Newest Catalog Items

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Nuclear Weapons in Space and Ground Stations for War in Space

By MariaAugust 17, 2021Newest Catalog Items

Radio based on films produced by Will Griffin for the Global Network Against Weapons and Nuclear Power in Space In May and June 2021 Will Griffin released two short films on the recent expansion of nuclear power into Space and on the secrecy surrounding the upgrade of a US radar installation on Norwegian soil.
These two short films are posted on the the website of the Global Network Against Weapons and Nuclear Power in Space. That’s an international organization founded in 1992 with an unbroken record of education and activism on a rarely covered topic, the Weaponization of Space.
For the first film, published on May 6, 2021, Will Griffin writes in his summary: The Pentagon and multinational corporations are privatizing [ . . . ]

Podcast (file2): Play in new window | Download (Duration: 29:00 — 39.8MB)

The First Nuclear Chain Reaction – Enrico Fermi and Henry Moore (TWO of TWO) – ARCHIVE

By MariaAugust 10, 2021Newest Catalog Items

Historian Iain Boal tells the story of The Beginning of the Mass Production of Nuclear Bombs The Italian physicist Enrico Fermi set off the first nuclear chain reaction in an underground tennis-court at the University of Chicago in 1942. Exactly 25 years after that experiment, with Fermi already dead of radiation induced leukemia, a statue by Henry Moore was unveiled on December 2, 1967, at that location, to commemorate the first self sustained nuclear chain reaction.
Boal describes the fascinating clash of ideas, from the early anti nuclear resistance by SDS students in the US and the British CND (Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament), to the visual impression of Moore’s statue that seems to depict a skull plus storm trooper helmet [ . . . ]

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 29:00 — 39.8MB)

The First Nuclear Chain Reaction – Enrico Fermi and Henry Moore (ONE of TWO)- ARCHIVE

By MariaAugust 3, 2021Newest Catalog Items

Historian Iain Boal tells the story of The Beginning of the Nuclear Age (ONE of TWO) The Italian physicist Enrico Fermi set off the first nuclear chain reaction in an underground tennis-court at the University of Chicago in December 1942. His experiment led directly to the building of the plutonium bomb that destroyed the city of Nagasaki.
There are competing claims as to the beginning of the nuclear age. Was it the day of Trinity, was it Hiroshima, or was it Fermi with his willingness to risk a nuclear explosion in the middle of a crowded city.
But more important than the date is the need to comprehend the fundamental change that the beginning of the nuclear age has brought about. [ . . . ]

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 29:01 — 39.8MB)

Economic Disobedience & Debt Abolition – Chris Hedges with Thomas Gokey

By MariaJuly 27, 2021Newest Catalog Items

How can a discussion of the enormous debt and looming homelessness faced by ordinary people in the US, once the covid pandemic is ending, be inspiring and visionary?
In preparation for that fight Thomas Gokey and the Debt Collective have begun organizing debtors into a union. They already had victories canceling $2.8 billion in student debt, medical debt, payday loans, probation debt and credit card debt.
Today the sheer magnitude of the problem we will have to deal with soon – over 40 million people in the US facing eviction once Covid moratoria disappear – is seen as an opportunity.
Chris Hedges is a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, a New York Times best-selling author, a professor at Rutgers University, and an ordained Presbyterian [ . . . ]

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 29:00 — 39.8MB)

How Much Do Rockets Pollute? Are They Bad For Our Air?

By MariaJuly 20, 2021Newest Catalog Items

Tim Dodd asks: What comes out of the flamey end of a rocket?
I’m alerting you to the helpful information in Tim Dodd’s 2020 film immediately following the two space flights by billionaire Richard Branson and Jeff Bezos. Both businessmen are aiming at greatly increasing the number of flights into Space for commerce and space tourism.
Tim Dodd begins his film by wondering why NASA, with a mission of protecting the atmosphere, agrees to polluting space flights and their expansion into space tourism.
Tim Dodd is also known as The Everyday Astronaut. He is a science communicator, photographer, and musician. His website – everydayastronaut.com – features videos and information about past and upcoming spaceflight.
Tim is clearly a fan and supporter of [ . . . ]

Podcast (file2): Play in new window | Download (Duration: 29:01 — 39.9MB)

Junk in Space – The World’s Largest Garbage Dump – says NASA

By MariaJuly 13, 2021Newest Catalog Items

How will it affect Space Exploration and Tourism?
This program begins with part of the LIVE transmission from Mission Control of the launch on April 23, 2021, of the SpaceX Crew Dragon “Endeavor” to the International Space Station. The crew was being informed of a piece of orbital debris that might pass close to their spacecraft. They were told to cover the windows with kevlar blankets, put on their pressurized flight suits, and get into their seats just in case there was an impact that caused a loss of air pressure. Preparations for space junk collisions are now routine.
Meanwhile, at their point of destination, the International Space Station crew, in a monthly inspection, had found that their Canadarm had been pierced [ . . . ]

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 29:00 — 39.8MB)

SPACE JUNK – Fast And Dangerous

By MariaJuly 6, 2021Newest Catalog Items

The Australian physician and anti nuclear campaigner, Helen Caldicott, has since the late 1970s worked with Bruce Gagnon and Karl Grossman from Space For Peace to keep space free from weapons and nuclear material. And all had tried to prevent the deployment, in 1997, of the space probe Cassini to Saturn with 72 pounds of Plutonium-238 on board. A launch accident could have dispersed the deadliest material known to man across our planet.
Space Junk has become an important topic. As early as 2001 Bruce Gagnon was describing that of all the man-made objects in Low Earth Orbit, 95% are space junk: rocket thrusters, derelict satellites, and most of all, tiny fragments of debris from collisions and explosions. These pieces of [ . . . ]

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 29:00 — 39.8MB)

The origin of COVID: Did people or nature open Pandora’s box at Wuhan? – Nicholas Wade

By MariaJune 22, 2021Newest Catalog Items

Nicholas Wade is a science writer, editor, and author who has worked on the staff of Nature, Science, and, for many years, the New York Times. His May 5, 2021 article in the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, asking whether people or nature opened Pandora’s box at Wuhan, generated huge interest and follow-on interviews.
In this interview Nicholas Wade covers intriguing questions regarding the remaining mystery of who the original host animal was – and what intermediate animal introduced it to humans. Also – how Donald Trump naming it, without evidence, the China Virus made scientists and media want to support the theory of a natural origin in order to stem the tide of racism. And – to make it [ . . . ]

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 29:00 — 39.8MB)

The U.S. Space Force – Interview with Bruce Gagnon, co-founder of Space4Peace

By MariaJune 15, 2021Newest Catalog Items

Topics are: STRATCOM, the weaponization of space, full spectrum dominance, surveillance, and 5G satellites.
At the end of December 2019 then President Donald J. Trump signed into law legislation creating the first new armed service since 1947 — the U.S. Space Force. In February 2021 President Joe Biden declared that he will not seek to eliminate the Space Force and roll military space functions back into the Air Force. Instead he increased the funding of the Space Force in the defense budget proposal for 2022.
Bruce Gagnon has dedicated his life and energy, and inspired so many others along the way, to organize against the weaponization of space. He cofounded the Global Network Against Weapons and Nuclear Power in [ . . . ]

Podcast (file2): Play in new window | Download (Duration: 29:00 — 39.8MB)

Suzanne Simard with David Haskell – Finding the Mother Tree

By MariaJune 8, 2021Newest Catalog Items

A small bookstore in Point Reyes Station, a coastal town in West Marin, California, was the first to invite Suzanne Simard for a conversation. Three days earlier, on May 4, her book had been published. Finding the Mother Tree, Discovering the Wisdom of the Forest, has already become a best-seller.
Suzanne Simard was born in the Monashee Mountains of British Columbia and grew up in an old growth forest. She was educated at the University of British Columbia and Oregon State University; and is now Professor of Forest Ecology in the University of British Columbia’s Faculty of Forestry.
Over 1,000 people participated on the Zoom book release hosted by David Haskell. He is professor of biology and environmental studies at [ . . . ]

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 29:00 — 39.8MB)

Is anti-Zionism anti-Semitism? Israeli historian Ilan Pappe and former Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis

By MariaMay 25, 2021Newest Catalog Items

The question put to Israeli historian Ilan Pappe by Intelligence Squared and recorded before the most recent attack on Gaza was: is anti-Zionism anti-Semitism?
His response, recorded on March 30, 2021, is an extraordinary mini-lecture on the origins of this argument and how it is now used to prevent the critique of Israeli policies.
Ilan Pappe is an expatriate Israeli historian and socialist activist. He is a professor with the College of Social Sciences and International Studies at the University of Exeter in the United Kingdom.
Pappé is one of Israel’s New Historians. Since the release of pertinent British and Israeli government documents in the early 1980s, they have been rewriting the history of Israel’s creation in 1948. And that includes the corresponding [ . . . ]

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 29:00 — 39.8MB)

Israel’s Bombing of Gaza – May 2021 / Rashida Tlaib and Sami Al-Arian

By MariaMay 18, 2021Newest Catalog Items

Thanks to Amy Goodman and Chris Hedges for the moving presentations on the status of Palestinians. Democracy Now re-broadcast congresswoman Rashida Tlaib’s courageous speech of May 13 on the floor of the House.
Rashida Tlaib says that she is a reminder to colleagues that Palestinians exist, that we are human and we dream. She calls for Apartheid and ethnic cleansing of Palestinians to end.
She points out that currently military support of Israel is unconditional and that Israel as the largest recipient of security assistance from the US does not comply with federal laws and international human rights standards.
Chris Hedges is a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, Presbyterian minister, author and television host of On Contact. He was a foreign correspondent and bureau chief [ . . . ]

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 29:00 — 39.8MB)

Professor Avi Loeb: The First Sign of Intelligent Life Beyond Earth

By MariaMay 11, 2021Newest Catalog Items

In October, 2017, an object that came from outside the solar system was discovered near the sun. Harvard Professor Avi Loeb says that it is an artifact – many colleagues say it is just another comet or asteroid.
Here is part of the ongoing and escalating controversy laid out in the Big Brains podcast from the University of Chicago from May 6, 2021. The full 34 minute conversation between Paul Rand and Professor Avi Loeb is on the University of Chicago website.
Avi Loeb is a theoretical physicist who works on astrophysics and cosmology. He is former chair of the astronomy department at Harvard University and directs the Black Hole Initiative. He chairs the Advisory Committee for the Breakthrough Starshot Initiative [ . . . ]

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 29:00 — 39.8MB)

Suzanne Simard – Dispatches from The Mother Tree Project

By MariaMay 4, 2021Newest Catalog Items

A report on the underground networks in the forest
Suzanne Simard is Professor of Forest Ecology in the University of British Columbia’s Faculty of Forestry. In spite of her status in academia, rigorous research and love and respect from her students it took over 30 years for her ideas to break through.
Ferris Jabr writes in the New York Times Magazine: “By analyzing the DNA in root tips and tracing the movement of molecules through underground conduits, Simard has discovered that fungal threads link nearly every tree in a forest — even trees of different species. Carbon, water, nutrients, alarm signals and hormones can pass from tree to tree through these subterranean circuits…
Resources tend to flow from the oldest and biggest trees [ . . . ]

Podcast (file2): Play in new window | Download (Duration: 29:00 — 39.8MB)

Saving Redwoods in Northern California – Pomo Indian Perspective

By MariaApril 27, 2021Newest Catalog Items

A call for support went out early in 2021. Logging was to begin in a coast redwood forest in Mendocino County on the Pacific ocean that many of us believed was protected since it is owned by the State of California. The State purchased almost 50,000 acres from a bankrupt logging company in 1949. The Jackson Demonstration State Forest, located between the city of Willits inland and Fort Bragg on the coast, is managed by CalFire, the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.
Research showed quickly that CalFire, except for a short pause, never stopped logging the land of their second growth coast redwoods. But now, in the age of climate change and devastating forest fires, their timber harvest plans [ . . . ]

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 29:00 — 39.8MB)