Ecotopia

We interviewed Paul Ehrlich, author of The Population Bomb and founder of the Millennium Alliance for Humanity and the Biosphere, and Dan Blumstein, professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at UCLA.  Using a phrase created by Winston Churchill at the close of World War II, they argue that Covid-19 gives us an opportunity to rethink crucial environmental issues, including the use of animal vaccines and our over reliance on  fossil fuels. They also advocated the idea of a "shadow cabinet," where people not in power shadow and present alternatives to the actions of those in power.

As part of our series on Radical Change we interviewed two guests on the topic of Radical Medical Reform.  First we spoke with Norma Wilcox of Northstate Medicare for All, who  spoke about our broken health insurance system and why  Medicare-for-All/Single Payer is the best remedy. We then spoke with  David Welch,  retired nurse, about a range of problems, including  for-profit hospitals, factory medicine, pay for health care workers, and medical training.

In this program, Susan Tchudi spoke with  Dr. Clair Brown, Professor of Economics and Director of the Center for Work, Technology, and Society at the University of California, Berkeley. The program  is part of our series on Radical Change. Claire is an advocate of a Buddhist Economy, a holistic economic approach, where the economy delivers a high quality of life in a sustainable world. Buddhist economics integrates sustainability, equity, and compassion.She is the author of Buddhist Economics: An Enlightened Approach to the Dismal Science, published in 2017.

In this program, we spoke with Eartha Shanti, longtime activist. We discused her views on:

1.  The Life Killer culture.  A culture that rewards who kills the most.

2.  The Great Awakening.  A time of realization that the Earth is our Mother and we must take care of her.  That all life, human, animal, plant, planetary, is sacred.

3.  Age of Restoration.  Restoration of our forest planet; local control of local resouorces, unity and love of life, one hectare of land for each family, and support for each person to blossom and share.

4.  Life Giver Culture. The opposite of the life killer culture.

In this episode, activists George Gold and Marty Dunlap of  Concerned Citizens for Justice (Chico, CA), spoke about radical reform for policing. Although their comments were focused directly on Chico, their recommendations for change apply from small towns to large cities.  They spoke of police budgets, use of force, transparency, accountability, citizen oversight, de-escalation, and more. Ecotopia is a production of KZFR 90.1, community radio for the northern Sacramento Valley, the foothills, and beyond.

This episode introduces our new series on RADICAL CHANGE, where guests give us their best, most imaginative, and even outlandish ideas for changing the culture in which we live. Now is not the time for timid or compromised calls for action.  In this podcast we provide an overview of topics to be taken up in more detail in future programs:  social justice, climate change, homelessness, and healthcare.  For more details go to ecotopiakzfr.com.