Reforming The World's Financial Systems Heretically - Brett Scott
(Reprise from 2014, but very sadly the US - and indeed the world's - financial system has not been reformed to offset inbuilt disadvantages against the economically underserved or deprived. Here at #ItsTheEconomy there is hope that perhaps #COVID19 might offer an opportunity for a much needed rethink.) Popular anger against the financial system has never been higher, yet the practical workings of the system remain opaque to many people. aims to bridge the gap between protest slogans and practical proposals for reform. Claudia Cragg (comments and suggestions warmly welcomed at @claudiaragg) speaks here for @KGNU #ItsTheEconomy broadcast show with @Suitpossum. Brett is a campaigner and former s broker who has a unique understanding of life inside and outside the financial sector. He builds up a framework for approaching it based on the three principles of 'Exploring', 'Jamming' and 'Building', offering a practical guide for those who wish to deepen their understanding of, and access to, the inner workings of financial institutions. Scott covers aspects frequently overlooked, such as the cultural dimensions of the financial system, and considers major issues such as agricultural speculation, carbon markets and tar-sands financing. Crucially, it also showcases the growing alternative finance movement, showing how everyday people can get involved in building a new, democratic, financial system.
25 Feb 202131min
Texas Proves Anti-Racist, Feminist Policies Must Be Applied vs. Climate Change
Claudia Cragg speaks here for @KGNU with Dr. Jennie C. Stephens, @jenniecstephens, the Director of the and the Dean’s Professor of Sustainability Science & Policy at in Boston, Massachusetts. She is also the Director for Strategic Research Collaborations at Northeastern University’s and is affiliated with the , the department of and the department of . Her research, teaching, and community engagement focus on integrating social justice, feminist, and anti-racist perspectives into climate and energy resilience, social and political aspects of the renewable energy transition, reducing reliance on fossil fuels, energy democracy, gender in energy and climate, and climate and energy justice. Her unique trans-disciplinary approach integrates innovations in social science and public policy with science and engineering to promote social justice, reduce inequalities and redistribute power (electric power, economic power and political power). Diversifying Power: Why We Need Antiracist, Feminist Leadership on Climate and Energy to be published by in 2020, she argues that effectively addressing climate change requires diversifying leadership, redistributing wealth and power, and moving beyond mainstream male-dominated technocratic solutions to climate change. Throughout her career she has explored institutional and cultural innovation in the energy sector, including gender diversity, energy democracy, and technological optimism as well as the “usability” of climate science in climate resilience efforts. Professor Stephens was a 2015-2016 fellow, and her book “) explores social and cultural debates about energy system change (co-authored with Wilson & Peterson). Before coming to Northeastern, Professor Stephens was on the faculty at the University of Vermont (2014-2016) and Clark University (2005-2014). She did post-doctoral research at Harvard’s Kennedy School and she has taught courses at Tufts, Boston University, and MIT. She earned her PhD at the in Environmental Science & Engineering and her BA at Harvard University in Environmental Science and Policy.
18 Feb 202122min
The Democratization of Tech as Business Aide during COVID TImes
Claudia Cragg @KGNU (@claudiacragg) addresses the business operational adjustments everyone is having to make in what we hope will soon be a post-COVID world. At Zenreach, where he is CEO, John Kelly (@zenreach) is addressing entrepreneurs and operators, both small and large, to let them know that as a company they do recognize the unique challenges that have presented themselves during these unprecedented times. in this wide-ranging conversation, a number of issues are explored. Listeners might also want to know that ZenReach has started a weekly webinar series showcasing merchants and industry experts who have found creative ways to adapt—and in some cases thrive—in this environment where most have had to shut our doors. Second, they have compiled a very useful dedicated section of our website with some best practices that we have learned from our merchant partners. You can find that here: .
11 Feb 202130min
Small Planet's Moore Lappe - Igniting Power, Meaning, and Connection for the America We Want
Many Americans have been distraught for the last four years as tightly held economic and political power drowned out their voices and values. But now, with a new administration and the Biden-Harris partnership, there is hope that building on small past successes real success could be found. Claudia Cragg @KGNU speaks here (2017) with legendary Diet for a Small Planet author Frances Moore Lappé @fmlappe who together with co-writer and organizer-scholar Adam Eichen offers a fresh, surprising response to this core crisis. This intergenerational duo opens with an essential truth: It’s not the magnitude of a challenge that crushes the human spirit. It’s feeling powerless—in this case, fearing that to stand up for democracy is futile. It’s not, Lappé and Eichen argue. With riveting stories and little-known evidence, they demystify how we got here, exposing the well-orchestrated effort that has robbed Americans of their rightful power. But at the heart of this unique conversation are solutions. Even in this divisive time, Americans are uniting across causes and ideologies to create a “canopy of hope” the policy advocates call the Democracy Movement. In this invigorating “movement of movements,” millions of Americans are leaving despair behind as they push for and achieve historic change. The movement and democracy itself are vital to us as citizens and fulfill human needs—for power, meaning, and connection—essential to our thriving. In this timely and necessary interview, Lappé and Eichen offer proof that courage is contagious in the daring fight for democracy. c.f. Anna Lappe @annalappe
21 Jan 202127min
Nuclear Disaster Update for Fukushima Daichi Japan
Claudia Cragg speaks here for @KGNU with Caitlin Stronell, for an update about the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster, an 11 March 2011 nuclear accident at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant in Ōkuma, Fukushima Prefecture, Japan. The event was caused by the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami. It was the most severe nuclear accident since the Chernobyl disaster in 1986. Stronell of @CNICJapan, is Editor of Nuke Info Tokyo. She explains here that plans remain in place by the Japanese government and TEPCO to dump massive volumes of contaminated water stored at Fukushima Daiichi into the Pacific Ocean which thus far have been stalled by strong domestic and international opposition and the official announcement that the dumping has again been postponed. International pressure to save the world's oceans from radioactive contamination, Stronell says, is very important, and which they will hand to the government at a hearing to take place soon. Please see their website linked above in this paragraph for details. There is also an
14 Jan 202131min
In Her Own Words, An Essential Mental Health Worker on the CO Covid Frontline
Claudia Cragg @claudiacragg speaks here with an essential mental health worker on the Colorado front lines in the age of the COVID19 pandemic.
7 Jan 202128min
Christa Parravani, on Her Reckoning with Life, Death and Choice.
Claudia Cragg @claudiacragg speaks here with Christa Parravani about her harrowing account, , the story of one woman's reckoning with life, death and "choice". It is, she says, a memoir of 'Choice, Children and Womanhood.' In 2017 Christa Parravani had recently moved her family from California to West Virginia and was surviving on a teacher's salary and raising two young children with her husband, screenwriter Anthony Swofford. Another pregnancy, a year after giving birth to her second child, came as a shock. Christa had a history of ectopic pregnancies, and worried that she wouldn't be able to find adequate medical care. She immediately requested a termination, but her doctor refused to help. The only doctor who would perform an abortion made it clear that this would be illicit, not condoned by her colleagues or their community. Christa Parravani has crafted, through her own harrowing experiences with healthcare in contemporary America, a brilliant and moving exploration of the choices women have. Christa Parravani is the author of the Indie bestselling , which shares Parravani's journey through grief after the loss of her identical twin sister Cara. Her was named the Amazon Debut Spotlight Pick for March 2013, an Amazon best book of the month, and an NPR critics pick. Vanity Fair calls Her "astonishing." Her was an Indie Bound Next Pick, a 2013 Books for a Better Life nominee, and both an Oprah and People Magazine must-read memoir. In a starred review, Booklist calls Her "raw and unstoppable... a triumph of the human spirit." In Bookforum, Heidi Julavits says “Her invites obsessional reader behavior because Parravani has the ability to make life, even at its worst, feel magic-tinged and vital and lived all the way down to the bone.” Review - 'Haunting, wild, and quiet at once. A shimmering look at motherhood, in all gothic pain and glory. I could not stop reading' - Lisa Taddeo, bestselling author of Three Women
16 Dec 202033min
