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Senator John Kerry: This Moment on Earth

Written by William Craven on . Posted in Books.

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Senator John Kerry joins Betsy to assess the outlook at This Moment On Earth, which also happens to be the title of the book he has written with his wife, Teresa Heinz Kerry. Convinced of the need for political leadership on conservation and energy issues long before they were fashionable (fashion never having been his interest or strong suit), Senator Kerry has put twenty years into building consensus within Congress, across party lines, and now with citizens across America: "What middle class family in America wouldn’t love to get 150 miles per gallon?" Betsy credits him as being an inspiration on her road to becoming an active environmentalist, and wonders if this side of him deserved a higher profile in the 2004 election. PART ONE (11 min) PART TWO (7 min)

Riane Eisler: The Real Wealth of Nations

Written by William Craven on . Posted in Books.

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Author of the bestseller The Chalice and the Blade, Riane Eisler talks with Betsy about internalizing true quality of life factors (child-rearing, health of habitat, and other common-sense things) into a new Economics for the 21st Century, and the how fleeing the Holocaust and growing up in Havana instilled in her a lifelong commitment to the politics of caregiving, and in turn a commitment to deconstructing the limited use of current models, capitalist and socialist, that limit our ability to sustain ourselves. It’s all in her new book, The Real Wealth of Nations. LISTEN (12 min)

Chip Heath: Made to Stick

Written by William Craven on . Posted in Books.

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We’re getting better, but we still need to learn how best to market the product Earth. Chip Heath and his brother Dan have written Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die, a book that surveys the whole spectrum of ideas that successfully lodged themselves in the collective imagination, from Kennedy’s Moon Mission to Bill McKibben’s notion of "Cradle to Cradle" Architecture, and finds out what made them stick: "We talk in these abstract ways that mean things to people inside the movement, but that don’t necessarily mean things to outsiders." LISTEN (11 min)

Dan Imhoff & Food Fight

Written by William Craven on . Posted in Books.

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Watershed Media Director Dan Imhoff (and author of Paper or Plastic: Searching for Solutions to an Overpackaged World) joins Betsy to talk about his crucial (and quite colorful and handy) new book Food Fight: A Citizen’s Guide to the Farm Bill. The US Farm Bill wields enormous leverage over our food and our health, and the extent to which we are informed of its contents is the extent to which we can avert a looming diabetes crisis among our children, and apply subsidies in a way that makes dietary and economic sense. Want to help the family farmer? The first thing you can do is stop assuming that the US Farm Bill is only relevant to the family farmer. LISTEN (9 min)

Liza Dalby: East Wind Melts the Ice

Written by William Craven on . Posted in Books.

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An authority on Japanese culture, Liza Dalby has written a memoir that delves into the deepest rhythms of East Asian thought and sensitivity towards nature’s cycles. Structured according to the seasonal units of an ancient Chinese almanac, East Wind Melts the Ice is the perfect antidote to a world which has substituted 24-hour news cycles, fiscal quarters, and March Madness for the natural seasons which have sustained us for all time. LISTEN (12 min)

 

Challenging The Chip

Written by William Craven on . Posted in Books, recycling.

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Ted Smith of the Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition and author of Challenging the Chip comments on his recent trips to China and India to see firsthand the underbelly of, basically, a world of people like me typing on this computer and you reading on yours: E-waste, the fastest growing waste stream in the world, and toxic poison for some of the world’s poorest. Ted says that at this point "we’re losing the battle," and that the US needs "to join the international community at the treaty level," by ratifying the Basel Convention. That we contribute so much to the problem but are not among the 166 signatories of this humane global treaty is shameful, and needs immediate attention from our elected officials.
PART ONE (11 min)  PART TWO (7 min)

Harm de Blij: Why Geography Matters

Written by William Craven on . Posted in Books, climate change. 1 Comment on Harm de Blij: Why Geography Matters

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As Michigan State Professor Harm de Blij tells Betsy in this fascinating interview, "Geography is the only science that combines analysis of natural environments in the context of human society." So why have Americans become so ignorant of Geography, just at the moment when the Earth and its problems are ever more inter-related? Professor de Blij’s new book, Why Geography Matters: Three Challenges Facing America: Climate Change, the Rise of China, and Global Terrorism, answers, and guides us forward. LISTEN (12 min)

Marion Nestle: What to Eat

Written by William Craven on . Posted in Books, Health, Organics.

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Renowned nutritionist Marion Nestle, author of Foods Politics and What to Eat tells Betsy why she eats organic, why our government cannot do anything to guide us nutritionally, why a healthy diet is not as complex as it is made out to be ("Eat less, and eat more fruits and vegetables!"), and why it’s common sense for us omnivores to diversify our diets as much as possible.
PART ONE (11 min) PART TWO (7 min)