Full Program

Part 1

We begin with the United Nations conference on climate change at which President Obama warned the world leaders gathered in Paris that time is running out to deal with global warming before it is too late to reverse its catastrophic impact on the planet. Jody Freeman who served as Counselor for Energy and Climate Change in the Obama White House, joins us to discuss the critical role of executive action in the face of a Congress that is trying to roll back modest gains in clean energy for power plants which is the least challenging and most attainable goal compared to what a global regime to combat global warming will require.

Part 2

Then we look into the psychology and sociology of global warming denial that hit a six-year high in the U.S. in 2014 with 23% of Americans not believing in global warming and 53% not believing it is caused by human activity. Dr. Riley Dunlap, a professor of sociology at Oklahoma State University and one of the founders of environmental sociology, joins us to discuss why 53% of Republicans in Congress are global warming deniers, along with many of the Republican presidential candidates, and how much the public get their cues from political and media elites.  

Part 3

Then finally we examine the under-reported fact that 30% of the world’s carbon emissions come from land misuse and industrial agriculture and speak with Jeff Biggers, the founder of the Climate Narrative Project at the University of Iowa. We discuss his recent article at The New York Times “Iowa’s Climate Change Wisdom” and how the adaptation of wind and solar energy and carbon sequestration in soil makes Iowa an important example for the U.S. at the United Nations conference on climate change in Paris that opened today. 

Full Program

Part 1

We begin on this Thanksgiving with Adele Stan, a journalist based in Washington who specializes in covering the intersection of religion and politics and is currently a columnist for the American Prospect. We discuss how much the pandering by Republican presidential candidates to a few thousand Christian fundamentalists in Iowa is having a detrimental effect on the national discourse and harming America's image overseas. With rampant Latino-bashing, and now Muslim-bashing, along with ugly and inhumane references to "rabid dogs" and Nazi-like lists of people deemed different and less than human, we will look into what is happening to the heart and soul of America that appears to be being hardened with hate with a lust for war by those who profess to be followers of the Prince of Peace, Jesus Christ.

Part 2

Then we explore the foreign policy arena in terms of the proscriptions and pronouncements by the Republican candidates running for the presidency and speak with Jacob Heilbrunn, the Senior Editor of The National Interest and author of "They Knew They We Right: The Rise of the Neocons". We examine the amazing ignorance displayed by Dr. Ben Carson and the ludicrous amateurism of Donald Trumps simplistic solutions for global problems. And we also look ahead to the Republican convention which Trump is likely to dominate, to determine whether there is a pathway to the nomination for Ted Cruz, who is more intelligent but just as belligerent as the frontrunners, or Marco Rubio, who is a captive of the neocons and Adelson's millions, and is perhaps the most dangerous candidate when it comes to running foreign policy.