2016

In 2016 I began focusing on climate change.

Press Conference from the Norwegian Young Sea ICE Expedition – N-ICE2015

By MariaDecember 28, 20162016

In the winter of 2015, an ice-bound Norwegian research vessel drifted with the shrinking Arctic ice for half a year while an international team of 70 scientists worked to better understand the effects of rising temperatures and changing sea ice.
It was the first wintertime Arctic Sea ice experiment to study the thinning ice pack. Data from submarines since 1958 and from satellites since 1972 had already shown that the frozen area in the Arctic is diminishing, the ice is getting thinner, multi year solid old ice is disappearing and the Arctic ocean is warming. However nobody had stayed with the ice for 6 months.
Since 1928 the Norwegian Polar Institute has done scientific research, mapping and environmental monitoring in the Arctic [ . . . ]

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How does the melting Arctic affect the rest of the world?

By MariaDecember 21, 20162016Arctic, Climate Change

NOAA’s Arctic Report Card 2016
The Arctic is now warming twice as fast as the global average. That’s the finding in the 11th Arctic Report Card released on December 13, 2016, at the annual American Geophysical Union meeting in San Francisco. NOAA’s Arctic Research Program Director, Jeremy Mathis, said about the year 2016: “Rarely have we seen the Arctic show a clearer, stronger or more pronounced signal of persistent warming and its cascading effects on the environment than this year.”
The Arctic Report Card, by a team of 61 scientists from 11 nations, lists the many ways in which the warming Arctic affects sea level rise, ocean and air circulation as well as weather in the Northern Hemisphere and beyond.
The warming Arctic [ . . . ]

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Faster than forecast: The story ice tells about climate change – Professor Jason Box

By MariaDecember 14, 20162016

At years’ end 2016 denial of climate change is being promoted at the highest level of the incoming Trump administration in the US. This in spite of the fact that even the coldest parts of planet earth are now warming at an unprecedented rate.
Professor Jason Box is one of the world’s experts on the Greenland ice sheet. He is professor in glaciology at the Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland. He moved to Denmark to be closer to the one field of study that he is dedicated to with a kind of passion and sense of responsibility that is unusual for a tenured Professor. While working at the Byrd Polar Research Center at Ohio State University from 2002-2012 he began [ . . . ]

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Winona LaDuke on Standing Rock

By MariaDecember 7, 20162016Native Americans

The test of civil society
On her way home from one of many visits to Standing Rock, the Native American activist and author Winona LaDuke stopped in Chicago and gave a talk at the Newberry Library to a standing room only audience.
Winona LaDuke lives on the White Earth reservation in northern Minnesota, and is working on climate change, renewable energy, and environmental justice. She is the founder of the White Earth Land Recovery Project, and Program Director of Honor the Earth.
Winona LaDuke’s talk in Chicago was framed by her clear headed assessment of the extraordinary risk that the fracking oil boom and the network of pipelines pose to our survival she offered examples how to break free from our addiction to [ . . . ]

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Standing Rock Water Protectors are receiving eviction orders

By MariaNovember 30, 20162016

The US Army Corps of Engineers and the North Dakota governor issue 10 day notices to Oceti Sakowin camp
This program is being recorded on November 29, 2016, less than a week before a December 5 deadline set by the Army Corps of Engineers as well as the Governor of North Dakota to vacate the several thousand inhabitants of Oceti Sakowin the most significant camp of the water protectors at Standing Rock.
The Standing Rock protests began in the Spring of 2016 in reaction to the construction of Energy Transfer corporation’s Dakota Access pipeline. It is designed to carry oil extracted by fracking.
The pipeline would run from the Bakken oil fields in North Dakota to southern Illinois, crossing beneath the Missouri and [ . . . ]

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Captain Paul Watson: When the Oceans Die We Die

By MariaNovember 23, 20162016

ONE self contained program
When Captain Paul Watson – co-founder of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society returned from exile in France, TUC radio broadcast an interview with him that surpassed in downloads all programs of 2016 except for one. So here is an update on occasion of the beginning of the Japanese whale hunt in the Southern Ocean.
Sea Shepherd is an international non-profit, marine wildlife conservation organization. Their 1977 founding mission is to end the destruction of habitat and the slaughter of wildlife in the world’s oceans. Their decades long practice of aggressive non-violence has led to charges of piracy. However Sea Shepherd’s legal team defends the organization’s right to enforce international conservation laws in neutral waters.
Courts in many jurisdictions have [ . . . ]

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Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz – ARCHIVE for Standing Rock: The Great Sioux Nation

By MariaNovember 16, 20162016

An Indigenous Peoples’ History of the United States, TWO of TWO
Dunbar-Ortiz is looking for reasons why the founding ideology of the US proved so deadly for the indigenous peoples living here. A little known and astounding fact is that to this day the US follows the Doctrine of Discovery developed by the Pope for Portugal and Spain and then used by the modern colonial powers. The Doctrine of Discovery treats indigenous land as unoccupied and ready for the taking as long as Christians were not present. The US Supreme Court, as recently as 2005, relied on the Doctrine of Discovery to limit the sovereignty of the Oneida Nation.
Dunbar-Ortiz also explains the role of the military in the suppression and re-education [ . . . ]

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Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz – ARCHIVE for Standing Rock: Military Response

By MariaNovember 8, 20162016

An Indigenous Peoples’ History of the United States, ONE of TWO
This first part of the program brings you Dunbar-Ortiz’ description of North America before invasion, the emergence of the US concept of a chosen people, the development of the role of the US military as a force for genocide that seamlessly transitioned into the US foreign wars, the role of militias, a brief history of AIM, the American Indian Movement, and the consequences of the Gold Rush in California.
The late great Howard Zinn, author of the now world famous book: A People’s History of the United States, was her friend and he played a role in convincing Beacon Press to commission and publish An Indigenous Peoples’ History of the [ . . . ]

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Ralph Nader “Breaking Through Power” (TWO of TWO)

By MariaNovember 2, 20162016

Part two of this program begins with a summary of Nader’s strategy for breaking through power: Congress, he said, is the center of power. We need to focus razor like on individual members. Organizing from the grassroots in each district we agree on specific demands that are supported widely – even nationally – and then presented in person to these members.
Nader suggests opening year round offices in each congressional district to represent the people full time. There would be about 2,000 people in these offices in each district, made up of volunteers and paid staff.
Nader’s plan also includes a small staff of full time lobbyists in Washington who will follow up on the local demands, including offering sample legislation. They [ . . . ]

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Ralph Nader “Breaking Through Power” (ONE of TWO)

By MariaOctober 26, 20162016

This talk was recorded on October 18, 2016, at City Lights Books in San Francisco – just three weeks before election day. Nader talked about his new book – published by City Lights under the title ‘Breaking Through Power – it’s easier than we think”. From the advance reviews we knew that he was not going to advocate for any party, blue, red or green – in spite of his own former affiliation with the Green Party – and not even for Sanders in particular. He has a specific plan how to take power ourselves and apply it directly to Congress without the mediation or intervention of any party.
In his book and talk Nader explains how to create a coherent [ . . . ]

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 29:01 — 19.9MB)

Julia Whitty – For Love and Protection of the Deep Ocean (TWO of TWO)

By MariaOctober 18, 20162016

This is the second part of a one hour reading and commentary by Julia Whitty on her book: Deep Blue Home. She is a diver, former nature documentary filmmaker, author and investigative journalist. As environmental correspondent for Mother Jones she had just returned from the Gulf Coast when I met her in Sebastopol, CA, in early August 2010. Not only had she visited the marshlands but she spent time with researchers who do deep ocean work on the so-called scattering layer.
In part ONE of this program Whitty gave a scholarly, lyrical and moving account of the unknown and unprotected life in the deep ocean. This largest and richest ecosystem left on Earth presents the foundation of life for the creatures [ . . . ]

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 28:58 — 19.9MB)

Julia Whitty – For Love and Protection of the Deep Ocean (ONE of TWO)

By MariaOctober 12, 20162016

I met Julia Whitty in August 2010 after her investigation of the Deepwater Horizon Disaster. This is an updated program of a memorable evening triggered by the August 2016 release of the movie: Deepwater Horizon that makes no mention of the ecological consequences.
In a small Northern California town where she lives she was giving a reading from her book: Deep Blue Home, An Intimate Ecology of Our Wild Ocean. That book had been described as: “breathtakingly learned and lyrical, written with humor, reverence and curiosity.”
Julia Whitty is a diver, former nature documentary filmmaker, author and environmental correspondent for Mother Jones.
She explained why the deep ocean is the foundation of life for the upper layer of the sunlit sea. Many whales, [ . . . ]

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Sea Shepherd Ocean Protectors – Captain Paul Watson

By MariaOctober 4, 20162016

Paul Watson was co founder of Greenpeace and led the campaigns against the slaughter of baby seals in the late seventies. When Patrick Moore became president of Greenpeace Canada he halted direct action and forced Watson out. Today Patrick Moore is a spokesperson for Monsanto and the nuclear industry.
Paul Watson never stopped his involvement in direct action. After his ouster from Greenpeace he founded the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society. (SSCS) It’s an international non-profit, marine wildlife conservation organization. Their mission is to end the destruction of habitat and the slaughter of wildlife in the world’s oceans.
Paul Watson is both praised and criticized for Sea Shepherd’s practice of aggressive non-violence. He says that some laws and conventions exist to protect the [ . . . ]

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Prof. Jeffrey Sachs: Sustainable Development and Deep Decarbonization

By MariaSeptember 7, 20162016

How the world lost a quarter century in the quest to get to zero carbon emissions, protect biodiversity, alleviate poverty and bring about sustainability for all.
Jeffrey D. Sachs is a world renowned professor of economics, leader in sustainable development, senior UN advisor, bestselling author and syndicated columnist. His monthly newspaper columns appear in more than 100 countries.
He is the co-recipient of the 2015 Blue Planet Prize. That’s the global prize for environmental leadership. The New York Times called him “probably the most important economist in the world.”
Sachs was appointed University Professor at Columbia University in 2016, and also serves as Professor of Sustainable Development, and of Health Policy and Management at Columbia. Prior to joining Columbia, Sachs spent over twenty [ . . . ]

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The Dublin Interview with Professor Kevin Anderson (TWO of TWO)

By MariaAugust 31, 20162016

This conclusion of the one hour interview covers Anderson’s intriguing proposal for carbon rationing; the fifth great extinction; the miserably small amount of money offered to the non-industrialized countries in the global climate fund; and it poses a provocative challenge to all of us: Are we choosing climate disaster or are we choosing a way out that requires courage and dramatic changes to the way we live? Because given the reality of our time and the clear state of science, says Kevin Anderson, this is the decision we are making now – not in 5 or 10 or 20 years. If we continue CO2 emissions as we do now it will be too late – possibly as early as in [ . . . ]

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 29:00 — 19.9MB)