Good Politics Radio

The following podcast is brought to you courtesy of A World of Possibilities and The Mainstream Media Project.

Why is it that while many of us are discouraged and some devastated by life’s losses, a rare few not only survive but thrive in their wake –transcending tragedy, growing not despite but through it. We’ve all known such people — a cancer survivor, someone who’s lost loved ones, maybe someone who experienced war, incarceration or abuse and somehow came out of it finding life all the sweeter for being so fragile and fleeting. Such individuals don’t simply endure; they transform. And through this transformation, they gain a new appreciation for life. In this program, part of our LoveLife series, we meet three remarkable individuals and communities – a female minister in Zambia who lost nearly every member of her family to AIDS, then broke the taboo of silence by revealing to her congregation that she too was HIV positive; a fourteen-year-old student abducted with scores of classmates in Northern Uganda and held captive in Sudan for eight years before freeing herself when powerful people had tried and failed; and a mother in Colombia who lost nine members of her immediate family to the army, paramilitary forces, and guerrillas before dedicating her life to helping other grief-stricken mothers find purpose and meaning again. Each of these women has found a way not just to survive but to turn her misfortune into renewed strength and a gift to the larger world. In an age of widespread skepticism about human possibilities, it’s heartening to hear from those who, despite losses often far greater than our own, have found ways to embrace life and convey that inner joy to others.

Duration: 55:00 minutes

To listen to this podcast click here.

The following podcast is brought to you courtesy of A World of Possibilities and The Mainstream Media Project.

Today, nano particles are in our food, cosmetics, and hundreds of other items. And this is just the beginning of what is projected to be a $1 trillion nanotech industry within a decade.  Yet its presence and perils are only on the radar screens of a handful of environmental activists. To date, the U.S. has established no regulations on the development or proliferation of nano particles — and the European Union is just starting to examine the issue.This hour we’ll hear from four experts who will spell it out for us, starting with the one question on all of our minds: What is Nano-technology?

This program was funded by The Park Foundation

Duration: 55:00 minutes

To listen to this podcast click here.

The following podcast is brought to you courtesy of A World of Possibilities and The Mainstream Media Project.

Legendary folksinger and social activist Pete Seeger is receiving long-delayed appreciation for his immense contribution to American music and culture. In this intimate conversation, Pete recalls it all through the prism of mellowed memory, his personal reflections on his life, times and his country’s future laced with the sounds of his now-quavering but still strong voice. Happy 91st birthday, Pete.

Guests:
Pete Seeger has become a highly visible and much beloved figure in American life. He has issued some one hundred records, written and collaborated on numerous radical songbooks, articles, and technical manuals on playing the banjo. Fifty years after the Popular Front, Seeger is one of the last links with the optimistic and expansive culture of Depression-era America.

Credits: Music in this program: open- “To Hear Your Banjo Play” Soundtrack from the motion picture “To Hear Your Banjo Play” via archive.org; “Guantalamera” Sony BMG Music Entertainment; “Waist Deep in The Big Muddy” Smithsonian Folkways Recordings; “Amazing Grace” Smithsonian Folkways Recordings; “Bring Them Home (If You Love Your Uncle Sam)” Appleseed Recordings; “Turn, Turn, Turn” Bruce Cockburn, Appleseed Recordings; “Where Have All The Flowers Gone” Dolores Keane, Tommy Sands & Vedran Smailovic, Appleseed Recordings; “Kisses Sweeter Than Wine” Jackson Browne, Bonnie Raitt, Appleseed Recordings; “Bells of Rhymney” Roger McGuinn

Pete Seeger besides having been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, has been active in the Environmental movement for decades. In the 1960′s, he helped build the Hudson River sloop, The Clearwater, which sails up and down New York’s Hudson River, teaching kids of all ages about the river’s ecosytem and history. In October, 2007, a movie about Pete’s life was released, called The Power of Song. No matter your opinion about Pete or the issues he championed, he is a truly American voice, and one worth listening to.

Funding: Listeners Like You

Duration: 55:00 minutes

To listen to this podcast click here.

The following podcast is brought to you courtesy of A World of Possibilities and The Mainstream Media Project.

Global climate change is here. And only now, as our nation is ravaged by hurricanes, floods and droughts, is this new reality becoming all too obvious.  But indigenous people in isolated communities around the world have been sounding the alarm for decades.  This week we’ll meet indigenous messengers from Alaska and Peru who say it’s not too late to use traditional knowledge to reconnect with Mother Earth.  And we’ll learn about a powerful new exhibition at the National Museum of the American Indian launched to amplify their message to the world.

This program was funded by The Christensen Fund

Host: Mark Sommer
Senior Producer: Gregg McVicar
Associate Producer: Naihma Deady
Production Coordinator: Stacey Winslow
Field Engineer: Robert Fraiser
Credits: Gabriela Castelan

Special Thanks to Claire Greensfelder

Music in this program: A United Earth I by Alan Stivell and Yousou N’Dour, Putumayo World Music; Ernerpak-qaa by Pamyua, Arctic Voice Records; Twisted Hair by Robbie Robertson & The Red Road Ensemble, Capitol Records; The First to Go Under by Jim Ocean, Jim Ocean Music.

The following podcast is brought to you courtesy of A World of Possibilities and The Mainstream Media Project.

Hold that fork! Block that barbeque! Do you know the source of the meat that’s sizzling on the grill? Can we trust meat inspectors to catch pathogens before they catch us? Join us as we step inside the poultry shed and the slaughterhouse to trace the trail of the industrial chicken from egg to processing to your plate.

Host: Mark Sommer
Senior Producer: Chuck Rogers
Associate Producer: Tammy Rae Scott, Kara Hochner
Production Engineer: Michael Schwartz
Music in this program: open- “Greazy Chicken” by Marc Ford, Shrapnel Records/Blues Bureau International; welcome- “A United Earth I” by Alan Stivell and Youssou N’Dour, Putumayo World Music; break 1- “Come On In My Kitchen” by Robert Johnson, The International Music Company; break 2- “Fried Chicken Skin” by Tom Faulkner, Serrano Records; bottom of the hour billboard- “A United Earth I” by Alan Stivell and Youssou N’Dour, Putumayo World Music; bridge 1- “Dimension 37” by Chris Surma; break 3- “Chicken” by Maceo Parker, UMG Recordings; close and credits- “Greazy Chicken” by Marc Ford, Shrapnel Records/Blues Bureau International.

This program was funded by The W.K. Kellogg Foundation .

Duration: 55:00 minutes

To listen to this podcast click here.

Need help thinking like a chicken? Dr. Karen Davis, a chicken lover since her first rescued bird, she speaks for the birds through her organization United Poultry Concerns. Dr. Davis can tell you everything you ever wanted to know- or didn’t want to know about chickens.

Known as the “Godfather of Poultry” Frank Reese has made it his life mission to farm and breed turkeys, chickens, and ducks through humane production and safe processing. The name of his farm is Good Sheppard Ranch where Heritage turkeys are raised. A Heritage turkey has a long productive lifespan and has a lineage that can be traced back 100 years.

Curious about the sudden increase of immigrants moving to the state of Arkansas to work at Tyson Foods, Professor of Anthropology, Steve Striffler took a job at a local Tyson plant to see why. Dr. Striffler shares his experience as a factory chicken breeder in his book Chicken.

A modern Upton Sinclair, former USDA meat inspector and veterinarian, Dr. Lester Friedlander, once worked for the largest hamburger processing plant in the U.S. Dr. Friedlander became a whistle-blower when he felt that the USDA inspections weren’t thorough.

Temple Grandin invented livestock handling facilities that help reduce the stress levels of animals prior to slaughter. Grandin’s design is said to be more humane than previous facilities; so much so, that even McDonald’s meat plants use her inventions.

The following podcast is brought to you courtesy of A World of Possibilities and The Mainstream Media Project.

In the past few years, natural gas fracking has become a near-household word as landowners in the path of drilling have mounted efforts to slow its rapid pace of development in the U.S. and worldwide. We continue our coverage of this crucial issue with a program about citizen efforts across partisan lines to raise questions about the downsides of fracking and promote what they consider to be cleaner, greener alternatives.

This program was funded by The Park Foundation

Guests:

Host & Executive Producer: Mark Sommer
Senior Producer/Editor: Gregg McVicar
Associate Producer: Naihma Deady
Production and Distribution Coordinator: Stacey Winslow
Field Recordist: Daniel Robison, Emma Jacobs, Jim Richards
Credits: Gabriela Castelan

Music in this program:  A United Earth I by Alan Stivell and Yousou N’Dour, Putumayo World Music; Helping Hand by Stuart Duncan, Chris Thile, Edgar Meyer and Yo-Yo Ma, Sony Classical; The Meeting by North Mississippi Allstars (feat. Mavis Staples), Songs of the South; The Tale Of Marcellus Shale by Mike Stout, CD Baby.

Click here to listen to the podcast.

The following podcast is brought to you courtesy of A World of Possibilities and The Mainstream Media Project.

 In this special edition of A World of Possibilities, two lives spent breaking the mold of both traditional and feminist perspectives are recounted in candid conversation, each with a focused sense of purpose – to use their unique sensibilities and life experiences to help heal a species and planet grievously wounded by fear, greed and ignorance of its own positive potential.

Guests:
Frances Moore Lappe, social activist, author of sixteen books, including the landmark Diet for a Small Planet (1971)
Wangari Maathai , Winner, 2004 Nobel Peace Prize; founder, Greenbelt Movement, Kenya
(Please click on a guest’s name to listen to their full unedited interview.)
Credits:
Host: Mark Sommer
Senior Producer: Gregg McVicar
Associate Producers: Naihma Deady, Matt Fidler
Production Engineer: Michael Schwartz
Music in this program: open- “Bida Mariadu” by Lura – Putamayo World Music; “Surfin” by William Orbit – Sanctuary Records; “A United Earth I” by Alan Stivell and Yousou N’Dour – Putamayo World Music; “M’envoyer Des Fleurs” by Sandrine Kiberlain – Putamayo World Music; “Nao Se Apavare” by Luca Mundaca – Putamayo World Music; “Pata Pata” by Miriam Makeba – Putamayo World Music;

Funding: Listeners Like You

Duration: 55:00 minutes

Click here to listen to this podcast.

The following podcast is brought to you courtesy of A World of Possibilities and The Mainstream Media Project.

War has shaped the lives of people in northern Uganda for the past two decades.  Impunity for widespread crimes and grave violations committed during the war is pervasive, and there has been very little victim/community input into top-down plans to implement justice and accountability. Yet sustained peace depends on recreating communal solidarity, building advocacy networks, giving rape survivors, ex-child soldiers and orphans a voice and enabling them to be agents of recovery.  For the last few years, researchers with the Feinstein International Center at Tufts University have been documenting what war-affected communities are doing themselves to acknowledge the violations and move forward as a community –using photography, story-telling, chanting, dancing, songs, theatre, and writing.  What do communities themselves do to rebuild their lives? These communities have much to teach us about accountability, remedy, and addressing the effects of grave violations that for many will play out over a lifetime. We’ll hear from those who have been actively involved in helping communities heal from decades of mass atrocities in northern Uganda

This program was funded by The Compton Foundation

Click here to listen to the podcast.

The following podcast is brought to you courtesy of A World of Possibilities and The Mainstream Media Project.

China today is the most polluted nation on earth. But it’s also on its way to becoming the most environmentally advanced. And it’s no coincidence.  Long seen as the Great Replicator, China is now becoming the Great Innovator in all things environmental. Join us as we explore how the world’s most populous nation is betting that the next economy will not be gray but green.

This program is brought to you by The Rockefeller Brothers Fund.

Click here to listen to the podcast.

The following podcast is brought to you courtesy of A World of Possibilities and The Mainstream Media Project.

Our failure to protect and respect innately sacred natural places is a direct reflection of our loss of connection to the land and water that sustain us – and a harbinger of self-destruction. These sacred places are sometimes known only to their ancestral guardians and the peoples that have long revered them. Others are those special places in our own neighborhoods where we go for solace, reflection and refreshment. Today we’ll travel to remote regions of the planet where indigenous peoples safeguard the wellsprings of their – and our – well-being.

This program was funded by The Christensen Fund.

Click here to listen to the podcast.

The following podcast is brought to you courtesy of A World of Possibilities and The Mainstream Media Project.

Fasten your seatbelts. Now put on your thinking caps; you’ll need ‘em. And while you’re at it, tie on those wings of unfettered imagination. We’re about to enter a different kind of twilight zone. This is not your biochem class nor a biotech lab. This is biomimcry, an emerging art and science of a very different kind that uses the evolutionary genius of nature to inspire new approaches to some of our most vexing problems.

Today on A World of Possibilities, “Designing with Nature.” We’ll explore how green design is being applied to environmental challenges ranging from toxic carpets to contaminated wastewater. What are the possibilities and constraints in applying these principles more broadly to help clean up both what we use and how it’s made?

Guests:

Host: Mark Sommer
Senior Producer: Gregg McVicar
Associate Producers: Naihma Deady, Matt Fidler
Production Engineer: Michael Schwartz
Field Engineers: Steven Short, Rori Gallagher, Kara Hochner
Music in this program:

“Desert Rose” – Daniel Lanois – Anti/Epitaph Records; “A United Earth I” – Alan Stivell and Youssou N’Dour – Putumayo World Music; “Wild Thing” – The Troggs – K-Tel Records; “Shells” – Keola Beamer – Windham Hill Records; “Green Rainbow” – Lunar Drive – Begges Banquet US; “Flight Of The Cosmic Hippo – Bela Fleck & the Flecktones – Warner Bros./Wea Records; “Mother Nature’s Son” – The Beatles – Apple Records.

This program was funded by The Park Foundation.

Duration: 55:00 minutes

Click here to listen to this podcast.

The following podcast is brought to you courtesy of A World of Possibilities and The Mainstream Media Project.

“Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” This most famous phrase from the U.S. Declaration of Independence places happiness at the front and center of the role of government. Today we’ll hear from the Minister of Happiness in the Royal Kingdom of Bhutan, where Gross National Happiness, rather than Gross National Product, is the preferred measure used to guide national policy. We also hear from a Seattle city councilman who’s been inspired by Bhutan’s example to propose similar indices to shape policies for his prosperous high-tech hometown.

This program was funded by listeners like you.

To listen to this podcast click here.

The following podcast is brought to you courtesy of A World of Possibilities and The Mainstream Media Project.

It’s not a very comfortable thought: We live, eat, and breathe in a complex brew of industrial chemicals, some eighty thousand of them. And all but a handful have never been tested to find out it they’re safe. At the same time, all kinds of diseases and disabilities, ranging from autism to asthma, are on the rise. What, if any, connection might there be between chemical exposure and eventual disease or disability?

We really don’t know. The laws that regulate the use of chemicals in consumer products and the environment were passed thirty years ago and remain unchanged. They’re nicknamed ToSCA, short for the Toxic Substances Control Act. Passed in 1976, even at the time the legislation was viewed by many as inadequate to regulate a rapidly evolving industry.

Today on A World of Possibilities, we’ll look into that cauldron to find out more about the chemicals we’re ingesting and what we know – and don’t yet know – about what they’re doing to us.

(more…)

The following podcast is brought to you courtesy of A World of Possibilities and The Mainstream Media Project.

It’s often said that to be employable in a 21st century economy we’ll all need to be wired to our computers and one another. Maybe so, but we’d still be missing the qualities of mind and heart that enable us to understand the world and get along with one another. In an information glutted culture, how do we cultivate empathy, ingenuity, and resilience?

Guests:
Howard Gardner, Professor of Cognition and Education, Harvard; author, Five Minds for the Future, Multiple Intelligences, and other works
Lewis Hyde, Poet and essayist; author of The Gift, exploring creativity and the commons; professor of creative writing, Kenyon College

(Click on a guest’s name to listen to their full unedited interview.)

Credits:
Host: Mark Sommer
Senior Producer: Gregg McVicar
Associate Producers: Naihma Deady, Matt Fidler
Production Engineer: Michael Schwartz
Music in this program: “Todos Santos” – Daniel Lanois – Anti/Epitaph; “Homeland” – Keith Secola – AKINA Records; “A United Earth I” – Alan Stivell and Youssou N’Dour – Putumayo World Music; “Whitehorse Rides” – Moby – Silver Wave; “Pottsville Conglomerate” – Woodbrain – Yellow Dog Records ; “Gift 4 You” – Wade Fernandez – Song of the Black Wolf.

Funding: listeners like you.

Duration: 55:00 minutes

Click here to listen to the podcast.

The following podcast is brought to you courtesy of A World of Possibilities and The Mainstream Media Project.

What sense does it make when fresh strawberries grown in Pennsylvania are trucked westward to grace San Francisco fruit salads while California strawberries are shipped eastward to garnish New York desserts? Join us as we hop aboard the movement to buy and eat locally produced food, boosting the fortunes of local farmers and reducing our carbon footprints in the process.

This special remix includes an interview with the editors of a new book, “Locally Delicious” about eating local in Northern California.

This program was funded by The W.K. Kellogg Foundation.

(more…)

The following podcast is brought to you courtesy of A World of Possibilities and The Mainstream Media Project.

Hard economic times aren’t good for much, but they do get us thinking. As we sort through the wreckage of our private dreams, we ask ourselves how we could have done it differently – and how, given the chance, we might create an economy more equitable and reliable than the last one.

Guests:
David Korten, Author, Lecturer and Engaged Citizen
Hazel Henderson, President, Ethical Markets

(Click on a guest’s name to listen to their full unedited interview.)

Credits:
Host: Mark Sommer
Senior Producer: Gregg McVicar
Associate Producers: Naihma Deady, Matt Fidler
Production Engineer: Michael Schwartz

Music in this Program: Open – “Sweet Apocalypse” by Moby – Mute Records; “A United Earth I” by Alan Stivell and Youssou N’Dour – Putumayo World Music; “Money Talks” by J.J. Cale – Fontana Island; “I’m Busted” by Ray Charles – Rhino / Wea; “Strapped For Cash” by Fountains Of Wayne – Virgin Records.

Funding: listeners like you.

Duration: 55:00 minutes

Click here to listen to the podcast.

The following podcast is brought to you courtesy of A World of Possibilities and The Mainstream Media Project.

Plenty for some. Poverty for others. On today’s industrial farms, field workers harvest crops that they themselves can’t afford to buy. Join us as we ask how much we’re willing to pay for our food to assure that those who fill our plates are paid enough to eat what they harvest.

Guests:
David Bacon, Photographer and Migrant Worker Activist
Andrea Hinojosa, Southeast Georgia Communities Project
Francisca Cortes, Coalition of Immokaless Workers
Steven Grover, Vice President of Food Safety, quality insurance and regulatory compliance for Burger King
Maria Ines Catalan, Organic Farmer
(Click on a guest’s name to listen to their full unedited interview.)

Credits: Music in this program: open- “Migrant Worker Blues” by Don Ewell, Chiaroscuro Records; welcome- “A United Earth I” by Alan Stivell and Youssou N’Dour, Putumayo World Music; break 1- “Immigrant” by Ancestor Radio, courtesy of Ancestor Radio; break 2- “Ain’t You Got A Right” by Ray and Candie Carawan, Flying Fish Records; bottom of the hour billboard- “A United Earth I” by Alan Stivell and Youssou N’Dour, Putumayo World Music; insert 1- “Immigrant Man” by Orange, Kattguld/XTC Records; break 3- “Hurt Like Mine” by The Black Keys, Fat Possum Records; close and credits- “Gaucho” by Gustavo Santaolalla, Nonesuch Records. Other Credits: Sound from “Harvest of Shame” courtesy of CBS. Sound from “A Day Without a Mexican” courtesy of Altavista Films. Distribution: WFMT Radio Network, Chicago. Marketing: Creative PR, Los Angeles.

Funding: The W.K. Kellogg Foundation

Duration: 55:00 minutes

To Listen to this podcast click here.

The following podcast is brought to you courtesy of A World of Possibilities and The Mainstream Media Project.

In the view of its proponents, free trade as promoted by the United States and other leading industrial powers is the swiftest and surest route to global economic development. But in from the perspective of many in the developing world, it is the most effective means of extracting natural resources, exploiting low-wage labor, and producing goods from the world’s poor at the lowest cost while keeping the value added for those who already have more than enough. In response to these critiques, a market-based fair trade movement has sprung up in recent years from international development aid, social, religious and environmental organizations seeking to establish a more level playing field for international commerce. Focusing initially on such products as handicrafts, coffee, cocoa, sugar, tea, bananas, honey, cotton, wine, fresh fruit, chocolate and flowers, certified fair trade accounted for $4 billion in 2008. Though still a tiny fraction of global trade, in some commodities it represents 20-50% of the total volume. Criticized from the right as a subsidy that constrains free trade and from the left as too timid a response to the inherent inequities of the global trading system, fair trade is still in its infancy but growing by more than 20% a year. In this program we hear about the challenges of growing the movement from the founder of a leading fair trade certification organization and a farmer whose products are fair trade-certified.
This program was funded by listeners like you.

To listen to this podcast click here.

The following podcast is brought to you courtesy of A World of Possibilities and The Mainstream Media Project.

Each day, billions of shares flash through stock markets worldwide.  Fortunes are made and lost at the flick of a keystroke, wreaking havoc on millions of people far from the trading floor.  Meanwhile, both value and values are wantonly destroyed.  Today we’ll hear from two pioneering economists, one of them a Nobel Prize winner, who seek to slow the pace of business in order to reclaim value and values.

This program was funded by listeners like you. Please contribute.

Host: Mark Sommer
Senior Producer: Gregg McVicar
Associate Producers: Naihma Deady, Matt Fidler
Production Engineer: Michael Schwartz
Field Engineer: Jim Williams
Music in this program: “Buzz” – Experimental Audio Research – Space Age Recordings; “String Quartet No. 3 (Mishima): Blood Oath – Kronos Quartet – Nonesuch Records; “A United Earth I” – Alan Stivell and Youssou N’Dour – Putumayo World Music; “Slow Down” – The Beatles – EMI; “Slow Down Fast” – Bruce Cockburn – New Rounder Records; “Modern Man” – Arcade Fire – Merge Records.

Duration: 55 minutes

Click here to listen to the podcast.

The following podcast is brought to you courtesy of A World of Possibilities and The Mainstream Media Project.

Is your best friend a bot or a Facebook pal? How much time do you spend in online interaction with digital beings and how much face-to-face with real ones? MIT professor Sherry Turkle, author of Alone Together, poses penetrating questions about the dangers of embracing our human inventions as if they were themselves human. Why do we turn to the simulation of intimacy in place of the stimulation of real contact? Are we afraid of the complications of real relationships, the melodramas of misunderstanding, the heartbreaks and infidelities? In this program we probe the migration of human affections from people to machines and the trade-offs that entails.

Guests:

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