Episode 270: Small Modular Nuclear Reactors (video)
Paul Martin and Michael Barnard are both engineers who work on major energy projects. They worry less than Metta does about the health effects, but seem to worry a lot about security and are convinced that the cost effects mean that SMRs will never be built in large numbers.
Episode 269: Brussels; Schools; Assimilation (video)
Robin Collins tells us that the G7 discussed corporate taxation in Brussels. Bruna Nota, Joy Kogawa, and Adam Wynne recount the history of indigenous education in Canada. Metta tells a story about discovering her Choctaw heritage.
You can watch this series (or listen to them as audio podcasts) on our website, then discuss here: https://tosavetheworld.ca/videos/#comments.
Episode 268: The American Right (video)
Lawrence Rosenthal runs the Center for Right Wing Studies in Berkeley, California. He and Metta agree that the basis for the resentment that fuels right-wing populism is a resentment of cultural and status differentials.
You can watch this series (or listen to them as audio podcasts) on our website, then discuss here: https://tosavetheworld.ca/videos/#comments.
Episode 267: Church Animation (video)
Lois Wilson has been the Moderator of the United Church of Canada and a Canadian senator. Now she is promoting a proposal for a guaranteed annual income, and for international defence of human rights worldwide. You can watch this series (or listen to them as audio podcasts) on our website, then discuss here: https://tosavetheworld.ca/videos/#comments.
Episode 266: Spying (video)
Bill Robinson has been watching CSE, Canada’s agency for gathering intelligence about foreign spooks. He tells Metta about a new review agency to monitor the organization’s activities. You can watch this series (or listen to them as audio podcasts) on our website, then discuss here: https://tosavetheworld.ca/videos/#comments.
Episode 265: Grassroots Activism (video)
Marianne Larsen has been a lifelong activist. She has retired as a professor of education, but continues to run a charitable foundation (a family friend left her pots of money); and now is hoping to become a Green party candidate. She and Metta find they both like trees and “One Health.” You can watch this series (or listen to them as audio podcasts) on our website, then discuss here: https://tosavetheworld.ca/videos/#comments.
Episode 264: Climate Change and the Media (video)
The three guests are all worried about the difficulty of publicizing warnings about climate change, but Robert Hackett assures Doug Saunders and Paul Werbos that readers are more responsive if solutions are also presented, besides doom stories. You can watch this series (or listen to them as audio podcasts) on our website, then discuss here: https://tosavetheworld.ca/videos/#comments.
Episode 263: A Palestinian Prisoner (video)
Saleh Abu Izza is a Palestinian lawyer and writer who was wrongly jailed at age 17 and held for several years in terrible conditions, without being charged, along with thousands of other Palestinian children. He recounts the story in Arabic, which Yusur Al Bahrani translates to English.
Episode 262: Transnational Ideas (video)
Phyllis Bennis, Kai Brand-Jacobsen, and John Feffer all travel a lot and know people in many countries. More often now we hold discussions by Zoom, and here we discuss the future prospects for this kind of socializing. You can watch this series (or listen to them as audio podcasts) on our website, then discuss here: https://tosavetheworld.ca/videos/#comments.
Episode 261: Academic Activism (video)
Paul Rogers began as a biologist, became a development expert, and a professor of peace studies at Bradford University. He tells Metta about the book he is revising: Losing Control. You can watch this series (or listen to them as audio podcasts) on our website, then discuss here: https://tosavetheworld.ca/videos/#comments.
Episode 260: Russia’s Neighbors in 2021 (video)
Shorena is in Georgia, which has been too upset about internal politics this year to think about Arzu’s problems in Azerbaijan or Andre’s challenges in Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus. They tell Metta and Doug Saunders about all these issues. You can watch this series (or listen to them as audio podcasts) on our website, then discuss here: https://tosavetheworld.ca/videos/#comments.
Episode 259: What is Project Save the World? (video)
When a guest speaker forgot to show up, Metta took the chance to spend that time telling everyone about Project Save the World, which addresses six global threats to humanity. Its website is a meeting place for activists working to prevent these threats. The Youtube channel https://youtube.com/c/tosavetheworld displays relevant videos. Peace Magazine (with the website peacemagazine.org) publishes a paper and now digital magazine about peace issues quarterly — free online as text only, or by subscription in paper or digital version.
Episode 258: The World in May 2021 (video)
In this monthly Town Hall meeting we talk about removing methane from the air, the need of migrants for care and therapy, and small modular reactors. You can watch this series (or listen to them as audio podcasts) on our website, then discuss here: https://tosavetheworld.ca/videos/#comments.
Episode 257: Pipelines and Geopolitics (video)
John Foster knows where all the major oil and gas pipelines run, as well as the state of debate about where new ones should be placed and opened. They largely determine the alliances that countries must make and sustain with each other, he tells Metta. You can watch this series (or listen to them as audio podcasts) on our website, then discuss here: https://tosavetheworld.ca/videos/#comments.
Episode 256: How to Educate for Peace (video)
Tony Jenkins teaches at Georgetown University and runs two international peace education organizations. He tells Metta that the current generation of university students are brilliant, bold, and well-informed about global issues. You can watch this series (or listen to them as audio podcasts) on our website, then discuss here: https://tosavetheworld.ca/videos/#comments.
Episode 255: Pumping Water to Store Energy (video)
Michael Barnard assures Metta that we don’t need to worry about developing energy storage systems to stop global warming; we already know how to use pumped water and there are endless places that can be used for it. https://tosavetheworld.ca/videos/#comments.
Episode 254: The No State Solution (video)
Arguing that neither the One-State nor the Two-State solution is a real solution, Abraham Weizfeld tells Doug Saunders, Aaron Tovish, and Metta about his idea, which would give self-determination to both national groups, though they live mixed in their shared space. You can watch this series (or listen to them as audio podcasts) on our website, then discuss here: https://tosavetheworld.ca/videos/#comments.
Episode 253: Geothermal Energy (video)
Jefferson Tester is going to pull heat from the earth to provide all of Cornell University’s needs, as part of a project to make that campus self-sufficient in energy, including electricity, year round. You can watch this series (or listen to them as audio podcasts) on our website, then discuss here: https://tosavetheworld.ca/videos#comments.
Episode 252: Solar Panels to Cover Old Oil Wells (video)
The production of oil in Alberta will drop sharply because of falling demand (not shortage, as early “peak oil” theorists predicted) but there will still be a need for fossil fuels for several years. Many wells have been abandoned that still contain some of the less polluting type. Keith Hirsche proposes to install solar generators of power to extract that remaining oil. This plan is better than the remaining probable alternatives.
Episode 251: Organizing Security and Cooperation (video)
Both Fred Tanner and Monika Wohlfeld have worked for the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe — he as advisor to the secretary general and she as an organizer of field monitoring. They assure Metta that the organization is useful, even though its work is increasingly difficult. You can watch this series (or listen to them as audio podcasts) on our website, then discuss here: https://tosavetheworld.ca/videos/#comments.
Episode 250: Is Globalization Dead? (video)
Robert Schaeffer says globalization is over, but he is referring to economic relations, whereas many problems (e.g. pandemics, climate change) are global in scope and education is globalizing, say Andre Kamenshikov, Yeshua Moser Puangsuwan, and Doug Saunders. You can watch this series (or listen to them as audio podcasts) on our website, then discuss here: https://tosavetheworld.ca/videos/#comments.
Episode 249: Human Rights and Diplomacy (video)
Marius Grinius has been Canada’s ambassador to the Koreas, Vietnam, the United Nations, and the Conference on Disarmament. He says that diplomatic correctness has its place but it’s not everything, so he shares some impressions with Metta. You can watch this series (or listen to them as audio podcasts) on our website, then discuss here: https://tosavetheworld.ca/videos/#comments.
Episode 248: Werbos, Computers and God (video)
Paul Werbos wrote a dissertation at Harvard 50 years ago about the the mathematics of how the brain works. It is now. the basis for the “New AI.” He tells Metta about his vacillations betwe en believing in Einstein and in David Deutsch’s formulas for the universe. You can watch this series (or liaten to them as audio podcasts) on our website, then discuss here: https://tosavetheworld.ca/videos/#comments.
Episode 247: Against Military Spending (video)
Pere Brunet and Quique Sanchez work at the Centre Delàs in Barcelona to reduce military spending globally. Between 5 and 6 percent of all greenhouse gas emissions are military in origin — not counting the amount produced by rebuilding the cities destroyed by war. You can watch this series (or listen to them as audio podcasts) on our website, then discuss here: https://tosavetheworld.ca/videos/#comments.
Episode 246: Scrubbing Methane from the Air (video)
De Richter and Petersen are founding a project to spray iron salt aerosols into the air, where it will oxidize the excess methane that is such a potent greenhouse gas. Beckwith thinks it best to call this process “methane scrubbing.” You can watch this series or listen to them as audio podcasts on our website, then discuss here: https://tosavetheworld.ca/videos/#comments.
Episode 245: Hydrogen in Our Future (video)
Michael Barnard and Paul Rogers give Metta a lesson on Hydrogen — especially on the ways in which it should not be used in a sustainable world. But there is “green hydrogen” too — which is made, not from fossil fuels, as are “black” and “blue” hydrogen, but rather from renewable electricity and water sources. So far, unfortunately, the green kind is more expensive. You can watch this series (or listen to them as audio podcasts) on our website, then discuss here: https://tosavetheworld.ca/videos/#comments.
Episode 244: Anticipating the Next Five Years (video)
Karen Hamilton describes smart innovations on vaccine delivery. Phil Bogdonoff expects a grave lack of energy. Nadine Bloch urges us all to work harder! You can watch this series (or listen to them as audio podcasts) on our website, then discuss here: https://tosavetheworld.ca/videos/#comments.
Episode 243: Worry About Populism (video)
Frank Cunningham, a professor emeritus of philosophy, shares Metta’s view that the global upsurge in populism is a serious crisis, for it brings incompetent leaders to power just when urgent problems face us. The motivations for this orientation are arguable.
Episode 242: Yemen in War and Pandemic (video)
Three expatriate Yemenis discuss the origins and current dynamics of the seven-year-old war. Bahran predicts that it will not end until there is a solution of the US conflict with Iran.
Episode 241: Proportional Representation (video)
The three guests all actively work for Fair Vote Canada, which aims to shift Canada from a system of “first-past-the post” (electing a single politician from each riding) to proportional representation, which gives minority parties some representation in legislatures.
Episode 240: Building to Zero Carbon (video)
The goal of sustainable architecture is not energy efficiency but the reduction of carbon emissions. says Michael Barnard. Paul Dowsett agrees. They explain to Metta why heat pumps are so important, and why concrete is a challenge.
You can watch this series (or listen to them as audio podcasts) on our website, then discuss here: https://tosavetheworld.ca/videos/#comments.