so many feel overwhelmed, disempowered and depressed. Medea explains how "Code Pink" has developed into a movement sending out weekly alerts to its mailing list of 180,000 subscribers. 250 Code Pink groups around the world are working to expose the link between money spent on war and lack of resources for healthcare, education and welfare. Asked how she continues so steadily in her long term activism, she talks of her most recent trip to Pakistan where even though afraid she urged herself to look through the fear to the bigger message. She relates a frightening incident in which she and an associate had their car hijacked and friends beaten and deported while government agents held them up. But what she remembers most is a vigil held in front of the house of a man held under house arrest. All night long people brought them good wishes, hot tea, and the jailer even brought her a cot, literally tucking her into bed. Later, a group of men they feared were the Taliban coming to get them, in fact brought them necklaces of flowers. She cried, saying that that exchange of love is what keeps her going. She's also inspired by the growing democracies in South America. She believes liberation from external empire empowers people, humanizes the struggles we all face and paves the way for the rise of a true democracy here at home and abroad. Bob Wing says that the US and Israel were founded by taking land from indigenous people, dehumanizing them and making war against them. The history of humanity is a history of migrations and struggle, but in today's world the need to migrate is being accelerated by the forces of capitalism, communication and globalization, which are forcing people off of their lands in order to survive. To label them illegal and "racialize" the issue is irrational and unjust. Add to this the astounding fact that the US military is active in over 100 countries and has over 800 bases around the world. Would we in the US allow foreign bases on our soil? A primary result is that rather than making the US safer we've become a primary target of attack. Bob thinks that the 21st century will see the end of empire. The US is currently the strongest country in the world but has few friends and little support; therefore as activists we must continue working to peacefully reintegrate the US into the global family of nations. Interviewed at a peace conference in Eugene, Oregon in March 2008.
42 - Francisco Letelier
Francisco Letelier lives in Southern California. He is a visual artist, poet and was part of "Spoken Word" at the Oregon Country Fair, a huge event with visitors and participants from all over the world and which takes place outside of Eugene, Oregon every July for the past almost 40 years. The Fair of 2007 is Letelier's fourth Fair and he talks about his focus on "cultural memory" and how a group of people come to understand what they have in common and manifest it. His father, Orlando Letelier was assassinated in Washington, DC in 1976. He had been a member of the Salvador Allende government in Chile which had been democratically elected in 1970. It was the first Socialist Government in the Western Hemisphere and was overthrown in 1973 by the Chilean military backed by the CIA. Orlando Letelier spent time in a concentration camp and after his release was killed by a Chilean hit squad in collaboration with anti-Castro Cubans on Sept. 21, 1976 in Washington, DC on his way to work on Embassy Row. An American coworker was also killed. Two of the men investigated worked for the CIA, had been part of the invasion of the Bay of Pigs, Cuba, were part of the Watergate Scandal, showed up during Iran/Contra and were connected to Operation 40. Francisco Letelier brings to our attention these connections between the murder of his father, the CIA and the Mafia and their connection with GW Bush, Sr. and more recent connection with 9/11 too. Many people in Latin America have bits of this story and he thinks they need to share it. Thousands of people in Chile lost love-ones after the CIA-backed coup on the first 9/11. Many people still don't know what happened to their loved ones still. Francisco got to see his father's body. Francisco Letelier talks about the importance of just listening to nature without certain ideas. Hope is good though it's also okay not to feel optimistic. More important than hope or good thoughts is pointing one's canoe toward listening to the earth, listening to each other and asking each other "What makes you happy, what makes you sad, what do you need?" and declaring that I will be here with you as you explain that to me. When you do that most likely you will find a glimmer of hope or you will at least know what your next step is. He quotes, "To the walker there is no path, The path appears as you move forward." Recorded in July 2007 at the Oregon Country Fair, Veneta, Oregon.
43 - Chanan Suarezdiaz
Chanan Suarezdiaz is an Iraq War Veteran and an anti-war activist. He is the President of the Seattle, Washington Chapter of Iraq Veterans Against the War (IVAW). Suarezdiaz was a medic in Iraq from September 2004 until February 2005 when he got seriously wounded in the back by shrapnel. He spent many months in Ramadi, Iraq and recounts some of that experience in this interview. He calls it a "racist war of oppression". He also talks about the important organizing he's doing with Iraq Veterans Against the War both inside the military itself where anti-war sentiment is growing quickly all the time and among veterans. This interview occurred in Eugene, OR in the beginning of 2008 when he and David Solnit were touring and organizing for IVAW and the "counter-recruitment" movement just before the fifth anniversary of the invasion of Iraq where way over a million Iraqis have been killed as well as over 4000 Americans at that time. He reports that the US troops don't want to be in Iraq and Suarezdiaz cites some of the main issues of the vets besides that they don't like being an "occupying force". The troops are more and more often doing "search and avoid" missions for this reason. More and more squads and platoons are refusing orders and resisting. He emphasizes that they need a strong anti-war movement to back them up and big, huge demonstrations are very good. One out of four homeless people are vets both from the Vietnam War and this Iraq War-- and maybe more wars. He discusses the "back door draft" meaning that recruiters target and trick poor rural and urban folks since they have no other way to get money and they join because they need a job-- the reason that Suarezdiaz himself did. Ultimately many of the promises made by recruiters are never fulfilled and if people complain they are dismissed. The health care is nothing close to what is needed, especially regarding the mental health issues of post traumatic stress which is SO common. Suicide among vets and active duty military is VERY high. We discuss racism against the Iraqis and among the US troops. IVAW asks for 1) Immediate withdrawal of all occupying forces in Iraq, 2) Full VA benefits for all vets and abd 3) Reparations for Iraqis. YouTube - Chanan Suarez Diaz on GI Resistance to the war ... Chanan Suarez Diaz addressed a packed room on June 16, 2007 ... Watch video - 18 min - Rated 4.3 out of 5.0 www.youtube.com/watch?v=uR_WPHrTDFI
44 - Cynthia McKinney
Cynthia McKinney is running for US President on the Green Party Ticket. McKinney served in the US House of Representatives for 12 years, representing the State of Georgia. She also served a term in the Georgia State Legislature before that. She is African American as were many of the people she was representing in her district in Atlanta. She is an amazing woman who has been "speaking truth to power" during her time in Government, before and after. As so many others, especially African Americans, she has suffered repercussions. Her Congressional District boundaries were gerrymandered to include White Republicans who hadn't been there before. To add insult to injury, Clarence Thomas voted to let that continue. She also spoke up about the shoddy investigation of 911 and is asking for more. She voted against the Iraq War and, in the vote to fund the war that happened just after she was "pushed out" of Congress, her presence would have made the vote to continue funding the Iraq war lose. In this interview, McKinney speaks about her father being her inspiration and role model, as well as that she grew up in the Civil Rights Movement. Her father was in the US Military in WW II only to be reminded, upon coming home, that he needed to drink from the "colored" water fountain which he didn't do (while wearing his Military uniform since he was on his trip home after the war). He also was one of the first Blacks in the Atlanta Police Force and, since he couldn't change at the Police Station like the Caucasian police, he would "demonstrate" alone and in his police uniform. He is impressive as is Cynthia McKinney. If elected she will immediately plan to bring the troops home and re-open the investigation of 911 among many other changes. American Blackout documents the suppression of the African American vote in the 2000 and 2004 Presidential elections. The movie also focuses on Congressional Representative Cynthia McKinney of Georgia, and the political price she paid for being a clear voice for peace and honest elections. The LA Weekly called American Blackout "one of the most important political docs of the past several years." Come see the film for yourself, which raises important issues that are not part of the 2008 Presidential selection coverage. The producers have a website at www.americanblackout.org
45 - Bruce Lipton, PhD
Bruce Lipton, PhD, author of The Biology of Belief is regarded as one of the leading voices of the new biology. Lipton lectures to conventional and other health and medical professionals as well as lay audiences about leading-edge science and how it dovetails with mind-body medicine and spiritual principles. He also leads his own workshops. He says that many people report having improved their spiritual, physical and mental well being from applying the principles he discusses. Dr Lipton's work shows that the environment, and more specifically, our perception (interpretation) of the environment, directly controls the activity of our genes through a process known as epigenetic control. This new perspective of human biology incorporates the role of mind and spirit which is fundamental in all healing. It recognizes that when we change our perception or beliefs we send totally different messages to our cells and reprogram their expression. Lipton explains that the (self)conscious mind is the "thinking" mind and the creative mind that expresses free-will. Its supporting partner is the subconscious mind, a super computer loaded with a database of programmed behaviors. Some of these programs are derived from genetics. These are our instincts and they represent nature. The subconscious mind is made up of behavioral programs learned in the first six years of life simply by observing our parents, siblings, peers and teachers and is strictly a stimulus-response device. These previously stored behavioral responses could well be self-sabotaging or limiting behavioral programs in our subconscious which "unconscientiously" undermine the efforts of our conscious mind's intentions. The subconscious mind is really like a tape player playing the recordings from our first years. Consequently, there is no discernment as to whether a subconscious behavioral program is good or bad... they are just tapes. We are generally consciously unaware of our fundamental perceptions or beliefs about life. It is very important to know that, in contrast to the power of the conscious mind, the subconscious mind is a million times more powerful an information processor. As neuroscientists emphasize, the conscious mind provides five percent or less of the cognitive activity during the day while ninety-five to ninety-nine percent of our behavior is directly derived from the subconscious. Lipton says that "positive thinking" is generally not effective if the subconscious supports different beliefs. For this reason it is extremely useful to get in touch with our unconscious beliefs and get them out of our systems in order that we may use our conscious minds to actually get congruency in our thinking and action. Lipton thinks this change is very possible by practicing Buddhist "mindfulness" to bring our unconscious to consciousnessness and also with the use of many of the new energy healing modalities which help to bring out and release our unconscious beliefs--meaning we can "erase those old tapes" and disconnect those "buttons" from our systems and thus more easily and readily creating those positive results our conscious mind wants. Recorded: 2007-11-31.
46 - William H. Kötke
These writings can be found on the internet at http://www.thefinalempirebook.com and http://www.gardenplanetbook.com. William H. Kötke's origins were on a farm in Oregon. He has been a journalist, a radio script writer, a pamphleteer, a novelist, an essayist, and has had many articles published in periodicals. In these 2 half-hour interviews he speaks of how "civilization" is out of the flow of planetary energy. Although tribal people lived within the biological flows of the planet for a million years, "civilization" has meant that the farm was to export as much as farmers could grow from the soil. This practice has resulted in depleting the soil to the point where half the present world's population is fed with food fed by fossil fuel fertilizers. "Civilization" has been a suicidal denigration and using up of our earthly resources for the last 6000 years-- since Babylon. "Civilization" is also equivalent to "Empire" which consists of hierarchy, militarism, materialism and patriarchy. It exhausts and kills the soil, rivers, oceans, etc. while telling people they're making progress. In fact, it actually takes 500-1000 years to build each inch of topsoil. Since oil has "peaked" it won't be possible for people continue to eat based on fossil-based fertilizers pumped into depleted soils, leading to a lot less available food. If you kill what feeds you it can't go on. And this is where we are today. It's looking like the end of the world as we know it. We have also gotten further and further away from ourselves to abstractions such as moving from "oral history" into writing, and from bartering into "money". Kötke believes that the hope for survival is seed communities-- "ecovillages" which are totally sustainable. There are already at this time 710,000 villages in the "ecovillage" network in the US, Sri Lanka, Latin America, India and Africa. Some are newly developed and some are traditional, sustainable cultures. Check out the website at http://gen.ecovillage.org/
47 - William H. Kötke
William H. Kötke is the author of The Final Empire, The Collapse of Civilization and the Seed of the Future and Garden Planet: The Present Phase Change of The Human Species, available in paperback and electronic form. These writings can be found on the internet at http://www.thefinalempirebook.com and http://www.gardenplanetbook.com. In this interview Kötke repeats from Program 1 that "civilization" (also called "empire") has swelled the social body by sucking the fertility out of the topsoil and causing the loss of our earth's fertility and therefore our ability to feed ourselves. Just in the 25 years from 1975 to 2000 we lost one fifth of the world's topsoil. (See the summary from William Kötke 1 for more info.) If we look back over 6000 years of this type of exploitation of our environment we see that we have lost the diversity we need. Presently the basic commercial crops in the world are only ten species which include rice, corn and potatoes. This is because, even though we can get more protein out of an acre of cattails than out of an acre of potatoes, we stick to potatoes and those other nine crops since they are best suited for the mechanical production and harvesting of our industrial societies. What we're dealing with now is the final throws of this culture--exploding population, growing consumption of materials, dwindling resources and a dying planet. Kötke thinks there will be a massive die off of the human population. He also thinks that we are much more capable as humans than as we have been defined by the emperors and if we develop ourselves psychically and spiritually we can deal with a lot more than we're used to thinking we can. We are limited by our view that only industrial society will work and can't imagine ourselves living differently. It is crucial to get back in balance with the earth and restore self-sufficient human communities. Actually we can have food and shelter and a system that will give us what we need and a future on this planet. Totally self-sufficient villages are an answer. We already know about "permaculture design", which produces more per acre than industrial farming while rebuilding the soil, etc.. Kötke believes that water is a living thing and we will learn again to communicate with nonhuman beings who will help us. This is our natural way. He also believes that soon, when we see dramatic changes, we'll become more cooperative. Already, permaculture has spread to Africa, Latin America and all over the world. Norway has given land to develop in a permaculture way. Auroville in India has raised the water table up to six feet in some areas through teaching villagers how to plant trees, use water catchment, swales, etc. so water runs into soil instead of evaporating. There is much we can be doing! http://www.gardenplanetbook.com
48 - Lieutenant Ehren Watada
Lt. Ehren Watada is the first commissioned officer to publicly refuse to go back to Iraq. He spoke on March 17, 2007 at the Fourth Eugene, Oregon Peace Rally along with others including Kitty Piercy, the Mayor of Eugene. On 3/17/07 Eugene mayor, Kitty Piercy, Lieutenant Ehren Watada, and others came together for peace with one hope -- to unite our global neighborhood, as we are all interconnected and our voices are strong! Hear about The City Council of Eugene's Resolution 4907 to end the war. Listen to the wisdom of Lt. Watada, who publicly refused to go back to the combat in Iraq on 6/27/06, becoming the first commissioned officer to do so. This senseless Iraq War has carried a death toll of 3000 US troops and 650,000 Iraqis. Furthermore, countless innocent civilians have been injured, maimed and traumatized by the destruction of their homes, schools, businesses, sanitation, water, and basic infrastructure. Lt. Watada says, "We must not rest until we insure that every American and then every person has their right to civil liberties." Recorded March 17, 2007.
49 - Dr. Nick Begich #1
Dr. Nick Begich, author of 5 books, including Angels Don't Play This HAARP talks about HAARP which is the military's High Frequency Active Auroral Research Project. It consists of an array of antennas that is being used to create a shield of energy around the Earth. This technology could possibly replace bullets and missiles for warfare in the near future and can be used to affect the brainwaves of humans and other living things in a positive or negative way. Dr. Nick Begich is an independent scientist, a doctor of alternative and complimentary medicine, and author of many books including Angels Don't Play This HAARP and Controlling the Human Mind (2007). He is the son of the late Congressman from Alaska and he continues to live in Alaska where HAARP is. He was following what was going on since HAARP was developed and continues to follow what it's doing as much as possible given that now HAARP is considered "top secret". However, since Begich's mission is to track and translate science so that average people can understand what's going on, he is able to continue to write and talk about many things that most of us don't know about and might not understand if we did. Begich explains that through the technology of HAARP, frequencies of the human brain can be affected. The media, including Spiegel TV (who is the biggest news source in Germany and Austria) has recently been prohibited from further investigating the project. Through the cloak of "our national security" the government is often able to hide their dirty secrets which can be hurting us. For instance, it is suspected that many symptoms afflicting many of us such as short term memory loss, sleep disturbance, lack of ability to focus, etc. may be symptoms of the electromagnetic pulses sent out from HAARP. Ignorance may indeed be bliss, but knowledge is power, so please tune in and stay informed! Recorded April 2007.
50 - Dr. Nick Begich #2
Dr. Nick Begich, author of 5 books, including Angels Don't Play This HAARP talks about HAARP which is the military's High Frequency Active Auroral Research Project. It consists of an array of antennas that is being use tocreate a shield of energy around the Earth. He talks about mind control, cell phones & RFID implants in humans in this interview. Dr. Nick Begich, author of Angels Don't Play This HAARP, explains that HAARP stands for High Frequency Active Auroral Research Project. He is also Executive Director of the Lay Institute which deals with technology issues. He states that it's very crucial to he and his colleagues in the Lay Institute to have hard evidence of what they talk about and that they are known for their credibility. He urges others to be as particular about knowing our facts as well. With regard to cell phones- Begich explains that George Carlo did research on cell phones clearly establishing that they were not safe and that this evidence was distorted by the Government. Any chordless phones are harmful because the heat to the head can lead to loss of short term memory, sleeping difficulties, tumor formation, confusion, interruption of sex patterns, etc.. The answer is to keep wires in inside cords and use wireless less. It helps to reduce radiation going into body to use a speaker phone-even a few inches away from head helps. Head phones aren't helpful and are sometimes damaging though a simple solution is to put some wire or a metal bead around the cord of the headphones about 2 inches from the ear. This stops the energy from going in your ear. There are over 250 million cell phones being used in US. The risks are even much greater to children. RFID Chips (Radio Frequency Identification Tags) are now down to the size of a human cell and can hold 168 thousand bits of info -- a lot. It was just announced in December 2006 that an RFID tag could be read up to 2 kilometers away. They are being introduced in cell phones, and embedded in all currency. You can get injected with one in a shot and not even know it. Everybody and everything can be tracked. As for sorting what they find -- the fastest computer in the world so far has gotten faster and is perfectly capable of sorting the info. Begich says that we need to realize that the very foundations of the system that allows us privacy and freedom is being attacked and we need to unite across differences to take back our government that guarantees our freedoms to even have differing opinions. Begich says that "mind control" is the most important subject and finally even major corporate media are starting to write about it. Begich's book documents the history of mind control since it's inception in the 1880's with hypnosis, up until now when electromagnetic pulses can produce very specific effects such as flipping an individual's emotions on and off. There is incredible info that can help people with health issues, etc., but it tends to be in the hands of the weapons makers. Check www.layinstitute.org to hear the audio reports of what the best scientists have to say that will frame the future debate for mind control issues of the future. Free will, freedom of consciousness is what we're talking about. It is the very essence of who we are as human beings and mind control violates this. Recorded April 2007. http://Earthpulse.com http://Layinstitute.org
51 - Joel Garbon and Steve Kaplan
Joel Garbon and Steve Kaplan from the New Energy movement of Portland, OR discuss their plan to save our planet with clean, safe, abundant, inexpensive energy for all. We have a choice to become a sustainable society. Joel Garban and Steve Kaplan of New Energy Movement based in Portland, OR talk about their mission to create the world we envision. Here is their mission statement: Our very survival will require a vast and dramatic shift in how human civilization generates and uses energy and the world we envision. It is clean, safe, abundant, inexpensive energy for all; stabilized climate, clean and healthy water, food and air for all, beautiful blue skies over our cities, low impact sustainable forestry and agriculture, beautiful landscapes unspoiled by wires and smokestacks, recycling of virtually all wastes, rivers running free and natural, thriving sustainable local economies, living standards and education rates increasing, birth rates declining, a global culture of sharing unleashed human creativity, a new and lasting era of world peace. With the revolution in energy as the foundation of renewed and loving stewardship for our planet, we can transform our world into a beautiful and healthy home full of promise, opportunity, abundance and peace for all humanity. They then go on to speak of several types of alternative, clean, safe energy and the need for funds for more research and development of the particular energy models they speak of and more. There is no time to be wasted in investment and support for these technologies. Additional link: http://www.newenergycongress.org Recorded: March 2007.
52 - John Streicker
John Streicker, a speaker on the Climate Change panel at the Public Interest Environmental Law Conference at the University of Oregon. He lives in the Yukon Territory. He speaks about the direct effects of climate change that can be vividly seen on a daily basis in Alaska. John Streicker, of the Northern Climate Exchange speaks about the obvious effects of global warming and climate change that can be seen on a daily basis in Alaska and the Yukon Territory. He is an activist and artist originally from Canada, who lives with his wife in a cabin on the headwaters of the Yukon River. He has lived in many other countries and has vast experience outside of Canada as well. Climate change is the number one environmental issue of the day as John tells us about how the glaciers melting at such an alarming rate, will negatively impact the food and water supply for our whole planet. There is also the impact of the forest being destroyed because of the higher temperatures and drought that climate change is causing. Nature is a vital part of our infrastructure and if we continue to disrupt its essential and crucial systems we will indeed be at fault for our own decline. Recorded: March 2007.
53 - Annie Kajir
Annie Kajir, environmental attorney, activist and Director of the Environmental Law Center of Papua New Guinea. The land of these indigenious people is being logged at a disastrous rate. Although the state legally only owns 3% of the land, while its constituents own the remaining 97%, the "powers that be" continue to destroy the homes and villages of these native and rightful landowners. Annie Kajir is an indigenous native woman of Papua New Guinea. She is also an environmental activist, attorney, and the Director of the Environmental Law Center that she helped to establish. She received the Goldman Environmental Prize in San Francisco for her work protecting the resources of New Guinea. She gave a keynote speech at the Public Interest and Environmental Law Conference at the University of Oregon in Eugene, Oregon in March 2007. On that occasion she presented a slideshow that showed the horrendous logging in New Guinea. In this show she speaks about the island nation of Papua New Guinea, an area that has 850 different languages. The people still use a barter system, instead of money, in order to make their living off of the land itself. Hear about Annie Kajir's experience of as a environmentalist in a hostile area in which the corrupt government is illegally logging these indigenious lands. Contact Annie Kajir by E-mail Recorded: March 2007.
54 - The Winnemem People
Colleen Sisk Franco and Mark Franco have been struggling for their rights to hold their sacred ceremonies on the land of the Winnemem Wintu people. Colleen Sisk Franco is the Chief and Spiritual Leader of her people, the Winnemem Band of the Wintu people who are of the McCloud River area of Mt. Shasta in California. Mt. Shasta is one of the most 20 sacred mountains on the earth. The Winnemem Wintu people are from inside the mountain and came out through the spring in order to take care of the watershed from the spring all the way down until it becomes the McCloud River. The water is very pure and doesn't need to be purified as most of the water in the world does. This is more important than ever these days when there is almost no pure water to drink and water is being privatized. Without pure water we can't live. They've been working with the forest service for thirty years to preserve the meadows where thousands of tourists go to Mt. Shasta to ski and go to the springs often damaging the fragile ecosystem and root system in the meadows and polluting the water. Some areas are getting so damaged they're not able to use them for ceremonies to help preserve the sanctity of the sacred there. The Winnemem are asking people to realize that when they visit sacred places they don't have to bless the places. They are there to bless you so leave your trinkets and sacred objects at home. Just leave your prayers with the water and you're walking the same way tribal people do. The Franco's say they are caught between the dominant culture that is based on having "rights" while the Native cultures are more based on "responsibility". Now global corporations, like Nestle, Coca Cola, Danon are getting water "rights" to privatize water and as they take the water out of the springs and aquifers they deplete the water that's there for you and for me. So they've been involved in a struggle to keep these companies from coming in and taking water, leaving little or none for you and me unless we pay. The people sing to the water at the spring once a year to let the the water know they're there. Then others say if the Winnemem can go to the spring this means that others should be able to go there too. However, the Francos say that non-Winnemem often don't realize it's a sacred space. and say that they wouldn't go into someone else's sacred space and do whatever they want. some people even put remains of eight cremations in the spring and the Winnemem had to clean them out because they pollute the water with pollutants from the cremations. National Park Services, Forest Service, and Dept. of Interior can be helpful but Mark finds it frustrating to get them to understand and write helpful legislation and then by the time they understand they retire and the native people have to start over again. They declared war on the US Government in 2004 and had a war dance to stop the destruction of the McLeod River and the delta area and to the using of the backing up of the sacred water above the dam stopping salmon, their relative, from coming back up. The Francos live about ten miles from Shasta because the Government took their land and flooded it and they had no place to live-for the second time. When California became a state there were over 14,000 Winnemem on the McLeod river. By 1900 there were only 395. Today there are only 130 Winnemem who carry on and have only the Winnemem Religion guiding them. They all go to the ceremonies and are supported by other Wintu people. They also get support for their issues from the Lakota, Hopi, and many other tribes and non-native people in Oregon, Washington, and Environmental groups in the Bay Area are their support base. Recorded October 2006.
55 - Richard Moore: Part 1
Richard Moore is the author of Escaping the Matrix-- How We the People Can Change the World. He talks about the 6000 years of the history of civilization which, in human history, is a story of ever evolving hierarchical systems ruled by elites arriving now at the point there is one regime that can rule the world. "Civilized" man is synonymous with "domesticated' man-the 'masses' do the work, fight the wars to consolidate the take-over of others and consolidate empire. Since it's "we the people" who care about ourselves Moore thinks that the only way we're going to take care of ourselves and our welfare in these challenging times is by creating a truly democratic society for ourselves. One of the main points Moore wants to make in this interview is that things are almost never as they seem. He talks about the 20th century--just before WWI a strategy was formed by Britain and the US based on their understanding that when they control the buying and selling of oil they also control global finance and then control the world. About 1928 they made an agreement and set up a collaborative scheme (a cartel) for exploiting the oil industry which is basically a British American operation and it's still going. There also was collaboration all through the war between Nazi's and US financial interests. Ford, GM and other US companies were in Germany throughout WWII where they were manufacturing weapons which were used against American Troops. When supplies of oil were needed sometimes they'd be given to US and sometimes to Germany. The US and Britain also got together with the English and US bankers prior to the war to create the Federal reserve System in order to fund the war effort. President Roosevelt had to confiscate some of Prescott Bush's companies under the trading with the enemy act since he was one of the main people to handle the Nazi finances. There's a direct connection through the Bushes and they're really re-building the Nazi regime in the USA. 9/11 is a direct replay of the Reichstag Fire that started WWII. The names they're using like "homeland security" are patterned on the Nazis. The IMF (International Monetary Fund which used to be the Bank of London) and the World Bank were set up to control global finances and are controlled by the US and Britain as an extension of their banking systems while the United Nations is getting transformed into something that is really an extension of US foreign policy. All this was orchestrated and the "matrix" is, among other things, what people take for history-i.e., what we read in history books about personalities and other lies when, in truth, it's the bankers and their story that is determining things-- the lies that the powers that be think need to be told in order to get people to go along with their plans. Moore says the UN is a vehicle to create a world government and take sovereignty away from all nations. Moore's websites are: cyberjournal.org and escapingthematrix.org. Recorded: November 2006.
56 - Richard Moore: Part 2
Richard Moore is the author of Escaping the Matrix-- How We the People Can Change the World. Moore points out that civilization today is heading for disaster and direct engagement of citizens is crucial for our survival now. There is nothing we can do in our current system, ruled by elites, which is set up to divide us from one another and then allow us to choose which brand of elites will control us. We, the people, have to learn to work together and those who disagree need to learn how to solve problems together. Mostly, we don't know how to do that. Moore thinks that the technology of communication is very useful, but most people aren't exposed to it and training them would be most helpful. Moore has had experience that leads him to know that it's possible to take any twelve people from at random and put them together for three days and facilitate dialogue between them and at the end of the three days they'll have bonded, will know and respect each other, hear each other's valid concerns and can start working together to make collaborative decisions. He thinks it happens almost every time if people have a facilitator and stick with this process. For him it was a breakthrough concept and he was so excited he worked on how this could be used for helping us create an entire democratic society. His idea is that groups of twelve people go through this process and we keep doing this and the community gets an emerging sense of itself as community. He also believes that democratization is only possible on a small scale-no more than 3000 people. With dialogue at this small scale the people could make decisions which would be in the interest of the majority of the community members. In Moore's model there would then be agencies to carry out the people's wishes at that small scale but no government and no delegation of power. Since we haven't had democracy for 6000 years anyway this would be a huge improvement in creating real democratic economies and communities. Moore's websites are: cyberjournal.org and escapingthematrix.org. Recorded: November 2006.
57 - Joseph McCormick
Joseph McCormick is the founder of Reuniting America, Engaging Across the Great Divide-meaning the great divide of politics. After leaving the military McCormick studied process work (organizational behavior), and then entered politics and ran for office as a member of the Republican Party. During his time as a politician he became very disillusioned with the possibilities for change. We live in a "democratic republic" he says. Republic is like monarchy and monarch is president. The "democratic" part means grassroots participation. Reuniting America believes that that key is a healthier, more democratic situation is to honor that all points are valid and can fit together. Sometimes we need facilitation to help see this and then we begin to get to "wisdom"-- the truth of what really happened. There you can get the best solution. When people don't hear each other it could even lead to civil war. He says they are applying social technology, i.e. process work, to "re-integrate -- to find ways to re-integrate the the people, the knowledge, the issues and the interests. McCormick finds that most Americans have the same "values" like integrity and freedom. We say the the US Government is supposed to be of, by and for the people but it's not what is the case. It's government for the few and most of us are, in fact, more spectators of the system than participants. (Not to mention of the lack of integrity of fixed elections). The right tends to believe in "order", the left in "rights of freedom". We need both sets of values-like moms and dads. If we look beneath the surface are two archetypal dynamics which are masculine and feminine. If we focus on the "cause" of these 2 value systems and reconcile them it'll be better-they compliment each other and we will have a functional family. Where is a civic space where "we the people" get together?? That's what he intends to create. Now corporations give support to both sides to keep the game going. When trust, respect and communication break down it is the beginning of civil war and this is what's happening in the US. McCormick, as a responsible citizen, wants to do what he can do to prevent this. He wants to create a new game.- The goal for Reuniting America is to bring about an evolution of the system bringing the top and bottom and all citizens together and then together with the leaders creating accountability and understanding between the citizens and the leaders thus forming a trans-partisan democratic republic. Reuniting America has been building coalitions, creating houseparties, library dialogues and townhall discussions across this great divide. They had 24 leaders of big civic organizations in a room in December 2005 at which continuing relationships between left and right on election integrity were formed. They've been working together on net neutrality and climate change as well. Based on these relationships coalitions have been built among organizations. Transformational relationships means sustainable in that the relationships last regardless of the issues-- i.e., they can go from issue to issue creating a permanent coalition which can go on to address many issues such as womens' empowerment which has already begun. "Factions" make it really easy to divide and control. Recorded October 2006. To engage online in dialogue over the internet: www redblueus.org.
58 - Timothy LaSalle
Timothy LaSalle is the Executive Director of the Northwest Earth Institute based in Portland, Oregon. There are Earth Institutes in Vermont and Texas Earth well. This interview was conducted at the Bioneers in Eugene, Oregon in October, 2006, where LaSalle led a workshop, "Awakening to Ecocide-- An Important Conversation". LaSalle recently completed a PhD in Depth Psychology. He says that he and his wife have seen a lot of suffering and ecological devastation in their travels throughout the planet. He thinks that people who talk about these things (are "awake") are sometimes marginalized, but it's worth it because they face their despair and get into a place of action. The myth we're dealing from from our culture is one of death, insecurity and emptiness. We need a myth that comes from reverence. This destructive culture is really a short blip on the continuum of history of unconscious behavior. Value has to be rooted in earth or is incorrect. We need to realize how we're being manipulated too. I have to become the kind of ancestor I would like to be to coming generations. What can so often fill the emptiness is something like nature which has always been there. He thinks that people who talk about these things (are "awake") are sometimes marginalized, but it's worth it because they face their despair and get into a place of action. Recreating our myth and story is so important - the deepening of a reverential relationship with nature and constructing society in harmony with this. The journey of investigating own psyches as to why we do what we do is important in order to change. Right now our technological human centric approach is doing us in. Northwest Earth Institute is a national organization that provides a discussion course for small groups of 6 to 12 members with the intention of stimulating them to be more connected to taking responsibility for the earth, themselves and all beings. The course is designed to provide readings that have been chosen to inspire and educate with regard to changing their lives in these ways. "Healthy Children" and "Sustainability" are among the six courses offered. The courses can lead to appreciation of the deep relationships we actually have with all of creation and the connections group members develop stimulate conversation while people make up own minds about where they will go from there, The main point is to stimulate thinking. Soon there will be an additional and somewhat more scientific course specifically about climate change. NEI asks $15 per book and 6-12 folks to provide a good discussion. LaSalle says that we need grassroots understanding on these issues of survival and these courses help with group process as well as information by their encouraging of members to follow a model laid out in the teaching material of non-hierarchical rotating facilitation-- a group process skill in itself important for working in community and building healthy community.
59 - Wayne Madsen #1
Wayne Madsen, of http://waynemadsenreport.com, is a courageous investigative journalist and syndicated columnist whose articles have appeared in publications such as In These Times, The Miami Herald, and the Village Voice. Madsen has appeared on 20/20, 60 Minutes and Nightline. He is the author of Genocide and Covert Operations in Africa 1993-1999 and the Handbook of Personal Data Protection. He was a former Officer in the US Navy. He writes from Washington, DC-"inside the Beltline". In this interview he focuses on his most recent book, Jaded Tasks-Brass Plates, Black Ops, & Big Oil: The Blood Politics of George Bush & Co. Because of his background he has a lot of contact with "insiders" who give him information which he's willing to share with us. Just some of the topics he talks about are: Fundamentalist Christians, the deaths of a list of men who disagreed with the Bush administration and who, though they supposedly died in plane accidents or by suicide, Madsen, along with others, thinks were murdered. He discusses what the New World Order means and the long term commitment the Bushes have had to this goal of aone world government starting with Prescott Bush who was involved in business dealings with the Nazis. It is apparent that presently the US Government is subservient to the big corporations and that this was brought about by international agreements (some of them secret) such as the WTO (World Trade Organization, NAFTA (North American Free Trade Association), etc.. The Bushes are true globalists and come from an ultra- capitalist point of view and don't care what happens to the US, says Madsen. He warns us to look closely at the new UN Secretary General about whom we know little and thinks that he MAY be associated with Sun Myung Moon's church. Rev. Moon was an early anti-communist and associated with Nazi's in Germany and he wants a one world government.
60 - Wayne Madsen #2
Wayne Madsen, of http://waynemadsenreport.com, is a courageous investigative journalist and syndicated columnist whose articles have appeared in publications such as In These Times, The Miami Herald, and the Village Voice. Madsen has appeared on 20/20, 60 Minutes and Nightline. He is the author of Genocide and Covert Operations in Africa 1993-1999 and the Handbook of Personal Data Protection. He was a former Officer in the US Navy. He writes from Washington, DC-"inside the Beltline". In this interview Madsen speaks about the extensiveness of pedophelia in the church and among politicians. In the Navy he was involved in prosecuting someone but it was covered up. It has been and continues to be an on-going problem for the Republican Party though and there have been many scandals. Now we have Mark Foley misusing his office and soliciting under age pages while hiding behind his cause of lost children. This scandal which includes the Speaker of House and other top Republican Staff officials and Senior Staff members in the Republican Party Scandal is not over and is going to continue into the Office of RNC Chairman and into the White House itself and into some of the offices of top advisors of Pres. Bush. Madsen mentions that there are many "conspiracies" and that, like the US Government gets the Mafia for "conspiracy", we should be able to get the government for "criminal conspiracy", including murder. It is said that the Republicans are in such control that the Democrats in Congress don't even know where the committee meetings are being held and decisions are being made. Madsen cites an example of Democrats making a caucus and the Sargeant of Arms calling police to break up the meeting and threaten to arrest them. The records will show shocking things about how Congress has been eroding our rights rather than protecting them. He points out that the Patriot Act which was pushed through Congress right after 911 is very similar to the Enabling Act invoked in Germany after the Reichstag Fire which was set by the German government and was the beginning of WWII. It takes away our rights as does even more the Military Commissions Act which takes away even our right of habeus corpus which we've had since 1215 under Magna Carta and is as basic a right as there is. Madsen thinks that the present US Government has gone even farther than Hitler in that it invokes the divine right of kings. Bush can declare anyone in world an enemy combatant and call them before a military commission and have them executed like in Nazi Germany. There are attempts to Since the media is so key in creating what people think it is most important that we are using the independent media-- radio, community television, films, podcasting, the Internet, DVD circulation, the underground press, etc. which "we, the people" control and it's difficult for the state to stop. We can educate people until they see that the "US Government has no clothes".
61 - Ramon Ramirez
Ramon Ramirez, president of PCUN (Northwest Treeplanters and Farmworkers United) discusses his plans for the new multilingual, low-power FM radio station (KPCN) which PCUN members have erected in the town of Woodburn, Oregon. Ramirez gave this interview at PCUN's "barnraising"-- a gathering of union members and their families and and people who came from far and wide in the United States, from Mexico and Venezuela to work with the Prometheus Radio Project (http://prometheusradio.org) and PCUN to build this low power FM radio station, train people and get it on the air in one weekend in mid-August, 2006. The PCUN community radio station (KPCN-LP: 96.3FM) is offering music, culture and information in several languages of the indigenous people of the area, Spanish and English. One of PCUN's goals is to use low power FM radio to educate listeners to influence US Foreign and domestic policies, particulary US mmigration policy which directly affects many of the members of PCUN who are immigrant workers from Mexico, especially the state of Oaxaca. Ramirez talks about the enormous negative economic effects of NAFTA (eg- under-selling locally grown corn with genetically modified corn grown by agribusiness in the United States) on Mexico and other countries, causing workers to migrate to the US to literally survive. He also mentions how differently Mexican and Chinese immigrants are treated from Europeans immigrants. The radio station will also be used to provide information concerning domestic violence, women's leadership and sexual reproduction rights, to help people release some of their cultural and religious conditioning which leads to sexual repression and violence, and to create allies within the social justice movement, such as from African American communities, gay and lesbian organizations, and to help educate and organize against the widespread war and violence. PCUN needs help and support to get this wonderful community station fully operating. Recorded August 2006.
62 - Luz Ruiz
Luz Ruiz works with a group called COMPPA which, translated into English is "Coalition of Popular Communicators for Autonomy". She also works with the Prometheus Radio Project out of Philadelphia. This interview took place at the Barnraising with Prometheus assisting PCUN ( Treeplanters and Farmworkers United) to set up a low power FM radio station in Woodburn, Oregon where the union is based. Ruiz shares some of her experiences and goals with using community radio as a tool for bringing about peace and social justice. Most of COMPPA's work has involved facilitating the appropriation of media tools for indigenous organizations setting up media outlets in Mexico. Their work focuses there largely on farmworker and immigrant rights. Ruiz hopes to see her work providing relief in the struggle between people who wish to live their lives with dignity and mutual respect versus huge corporate enterprises often notorious for their heartless agendas. Individuals controlling such enterprises have ruined entire communities for a profit by monopolizing the relay of information and promoting themselves as some kind of help to the national economy even thought the facts tend to reveal the opposite. Ruiz thinks that if the people of a community have the resources to voice their dissent when faced with the threat of corporate plunder dressed up as "development", they may have a much better chance to avoid ruin. She points that with radio as a communications tool, illiteracy does not present a barrier to getting information. Although she does not discourage the use of licensed low-power community radio station, Ruiz makes the decision to refer to unlicensed radio broadcasting as "free radio" than "pirate" radio, indicating a conscious awareness that participation in the free flow of information constitutes a basic natural right for which we must show respect. Recorded August 2006.
63 - Janaia Donaldson
Janaia Donaldson Co-produces (with Robyn Mallgren, Director) and hosts Peak Moment TV- Community Responses for a Changing Energy Future, a half hour TV show dedicated to exploring solutions and responses to the emerging Peak Oil/Energy shortage scenario. They call themselves "The Yuba Gals" since they live near the Yuba River in the Grass Valley/Nevada City area in Northern California. This summer of 2006 they have traveled around Washington and Oregon and up to Vancouver, Canada discovering that "people have a lot more options and resources than we and they might think in terms of energy conservation and sustainable living" says Janaia. she then gives examples they have found of groups of people salvaging building materials from run-down buildings and recirculating these materials-- which conserves resources, avoids adding to landfills and makes for less expensive building projects. They have found numerous growers' markets and co-ops which help create independent communities as well as individuals actually circulating lawful local currencies (talk about solution-think!), as well as rainwater collection methods, car co-ops so people don't have to own cars (it works!), electric bikes, energy farms and so many more equally inspiring ways in which individuals have taken this kind of conscious action. Janaia stresses that her approach does not include trying to convince people that "Peak Oil is real or "Global Warming is real" or fill-in -the-buzz-word "is real" but rather to go to those who already have awareness of these issues and asking the question "what can we do?". She also expresses the opinion that the examples set by conscious, creative individuals will then bring about more awareness simply by proxy and in a non-confrontational way. The Yuba Gals would appreciate it if you let your local TV station know you would like to see their weekly half hour show. Recorded in August 2006. www.peakmoment.tv
64 - Maria de los Angeles
Maria de los Angeles is from Venezuela. She is a journalist who came to Minnesota, USA three years ago on a scholarship to study. In this interview she talks about her home country and the exciting things happening there as well as a few of her impressions of the United States. De los Angeles says that a lot of things in Venezuela have changed for the better since Hugo Chavez, President of Venezuela won in the elections of 2000. Although the alternative media started before Chavez it exploded when the coup happened. In 2000 there were 25 independent media outlets. Now there are 323 independent media outlets. Now there are hundreds of newspapers, television channels and radio stations. She says it's so important for people to explore their own way of saying things and fight against the monopoly of how to think. The diverse people of Venezuela need to explore their own culture, laws and language. The diversity of over 36 indigenous groups and the Afro-Venezuelan people want to reflect this diversity in their media. During the coup of 2002 when the US tried to overthrow President Hugo Chavez it was painful to see how the corporate media said nothing about what was going on and that it was obviously part of plan. Another president was in power for 3 days. The alternative media was ONLY media that went out in streets to find out what happened during that time. The Associacion de Medios. de Medios Communitarios is a collective of collectives of independent media organizations. This is being organized to have an umbrella to better react to covering something like another coup. In December of 2002 the second coup attack failed. So media now is organizing to be strategic when, in the future, it could be threatened with more attempted coups by the United States. But Chavez is not the revolution, people are the revolution. Elections will happen again on Dec. 24, 2006. Chavez encourages people to read the Constitution, which is a best seller and sold on street corners, and know the law. People are very educated about both global and local issues. They read a lot. They will have to stay alert with the coming election. Maria plans to go back to Buenas Aires, live in community and work with media.
65 - Susan Gleason and Daniel Hannah
Reclaim the Media is based in Seattle, Washington. It focuses on media policy reform, media reform and support for independent media. Susan Gleason and Daniel Hannah are the co-founders and co-directors and they speak to us about the specific activities of the organization. Hannah focuses on media monitoring, media literacy and education and media analysis. Reclaim the Media TV focuses on the coverage of news and can be seen on the public access channel in Seattle. It looks at how media works -- the impact of the corporate media, where the inherent biases are, the independent media and it's perspectives, advocacy media and the effects of advertising so that we can understand how we're affected by media. The goal is to get people to think critically. We can ask, for example, why there are stories about certain things and not others and learn, not surprisingly, that it is often because of who is sponsoring the particular media. Reclaim the Media also teaches about media and racism, media and body image and other such connections. They ask how does the media represent issues. Gleason focuses on the coming Northwest Community Radio Summit and media literacy conference September 15-17, 2006. The purpose is for folks from Oregon, Washington, British Columbia, Alaska and Idaho to network and to share content throughout this bio-region. These areas share many things in common locally but often don't get to hear news from other places. They need more exchange about about their local issues. Community radio/media offers media that is of, by and for the local community. The new PICUN ( Union of Farmworkers and Treecutters) low power FM station is a wonderful example of community radio because it can create radio content about issues that are relevant to it's community. Most information is disconnected from community and from its central source. Reclaim the Media hopes to build a bio-regional infrastructure and share content over the internet. New stations are coming on, doing skill sharing, etc. so the stations with more resources train and help less resourced stations train people locally. Democracy needs the free flow of information so we can know what's being done to us and in our name. We need to know in order to be good citizens and have a democracy. They also mention that the issues of media ownership rules with regard to low power FM, cable franchize agreements, etc. are still up and that these issues impact our lives so it's important to take an interest. nwcommunityradio.org
66 - Kelvin Long
Kelvin Long, of Navajo Nation Clan Bitter Water, is the director of ECHOES (Educating Communities while Healing and Offering Environmental Support), based in Flagstaff northern Arizona. In this interview, Kelvin Long discusses ecological imbalance and interconnectedness of all people and all life, and he urges everyone to take personal responsibility for the consequences of our actions. Long speaks of the "Save the Peaks" campaign which is a project of Echoes. It's an effort-- largely on the part of indigenous North Americans-- to save from corporate desecration a circle of 4 mountains in California, New Mexico, Arizona, and Utah. These four Mountains are held sacred by 22 nations of the Southwest. Long says that the sacred mountain of the West, San Francisco Peaks, faces a particularly foul threat. It stands surrounded by deserts and maintains a delicate ecosystem. The company Arizona Snowbowl owns a ski resort there and it intends to expand the resort by making artificial snow with reclaimed wastewater and then dump it on the mountain. Reclaimed wastewater contains endocrine disruptors, which have been found to cause mutations and gender shifts in plant and animal species. Long says this wastewater would throw off the natural bio-harmony existing on the mountain and endanger much of the flora and fauna, including a few specimens found nowhere else on Earth. The effects of soaking the entire mountain with these toxins would not only poison the life on the mountain, but the toxins would also find their way into the bodies of human beings. He believes also that if the scheduled desecration takes place, the young people will likely not consider the mountain as a sacred living symbol, and will lose touch with the cultural stories relating to this symbol of the circle of 4 sacred mountains. This, he says, could serve to destroy the cultures of 22 indigenous American nations which have historically held this circle of mountains sacred for so long. Because of the serious consequences of the actions of Snowbowl, ECHOES is taking the company to circuit court over this matter.
67 - Marissa Moorman
Marissa Moorman is Asssistant Professor of African History at the University of Indiana in Bloomington, Indiana. Her particular area of expertize is Angola and the formation of an Angolan culture during the end of Portuguese control of this African country. She pursued this subject in Angola where she has lived because there was so much happening with music during the struggle for independence from Portugal. Little had been written in English about this phenomenon of music and political struggle. Moorman talks about the history of the long and violent struggle for independence and how the country is, since the Peace Accords in 2002, finally free of war and able to focus on re-building and healing. She also mentions how she thinks that-- even though it has that much desired resource of oil -- Angola will not be attacked by the countries that need oil since, unlike in Nigeria, the oil sources are very difficult for protestors to reach since they are far off shore and technologically difficult to bring up the oil from the very very deep water where it's found. Also, the Angolan national oil company and other oil companies already control the oil and the government is insisting on the nationalization of the employee base. She talks about the presence in Africa of China and India as they are looking for oil. The second half of the interview is focused on the development of Angolan culture, particularly their own music, where people could put forth their feelings and opinions about politics as they went about their daily life. The the music that Moorman focuses on was written mostly between 1961-'65 and was later repressed from '75-'80 and has been brought back more recently as well as many more new types of popular music in which political and social comments are included. She finds that the connections between people and the good that has come out of this truly Angolan music that has been created in the wake of repression is even more important than the repression itself as it leads to the further formation of community.
68 - Laura Wells
Laura Wells is running on the Green Party ticket for State Controller of California. She has run for this office before and says intends to continue to run because it's important even if she doesn't win. She has been noticing that, like her, more and people are concerned about the disappearance of the "democracy" the US has been known for and she gives some examples of what we can do and are already doing. For example, Instant Runoff Voting (IRV), which is sometimes called, "rank voting" where the voters rank their choices is more democratic. IRV has gone well in San Francisco, CA. Wells visited Canada where the Canada Coalition for Dialogue and Deliberation formed citizen committees to deliberate what to do with nuclear waste. In Ottawa citizen committees deliberated about what would improve their electoral system and their suggestions for ranked choice and proportional representation were implemented. "Dialogue and deliberation" can be done at any time and place. As for the US-- clean money in elections is crucial as otherwise, as now, it is money that determines who and what wins. Wells speaks very highly of what's happening in Venezuela where she has been several times since President Hugo Chavez was brought to power by a big movement of people in 1998. After that the two parties, which were really similar to one party trading political power back and forth for over 40 years, dissolved. She thinks Venezuela is the best kept secret of real democracy where grassroots citizens make the decisions regarding their neighborhoods and have real control over their elected officials. She gives many examples including one where neighborhoods control the funds of the services-- e.g. health services.
69 - Carol Brouillet
Carol Brouillet has been a major activist since 9/11/2001 in getting out the word about the 9/11 cover-up. The Green party asked Carol Brouillet to run for Congress and she is doing that on a platform of 911 truth and impeachment. There are several other Congressional candidates who have similar platform-- Sandor Hicks in NY, Robert Bowman (sp) in Florida who's been speaking up about 9/11 and calling it treason. Craig Hill in Vermont. Brouillet helped develop the very popular "Deception Dollars" which resemble real dollars and have websites on them where people can get information about the details of the deceptions of the US Government story and evidence about what really happened. She also organized the first San Francisco Independent Inquiry of the tragic events of 9/11/01 and has worked tirelessly organizing demonstrations, selling books, pamphlets, speaking to groups, etc., etc.. Brouillet says that because the media (both corporate & independent) hasn't covered the issues of questions about the official US Government's version of what happened on 9/11 it is important to be creative in using film, art, deception dollars--whatever possible-- to inform people. Europeans are much more aware that the official US Government story is not true. Recently the US press is beginning to report on the 9/11 cover-up. Since actor Charlie Sheen recently spoke on CNN an online poll done by CNN revealed that 84% of people who responded thought there was a cover-up. In the SF Chronicle in mid- April, there was an article with a subtitle of "9/11-Inside Job?", including a photo and report by David Ray Griffin who calls the 9/11 Commission Report a "511 page lie". More films are coming out as well. Since fear is constantly encouraged and fed and so many people (including those in the peace and justice movements) are afraid to look at the reality of their government partly because it brings up the deep questions of who they are, it's even more important to have many types of media looking at the issue. Brouillet believes that the fear and psychological barriers, not the lack of evidence, keep the truth from coming out. Comedy is good for getting around that. Brouillet was behind the film "Behind Every Bush There's a Terrorist". She suggests we should get rid of those who support lack of freedoms and the false securities of Homeland Security to protect the elite from everyone else, while "real" security is good health, access to food and shelter, meeting basic needs. If we re-directed the budget away from the military to meet basic needs we could have a paradise. She thinks that what we see now is a "transnational fascism" and impeachment would be good to redeem ourselves in the eyes of the international community that sees the US population putting up with our government. Our hope lies in the grassroots movements to recognize how we're manipulated and take things into our own hands. The refusal of something like 200 cities to follow the Patriot Act is one example of that. Journalists and politicians haven't spoken up because it's threatening to the system and therefore most terrifying for them. They have, in fact, suffered negative consequences. Brouillet says the Peace Movement is finally beginning to open up to look at the official story of 9/11 as untrue. A strategy and educational conference in Chicago in June, at which a lot of people are expected, is going to be put on by the 9/11 Truth Movement and this will be an opportunity to break the mainstream press barrier if it hasn't already broken by then. Communitycurrency.org Deceptiondollar.org 911truth.org to learn more about June conference in Chicago.
70 - Dr. Masaru Emoto
Dr. Masaru Emoto, author of Hidden Messages of Water, and several other books, has been a doctor of Alternative Medicine in Japan for many years. English speakers have heard of him in the popular film What the Bleep Do We Know...? He has learned that water has the ability to retain information and to be influenced by thoughts, music, written words, prayers, etc.. He wanted to be able to show this visually so that anyone could see it and thus, believe it. Twelve years ago he started taking photos of water crystals that had been frozen for three hours at less than 25 degree selsius. He would divide each sample into 50 petri dishes, freeze them and look at each of them under a microscope. If examining spring or tap water he would use that but if exposing water to images or sounds he always uses distilled water of the same quality to assure uniformity. It is clear from looking at the images of the water crystals that they vary enormously depending on the words that were said to them, the music it was exposed to, the toxins in it, etc.. This is enormously important and has huge implications as to the ability of humans, for instance, to purify toxic water. He gives the example of the very polluted Lake Biywa in Japan going from extremely toxic to almost totally unpolluted due to the gathering of people a few times to meditate, pray and send love and appreciation to the water. Dr Emoto says, as do many non-western models, that sickness is caused by disharmony at the elementary particle vibrational level. What he calls "Hado" is what we may be accustomed to calling "chi". Since water is so primary, including us humans, we have an enormous potential to influence ourselves and everything else in our world in these times of serious toxicity and breakdown. It is this possibility that motivates Dr. Emoto to do his work, hoping that people will learn to give appreciation, love, gratitude and respect to water everywhere at all times-- in the shower, in ourselves, in the rain, etc., etc. He had nightmares all his life every night about the Mayan prophecy and "end of the world" scenario. Since he started doing this work with water these nightmares have stopped. Dr. Emoto is adamant about the importance of this work at this time on earth and has started an institute on the island of Hawaii to teach Hado instructors and do research. Several sessions have already been completed. Dr. Emoto has also written a book in English and Japanese directed to children to learn about our ability to influence water as he thinks it's probably too late for most adults and the importance of knowing our power to improve the situation of ourselves and all things on the earth is imperative at this time. He begs us to take this information SERIOUSLY. This interview was translated by Ayano Fuyuo.
71 - Eloise Engman
Eloise Engman is the founder of GMO (Genetically Modified Organisms) FREE MAUI (one of the Hawaiian Island) which is also part of the greater GMO FREE HAWAII. She says that Maui has the most open air field tests of experimental organisms per acre of anywhere in the world-- mostly dealing with plants though it's possible there are animals experiments as well. It is especially of concern because some of the plants are "biopharmaceuticals" which have already "contaminated" food crops and been destroyed by the local government due to concern about the contamination of food crops. In Maui much of the papayas are genetically modified, have an antibiotic resistant gene, a string of ecoli and a string of amino acids which are identical to a known allergan. She tells a chilling tale of the sickness of her partner attributed to these papayas. Monsanto, the major company doing 90% of all genetic modification (and makers of major toxics-- agent orange, dioxin and PCB's), is also working on patenting the sacred Hawaiian crop of taro. Engman says that about 80% of what is on the food market now is genetically modified. We wouldn't know that since it is not labeled. Most canola, soy, and corn have already been contaminated and are gentically engineered. Of particular concern is the addition of antibiotic resistant genes ("markergenes") which have been shot with "gene guns" into plants. Hawaii has a huge seed corn crop and much of it is genetically modified. Since corn, and corn oil are in most all "processed" food this is very dangerous and should be avoided altogether. The good news is that the Hawaiian coffee growers have insisted there must be no genetic modification of Hawaiian coffee. In defense of our own health we need to plant and eat organic and fight Monsato and GMO food before it has contaminated all the organic seeds and organic food becomes impossible. We should organize and add our communities to those counties and countries who have taken a stand against genetically modified organisms.
72 - Paul Goettlich
Paul Goettlich writes and lectures on the health and socioeconomic effects of technology and plastics, pesticides, genetic engineering among other things he deems to be important. He is on the Board of In this show he concentrates on endocrine disrupters-- ie, chemicals, or combinations of chemicals that synergistically interfere with our endocrine systems which are crucial for normal and healthy human development as well as for other animals and living things. When these extremely finely tuned systems are disrupted the result is disease. Plastic is a major endocrine disrupter. It is oil-based in all it's forms and toxic for our bodies. As we know all too well plastic is everywhere in our modern industrial world and affecting all of us in negative ways. According to Goettlich, these toxins always leak out and into the systems of living things where they affect our hormones and therefore our lives. Though heat can make it worse this leakage occurs even without heat. Goettlich strongly advises us to avoid all plastics as much as possible-- not an easy task, but an important one. We can use paper, glass, cloth, metal, etc.. We need to eat lower on the food chain where the toxins are less concentrated and stay away from commercial food. Also recycle, reuse, etc.. He thinks that technology is most usually bad for us and gives some examples. He also gives examples of the plastic in the oceans -- six times more than plankton in the middle of the Pacific -- killing sea birds and fish. To learn more about endocrine disruptors as well as other toxins and other issues of his investigations go to Paul Goettlich's website as well as listening to this interview.
73 - Leuren Moret
Leuren Moret, a geologist, is an Environmental Commissioner of Berkeley, and Past President for Women Geoscientists to name just a couple of responsibilities she has and has had. Moret worked for the Lawrence Berkeley Lab (Moret refers to it as a "bomb factory") for five years and ultimately blew the whistle on the fraud and corruption, etc. at the lab. Since then she has devoted herself to activism-- speaking up with information and organizing others to also take a stand for the environment and the health of it and us on the earth.. One of her particular areas of focus and expertise is educating people about the horrors of "depleted uranium"-- i.e., exposure to radioactive waste which, since the beginning of the Manhattan Project atomic bomb testing from 1957-1963, we have all been exposed to some degree as it blows around as fine dust and there is no getting rid of it or avoiding it for thousands of years. It comes from nuclear power plants as well. DU, as it is called for short, is a neurotoxin and is responsible for the rise in autism, cancer, ms, and other neurological diseases. She goes into some detail about the evidences for the extremely horrible effects of DU on children, fish, many living things and especially people who are exposed to weapons utilizing DU -- such as the people of Afghanistan who were recently bombed, the Iraqi people and the US military who were there. The results are obvious in not only their own cancers, sickness, but that of their spouses and children. DU exposure doesn't go away and it's everywhere. It was introduced as a weapon for the first time in 1991 in the first Gulf War and is the cause of Gulf War Syndrome -- yet another cover-up. The San Francisco Bay Area, where Moret lives, is especially toxic and she says the reason for Marin County (near the Golden Gate Bridge) having the highest breast cancer rate in the US.. When asked how she is so seemingly fearless and motivated -- and even cheerful-- Leuren Moret says that it is we, the grassroots folks, that are paying for all these toxic horrors -- paying with our money and our children's future-- and it is we who can stop it by standing up. She feels good about her truth telling and encourages other to do the same.
74 - Leuren Moret
In this interview geo-scientist, independent researcher, whistleblower, Leuren Moret focuses on the issue of "nonlethal weapons", sometimes known as "exotic weapons". They are as horrible and disturbing as any weapons can be and are ultimately aimed at the control of the earth as well as space. Moret thinks that the real purpose of what is, in her opinion, excessive nuclear testing really is to learn about the earth's atmosphere, and how to develop and use the weapons of weather control, mind control, spying, etc-- control of everything possible. She describes what the weapons system, HAARP (High Frequency Active Auroral Research Project) is, it's connections to "chem trails" (aerosol spraying), health and mind control among other things. Some examples are atmospheric and weather control. Weather control has been going on since the 1970's and has gotten more and more sophisticated. Based on the same understanding that science now has that life is an electromagnetic dance which, if disturbed, results in illness and malfunction it's been discovered that illnesses each have their own frequency. This knowledge has led China, Eastern Europe and Russia to use electronic frequencies to correct illnesses in people whereas in the USA these practices are illegal.
75 - Brandy Gallagher-McPherson
Brandy Gallagher-McPherson is the Exec/ Director of OUR (One United Resource) Ecovillage Development team which is a 25 acre demonstration sustainable community on Vancouver Island, British Columbia in Western Canada. Brandy has a lot of experience living in community. She lived with her parents in an intentional community in rural Canada for her first 10 years and during that time was also very close to a First Nations (Native American) community and its strong sense of "community". She brings that experience to her OUR Ecovillage. The notion of "Ecovillage" is really just a concept and intention of sustainable living including sustainable relationships and connection with the land. We know, in fact, that relationships with our space and our environment is our survival. She sees things from a place of possibilities and looks at the ecovillage movement as a way of putting back the pieces we've lost and that we are in great need of to make a whole and sane world. An "ecovillage" can take any form from a rural kibbutz to a downtown urban situation and anything in between. It is usually designed within a context of a full featured life style. A very useful and successfull project that others wanting to do an ecovillage can learn and profit from is that OUR Ecovillage has taken on a legal re-zoning package and worked through two and a half years of full-featured package for an ecovillage design. This is a precedent in Canada for working hand in hand with authorities. OUR Ecovillage also has a full program of work and classes and gives a class called Topia, which means "place or space", sustainability and a 3 month residential program in natural building with teachers from many parts of the world. There are residential programs in permaculture and sustainable community design as well. Gallagher-McPherson speaks of the global ecovillage movement and network which includes over 600 ecovillages and intentional communities. Federation of Egalitarian Communities: http://www.IC.org. The telephone is 250-743-3067.
76 - Richard Heinberg
Richard Heinberg speaking on Peak Oil-- what it means and it's impact on us-- Eugene, Oregon, January 10, 2006, sponsored by the Eugene Permaculture Guild, introduced by the Mayor of Eugene Richard Heinberg is a writer and teacher whose focus in these times is "peak oil". He has become one respected as one of the country's experts on peak oil and travels and lectures nationally and internationally on the subject. He also teaches Human Ecology at New College of San Francisco in Santa Rosa, California. Two of his several books are The Party's Over-Oil, War and the Fate of Industrial Societies and Powerdown:Options and Actions for a Post Carbon World. He explains that "peak oil" means that the cheap oil we've had available to build our industrial world is over and our industrialized world has already started coming to the end that is inevitable and which is likely to be a huge dislocation from the way of life to which we are accustomed in the "first world". It will affect the energy that we're used to having and transportation, food supply, common materials that we're used to which are based on oil -- plastic, clothes, buildings and on and on. As for the timing of this huge dislocation to our life-styles -- he thinks it's quite soon, that we may already have hit peak or will hit or soon, but really no one knows for sure and we will ony know for sure in retrospect. In this talk he explains the history, what's happening now with oil and how, whenever this long change and depression comes about, preparation and living sustainably without oil (and natural gas) will make the transition easier so there is no reason to put it off.
77 - Michael Abelman
Michael Abelman is a farmer, educator, founder and the executive director of the Center for Urban Agriculture at Fairview Gardens, Ca.. Abelman is also author/photographer of From the Good Earth, On Good Land and Fields of Plenty: A Farmer's Journey in Search of Real Food and the People Who Grow It. He is also the subject of the award-winning PBS national broadcast Beyond Organic. Abelman talks about the huge affect that the industrial age has had on the earth. We might not think that farming is the industry that uses possibly the most oil-- in terms of fertilizer, processing soil and plants, moving the food, and on and on. And organic food uses just as much oil since it too is shipped long distances. It is also the case that, due to industrial agriculture, the minerals have been taken out of the soil and the soil is incredibly depleted thus making the food much of the population eats extremely lacking in nutritional value. Soil is the basis for life in many ways and sustainabilty means keeping in balance what is taken out of the soil with what is returned. This is not what's been happening for the most part in the industrial world. Since cheap oil is soon to end, thus changing dramatically much of what we're used to in the industrial world, it is extremely important that we compost and improve our soil everywhere from the city to rural areas. He discusses the options available for changing our ways such as gray water and compost toilets and the wonderful ways to grow a lot of food in urban areas. There is the example of using the heat from an urban cleaning establishment to heat the green house on the roof of the city building in the winter. There are many great and good aspects of dry farming with very little, if any, water. However, government agencies often make these totally sensible approaches more difficult rather than easy. Abelman says about sustainability and "organic" that it means much more than just eliminating toxins (though, obviously, this is crucial!) and it builds community which is so important for our health, well-being and survival.
78 - Paul Glover
Paul Glover, founder of the local currency, Ithaca Hours (Yes, it's legal. It's not called "dollars"), has been a community organizer for the past 35 years. He has degrees in marketing and city mangagement and lived in Los Angeles for many years where he wrote a History of the Future about ecological urban development in Los Angeles. He agrees that the future will look very different than the past due to less availability of oil among other things, and continues to contribute greatly to how that future can be more in the hands of local grassroots, community folks who know best their own needs and preferences. Glover has been in the small college town (15,000 residents, 13,000 students, 51,000 in metropolitan area) of Ithaca, New York since the early 1990's. There he has organized the successful Ithaca Hours local currency which has been the means of exchange for several millions of dollars in transactions. He goes into detail about how he and others organized this currency so that listeners can learn from the Ithaca experience and create more local currencies, thus keeping our wealth in our communities benefiting the well-being of our communities and their members since who makes the decisions on how the money gets spent remains local. Glover emphasizes keeping the overhead low and says that the Ithaca Hours were centered in his house for many years. Now the center is above a store where the owner is very supportive of the local currency. Ithaca Hours give interest free loans, it is used by 500 businesses of all kinds- to pay rent to landlords, garage sales, hardware stores, etc.. The currency is designed with pictures of waterfalls and children playing-- a change from pictures of financially powerful white men. Since the private sector is taking less and less care of people, a health cooperative has recently been organized as well. It costs $100 per year for an adult and $50 per child. The care is done by licensed medical people who are paid by the coop.
79 - Clayton Thomas-Müller
Clayton Thomas-Müller of the Mathais Colomb Cree Nation in Northern Manitoba, Canada, is the indigenous oil campaign organizer for the Indigenous Environmental Network. He works across Alaska, Canada and the lower 48 States of the US with grassroots indigenous communities to defend their human and environmental rights against transnational oil corporations. Clayton has been recognized by Utne magazine as one of the top 30 under 30 young visionary activists in the U.S.. Sue Supriano interviewed him at Bioneers where he was a presenter. Thomas-Muller says that 35% of all fossil fuels found in North America are on or near indigenous lands so corporations and government organizations concentrate on exploiting them and socio-economic conditions are worsening for the people who live near the sites of these nonsustainable energy sources such as oil and gas. Like so many people, some of the leaders go for the money offered them by the corporations and government agencies and things get worse and worse in terms of the toxicity of the land, water, and air where the indigenous people live. He goes into some detail with the example of the proposed oil refinery in Fort Berthold, North Dakota which is already subjected to a huge amount of toxicity due to being close to coal fired power plants. The oil refinery would only worsen the situation. Parents are very concerned for the health of their children on the Reservation. He says that already the amount of oil spilled into the water and polluting it in one year is equivalent to 1,000 Exon Valdez oil spills. Then the oil would go from Fort Berthold to Chicago and would be driven by the oil extracted from tar sands in Native lands in Alberta, Canada. In fact those lands (a huge number of miles and acres) are being ruined by being drilled with water to get a bit of oil, and then the water is polluted to the point of being undrinkable with toxicity from the chemicals from the oil. So it's all connected and continues the long tradition of exploitation of Native peoples and their land. We also speak about climate change and the disprportionate hardship for people of color and poor people. The Houma indigenous group in Louisiana being a current case in point as they were severely affected by Hurricane Katrina and got absolutely no government help whatsoever. The Indigenous Environmental network, when invited by local people, comes in and educates and help grassroots groups to fight this exploitation of the people and their environment and, in the example of the Houma, to help them with basic needs.
80 - Tom Kelly and Jane Kelly
Tom Kelly and his wife, Jane Kelly, started the organization, Kyoto USA at the end of 2004. They understand that serious climate change is becoming ever intense and dangerous for all of us on the planet-- e.g. glaciers are melting even faster than anyone expected, species are going extinct at a rate never before experienced in millions and millions of years, islands are going under and becoming uninhabitable as the salt water rises, methane--which speeds up global warming even more-- is being released as permafrost melts, and on and on. All of these changes affect those who are poor and of color the most so far. We know that although Clinton signed the Kyoto Protocol-- an international agreement which reduces greenhouse gases which, in turn, speed up global climate change -- he never presented it to the Senate and that Bush withdrew the signature of the United States Government to this agreement. The US and Australia, another country which didn't sign the Kyoto Protocol, are the 2 biggest contributors to greenhouse gases. It is the opinion of Tom and Jane Kelly that, given these political realities which can lead citizens to feel powerless, it is more fruitful to concentrate on the local level where it's possible to have more effect since we are more likely to know local officials and be able to influence and hold them accountable. It is also just as likely that many small efforts will help deal with what is happening and will very likely continue to worsen. We can do what we can to both lessen effects and prepare for them. Kelly tells the story of how climate change is evident in Washington State as it has been getting only 40-50% of the snow it used to get and this, in turn, affects its electricity generation which comes from water. Progress is being made in local organizing and mayors of 180 cities have signed onto the Kyoto Protocol. Thirty percent the of the total US population lives in these cities and the momentum, including from Universities, is growing. The generally agreed upon goal is to reduce greenhouse gasses by 70% and not to wait for the US Government to take a stand. In fact, it is on the local level where the most greenhouse gases get produced. So we are urged to get involved locally and can get more up-to-date information at their web site.
81 - Greg Watson
Greg Watson is Vice President for Sustainable Development and Renewable Energy at the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative. He works with the Renewable Energy Trust Fund and leads the Offshore Wind Initiative for them. Watson has been Executive Director of The New Alchemy Institute, The Dudley Street Neighborhood Initiative and the Nature Conservancy Eastern Regional Office. He was also Commissioner of the Massachusetts Department of Food and Agriculture. This show focuses on the issue of the rapidity and seriousness of effects of climate change and the urgency of getting renewable energy in place of fossil fuel use since fossil fuel use makes climate change speed up even more and oil is peaking (becoming much harder to access!!) as well. Though people tend to have their heads in the sand about this issue even the New York Times is writing about it as insurance companies are canceling people's insurance. The companies understand that the amount of damage which will occur from the computer predicted growing intensity of storms in the future is beyond their ability to cover. Places in the Arctic are now barren that have been under water and ice, methane is being released, things are moving faster and faster and are unpredictable. The pace of climate change is too fast for us to adapt to -- eg., agriculture is so centralized. Things are in a dire state and the Federal Government is fiddling while the changing environment and it's affects on people are burning. Watson talks a lot about the lack of government response to the disasters caused by Katrina and Rita hurricanes, how racism and lack of social justice result in blatent racist policies and how poor people suffer most in such emergencies. He says there is a growing lack of trust of the US Government. States are more likely to come up with solutions and try to wean us from fossil fuel use. Natural gas has also peaked, energy rates are going up and up and, again, who is most hurt are the poor who have no place to turn. People can't live in Massachusetts without heat. It is a dire situation and there is no energy plan. It is looking like Northern Europe might have an ice age as the warmer gulf waters go further and further north, thus speeding up the imbalance of the water temperature which can reach a "tipping point" and lead to an ice age. Watson says that even though there is no magic answer there are things that can be done to lessen the impact of these severe climate changes. His organization promotes using less, green buildings, solar, biomass, and most of all wind which is the fastest growing source of renewable energy in the world because it can compete with coal and natural gas in terms of cost. Wind is how we can build utility scale renewable energy on a big scale which is crucial! Unfortunately some agencies in Massachusetts are holding off on giving the final ok to build the offshore windmills in Massachusetts and, shockingly, it's in large part due to the windmills being in view of some rich people who don't seem to understand that climate change affects everyone. We are at the point now where we need to concentrate on minimizing it's affects for everyone. Greg Watson can be reached at watson@masstech.org.
82 - Jeremy Narby
Jeremy Narby is a Swiss-based PhD anthropologist and indigenous land rights activist who grew up in Canada and Switzerland, studied history at the University of Canterbury and received his doctorate in anthropology from Stanford University. He is the author of The Cosmic Serpent: DNA and the Origins of Knowledge and most recently, Intelligence in Nature: An Inquiry Into Knowledge. Narby has worked for two decades with indigenous Amazonian people in efforts to guarantee their territories and cultures. In this interview, conducted at the Bioneers Conference in San Rafael, Ca., Narby describes how he went to the Amazon as a Marxist activist graduate student working with with issues of land rights for indigenous people of that region and how his eyes were opened by the shamans who used the very strong ayuasca and tobacco plants of that area as they have been doing since anyone can remember. He discovered that they knew about DNA and many many other things that modern western science is only recently coming to understand. His latest book expands on the fact that western science and shamanic knowledge both say that everything -- even slime mold-- has intelligence. In his very entertaining and unique style Narby brings us information that is groundbreaking and crucial for humans to understand!!
83 - Jeffrey M. Smith
Jeffrey M. Smith exposes the risks of genetically modified food in his book, Seeds of Deception: Exposing Industry and Government Lies about the Safety of Genetically Engineered Foods You're Eating. He has been a guest on Steppin' Out of Babylon in the past. In this show he focuses especially on his recent experience in Southern Africa from where he returned only hours before the interview. Smith holds up the people of Zambia as heroes in that they refused the genetically engineered corn offered them by the US even though such a large number of Zambians are infected with AIDS and their immune systems are weak due to a variety of reasons, including hunger. Eventually they accepted asking that they not receive the seeds, but milled corn, so their corn would not be polluted by the GM seeds. The US refused and a US official is quoted as saying they want to pollute the Zambian seed supply to make the farmers dependent on buying Monsato genetically engineered seeds. Fortunately South Africa milled the seeds first so Zambia is not getting raw seeds but it is clear that Monsanto intends to control all the seeds in the world. It is corn and soy that are almost all genetically engineered right now. Smith gives one example after another of the corruption and manipulation of science and scientists in order to get the okay to continue with their genetically engineering of seeds-- whistleblowers are threatened, studies are distorted and full of lies, etc.. Given these facts he also talks a lot about the importance of diet (so many chronic and acute diseases are based on diet!!) and avoiding GM foods. Eating organic is best, not only because it avoids genetic engineering, but also because it is MUCH more nutritious than non-organic food. Even food that is labeled non-GMO is better than GMO food however. He's also produced a video/DVD, Hidden Dangers in Kid's Meals -- which can be downloaded for free and distributed to educate and protect our children and their parents. Soon he'll be working on two new books.
84 - Malik Rahim
Malik Rahim lives in Algiers-- a section of New Orleans that was not hit by Katrina, the huge hurricane that destroyed so much of New Orleans although it did flood somewhat because some levees broke. Rahim talks about his experience of the scandalous lack of response to help people who were suffering from the effects of the hurricane and floods-- especially poor Black people. In fact, due to these racist policies many people died needlessly. We may never know how many. He tells the story of a dead body lying rotting for days in front of the health clinic and how the army even put a tent over it, but didn't remove it for a week or so. Horrendous stories! Rahim stepped forward as an organizer since there was no person, people, or organizations doing the job. He was a Black Panther in the past and knew the importance of organizing. One of the first things that he, along with others, did was to set up a health clinic out of his mosque. Of course the needs of evacuees who were coming to Algiers was very great and no help was forthcoming for a week. During that time hunger, thirst (no fresh water or ice available) grew and violence and despair ensued. When aid did come from FEMA and the Red Cross, it was mostly on the outskirts of the urban area. He describes having to scrounge gas for a vehicle with no gas stations open, in order to get to where the "ready to eat" meals were distributed. Some people walked miles and miles for their food and water. He talks about folks coming from the Astrodome in New Orleans with the same clothes on for a week and those clothes being soaked with the toxic substances that were released. As usual, poor and Black people were the hardest hit by the disaster since they were less likely to have a car and gas or a way to get evacuate before the hurricane hit. Those who got out were the more affluent. There was no organized help for the poor at all! Rahim describes that when the US Military arrived he was pleased because it kept order which was important, but he also acknowleges that at the time of this interview it is a police state with a curfew. His absolutely main point is that we cannot depend on any level of government to help us and urges us to take it into our own hands and prepare our communities for catastrophies that could well come at any time. They've always been happening, and especially in these times of climate change and other potential catastrophies they are almost certain to occur in many places so organize and prepare locally!! He also invites people to come and help rebuild New Orleans and get to know the people there. Learn more and to send donations: www.rebuildgreen.org.
85 - Michael Ruppert
Mike Ruppert, Editor and Publisher of www.fromthewilderness.com and author of Crossing the Rubicon: The Decline of the American Empire at the End of the Age of Oil spoke at SolFest at the Solar Living Institute in Hopland, California in August 2005 where this interview occurred. Ruppert, a former Los Angeles narcotics police officer, has been a teller of truth as he sees it for many many years. He was shot at, his life was threatened and when he reported it to LAPD Chief Darly Gates, Gates responded (through an aide) that he was too busy to see Ruppert, and that he'd see him in a week to 10 days if he (Ruppert) was still alive. At that Ruppert resigned from the LAPD. He has retained, and possibly strengthened his committment to telling the truth. He was one of the first independent investigators to look into what really caused the tragic events of 9/11/2001 and has continued to be a leader in the movement to uncover the 9/11 cover-up. From the beginning of this investigation and discussion he has claimed that the peaking of oil and natural gas and diminishing natural resources were central in why some people in high places in the US plan and carry out such terrorizing actions in order to convince people that the US needs to attack, for instance, Afghanistan and Iraq, in order to control what oil there remains. This is not the only reason, but one of the main ones. In this recent interview he shares that, in his opinion, the issues of peak oil (the end of cheap oil and therefore the end of the industrial world as we know it) and gas and climate change now overshadow any other issues facing us because the survival of humans and other life on earth are at stake. Our very survival is the issue due to the natural and political threats facing us. He explains what he sees happening geopolitically in the world in terms of China, Venezuela, Iran, etc.. It is Ruppert's opinion that the US economy will collapse by December 2005 (and this was before the hurricane tragedy that just happened in Louisiana and Mississippi). As usual, Mike Ruppert, has much of interest and importance to say.
86 - Gary Braasch
Gary Braasch spoke at the Green Cities Conference in Oakland, Ca. in May 2005 where this interview took place after seeing his presentation which included his incredible photos. Braasch is a photo journalist who has been photographing and documenting ecosystems of the earth in all their beauty and complexity for many years. Since he visited many of the same places from the Arctic to Antarctica, from the glaciers to the oceans, across all climate zones year after year he noticed the extreme changes in temperature and its effects on the landscape. There is no doubt that rapid and extreme climate change is real, is accelerating across the globe and will affect more people than does war. Some of the animals and plants with whom we share the planet are adapting and some are going extinct. We humans are animals as well and our fate is in question as the climate and ocean temperatures warm. It is believed that the recent enormous destruction of the hurricane that hit Louisiana and Mississippi is a result of global warming as are the droughts and other climate changes resulting in a much harder life on earth. Braash's direct experience and witnessing of these changes has led to his commitment to inform people about the urgency of taking action to slow down global warming which is threatening life on earth including our own. Check out his website about global warming at www.worldviewofglobalwarming.org and his photography website at www.braaschphotography.com.
87 - Omar Freilla
Omar Freilla is the Founder/Director of Greenworker Cooperatives in the South Bronx, New York. He was in San Francisco speaking as part of the Social Equity track arranged by the Ella Baker Center in Oakland, Ca. during United Nations Environmental Day/Week in San Francisco in June 2005. Freilla speaks about the particular issues of "environmental justice" in the South Bronx-- how those things we take for granted and are "out of sight, out of mind" such as sewage from flush toilets and garbage and toxic dumping negatively effect the community of the South Bronx. He mentions the waste water company Synagrow in the S. Bronx which takes sewage sludge, heats it, puts it in pellets still loaded with heavy metals and sells it as fertilizer including for oranges for Florida Natural and Tropicana juice companies. This company has the nerve to be applying for organic certification. He also goes into how 50,000 tons of trash per day is produced in New York as well as 14,000 tons of construction and demolition debris. Much of this ends of in the South Bronx. The good news is that much of this can be recycled in a better way thus creating "green jobs" and a new economy for the S. Bronx community based on creating sustainability. The first Greenworker Cooperative which recyles perfectly good construction material has been formed in the South Bronx and there are plans for many more worker cooperatives. There is much to recycle-- for example, glass into glass tiles, rubber into many things that are now plastic, plastic itself and on and on. These cooperatives are worker-owned and managed and the workers share the profits. Very inspiring and hopeful!
88 - Dominie Cappadonna, Ph.D.
Dominie Cappadonna, Ph.D. describes herself as a lifelong explorer of many dimensions of our human and nature experience. She has been teaching for the past 27 years in the fields of Transpersonal Psychology, Ecopsychology and Education. Currently she teaches at the Naropa Institute in Boulder Colorado, as well as the California Institute for Human Science and other places. She has published many articles and is currently working on her first book, True Nature: Essence Teachings in Nature. She is committed to engaged spirituality in all its forms and humanitarian projects (eg., in Cambodia and Brazil) with people exploring life transitions and rites of passage. She works as a psychotherapist as well as teaching. She says about the new field of Ecopsychology that it recognizes that human health, identity and sanity are integrally linked to the health of the earth and must included sustainable and mutually enhancing relationships between humans and the more than human world. Cappadonna has done an amazing amount of things which integrate into her mind set and work. She leads hikes into the wilderness, sailboat journey's for spiritual and psychological transformation, workshops and Sue Supriano met her at a Lifeboat gathering discussing the issues of peak oil, climate change, etc. and how we can and must live at this time.
89 - Kevin Pina
Kevin Pina is an independent journalist and filmmaker who is from California and has been living in Port of Prince, Haiti for last 5 years. He has formed the Haiti Information Project and has trained local Haitian reporters as well. They are all very brave as they film on the ground and report what's going on with the poor and disenfranchised people in this Caribbean island country, especially since their duly elected President, Jean Bertrand Aristide, was removed from his office and the country, to be replaced by a government that seems to be making life much more difficult for Haiti's people, the majority of whom are poor and suffering. In this show Pina gives history, analysis and up-to-date information about what is going on in July 2005 in Haiti. It seems the United Nations "peacekeeping" force is breaking into people's shacks in the poorest areas of Port of Prince, and sometimes even killing people, including young children, with shots to the head. Pina has very graphic, sad, shocking and awful film of these horrible killings. As this is being written, Fr Jean Juste, an incredible priest who works to feed as many people as possible, mostly children, is being imprisoned for speaking out against the present regime.
90 - Dave Room
Dave Room is the Director of North American Operations, Post Carbon Institute. He is a social entrepreneur and post carbon activist with a strong interests and experience in environmental affairs and the use of technology for communications and collaboration. He manages Post Carbon Institute's US operation, organizes events, write policy, conducts local outreach and speaks at numerous events. He is also editor and interviewer for Global Public Media, the umbrella foundation for Post Carbon Institute. He is co-authoring a new book (with Julian Darley and Celine Rich of Post Carbon Institute)-- Relocalize Now! Getting Ready for Climate Change and the End of Cheap Oil. He has a Masters Degree in Engineering Economic Systems from Stanford University. This show is a speech Room made at the Lifeboat Conference put on by the Titanic Lifeboat Academy in Astoria Oregon lifeboat.postcarbon.org. He defines the issue of societal changes coming up and some inspiring and creative ideas for how we can make the most of these changes by starting to think and plan about work, businesses, etc. which will be satisfying and make sense to fill our needs in those/these times. July 200529'15"
91 - Thais Mazur
Thais Mazur is the author of the recent book, Warrior Mothers: Stories to Awaken the Flames of the Heart. Mazur herself is a warrior mother. She's a dancer, martial arts teacher, investigative journalist, radio producer, activist and the mother of a young child. She has been granted awards for her work as a choreographer and is the artistic director of the acclaimed Women in Black dance project. In this show she talks about her book, Warrior Mothers, and goes into the stories of several of the 25 women in her book. They represent a range of age, ethnicities, backgrounds and issues. The stories are very very moving and inspiring and most definitely "awaken the flames of the heart". The serious issues facing us today concerning climate change and peak oil, loss of democracy, etc. are discussed. Mazur describes the good work being done in the community of Mendocino County in Northern California where she lives. An institute of sustainability is being developed and more and more people are working together to live more sustainability as community.
92 - Matt Savinar
Matt Savinar, has spent his life in California where he is a licensed attorney. He has recently focused his time and energy letting people know about how life as we know it is about to soon change due to the coming end (it might be here already, in fact) of cheap and easily available oil on which our industrial society is built. His website is www.lifeaftertheoilcrash.net and there you can find most of the information, facts and figures about the end of oil and how we can prepare for our new lives. His website has been the #1 "Peak Oil" site on Boogle since January 2004 and has been instrumental in rasising the awareness of "peak oil". He is also the author of The OIl Age is Over: What to Expect as the World Runs Out of Cheap Oil, 2005-2050 In May of 2005 when US Representative Roscoe Barlett presented a report on Peak Oil, stressing the gravity and urgency of the coming crisis, he quoted extensively from Savinar's book. This show is the speech Savinar gave at the Lifeboat Conference in Astoria, Oregon this June 2005. The Conference was put on by the Titanic Lifeboat Academy: lifeboat.postcarbon.org.
93 - James Howard Kunstler
James Howard Kunstler is the author of The Long Emergency: Surviving the Converging Catastrophes of the Twenty-First Century. He is also the author of three other nonfiction books, The Geography of Nowhere, Home from Nowhere, and The City in Mind: Notes on the Urban Condition, as well as nine novels. He has been an editor with Rolling Stone and his articles have appeared in the New York Times Magazine and the Atlantic Monthly. In this interview he addresses the issues of the decline of the cheap energy from fossil fuels on which the industrialized world is built. He predicts epochal changes to our social relations, economy , and political system that are today are unimaginable for us to grasp, though it would be to our benefit to do so in order to develop a smoother transition to the post industrial age. Climate change is also part of the emerging catastrophes leading to this emergency which will change everything. Life will become more local, globalism and the consumer economy will wither, we will struggle to feed ourselves and the United States may not hold together as a nation. Epidemic disease and faltering agriculture will synergize with energy scarcities to send nations reeling and all that could mean to our national and international relations. There is no "Techno-fix" that will permit us to run things the way we are and to which we are accustomed. Suburbia will really have to be farm land. As he says "We are entering uncharted territory of history" and we will have to downscale every activity of everyday life, from farming, to schooling, to retail trade. We will be staying where we already are. In Kunstler's opinion, based on the true story of where we are won the downward slope of "peak oil", this process has already begun. It is incumbent on us to voluntarily start to scaledown, cooperate, and live sustainably because soon enough it will not be a choice. Let's get started!!
94 - Evon Peter
Evon Peter is the Chief of the Neetsaii Gwich'in people in Alaska. He is an amazing young man who, though he grew up carrying water to his one room house which was remote and without energy from gas or oil (no electricity, etc), now travels the world speaking about his people and all indigenous people and the welfare of all living things. He especially makes a plea for us in the United States to stop the US and the oil companies from drilling in the Arctic Wildlife Region. This bill is in the US Congress as we write right now. Evon Peter from his website www.nativemovement.org: "The relationship between the Indigenous Peoples of Alaska and the United Stated needs to be addressed. This relationship is out of balance. Indigenous Peoples are struggling for basic human rights, quality education, and jobs. Yet, the colonial governments and European-based corporations are making billions of dollars in profit from Indigenous land and resources in Alaska every year. Our place as human beings in the world is out of balance. Through greed, fear, and over-consumption, we have hurt many relationships between one another and our relationship with the earth. Our path as humankind needs to be altered to incorporate values of respect, unity, and balance." The things we discussed in this interview are those in the above two paragraphs-- the need for getting off our addiction to oil, the extraction of which is damaging to the environment and its inhabitants whether it be in Ecuador or Alaska. It makes people sick, hungry, destroys societies, the land itself and the animals and plants that live on it. We agreed that oil has peaked and will cheap oil will become unavailable very soon, but even sooner we can begin making those necessary transitions to sustainability in energy, our lives and our societies. He invites anyone who shares the values and sentiments expressed in the native movement website to join in creating a harmonious and sustainable world.
95 - US Congressman Roscoe Bartlett
US Congressman Roscoe Bartlett (Rep, Maryland), was interviewed by Dave Room of the Postcarbon Institute. Bartlett, a former teacher among other things, is the only person in Congress who speaks on peak oil and says that he's willing to repeat and repeat until Congress understands, which at the time of this interview almost no one did. He mentions that his assistant, Dr. John Darnell, is also a scientist and very well informed about peak oil. He suggests to call your Congressman and ask about "peak oil" so they will know of our concern. Bartlett's impetus to speak has been his long concern for the prediction of MK Hubbard that the US would peak in oil in 1976, and Hubbard was correct. He predicted that world oil would peak in 2000 and the fact is that oil is probably peaking right now. It is obviously a limited resource and is diminishing. It's made even worse because the demand for oil is growing along with the diminishing supply. When that larger need (China is biggest demand), along with less oil availability coincide (and it's beginning) it can lead to major issues of war and economic breakdown. Natural gas will be exhausted at about the same time as oil. Since our whole food system-- growing and delivery (average food on our plates travels 1500 miles)-- and society rest on the use of these fossil fuels, it's in the interest of the United States to take these realities into consideration in planning to lessen the pain and suffering the reality of declining oil will bring. Bartlett says that we should have started 25 years ago to develop other methods of creating energy and already, with less time, it's getting more challenging to develop alternative energy at a fast enough rate. to make the difference we need. The US uses 25% of all the world's oil-- even more reason to be a leader in cutting back our use and changing the deeply engrained oil dependence of our society. Europe uses half as much energy as the US. He suggests that we should grow our own food locally. Also, just the change of having two people in a car rather than one would make a huge difference in oil use. Coal is not an answer since it is also limited. We need a new yardstick by which to judge success other than how much energy we use. We need to change the US culture-- get off the grid, out of debt, and into alternative energy and focus on conservation and efficiency NOW. www.postcarbon.org
96 - John DeGraaf
John DeGraaf is known for being the author of Affluenza- The All Consuming Epidemic which is both a book and a film. DeGraaf is presently working on TV films on hunger, Fair Trade, and he also works with the Take Back Your Time Campaign which is the first national initiative of the Simplicity Forum, and an unofficial think tank for the Simplicity Movement. This interview took place at a Simplicity Conference in Oakland, California. DeGraaf talks about how we Americans are overworked as a society due to obsession with consuming. We tend to be stressed, our health is affected, as is our family life. And the sad thing is that our workaholism and consumerism does not lead to happiness. In fact, studies show that we're at the bottom of the list of quality of life indexes for industrialized nations. Since 1980 our health and happiness indexes have been falling until we are tied at 27th with non-industrialized countries such as Cuba, while the US is even below Costa Rica, also a "poorer" country monetarily. It is clear that having more "stuff" is less likely to make us happy than having good friendships. DeGraaf also mentions how every day five times as many children die of hunger as were killed in the World Trade Centers in NY in 2001 and that we would be a much happier and more secure country if we spent money on alleviating hunger and poverty rather than the military on which more than 50% of the US budget (our tax money) is spent. The importance and benefits of Fair Trade and sustainablity are discussed, especially in relation to coffee and chocolate.
97 - Myrna Bullock
Myrna Bullock is a noted artist, teacher and spiritual activist with decades of experience in dance from around the world. In 1998 she and her husband, Tim Bullock, walked the year-long Interfaith Pilgrimage of the Middle Passage: Retracing the Journey of Slavery. Based in part, on this life altering journey, Myrna and Tim developed the long-term project, AIDS Pilgrimage Africa: A Walk for Global Healing, as a spiritual and physical response to the ever-growing pandemic of AIDS on the African continent. The mission of this project is to create a community of healing energy to share with the people of sub-Saharan African as they (and whoever joins them) walk in prayer and meditation, as well as transforming the people who walk and work with them through self-discovery by facing their personal issues and beliefs. They have been stopping to work in communities and do concrete projects of education and healing. Myrna Bullock speaks about their experience in Africa, and what it's like to live with almost no water, food, electricity as do the people in the villages they stay in as well as the joy of seeing the smiles on faces of sick people who have a chance to do art, dance, share information and be together in healing ways.
98 - Richard Register
Richard Register is the founder of Ecocity Builders, a nonprofit organization based in Berkeley and Oakland, California. Register has been working with this organization and these issues for many many years. He is also the founder of the organization, Urban Ecology, based in Berkeley, and is the author of many books including Ecocities: Building Cities in Balance with Nature, Ecocity Berkeley, and chief editor of Village Wisdom, Future Cities, and many articles. He is the founder of the International Ecocity and Ecovillage Conference Series as well. Conferences have been held in North America, South America, Australia, Africa and China. It is evident that Register is very focused on the incredibly important issue of sustainable development solutions. Since most of the population of the world lives in cities, how we can live in cities in balance with nature is a crucial issue of survival at this time with declining oil, climate change, species extinction and the other challenges we humans and other living things are facing. He links these problems to to our auto-dependent sprawling cities and towns and focuses primarily on what can be done and what is being done to craft creative, inspiring and community oriented solutions.
99 - Pepperspray Case Interviews
Jan Lundberg interviews (1) Jennifer Banka Schneider and (2) Kerry Liz McKee, peppersprayed as passive resisters in sit-ins to protect ancient redwoods, and (3) Bill Simpich who is a lawyer for the plaintiffs in the civil rights lawsuit against law enforcement agencies and the County of Humboldt, California. The police swabbed pepperspray in the eyes of nonviolent forest defenders who were locked together with heavy steel sleeves that immobilized the protesters. Despite this summary punishment that the ACLU has called "tantamount to torture," the protesters did not back down and are having their third trial in federal court in San Francisco which began April 12, 2005. Jan Lundberg's daughter Spring is one of the plaintiffs in this case, and his band The Depavers (www.culturechange.org/depavers.html) provides a short song, Mother Earth First, at the end of the half-hour program.
100 - David Seaborg
David Seaborg, evolutionary biologist, speaks with Jan Lundberg for Steppin' Out of Babylon. David Seaborg is founder and president of the World Rainforest Fund based in Walnut Creek, California. As global warming and climate change dry out the rainforest and cause unprecedented fires, and development such as timber and oil extraction ravage the rainforest and the indigenous cultures, the need escalates dramatically to save species, the climate and the local tribes. David Seaborg links the plight of the rainforests to the consumption habits of U.S. consumers and whether nature preserves can rescue critical habitat. Links: www.worldrainforest.org and Jan Lundberg's website www.culturechange.org.
101 - Jan Lundberg
Jan Lundberg is an environmental activist of many years. His former firm was well known for publishing the "bible of the oil industry." There he noticed the unsustainable consumption of highly polluting "unending" oil extraction, and eventually left the family business he was running. He later founded the Alliance for a Paving Moratorium and the Auto-Free Times magazine. Jan now publishes and lives in the San Francisco Bay area. As the only oil industry analyst who came to fight oil expansion, he speaks in this interview about the impending energy crisis due to the imminent "peak" in global oil supply. Rather than the technofix, which his research found is really not possible, he advocates social and cultural change towards community and sustainability.
102 - Jennifer Washburn
Jennifer Washburn is a freelance journalist and a fellow at the New America Foundation. She writes for Atlantic Monthly, Washington Post, The Nation and other national magazines. She speaks of how commercial forces have quietly transformed virtually every aspect of academic life during the past two decades and how universities are now acting more like for-profit patent factories while professors are behaving more like businessmen. Universities now often hold financial interest in the same companies that stand to profit from their professors' research. Washburn exposes how financial conflicts of interest in the academy can even endanger public health. One example she gives is that of academic professors who buried negative trial data and/or downplayed negative results of their research on the effects of Paxil and Zoloft on the behavior of children and teens. Washburn paints an alarming picture of how the academy-- the nation's last refuge for independent thought-- is being colonized by a market ideology that is fundamentally at odds with what have been thought to be the core values of the university.
103 - Starhawk
Starhawk is an author, speaker, and leader in paganism, nature based spirituality, and a highly respected activist and leader in the anti-coporate-globalization movement. She also is a permaculture gardener and teacher and a founding member of the Reclaiming tradition of witchcraft, a highly influential branch of modern Pagan religion with which she is very active bringing techniques and creative power of spirituality to political activism. She leads seminars in both permaculture and Earth Activist Training in both Europe and the United States. In other words, she is a strong and sensitive, well-rounded, talented and committed feminist woman. Some of her books are The Spiral Dance, The Fifth Sacred Thing, Webs of Power-Notes from the Global Uprising and the latest is The Earth Path- Grounding Your Spirit in the Rhythms of Nature. In this radio interview Starhawk speaks about her direct experience in the West Bank/ Occupied Territories/ Palestine where Palestinian refugees live and have been living for years as they have been pushed out of Israel. This interview took place in Berkeley, Ca. when Starhawk was on her way to speak at a memorial for Rachel Corrie, a young American woman activist who was in Palestine in support of the rights of the Palestinian people 2 years ago. Rachel Corrie was run over and killed, it seems very knowingly, by the driver of a US made Caterpillar special bulldozer, used over and over again to plow down houses of Palestinian people. Starhawk arrived for one of her visits a day or two after this murder occurred and speaks about the killing and the conditions in Palestine where she has been several times and plans to return again soon. She describes the continuing worsening hardships of the Palestinian people who are separated from their fields, food, livlihood, education, etc. by check points and a huge new wall. They are subjected to curfews and incredible hardships by the Israeli Military.
104 - Starhawk
Starhawk is an author, speaker, and leader in paganism, nature-based spirituality, and a highly respected activist and leader in the anti-corporate-globalization movement. She also is a permaculture gardener and teacher and a founding member of the Reclaiming tradition of witchcraft, a highly influential branch of modern Pagan religion with which she is very active bringing techniques and creative power of spirituality to political activism. She leads seminars in both permaculture and Earth Activist Training in both Europe and the United States. In other words, she is a strong and sensitive, well-rounded, talented and committed feminist woman. Some of her books are The Spiral Dance, The Fifth Sacred Thing, Webs of Power-Notes from the Global Uprising and the latest is The Earth Path- Grounding Your Spirit in the Rhythms of Nature. This interview focuses on "The Earth Path", a primer on how to view the natural world and draw upon its tremendous powers. Starhawk talks with Sue Supriano about her personal stories and the tools of observation, awareness and magic to deepen connections with the natural world. They discuss the importance and usefulness of the many simple exercises described in the book to stay centered and in touch with the magic, harmony and guidance of the natural world and our own spirit. These teachings are incredibly important in these times of planetary disaster! It's so important for all of us to get in touch with our home, the earth.
105 - Barrie Zwicker
Barrie Zwicker, maker of The Great Conspiracy- The 9/11 News Special You Never Saw, is from Toronto, Canada where he was, for many years, the host of a national TV show and a media critic. He is also a long-distance runner and writer. The film addresses what Zwicker calls the "9/11" cover-up which he says became obvious to him when he saw that no planes intervened in the 2 hours they had to stop the planes from going into the Twin Towers in New York, he saw how the Bush Administration didn't do much of anything (Bush continued to read to children in school in Florida), and how there was no investigation into the crime until over 400 days later when Kissinger, the master of many cover-ups, was put in charge. The 9/11 Commission Report didn't even address the most important issues of the crime. Zwicker says he has decided to devote the rest of his life to uncovering what happened on 9/11/01 He goes on to talk about a book he's writing now about 9/11 with some emphasis on exploring the issue of why people don't question that the US military didn't intervene in this attack, that the US Government had the names of the alleged perpetrators minutes after the attack, but didn't stop them before, etc.--many pieces of information that should cause people to question the official story. Zwicker divides people generally into 3 groups-- 1) those that "got" that it was a cover up intuitively fairly soon after the tragic event, 2) those that have been convinced to question it over time and after seeing evidence to the contrary of the official story and 3) those that can't bear to even consider that the official story is not true. This third category is especially perplexing considering how long governments have been doing brutal and secretive things such as testing nuclear weapons in the US and letting huge numbers of Americans, even whole cities, be exposed to radiation while the government kept secret track of how the health of these people was affected by the radiation. He explains that people often act against their own interests and gives the broad support for Hitler as an example saying that the only folks who stood against Hitler in Germany were the Socialists and the Communists. It is the "conscious left" and we must stand up and speak out. He speaks highly of Malcolm Gladwell's books Blink and The Tipping Point which explain how very quickly the right brain can kick in and people can "get" the truth about something. When enough people do "get it" the "tipping point" is reached and change happens.
106 - Webster Tarpley
Webster Tarpley is the author of the new book, 9/11-Synthetic Terror- Made in USA and George Bush: The Unauthorized Biography which he wrote in 1992 with Anton Chaikin, connecting Prescott Bush, the grandfather of George W. Bush with Hitler and the Nazi Party. The book came out in 1992, has been on internet since 1996 and can be downloaded for free which it has been by literally millions of people. It's been referred to as an internet legend. Both are available in book form from www.progressivepress.com. In this interview Tarpley focuses on the events of 9/11/01 having been carried out by members of the "secret government" -- powerful people in the US government and corporations who are responsible to powerful financial institutions. They have been operating since Bush I. He explains the roles of the "patsies" (Mohammed Ata, Osama Bin Ladin), moles (powerful people in the government) and "professionals" in this major crime and maintains that this way of operating has been standard in the US for many years. He believes that the reason for the crime and tragedy of 9/11 is to save the US-British Empire from falling by providing an excuse to destroy countries that have planned to change the currency in which they trade from US Dollars which support the Empire to Euros thus leading to the fall of the US/British dollar Empire of the world. The fall of the US Dollar would bring down the US world domination he says. The so-called "War on Terror" is really a war on the countries that threaten to bring down the US Empire. Tarpley also believes that the elections of 2004 are a coup d'etat which was engineered by elections where the results were fabricated and fruadulent. He says we are now part of the breakdown of the US Dollar crisis which is the collapse of the US Empire and we must organize and fight back against the neo-con madmen and secret government.
107 - Sue Supriano
Sue Supriano, Host/Producer of Steppin' Out of Babylon, interviewed by Jan Lundberg of Culture Change (www.culturechange.org). The story is that when Sue Supriano was about to interview Jan Lundberg about their common concern of "peak oil" and positive responses to it, Supriano was too tired so Jan Lundberg turned the microphone and interviewed her. You can learn a bit about her and her activist background, how the name Steppin' Out of Babylon came about and what it means. Supriano also responds to Lundberg's questions about her impressions of activism then and now. This could be the beginning of a new working relationship for Steppin' Out of Babylon.
108 - Dahr Jamail
Dahr Jamail is one of the few "unembedded", truly independent journalists on the ground in Iraq. He has spent 8 of the past 14 months in Iraq, interviewing Iraqi people, taking and collecting photos of others and seeing for himself the devastation of the people of Iraq. He cites that over 100,000 Iraqis have been killed. He especially talks about the horrors and massacre of Fallujah which he refers to as similar to Dresden, Germany or the Mai Lai massacre in Vietnam. He also describes the illegal weapons used and the DU ("depleted uranium) which really means radiation exposure from which there are already 125,000 Gulf War I veterans on disability not to mention the horrible effects on the people of Iraq. Now the US is actually using twice as much DU as it did in Gulf War I. Jamail also talks about the evidence for the elections in Iraq having been manipulated by the US and, even though the Iraqi people who voted (and whole cities did not) voted for, as Jamail says, "electricy, jobs, water"-- ie, against the continuance of the US Occupation-- it probably won't matter since the Iraqi Governing Council won't be able to do anything without the ok of the US. The Iraqi resistance is growing exponentially while the US already has 4 military bases in Iraq with 10 more in the process of being built. All this is paid for the tax money of the US population. Right now the future doesn't look bright though Dahr Jamail will probably return to Iraq in May. Check out his blog/website to keep up on what's happening in Iraq.
109 - Stephen Leiper
Stephen Leiper, an independent journalist/activist/researcher who has worked with the San Francisco Bay Guardian, The San Francisco Oracle, and has been Senior Editor of Propaganda Review, talks about aerosol trails in the sky sometimes referred to as "chem trails"-- those big, long white lines in the sky coming out of airplanes that one can see over much, although not all, of the earth. Seems they might be only over NATO countries. Leiper has been investigating this issue for several years since he saw planes putting these lines in the sky. Since no information is really available from agencies of the US government to whom inquiries have been addressed and there is evidence which can be seen with our own eyes that these trails in the sky do exist and are not just the natural pollution trails from airplanes one has to wonder what is going on. There is evidence that the US Government must be involved and that aluminum oxide and barium are being released at the very least. Some websites that Leiper recommends for further information and theories are www.weatherwars.info, www.this-must-stop.com, www.bariumblues.com.
110 - Reverend Eloise Oliver
Reverend Eloise Oliver, an African American elder who is Pastor of the East Bay Church of Religious Science speaks about her life, the Bible, our addictive society, and other things of spiritual and social import. The East Bay Church of Religious Science is a "new thought" church and the East Bay Church, based in Oakland, California is especially inclusive in terms ethnicity and religious traditions. The majority of the members are African American and all of the members of many ethnicities may come from a range of traditions of Islam, Buddhism, Judaism and Chrisianity. It has a very very positive approach and emphasizes the the empowerment of individuals as well as love. Rev. E, as she is called, is very inspiring and contributes much to the community.
111 - Jose Stevens: Program 1
Jose Stevens is a psychotherapist, shaman, author and international lecturer. He and his wife and colleague, Lena Stevens live in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Jose Stevens has taught at the Psychology Graduate School and the Dept. of Transpersonal Counseling at John F. Kennedy University in Orinda, Ca. Jose Stevens and Lena Stevens founded an organization based in Santa Fe-- Power Path Seminars (www.powerpathseminars.com) which does a variety of things including educational seminars and workshops on personal and spiritual matters including shamanism. They lecture and lead seminars nationally and internationally, tours to South American where the members learn from indigenous shamans and more. Some of Stevens' books are The Personality Puzzle- Solving the Mystery of Who You Are, Tao to Earth and Earth to Tao, Secrets of Shamanism- Tapping the Spirit Power Within You, co-authored with Lena Stevens, and Transforming your Dragons- How to Turn Fear Patterns into Personal Power. In Program 1 Stevens explains the system he uses for helping people understand themselves and others. It's a classification of people and their personalities, issues, challenges, strengths and weaknesses. He also focuses on the issue of fear and its importance on what is going on in the world and especially the US, how we are purposely made to feel afraid and manipulated by fear by the "powers that be". Therefore, it's especially important to get beyond our fear and thinking clearly and constructively.
112 - Miguel Pickard White and CIEPAC
Miguel Pickard White is an economist and one of the founders and collective members of CIEPAC which, in English is translated to mean The Center for the Economic and Political Investigation for Community Action. It is based in San Cristobal in the Mexican State of Chiapas. It is an activist research organization/think tank whose goal is to get their information and research that is not covered in the corporate media in Mexico out to people. In this interview White focuses on two issues especially-- 1) the Zapatista movement in Chiapas which has created an independent, democratic and egalitarian society with its own structure in certain areas that are populated especially by the indigenous people of Chiapas. Even though the military is present in many areas of Chiapas it has not stopped the Zapatistas from developing such things as food coops, their own justice and court system, etc.. The people themselves are involved at every level of decision making. Other areas of Mexico are duplicating the revolution and ideas of the Zapistas in Chiapas but having an even more difficult time as they don't have such high visibility in and support from the international community which has made a big difference for the Zapatistas. White also talks about 2) Plan Puebla Panama -- the plan to "develop" a long corridor from Puebla, Mexico to Panama for corporations with the funding of the World Bank and IMF. This "development" has dire consequences for the people and the environment and people are fighting it.
113 - Jose Stevens: Program 2
Jose Stevens is a psychotherapist, shaman, author and international lecturer. He and his wife and colleague, Lena Stevens live in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Jose Stevens has taught at the Psychology Graduate School and the Dept. of Transpersonal Counseling at John F. Kennedy University in Orinda, Ca. Jose Stevens and Lena Stevens founded an organization based in Santa Fe-- Power Path Seminars which does a variety of things including educational seminars and workshops on personal and spiritual matters including shamanism. They lecture and lead seminars nationally and internationally, tours to South American where the members learn from indigenous shamans and more. Some of Stevens' books are The Personality Puzzle- Solving the Mystery of Who You Are, Tao to Earth and Earth to Tao, Secrets of Shamanism- Tapping the Spirit Power Within You, co-authored with Lena Stevens, and Transforming your Dragons- How to Turn Fear Patterns into Personal Power. Program 2: Stevens focuses on the readings/predictions he and Lena Stevens have been doing yearly for approximately 10 years. The readings are based on the same system as the personality system mentioned earlier. Their predictions for this year of 2005 are that it will be somewhat quiet before the storm although they also say that generally things are going to get rockier and rockier on the planet. Stevens goes into some detail about the themes of this year being nurturance, spiritual growth, and taking care of business before things become almost certainly more chaotic and deteriorate for the next 7 years at least. He talks at some length about the changes in technology which may have very bad consequences for health, well being, freedom and privacy using the example of microchips on products to keep track of them (and maybe us). He agrees with the prophesies that speak of 2012 as a very monumental year for the planet and those of us who live on it. He says that by 2020 the world will be unrecognizable compared to what we are presently accustomed to. Exactly how it will look will depend on us and how we create it. He talks about trends both nationally and geopolitically, the need for much healing including especially the healing of military returning from war situations. Of course, climate change and peak oil are mentioned too. We are hearing from scientists as well about the seriousness of these changes.
114 - Don Paul and Jim Hoffman
Don Paul and Jim Hoffman , authors of an earlier book, Great Crimes, A Greater Coverup... talk about their new book on the crimes of 911. It's entitled Waking Up From Our Nightmare- The 9/11/01 Crimes In New York City. It's short (less than 100 pages), easy to read and full of photos and graphics. It covers a lot of ground with emphasis on the exploding of the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center and World Trade Center Building 7 which, though never even mentioned in the Official Government 911 Commission Report, fell in it's footprint, totally to the ground at the end of the afternoon of Sept. 11, 01. It was never hit be any plane or anything else that we know of. Paul and Hoffman go through much of the evidence for the tragic events of 911 being an "inside job". They discuss how the fear and of "terrorism" based on the lies about 911 have been used to justify the repression and war that has followed.They also talk in some depth about, what they refer to as "the financiers behind Sept. 11" and discuss some models we could be imitating to have a better, more healthy and caring world. www.wireonfire.com/donpaul
115 - Catherine Austin Fitts
Catherine Austin Fitts speech, Dec. 15, 2004 in San Rafael, California Simple and Complex: The Wealth Revolution: Solari Tools for Safety and Transformation Introductory speech with questions, which was followed the next day with a workshop Catherine Austin Fitts served as Managing Director and Member of the Board of Directors of the Wall Street Investment Bank of Dillon Reed and Co.. She was the Assistant Secretary of Housing and Federal Housing Commissioner at Housing and Urban Development during the first President Bush's Administration. After that she founded and directed the Hamilton Securities Group, Inc., a broker/dealer investment bank and software development company that successfully completer $12 billion in transactions and $500 billion of portfolio strategy prototyping of the Solari model. She currently serves on the Board of the Gold Anti-Trust Action Committee and also writes a column in "Scoop Media" on the internet, entitled Managing the Real Deal. To learn more about Solari go to www.solari.com. CD's of this talk are available through the Solari website.
116 - Dr. Mike Alcalay
Dr. Mike Alcalay is a physician living with AIDS. He is a medical marijuana patient and, in fact, the Medical Director of the Oakland Cannabis Buyer's Cooperative in Oakland, California. In this interview he speaks of working with Waiting to Inhale, a video documentary being produced by PBS. Through this involvement he has been able to interview almost all of the 300 scientist members (from 20 countries) of the International Cannabinoid Research Society. He has learned a lot from them about the science of cannabis-- how it works with the brain, it's lack of side effects, and its safety. It's impossible to overdose as opposed to other substances like heroin, alcohol and penicillin, for example. There are over 80 cannabinoids in the plant, around 8 have different actions that are very helpful with humans and more and more is being understood about the how they work. Alcalay runs a free medical marijuana clinic in Oakland under Proposition 215 which legalizes medical marijuana in California. He talks about the many things he's learned from his patients about marijuana, the different types of this plant, and the best ways to use it. He also talks a bit about the political situation in the country and repression. However, the interview ends on a note of great optimism since such a huge number of people have voted for medical marijuana use in the US.
117 - Danny Schecter
Danny Schecter, the News Dissector, is a writer, film-maker, TV producer (Rights & Wrongs was one of his TV shows), one of the founders of Globalvision, and media critic who lives and works in New York. As Schecter and other independent media makers have been pointing out, the corporate media has been influential in molding people's opinions about what is going on in the world more and more for the last 20 years, as it gets more and more concentrated in the hands of fewer and fewer media corporations which are also close to the US Government. Sue Supriano caught up with Danny Schecter to talk to him while he was in San Francisco for the opening of his new film. In this show Schecter concentrates on his just released film, WMD- Weapons of Mass Deception. The film is jam packed with stories and facts about how the corporate media influences public opinion with distortions, lies, and Hollywood film approaches as to what is going on in Iraq and with the American military. It explores and explains the role of the media in whipping up support for the war in Iraq and goes into details about how it specifically does that. For example, some "embedded journalists" are interviewed in the film and it becomes clear how "embedded journalists" adopt the interests and concerns of the military they get personally close while being "embedded". Another example of the many many details included in the film is how the details of how some of the pictures shown about the happiness of the Iraqi people to see the US military were totally staged. The film is very very informative, interesting and an important contribution to help American media consumers "wake up". http://www.newsdissector.org/weblog/, http://www.wmdthefilm.com/mambo/index.php, http://www.mediachannel.org
118 - Dave Adelson
Dave Adelson works as a research physiologist and also spends a lot of his time as a media activist. He has been working with Pacifica Radio for some time and is on the Pacifica National Board as well as the local KPFK Local Station Board in Los Angeles where he lives. He's very excited about the possibilities of radio producers being "hubs" rather than "gatekeepers", creating our own really democratic media and distributing it for little or nothing. He is one of the founders of the LA Sound Posse which is "copylefted" meaning their social justice audio material is not copy- righted and controled but, to the contrary, it is uncontroled and intended to be spread out used freely far and wide in an affordable and decentralized manner as possible. Those involved (and it's open to all) go to events to both record and distribute speeches by activists, writers, and independent media makers. They sell CD's for just enough to cover costs. The new technology of MP3 and the internet makes decentralized and affordable (free??!!) very easy already and Adelson predicts it will become more and more decentralized, accessible and easy to distribute as wireless networks spread. The next two years will see development of the MP3 players and it's up to us as the people's media producers to see that there is plenty of material for people to hear. www.lasoundposse.org, www.vnan.org, www.gnu.org, www.radio4all.net
119 - Wanjira Mathai
Wanjira Mathai is the international liason for the world-renowned Green Belt Movement of Kenya. This movement was founded by Wagari Maathai, Wanjira's lengendary mother who is an attorney and women's and eco and human rights leader, member of a new, democratically-elected government of Kenya, and recent winner of the highly acclaimed, Nobel Peace Prize. Wajira Mathai is part of a new generation of emerging young leaders and is a rising figure in Kenyan and international environmental, women's and social justice movements. In this interview she describes the history of the Green Belt Movement of Kenya and how it functions as a catalyst for grassroots organizing of sustaniable projects in more in more countries in Africa as well as Kenya. She also speaks a bit of the new democratic Kenyan government and touches on that universal issue of sexism which exists in Kenya like everywhere else.
120 - Ali Sharif
Ali Sharif is the Project Director of Permacultura Latina America. The organization is based in Santa Fe, New Mexico. The permaculture approach was designed by Australian Bill Mollison in the late '70's and its methodology has traveled the globe. It is based on the connections between the combined issues of food, clean water, renewable energy, biological sanitation and dignified shelter and how they coalesce into an integrated process. Ali Sharif was born in Iran, educated in Europe and has been working in Ecuador, Guatemala, Peru and Brazil since 1988 when Permacultura Latina America, under his direction, started to teach this integrated and sustainable approach in Latin America. Most of the time Sharif has lived in the Amazon working with indigenous groups. The main work is to train others in the permaculture approach of harmony and balance. To date they have trained many many thousands of people throughout Latin America with an emphasis on Brazil-- a huge and important country where the disparity in income is the largest in Latin America. The emphais is particularly on training youth with the idea that it is easier to teach young minds than have to "unlearn" old habits. These youth in turn pass on their skills. At the end, however, economics is still a crucial aspect of the success of these practices.
121 - Catherine Austin Fitts
Catherine Austin Fitts is an investment banker who was with The Hamilton Securities Group, Inc., Washington, DC, San Francisco, CA, and New York, NY She was President of this firm, responsible for founding and building this broker-dealer/investment bank with special emphasis on financial software technology and advanced decision science. She was also the was Assistant Secretary for Housing-Federal Housing (HUD) Commissioner in 1989-1990. While with HUD Fitts was responsible for the operations of the Federal Housing Administration and became a whistle blower going public with information about corruption in HUD and the misuse of these government funds meant for low cost housing. In this interview Fitts focuses on what's happening now with Section 8 housing while explaining what she discovered while working for HUD. She also speaks with great enthusiasm of Solari, Inc., of which she is the President and investment advisor. Solari is based in Hickory Valley, Tennessee where Fitts lives and is the very important project she founded. The purpose of Solari is to help us organize into our own local Solari projects and make decisions to use our money to create sustainable local economies in these times where there is so much corruption in our corporations/government in the US. She writes-- "I believe we can transform our economy and the our world. I believe we can start doing this wherever we live, beginning in our own towns, neighborhoods and villages. We can do this by voting with our time and our money in the marketplace as well as the voting booth, in a way that creates jobs and financial security in our communities, strengthens our small businesses and farms, and generates attractive investment returns for local and global investors." Fitts is clear that turning to the thoroughly corrupt government for help is a complete waste of time.
122 - Martha Dina Arguello
Martha Dina Arguello is an environmental health coordinator with Physicians for Social Responsibility in Los Angeles. She has greatly expanded PSR's environmental health programs and its involvement with the highly effective Health Care Without Harm Coalition. She serves on many boards, including the board of the Science and Environmental Health Network, the Steering Committee of Californians for Pesticide Reform and the Latino Issues Forum's Water and Energy Advisory group. She is very active at the grassroots level as well and has been a community activist since high school. In this interview she talks about many issues -- toxic food, water, children's health, the importance of local communities controling what happens at the local level, etc.. She particularly focuses on the use of the "Precautionary Principle" which involves not using a method or substance or approach until it is clear that it is not harmful-- putting the burden of proof on the developer of the approach or substance, rather than on the system or persons who have suffered. Arquello is an example of an incredibly energetic and committed activist who has been working at many levels of the health and justice movement since high school in Los Angeles.
123 - Jim Marrs
Jim Marrs is the author of Inside Job: Unmasking the 9/11 Conspiracies. Jim is a veteran investigative journalist and the New York Times bestselling author of Rule by Secrecy and Crossfire: The Plot that Killed Kennedy which has sold 1.5 million copies since 1990. Inside Job examines the evidence for the case that powerful US officials must have acted from the inside to, at the very least, allow the 9/11 attacks to occur, remove or cover up criminal evidence and hamper inquiries into what happened on September 11, 2001.
124 - Sustainable Solutions Caravan
The Sustainable Solutions Caravan, a biodiesel bus running on pure vegetable oil, is going from the Bay Area to Costa Rica for the second time. It's leaving early Dec. and Zack Zaidman, Abeja Hummel, Tom Shaver and Stephen Brooks will be on it. Sue Supriano talks to them in this interview. On their way down south they will be promoting and popularizing sustainability (lots of permaculture) throughout the countries where they travel, focusing on the use of renewable energies, organic farming and sustainable lifestyles. They will share seeds, information and technologies for sustainable living that are environmentally, economically and socially relevant to local communities. They will connect farmers with organic distributors-- thereby providing economic incentive and technical help for farmers to transition to organic and they will support the creation of a network of people, projects, and organizations involved in all aspects of sustainable living solutions throughout neo-tropical Central America. They will also create events for information exchange with already-existing grassroots efforts in communities where they go, hold press conferences and meet with the Ministries of Agriculture and other governmental agencies in each country to discuss ways to support and expand sustaniable, organic farming practices in their respective countries. They'll be in Mexico City on Dec. 16, 2004. To keep in touch, contribute and learn more, visit their website.
125 - Paul Stamets
Paul Stamets is President of Fungi Perfecti, a mail-order business supplying cultures, equipment and mycotechnologies to mushroom cultivators throughout the world. He has discovered four new species of mushrooms and pioneered countless techniques in the field of edible and medicinal mushroom cultivation and in "fungal bioremediation". He has authored five books including Growing Gourmet and Medicinal Mushrooms, The Mushroom Cultivator, Psilocybin Mushrooms of the World and many articles and scholarly papers. His passion is to preserve, protect and clone as many ancestral strains as possible from the old-growth forests of the Pacific Northwest where he lives. In 2003 Stamets received a patent on mycopesticides which have the potential to replace most pesticides without harming the environment. He spoke at the 2004 Bioneers in San Rafael, California where this interview was conducted. His 6th book is Mycelium Running. Stamets' work is incredibly important for our health and future!
126 - John Mohawk
John Mohawk, a Turtle Clan Senecca from the Cattaraugus Reservation (Iroquois), former editor of Akwesasne Notes, once the largest Indian publication in the US, is an assistant professor of American Studies at the State University of New York at Buffalo and associate professor and director Indigenous Studies in the Center for the Americas. He lectures on topics in Native American Studies and is also a farmer. Mohawk has been working with the Bioneers since it's beginning 15 years ago. He was plenary speaker in 2004 Bioneers where this interview was conducted. He's also working with Bioneers to develop food products based on traditional Iroquios white corn, is on the board of the Bioneers and is the author of Utopian Legacies. In this interview he talks about the issues of perpetual and inevitable climate change, examples of what has happened to many indigenous societies in the Americas and the importance of our taking responsibility for what happens to us in the era of extreme climate change -- e.g., saving non genetically modified seeds and getting to know what wild greens we can eat.
127 - Christine Rose
Christine Rose is the producer of the just completed film, Liberty Bound. It's her first film, supported solely by herself, and comes from intense concern and dedication to the getting the word out about what she describes as "the lies and oppression, and corruption that has invaded her country since 9/11". The film is excellent, inspired by the style of Michael Moore, though, of course, Christine Rose is her own dynamic self. In this interview she talks about her background and how she took it upon herself to do this film, many of the experiences, scenes and issues in the film, especially of the harassment of people with disregard for what used to be their constitutionally protected rights. She is a very inspiring person and this comes across in the interview. She wants to distribute the film as widely as possible, especially before the November election, and it's up to us, word of mouth, to distribute it and/or see it in our homes with friends.
128 - Richard Heinberg
Richard Heinberg is a writer and teacher whose focus in these times is "peak oil". Presently he teaches Human Ecology at New College of San Francisco in Santa Rosa, California. Two of his several books are The Party's Over-Oil, War and the Fate of Industrial Societies and Powerdown:Options and Actions for a Post Carbon World. In this first of two interviews with Sue Supriano he explains that "peak oil" means that the cheap oil we've had available to build our industrial world is over and our industrialized world has already started coming to the end that is inevitable and which is likely to be a huge dislocation from the way of life to which we are accustomed in the "first world". It will affect the energy that we're used to having and transportation, food supply, common materials that we're used to which are based on oil-- plastic, clothes, buildings and on and on. In this interview he focuses on analyzing the geopolitical issues of who controls the remaining oil as well as the probable wars and political control which we see already occuring. He says he thinks "the gloves will come off" in terms of attempts to control the oil and other energy resources. This interview lays the ground for the following interview which focuses more on what we can do as we must "Powerdown".
129 - Richard Heinberg
Richard Heinberg, a member of the Core Faculty at the New College of California in Santa Rosa, is the author of several award-winning books, the latest 2 of which are The Party's Over: Oil, War and the Fate of Industrial Societies and Power Down: Options and Actions for a Post Carbon World. In this radio show we discuss the issues of "peak oil", meaning that the peak of cheap and affordable oil (and natural gas) has passed and the end of the industrial age is coming to an end. Though the exact date is unknown it is agreed by all the experts it will be within the next ten years, and Heinberg thinks it will be within the next 2 years or so, probably starting in the next few months. How we prepare for this as individuals and as a society will make a huge difference in the ease with which we make this transition and the amount of suffering experienced in this moving out of the "age of oil". The time to start was yesterday, but better late than never.
130 - Ramao daSilva
Ramao daSilva is a leader of the National Coordination Committee of the MST (Landless Workers' Movement of Brazil). In Brazil, 3% of the population owns two-thirds of the arable land resulting in a huge population of landless peasants and hungry people. Clara Long, who works with the US-based, Friends of the MST, translates the interview. DaSilva describes how the MST is democratically organized by being divided into collectives of families which are then part of a larger collective, etc.. The farmers farm organically with an objective of every person having at least one good meal a day. This year is the 20th anniversary of the founding of the MST, the largest grassroots organization of rural workers in the Americas-- perhaps in the world. DaSilva talks about the history of the formation of the MST, how the Workers' Party which was also formed 20 years ago, is now in power in Brazil, how President Lula supports the MST though his hands are presently tied in terms of real action with regard to land distribution changes in Brazil and how this is due to the neoliberal policies in place in Brazil as well as in much of the world.
131 - Clifford Carnicom
Clifford Carnicom is a computer consultant and scientist. He has made it his business to look into the aerosol lines in the sky about which he, and others, are concerned. It is clear that planes are putting lines in the sky very often and in great quantity. It has been impossible to get information about who is doing this or what is in the aerosol material being discharged into our atmosphere. They are definitely NOT vapor trails which come from all planes and disappear very quickly. These stay in the air as they dissipate for many many hours, days, etc.. Carnicom has been researching this matter for something like 8 years and found that there is definitely particulate matter being discharged and it's not good for living things. Listen to this interview and start looking in the sky! www.this-must-stop.com
132 - Mike Ruppert
Ruppert was in town to talk to the Commonwealth Club in San Francisco on Aug. 31. While in the Bay Area he did an interview for Steppin' Out of Babylon. He talks about his upcoming book-- available in about mid-September from www.fromthewilderness.com and from general release in October. The title is Crossing the Rubicon: The Decline of the American Empire at the End of the Age of Oil. It's a very well documented account of what happened on 9/11/2001 among other things. In this interview Ruppert describes what prevented planes from immediately intercepting the hijacked planes as they normally would have, and he names Cheney as being in charge of the operations of that day from the White House. Don't miss this show!!!
133 - Michael Dorsey
Michael Dorsey is a Professor at Dartmouth College in the Environmental Studies Department. Sue Supriano met him at the Reclaiming the Commons Teach-In in San Francisco in June, 04. Reclaim the Commons was the counter gathering to the biotech companies' conference at the same time. Dorsey talks about biopiracy of indigenous people, and the interlocking of corporations that are attempting to privatize even the genes of people.
134 - Dr. Leonard Horowitz
Dr. Leonard Horowitz on the dangers of vaccines: Dr. Horowitz is a graduate of Harvard School of Public Health, an independent researcher, and author of several book and many articles. Emerging Viruses: Aids and Ebola- Nature, Accident or Intentional, Death in the Air: Globalism, Terrorism & Toxic Warfare, Healing Celebrations... and others. In addition he's written many articles, had his own radio show, and appeared many times as a guest on the TV and radio shows of others. In this interview he focuses on the issue of vaccinations and how they can be more harmful than good, and the reasons why. Also on what we can do to educate others and take care of ourselves.
135 - Julian Darley
Julian Darley is Founder/Director of the Post Carbon Institute in Vancouver, British Columbia, author of High Noon for Natural Gas: the New Energy Crisis. He describes kinds of natural gas, their depletion and scarcity, how they are located in countries not necessarily friendly to the US and the difficulties of transporting natural gas. Darley also focuses on how "relocalization" and living very very simply is the only way to deal with the depletion of oil and natural gas, both of which have already peaked, never to be available again as they have been before. We are nearing the end of the industrialized world, it will be a very big change and it behooves us to prepare starting right now to cushion the move into these new times. www.globalpublicmedia.com
136 - Dahr Jamail
Dahr Jamail is an American independent writer for newstandardnews.net and can often be heard reporting from Iraq on Flashpoints on KPFA Radio. He has been on several trips to Iraq where he has spent months at a time. In fact, he just came from Iraq a couple of days before this interview in California. He speaks very movingly about life on a daily level in Iraq, with bombs going off all day and night. He speaks about the Iraqi people, himself, the US military-- all living in this unbelievably stressful environment where an Iraqi and/or those close to he/she, could be arrested and imprisoned and anyone can be killed at any time-- the pain of war and occupation-- both for the occupied and the occupiers, but especially the invaded and occupied Iraqis who, although they were mostly very hospitable to Jamail, were developing more and more hatred for American occupiers.
137 - John Hepburn
John Hepburn works with Greenpeace, Australia on the issue of genetic engineering. He was in San Francisco for the Reclaiming the Commons Teach In and action while the big biotech companies, such as Bayer and Monsanto and many others, were meeting in San Francisco. He speaks about the issues and horrors of genetic engineering, especially genetically engineered food which is so prevalent in the United States, but which is rejected by many countries, including Australia. He also speaks about other environmental issues in Australia that concern Greenpeace and should concern us all such as the cutting of old growth trees, poisoning of the water, oil drilling, genetically engineered seeds, etc.. He also shares his positive impression of activists in the US that he's meeting.
138 - John Hepburn
John Hepburn worked with Greenpeace in Australia where he was the project coordinator for genetically modified food issues. Sue Supriano talked to him in the San Francisco Bay Area where he was in June for the gathering and teach-in of "Reclaim the Commons". This interview was conducted after the end of Reclaim the Commons. Another interview with him is on this website. This is #2 conducted as he was about to leave on a trip through the US and Europe to visit projects of sustainability. Hepburn speaks about his impression of the US movement and talks about environmental issues in Australia.
139 - Pete Tridish and Kate Coyer
The Prometheus Radio Project was founded by Pete Tridish, a micropower broadcaster from Philadelphia, to support the low power FM radio movement. This 3-person paid staff, with the help of many volunteers and supporters, won a very important court case in June 04. The decision of the court prevents the FCC (Federal Communications Commission) from allowing even greater consolidation of corporate control of the media. Prometheus also helps start new micro-radio stations in the US and internationally. Tridish speaks about these things in the first half of the show. Kate Coyer, a PhD student at the University of London and a grassroots radio activist in indymedia and Prometheus among other audio projects, speaks in the second half of the show about a bill in the US Congress to legalize more low power FM stations. This interview was conducted at the Grassroots Radio Conference in California.
140 - John Hepburn
John Hepburn is on a leave as Project Director of the Project concerning Genetically Engineered Food with Greenpeace, Australia. He was interviewed at the Reclaiming the Commons Teach In in San Francisco which was part of the campaign to educate and protest the meeting of the genetic technology companies in San Francisco in June, 04. He speaks about genetically engineered food, what it is and the reasons to stop it and what is going on in Australia in particular which has rejected such food. He gives examples of other places that reject GMO food and the importance of the US media in continuing to keep people uninformed. He also speaks of other environmental issues in Australia.
141 - Peretz Kidron
Peretz Kidron is an Israeli writer and peace activist. He can be heard on KPFA radio where he has been reporting for years. He works with the organization Yes-Gvul, meaning "There is a limit", which supports the growing Refusenik movement in Israel-- the members of the Israeli military who refuse to go to the occupied territories to oppress the Palestinian people. These are soldiers of conscience who are the cutting edge of those Israelis who oppose the occupation. According to Kidron, there were at least 13,000 of these Refuseniks at the time of this interview which, if it were to happen proportionately in the US would equal 50,000 US military-- a significant number with a significant effect. The number is growing all the time as others are influenced by their fellow military who take a stand. It's also a good model for the US. Kidron urges people to adopt a Refusenik and support him/her financially and morally. What if there were a war and nobody came?
142 - Hope Shand
Terminator Seeds, Nanotechnology: Hope Shand has been working with the Canadian based, ETC Group (Erosion, Technology and Concentration) for over 20 years. She is the Research Director and has written on agricultural biodiversity, corporate concentration and the the social and economic impacts of emerging technologies and who controls the ownership of the emerging technologies. Shand is the author of Human Nature: Agricultural Biodiversity and Farm Based Food Security. She lives in South Carolina. This interview took place during the Reclaim the Commons-Teach In in San Francisco in June, 2004. In this show the focus is on genetically modified food and on nanotechnology-- a very important, technology for creating from microscopic building blocks. People need to know more about it as it is already present in things we come into contact with, though it is not well understood or sufficiently tested. She especially talks about cosmetics.
143 - Mario A. Murillo
Mario A. Murillo is an assistant professor in the Audio/Video/Film Department of the School of Communication at Hofstra University. He is also the host of Pacifica Radio's Our Americas: The Weekly Report on Latin America and the Caribbean. He is the author of Columbia and the United States: War, Terror and Destabilization which is the focus of this radio interview. Murillo's family is from Columbia and he has spent much of life there as well as in the US. This brings a particular understanding of the situation there and US involvement in it, as millions on the tax dollars of Americans are spent in military "aid" in Columbia, a country where more journalists are killed per capita than in any other country.
144 - Marta Rodriguez
Marta Rodriquez, a Venezuelan film maker has been making documentary films of the lives of Afro-Venezuelan people for many years, both with her husband, now deceased, and on her own. She has been committed to bringing this reality to educate others of the plight of these people's struggle to survive and to support them in their lives.
145 - Sirikit Syah
Sirikit Syah founded LKM Media Consumer's Board, the first and only media watch organization in Indonesia. Ms. Sirikit is also a founder and Vice Chairman of Surabaya School of Mass Communication and is the recently elected Chairman of the Indonesian Broadcasting Commission for East Java province. As a journalist, activist and educator she focuses on journalism in regions of conflict, media ethics, and freedom of the press. Ms. Syah also has a weekly interactive radio program, edits a monthly media watch journal, and publishes anthologies of essays on topics such as women's issues and politics in the media. In this conversation Sirikit Syah talks about her background, many media projects, being a Muslim woman, the press in Indonesia and her view of the US.
146 - Dr. Michio Kaku
Dr. Michio Kaku is an internationally recognized, Harvard graduate and authority in theoretical physics and the environment. Today he holds the Henry Semat Professorship in Theoretical Physics at the City University of New York (CUNY) where he has taught for over 25 years. Michio Kaku also hosts a weekly radio show, Explorations in Science where he addresses topics in science, technology, war and politics. He has appeared on over 600 radio programs around the country and most major newspapers. His most popular and best selling books include Hyperspace: A Scientific Odyssey Through Parallel Universes, Time Warps and the Tenth Dimension and Visions: How Science Will Revolutionize the 21st Century. They have both been widely translated. In this interview Dr. Kaku focuses on his most recent book: Einstein's Cosmos: How Einstein's Vision Transformed Our Understanding of Space and Time. He is able to explain the most fascinating and complex ideas in science today in ways that are elegant and easy to understand. He has done so in this interview as he talks about "string theory" and the basic consciousness and music of the universe.
147 - Mary Ann Tenudo and Barbara Deutch
Mary Ann Tenudo, co-founder of the Chiapas Support Group, and Barbara Deutch, activist, went to Cuba to the Third Hemispheric Conference against the FTAA (Free Trade Agreement of the Americas). Tenudo begins by describing the Zapatista movement which became very public in 1992 as NAFTA (North American Free Trade Agreement) went into effect, threatening the well being and even survival of the indigenous peasants in southern Mexico in the area of Chiapas. She brings us up to date about how things are going for the Zapatistas now and the bad effects of NAFTA on Mexico's corn farmers. Positively the Zapatistas are organizing collective buying, democratic governments, etc.. From the funds from this they will finance their own schools, clinics, etc.. A very positive example of "self determination". She also talks about Plan Puebla Panama which is in the works. Funded by institutions like the World Bank, construction of the infrastructure to bring tourism and "business" to the area is in process. People protested a proposed Disneyland and, as of now, defeated the plan to build. Deutsch and Tenudo describe their trip to Cuba, the issues of the Conference against the FTAA, and how these supposed "free trade" agreements adversely affect people all over the world. International attendees shared their stories at this conference. This was the first trip to Cuba for both of these women and they were both very excited about their visit. It seemed to them that people might have little, but all were fed and housed and wealth was relatively equitably distributed. They mention CAFTA (Central American Free Trade Agreement) and urge people to take action to stop it. Some websites are http://www.citizen.org/trade/, http://www.stopcafta.org/. The website to learn more about Chiapas is http://www.chiapas-support.org/
148 - Amazon Watch
This interview started in San Ramon, Ca., where the Administrative Headquarters of Chevron Texaco are located. A delegation of people from Amazon Watch are trying to meet with the CEO of Chevron Texaco, David O'Reilly, to, yet again, get the company to clean up the toxic waste they left behind. First you hear from John Dalrymple, Executive Dir. of the Central Labor Council of Contra Costa County and Rabbi Dan Goldblatt of Beth Chaim Congregation in San Ramon. They were invited by Amazon Watch to visit Ecuador and the areas affected by the devastation of oil drilling by Chevron Texaco. They were so moved by the pain and suffering caused to the indigenous inhabitants-- the guardians of the forest-- that they wanted to support them in their demands to the oil company based in their community to clean up the toxic mess. Next we hear from Rosa Moren Chalaco, a nurse from the San Carlos community, Orellana, Ecuador about her experiences and the details of the health effects on people of the area from the contamination of oil and other toxic substances. Cancer and other sicknesses are affecting a large proportion of people there. Toribio Aquinda, Delegate of the National Cofan Indigenous Federation of Ecuador, also speaks of his direct experience in his community and with the Ecuadorian government. The very good news is that they had what seemed to be a positive meeting with Chevron Texaco in San Ramon who finally said they would clean up the mess. Leila Salazar, Clean Up Ecuador Campaign Organizer with Amazon Watch, was the translator for these two people.
149 - Ellen Mariani
Ellen Mariani is the widow of Neil Mariani who was killed in the plane that crashed into the South Tower of the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001. She is grief stricken and angry-- very upset at the way she was treated after learning of the death of her soulmate for life, disgusted by the offer of "hush money" to not investigate further or speak up, and determined to find out what REALLY happened on that terrible day. To that end she has sued Bush and officials including but not limited to Cheney, Ashcroft, Rumsfeld and Feinberg that they 1) had knowledge/warnings of 9/11 and failed to warn or take steps to prevent; 2) have been covering up the truth of 9/11 and 3) have therefore violated the laws of the US; and 4) are being sued under Civil RICO Act. Her Attorney, Philip Berg stated: "I will be detailing the charges against Bush and others and handing our copies of the 1) Amended Complaint 2) A Letter from Ellen Mariani to President Bush that sets forth her beliefs that President Bush knowingly and willfully failed to act and prevent the murder of her husband on 9/11 and the ongoing obstruction of justice: and 3) a Sworn Affidavit the United States government twenty-eight (28) years ago undertook a study to prevent the very events of 9/11. He is interviewed in this show as well as Ellen Mariani herself. They ask that you check into their website and please sign the petition: http://www.911forthetruth.com
150 - Pierre La Boissiere
Pierre La Boissiere, himself Haitian and an activist for many years in the U.S., speaks about the present situation in Haiti. The first part of the interview is part of a speech he gave at a rally in San Francisco on March 1, 2004, and the second part is an interview with Sue Supriano. He gives some background with regard to the past U.S. involvement in Haiti and the track record of democratically elected, President Aristide. He had just translated Aristide's phone message to the Haitian people the same day of the interview and speaks about the kidnapping of President Aristide by the U.S. military. La Boissiere also describes the conditions of life for most people in Haiti and the amazing positive improvements (building of schools, literacy, parks, etc.) Aristide was able to do even though the U. S. prevented money promised from being delivered to Haiti. You can keep up to date with what's going on through www.haitiaction.net.
151 - Bill Douglas and Carol Brouillet
Bill Douglas and Carol Brouillet are interviewed at the 9/11 International Inquiry-Phase 1 in San Francisco, CA at the end of March, 04. Bill Douglas lives in Kansas City, Mo. where he works with the 911Visibility Project-- a national project and organization which supplies support and tools for organizing and getting out the word about what happened on Sept. 11, 01. This project goes straight to the people by using signs saying "Stop the 911 Cover-Up". Douglas talks about the need for going around some leaders and straight to the people with information and organizing. In fact, people are hungry for information and building an action-oriented 911 truth movement. More and more local organizations are being organized and the 911 visibility website provides a good way to get local contacts in your area and organize to broaden the number of people demanding an end to the cover up and an exposure of the truth of what happened on 9/11/2001. Carol Brouillet organized the International Inquiry, Phase 1, in San Francisco. She has been working on exposing this cover up almost since the tragic events occurred in 2001. She speaks about the conflicting interests of the Official 911 Commission, which she calls a way to justify the limitations on our civil rights-- moving toward a police state-- being put in place since September 11. She runs down the backgrounds of the commission members. People came to the Inquiry from long distances, including other countries, to this conference. The Inquiry consisted of 21 hours of talks by 911 researchers and activists. Brouillet refers to it as the ABC's of 911-- a military standdown of planes on 911, evidence of top US Gov't officials having links with the money behind Sept. 11 and Bob Graham having breakfast with the Head of Pakistani Intelligence who had wired $100.000 to Mohammed Atta a few days before 9/11, building 7 looked like a controlled demolition and collapsed on Sept. 11 even though it wasn't hit by any planes or anything-- and many many more questions (and answers) about the true story of what happened on Sept. 11. Part of the conference was a group walk across the street, carrying the "stop the 911 cover up" signs, to San Francisco City Hall to ask the present Mayor of San Francisco to investigate how and by whom Willy Brown, the former Mayor of San Francisco, was informed not to fly on 9/11. Some websites are http://www.communitycurrency.org/ Phase 2 of the 911 International Citizen's Inquiry will take place from May 25. That website is http://www.911inquiry.org/ Both Douglas and Brouillet suggest that Ray Griffin's book "The New Pearl Harbor" might be the needed breakthrough on the issue of the 911 cover up. There are many website and links for further information.
152 - Webster Tarpley
Webster Tarpley wrote "The Unauthorized Biography of George W. Bush" in 1992. It sold out 25,000 copies right away and has been downloaded from the internet by millions of readers since. You can still read it on the internet. It's an underground classic. In it he writes about the connections Bush family and the Nazi movement back in the 1920's and 1930's. Prescott Bush, George W's grandfather, was a member of the Board of Directors of and stockholder with the Bank that was the principal financier of Hitler. He gives many more details in this interview. This information is important to know, Tarpley says, so we can know what we are dealing with now. He then talks about the official story of what happened on 911 and the questions about it that exist. He offers people a conceptual scheme, based on lots of research and knowledge of past operations, to think about "terrorism" and how it's used, how covert operations work-- separating the "moles" from the "patsies" from the actual professional killers. He has 14 points which are serious questions, not being asked by the Official 911 Commission, about Sept. 11. Some of them are-- 1) why didn't planes go up to stop the planes going into the buildings 2) were the buildings controlled demolitions 3) why was the Islamic world blamed with virtually no evidence 4) what explains the drive toward a totalitarian state 5) what happened to 40 floor building 7 6) what hit the Pentagon 7) Who are the Sept. 11 criminals??-- and more. Tarpley proposes an independent international truth commission similar to the Bertrand Russell Vietnam Tribunal of 1966-'67. It will be made up of famous and non-famous people who have presentations, information and who examine the evidence by international judges. He's working on getting that set up by Aug. or Sept. of 2004, probably outside of the US since many distinguished researchers and activists would not be allowed in the U.S..
153 - Brian Concannon, Jr.
Brian Concannon, Jr., is a human rights attorney with the Bureau des Avocats Internationaux, Port au Prince, Haiti. Since 1996 Mr. Concannon has worked as a Human Rights Attorney with the Bureau des Avocats Internationaux to provide legal representation to victims of politically motivated human rights abuses suffered under the military dictatorship in Haiti from 1991 to 1994. Concannon helped push forward Haiti's first successful prosecution of former military and paramilitary leaders responsible for the Raboteau Massacre of April 1994. Mr. Concannon is a graduate of Georgetown University Law Center, a recipient of a Brandeis International Fellowship in Human Rights, Intervention and International Law. He writes and speaks about issues of transitional justice, human rights, and the persistence of impunity in Haiti. He recently returned from a delegation to the Central African Republic that met with President Aristide of Haiti. In this interview he talks about his trip to see Aristide, US involvement in kidnapping and taking President Aristide out of Haiti to the Central African Republic, how the same people are again in power in Haiti hunting and killing people as they did during the '91-'94 dictatorship, how he just returned from the Dominican Republic where he learned that the opposition to Aristide forces were trained to go into Haiti with support by the US and how the major media ignores all this though the information is available. He asks people in the US to pressure the US government to return Aristide back to the presidency to which he was elected which is totally supported by law. Go to http://www.haitiaction.net to keep in touch and see what to do.
154 - Paul Thompson
Paul Thompson is an independent researcher and author of the complete 9/11 website: http://www.cooperativeresearch.org/timeline.jsp?timeline=complete_911_timeline. He has culled his information around what happened on 9/11 almost entirely from the mainstream corporate media where it is often buried, just mentioned briefly, etc.. It is a lot of meticulous work and amounts to hundreds of pages of information. A book based on this information will be released soon. He speaks about how he got involved in doing this voluntary research which is now invaluable to all researchers in the search for the truth about what really occurred in New York on September 11, 2001. In this show Thompson goes into detail about the the involvement of the Pakistani Government, especially the ISI secret service, with the US Government, the building of the Taliban, and other little known important connections between Pakistan and the US Government. His object is to give people information they might not have the desire or time to find so that they can decide for themselves where they want to go with it. He explains a bit about the theories of LIH (Let it Happen) and Make it Happen with regard to the US Government's relationship to 9/11.
155 - Jeffrey M. Smith: Program 1
Jeffrey M. Smith is the author of Seeds of Deception-- Exposing Industry and Government Lies about the Safety of the Genetically Engineered Foods You're Eating. Smith has been active in the field of genetically modified foods and their negative health and environmental impacts for close to a decade, working for nonprofit and political groups on the the issue, running for US Congress and proposing legislation to remove GM food from school meals and to protect farmers from cross-pollination by GM crops. He has lectured widely, spoken at conferences and been quoted in articles around the world. He was vice president of marketing for a GMO dectection laboratory and researched and wrote this book after he left the industry. The book is easy to read, telling stories that include lots of important information for us about this critical issue for our health and for the earth. Smith is the founder and director of the Institute for Responsible Technology in Iowa. In the first of these audio interviews/radio shows Smith runs down the terrible health hazards of GM foods, and how industry manipulation and political collusion and "cover up", not sound science, allow them into your daily diet. Learn why the FDA withheld information from Congress after a genetically modified supplement killed nearly a hundred people and disabled thousands; how laboratory rats fed a GM crop debeloped stomach lesions and seven of the forty died within two weeks and the crop was approved without further tests.
156 - Jeffrey M. Smith: Program 2
Jeffrey M. Smith is the author of Seeds of Deception-- Exposing Industry and Government Lies about the Safety of the Genetically Engineered Foods You're Eating. Smith has been active in the field of genetically modified foods and their negative health and environmental impacts for close to a decade, working for nonprofit and political groups on the the issue, running for US Congress and proposing legislation to remove GM food from school meals and to protect farmers from cross-pollination by GM crops. He has lectured widely, spoken at conferences and been quoted in articles around the world. He was vice president of marketing for a GMO dectection laboratory and researched and wrote this book after he left the industry. The book is easy to read, telling stories that include lots of important information for us about this critical issue for our health and for the earth. Smith is the founder and director of the Institute for Responsible Technology in Iowa. The second show focuses on Smith's recent travels to international conferences, what's happening in the rest of the world outside of the US with regard to GM foods, and what we can do personally and politically to protect the health of ourselves, our families and our environment.
157 - Jacqueline Suin
Jacqueline Suin is an anti-corporate globalization activist and film maker with Big Noise Tactical Media. This interview focuses especially on the recently released film The Fourth World War which she co-produced with Richard Rowley. The film was narrated by Tony Award winner Suheir Hammad and singer Michael Franti. It is a radical story of connection in the face of war and conflict that shatter and divides. The film includes footage from Palestine, South Africa, Quebec City, South Korea, Chiapas, Mexico, Seattle, Genoa, New York and Iraq. It's a deep and inspiring film. Sue and Jackie discuss the issues and the making of the film as well as her experiences in these places, especially Chiapas and Iraq. These young, committed and talented filmmakers also produced Black and Gold, Zapatista and This is What Democracy Looks Like.
158 - Dave Williamson
Dave Williamson is the head of the fleet of 12 biodiesel trucks used for recycling in Berkeley, California. This clean alternative to oil-based gasoline for vehicles is sustainable since it uses vegetable oil. A very good thing about this is that we can stop having to kill people and destroy the environment in order to get oil. Williamson describes the huge advantages of biodiesel, what it is and how it works. It doesn't pollute the air, is not toxic for anyone and smells good. All you need is a diesel car and you can convert. In Europe there are many more biodiesel stations than in the US, but biodiesel is on the rise in the US too. Sue Supriano is looking for a car to convert to biodiesel.
159 - LaDonna Redmond
LaDonna Redmond is the founder/president of the Institute for Community Resource Development in Chicago, Illinois. She is a long-time community organizer in the Chicago area with deep experience in setting up and sustaining a wide range of urban community programs, such as the one she speaks about in this program having to do with growing, selling and buying organic food in the South and West sides of Chicago. She is also a journalist and columnist and speaks about the newsletter she edits and nutrition education.
160 - Jeff Patterson
Jeff Patterson works as staff of the anti-war, peace organization, "Not in Our Name". He was a war resistor in 1990. Although he had been in the Marines for 4 years and was a Corporal he refused to go fight in the war against Iraq even though he only had a few remaining weeks before he was due to be discharged from the Marines. He spent some time in prison and has since been working for peace. Among the many ways in which he does this is that he often speaks to high school students encouraging them to not join the military and advising them about conscientious objection.
161 - Ted Nace
Ted Nace is the author of Gangs of America: The Rise of Corporate Power and the Disabling of Democracy. Nace is the founder of Peachpit Press, the world's leading publisher of books on computer graphics and desktop publishing. Prior to that he worked as a freelance writer and served as staff director of the Dakota Resource Council, helping rural communities deal with the impact of strip mines and power plants. In this interview Nace speaks about how the corporation has become the core institution of the modern world. He describes where it came from, how it got more rights than a person has, where it is going and what we can do to stop it from greater and greater control of our lives and well being.
