Tag Archives: Environment

Scholars' Circle Interviews

The Scholars’ Circle & Insighters Radio- July 7th, 2013

First, we revisit the American Revolution through the story of the loyalists – those loyal to Great Britain. [ dur: 18 mins. ]

  • Maya Jasanoff, Professor of History , Harvard University. Author of Liberty’s Exiles: American Loyalists and the Revolutionary War.

Then, we talk about America at a political, cultural and economic crossroads with [ dur: 27 mins. ]

  • Bill Greider  author of, Come Home America: The Rise and Fall and the Redeeming Promise of Our Country.

Finally, we interview Heather Rogers, author of Green Gone Wrong: How Our Economy is Undermining the Environmental Revolution. [ dur: 13 mins. ]

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Scholars' Circle Interviews

The Scholars’ Circle & Insighters Radio- June 30th, 2013

What are the collective impacts of the last Supreme Court term on our lives and our rights? [ dur: 18mins ]

  • Erwin Chemerinsky is the founding Dean and Distinguished Professor of Law at the University of California, Irvine School of Law. He is the author of books, including, Constitutional Law, and The Conservative Assault on the Constitution.

Then, the life, legacy and leadership of Nelson Mandela in the words of one of his closest colleagues. [ dur: 10 mins ]

  • Albie Sachs, former South African Constitutional Court judge; Author of many books, including The Soft Vengeance of a Freedom Fighter and The Strange Alchemy of Life and Law

Finally, in the wake of President Obama’s new climate plan, three of the world’s top scientists assess how to heal this planet. [ dur: 28 mins. ]

  • Mark Z. Jacobson is Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering and Director of Atmosphere/Energy Program at Stanford. He is the author of Air Pollution and Global Warming: History, Science, and Solutions and  Atmospheric Pollution: History, Science, and Regulation
  • Michael E. Mann is a Professor of Meteorology at Penn State University, and the director of the Penn State Earth System Science Center. Dr. Mann is author of more than 150 peer-reviewed and edited publications, and two books including, Dire Predictions: Understanding Global Warming, and The Hockey Stick and the Climate Wars: Dispatches from the Front Lines. He is also a lead author for the 2007 Intergovernmental Panel on climate change for which he, his coauthors, and VP Al Gore won the Nobel prize.
  • Peter Ward is Professor of Biology at the University of Washington. He is the author of Our Flooded Earth, Under a Green Sky: global warming, the mass extinctions of the past and what they can tell us about our future mass extinctions, and, Out of Thin Air: Dinosaurs, Birds, and Earth’s Ancient Atmosphere.

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Scholars' Circle Interviews

The Insighters Radio- June 2nd, 2013

First, there are some dozen situations around the world that could be considered pre-genocidal. What have we learned from past genocides? We speak with Romeo Dallaire, commander of peacekeeping forces in Rwanda who tried to stop the massacre of Tutsis. He is the author of, Shake Hands With the Devil and They Fight Like Soldiers, They Die Like Children. [ dur: 45 mins. ]

Then, we look at increasing evidence that the cancer epidemic is linked to chemicals in the environment. With Sandra Steingraber, author of the book, Living Downstream: An Ecologist’s Personal Investigation of Cancer and the Environment.  [ dur: 13 mins. ]

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Scholars' Circle Interviews

The Scholars’ Circle & Insighters Radio- Mar. 31st, 2013

First, what are the real factors that will drive the justices decisions on Prop. 8 and DOMA? [ dur. 27mins. ]

  • Samuel A. Marcosson is Professor of Law at University of Louisiana, Lious S. Brandis School of Law. HIs publications include, Original Sin: Clarence Thomas and the Failure of the Constitutional Conservatives, and the book chapter The Special Status of Religion Under the First Amendment … and What it Means For Gay Rights and Anti-Discrimination Laws (in Moral Argument, Religion, and Same-Sex Marriage: Advancing the Public Good).
  • Lawrence Baum is Professor Emeritus in the Political Science Department at Ohio State University.. His publications include,The Puzzle of Judicial Behavior (Analytical Perspectives on Politics), and Specializing the Courts.
  • Sanford Levinson is Chair in Law and professor of government at University of Texas Law School. His numerous publications include, Wrestling with Diversity; Our Undemocratic Constitution: Where the Constitution Goes Wrong (and How We the People Can Correct It) and Framed: America’s 51 Constitutions and the Crisis of Governance.

Then, on the Scholars’ Circle, with dozens of species going extinct every day, we look at the science and ethical issues of de-extinction – cloning using DNA of extinct species – and conservation. [ dur. 29 mins. ]

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Scholars' Circle Interviews

Insighters & Scholars’ Circle July 29th, 2012

With unprecedented melting of the ice sheets and worst drought in 55 years, we spend the hour understanding climate change AND the solution, including how to power the entire planet with renewables–with top scientists.

Part 1: Interview with Joseph Romm, senior fellow, American Progress – Author of Hell and High Water.  Editor in Chief : climateprogress.org [ dur. 28 mins. ]

Part 2: The Scholars’ Circle.

  • Prof. William Moomaw, Tuft Univ.
  • Prof. Mark Jacobson, Stanford
  • Prof. Ravi Rajan, UC Santa Cruz – Author of Modernizing Nature –  Forestry and Eco-imperialism 1800 to 1950.

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Scholars' Circle Interviews

Insighters & Scholars’ Circle – Nature of organizing societies and hate speech politics – July 15th, 2012

What does nature teach us about organizing societies, governments and businesses? [dur: 28mins. ]

  • Rafe Sagarin (1971-2015) was a research scientist with the Institute of the Environment at the University of Arizona in Tucson, AZ and the Program Manager for Oceans at Biosphere 2, where he was working to transform Biosphere 2’s ocean biome into a living model of the Gulf of California. He is the author of, Learning from the Octopus: How Secrets From Nature Can Help Us Fight Terrorism Attacks, Natural Disasters and Disease.

What are the effects of incivility, vilification and hate speech? What are the effects of political incivility and vilification on pubic policy and political participation? On democracy? How do they compare to hate speech? Where are the legal lines drawn? [ dur: 29mins. ]

For a transcript of this interview, please visit: TheBigQ

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Scholars' Circle Interviews

Insighters & Scholars’ Circle July 1st, 2012

First Segment,  Untangling the science and politics of climate change with renowned climate scientist, James Hansen, author – Storms of my Grandchildren. ( dur: 27mins. ]

For a transcript of this interview, please visit: TheBigQ

On Scholars’ Circle. Politics of Emotions. How do emotions drive political outcomes like violence, war and genocide? [ dur. 25 mins. ]

  • Roger Peterson, MIT: author of: Understanding Ethnic Conflict.
  • David Altheide, AZ State Univ.: author of: Terror Post 9-11 and the Media
  • Jeff Berkenstein, St. Martin’s Univ.: author of: Re-framing 9-11

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Scholars' Circle Interviews

Insighters & Scholars’ Circle June 9th, 2012

Will Allen talks about the Good Food Revolution, a movement dedicated to equitable and sustainable food, and creating just world one food secure community at a time.  With Will Allen, author of Good Food Revolution , founder of Growing Power. [ dur. 25 mins. ]

And on The Scholars’ Circle, we dissect the conflict in Syria, the failed Kofi Annan attempt at peace talks, and what it means for the region and the world.The Middle East.

  • Prof. Samer S. Shehata, Center for Contemporary Arab Studies @ Georgetown Univ. Author: Islamist Politics in the Middle East: Movements and Change
  • Prof. Hamoud Salhi, Cal State Domingues Hills, Essay in International Relations and Security in the Digital Age
  • Prof. Nader Hashemi, Univ. of Denver. Author: Islam, Secularism, and Liberal Democracy: Toward a Democratic Theory for Muslim Societies

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Scholars' Circle Interviews

Insighters & Scholars’ Circle – April 29th, 2012 @ LA Times Book Festival

All interviews were recorded live at the LA Times Book Festival on April 20th.

1. What is the collective cost to our wastefulness? And what are the economic and environmental harms of wastefulness? Edward Humes is author of, Garbology: Our Dirty Love Affair with Trash.

2. Franklin D. Roosevelt’s efforts to restore the US economy were met by a set of dark forces that sought to destroy him and all of his policies. What were those forces and how might they still resonate today? Sally Denton is author of, The Plots Against the President: FDR, A Nation in Crisis and the Rise of the American Right.

3. Army scientist Bruce Ivins mailed cultivated anthrax spores to U.S. Senators and media outlets, or did he? Who was Bruce Ivins? How did the press contribute to misleading America? Why did some of our highest government officials disregard scientific data while spinning the letter attacks into a basis for war? David Willman is author of, Mirage Man: Bruce Ivins, the Anthrax Attacks and America’s Rush to War.

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Scholars' Circle Interviews

Insighters & Scholars’ Circle – April 19th, 2012

Seg. 1: Living Off the Grid? a look inside the movement to live with total freedom and independence. Who’s doing it? How and why? We speak with Nick Rosen author of, Off the Grid.

Seg. 2: Cancer and the environment – increasing evidence suggests that the cancer epidemic is linked to chemicals in the environment. We speak with Steingraber author of, Living Downstream: An Ecologist’s Personal Investigation of Cancer and the Environment.

Seg.3: On the anniversary of the Armenian Genocide, we look at what are the conditions for genocide and what are the means to prevent it.

  • Vahakn Dadrian, Dir. of Genocide Res. @ Zoryan Inst.;
  • Prof. Alex Hinton, Rutgers Univ. Anthropology & Genocide;
  • Prof. Richard Dekmejian, Political Science, USC.

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