Michael Nagler is Professor Emeritus of Classics and Comparative Literature at UC Berkeley, where he founded the Peace and Conflict Studies Program. Prof. Nagler has spoken and written widely for campus, religious, public and special interest groups on the subject of peace and nonviolence for many years,. He has consulted for the U.S. Institute of Peace and many other organizations and is President of the board of METTA: Center for Nonviolence Education and of PeaceWorkers, and on numerous other boards, and has recently co-founded Educators For Nonviolence ([email protected]). He has worked on nonviolent intervention since the 1970's and served on the Interim Steering Committee of the Nonviolent Peaceforce.

In addition to his many articles on peace and spirituality, he is the author of America Without Violence (Island Press, 1982), The Upanishads (with Sri Eknath Easwaran, Nilgiri Press, 1987) and most recently The Search for a Nonviolent Future (Inner Ocean Publishing) which won the 2002 American Book Award and is being used in many courses as well as reading groups around the country (Italian translation appeared in 2005; pending in Korean and Arabic).

Michael Nagler is a student of Sri Eknath Easwaran, Founder of the Blue Mountain Center of Meditation, and has lived at the Center's ashram in Marin County since 1970.

On this special Pledge Drive edition of the program, your host, Justin Mog, digs deep into Extraction Politics with University of Louisville professor of Communication, Nick Paliewicz, author of the brand new book “Extraction Politics: Rio Tinto and the Corporate Persona” (Penn State Press - Series in Transdiciplinary Rhetoric). The book argues that Rio Tinto is a global extractive colonial actor that creates different place-based rhetorical personae to pass as a valued member of the public without having to settle in these communities and bear the costs of extraction.

Nick studies argumentation and public discourse with emphases on environmental rhetoric, public memory, and social movements. He is co-author of three previous books: 1. The Securitization of Memorial Space: Rhetoric and Public Memory; 2. Racial Terrorism: A Rhetorical Investigation of Lynching; and 3. Memory and Monument Wars in American Cities: New York, Charlottesville, and Montgomery. Catch up with Nick at https://www.linkedin.com/in/nick-paliewicz-13423224/

Two hardcopy versions of Nick’s new book, Extraction Politics, will be available for bidding at the Silent Auction taking place during Forward Radio’s 7th Birthday Party on Saturday, April 13th from 5:00 to 8:00pm at Logan Street Market! Don’t miss this chance to take home a copy of Nick’s thought-provoking text while supporting the station that made you aware of it!

As always, our feature is followed by your community action calendar for the week, so get your calendars out and get ready to take action for sustainability NOW!

Sustainability Now! is hosted by Dr. Justin Mog and airs on Forward Radio, 106.5fm, WFMP-LP Louisville, every Monday at 6pm and repeats Tuesdays at 12am and 10am. Find us at http://forwardradio.org

The music in this podcast is courtesy of the local band Appalatin and is used by permission. Explore their delightful music at http://appalatin.com

Patty and Brian interview Matt Gatton, author of The Shadows of Socrates text, published in 2024. Give us a listen!

K.A. Owens interviews Author, Playwright, Actor- Don Ray Smith about the upcoming performance of his play "Growing Up White On Wilson".

Recorded Thursday April 4, 2024, 2:30 PM.

This interview was conducted in the tropical rainforest of Southeastern Costa Rica, in the indigenous village of Yorkin, a 5-mile canoe journey upriver (or hike) from the nearest town. This village of ~400 people has succeeded in sustaining the lush forest ecology while interspersing and harvesting a rich diversity of food crops, including cacao, coffee, rice, corn, bananas, plantain, cassava, papaya, palm heart, sugar cane, grapefruit, lemons and also chickens (which can be seen everywhere in the village). Bernarda Morales Marin, one of the village elders, recounts the story of how the village came about, their history of exploitation by banana companies and their long struggle, which she began, to form a now successful Eco-Tourism organization called Stibrawpa. Bernarda is joined by Miriam, another village elder who explains some of the customs and beliefs of their Bri Bri culture and language. The voice you hear speaking in English is that of Lia Bernhauser, one of two German volunteers whom I met. She began as a volunteer and ended up living in Yorkin for 5 years and was preparing to return to Germany when I arrived. She graciously agreed to translate my questions into Spanish for both Bernarda and Miriam and then translated Bernarda's and Miriam's answers into English. I am very thankful to Lia for doing such a good job translating into yet another foreign language, and thus enabling my audience to receive the benefit!

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Earth Day is upon us in a few weeks, April 22, and what better time to explore literature that comments on the health of Mother Earth. This week we are talking eco-literature. Eco-literature engages readers on environmental concerns through the interactions between humans and the environment. And it encourages thought about our impact on the planet.

Books Mentioned in this Episode:

1- Wishtree by Katherine Applegate

2- That Time I Got Drunk and Saved a Demon by Kimberly Lemming

3- That Time I Got Drunk and Yeeted a Love Potion at a Werewolf by Kimberly Lemming

4- Ramayana: Divine Loophole by Sanjay Patel

5- Kaikeyi by Vaishnavi Patel

6- Did You Hear About Kitty Karr by Crystal Smith Paul - A 5 Star Read Recommended by a Fellow Book Lover Kristin @paws.read.repeat

7- Flight Behavior by Barbara Kingsolver

8- Bicycling with Butterflies by Sara Dykman

9- Dune by Frank Herbert

10- Don't Call Me a Hurricane by Ellen Hagan

11- Beaverland: How One Weird Rodent Made America by Leila Philips

12- The Last Animal by Ramona Ausubel

13- Three Ways to Disappear by Katy Yocom

14- State of Wonder by Ann Patchet

15- What Blooms From Dust by James Markert

16- The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck

17- Days of Sand by Aimee de Jongh

18- The Fifth Season by NK Jemisin

19- Death in the Air: The True Story of a Serial Killer, the Great London Smog, and the Strangling of a City by Kate Winkler Dawson

20- Hoot by Carl Hiassen

Links to articles we reference:

Library Book Returned After 102 Years

https://people.com/family-returns-pair-of-books-100-years-overdue-to-kentucky-library-8621113#:~:text=A%20family%20returned%20a%20pair,Matthews%20branch%20on%20Monday.

Wishtree censorship—

https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/childrens/childrens-industry-news/article/94637-in-virginia-censors-attempt-to-axe-wishtree.html

Sting Ray article—

https://www.npr.org/2024/03/07/1236678538/stingray-pregnant-charlotte-aquarium-mystery-north-carolina

Bringing Back the Wooly Mammoth

https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2024/03/06/1235944741/resurrecting-woolly-mammoth-extinction

Carla Wallace is co-founder of Louisville’s Fairness campaign. Called by the late, great Anne Braden as one of the best civil rights organizers in Louisville during the 20th century, Carla has been engaged in social justice work since she was a child, joining her father in efforts to end racial segregation in Louisville’s theaters. Her work as an adult has included international human rights, affordable housing and police misconduct. Carla Wallace is a founding member of the national network Showing Up for Racial Justice. She helped establish the Audre Lorde Chair in Race, Class, Gender and Sexuality at the University of Louisville and co-chairs the Community Council of the University’s Anne Braden Institute for Social Justice Research.

Her work has recently been included in a new book, Towards Collective Liberation, by Chris Crass, As well as Subversive Southerner: Anne Braden and the Struggle for Racial Justice in the Cold War South penned by Cate Fosl. In 1992 Carla Wallace, was on the steering committee, of the Kentucky Rainbow Coalition, she endorsed the Committees of Correspondence national conference Conference on Perspectives for Democracy and Socialism in the 90s held at Berkeley California July 17-19, 1992. Carla’s activism includes support for international solidarity and opposition to the Occupation of Palestine, as well as organizing for affordable housing.

On this special Pledge Drive edition of the program, your host, Justin Mog, dives deep into the ocean with Julia Barnes, a 12-time award-winning environmental filmmaker. She is the director of the feature documentaries Sea of Life and Bright Green Lies. For over a decade, Julia has worked to bring about positive change through filmmaking and activism. Her work currently focuses on the imminent threat to our oceans posed by deep sea mining.

Learn more at:

https://www.seaoflifemovie.com/

https://www.brightgreenlies.com/

Joining us to encourage you to donate to Forward Radio during our 7th Anniversary Pledge Drive is Ruth Newman (Election Connection) and Hart Hagan (The Climate Report). Please donate what you can at https://secure.givelively.org/donate/wfmp-low-power-radio/forward-radio-s-7th-anniversary-pledge-drive

As always, our feature is followed by your community action calendar for the week, so get your calendars out and get ready to take action for sustainability NOW!

Sustainability Now! is hosted by Dr. Justin Mog and airs on Forward Radio, 106.5fm, WFMP-LP Louisville, every Monday at 6pm and repeats Tuesdays at 12am and 10am. Find us at http://forwardradio.org

The music in this podcast is courtesy of the local band Appalatin and is used by permission. Explore their delightful music at http://appalatin.com

Astronomer Scott Miller (Maysville Community & Technical College) tells us what we can see in the night sky in April, and how to view the total solar eclipse on April 8th. Then, hear a recent interview by the 'Union of Concerned Scientists' with journalism professor Jesse Holland (George Washington University) about the past, present and future of science journalism.

Here are the websites about the eclipse: https://science.nasa.gov/eclipses/future-eclipses/eclipse-2024 and https://www.timeanddate.com/eclipse/in/usa.

Here is the full 'Union of Concerned Scientists' podcast of March 20, 2024 with Jesse Holland: https://www.ucsusa.org/resources/what-we-need-make-democracy-work.

Here is how you can donate to Forward Radio: https://secure.givelively.org/donate/wfmp-low-power-radio/forward-radio-s-7th-anniversary-pledge-drive.

‘Bench Talk: The Week in Science’ is a weekly program that airs on WFMP Louisville ‘Forward Radio’ 106.5 FM (forwardradio.org) every Monday at 7:30 pm, Tuesday at 11:30 am, and Wednesday at 7:30 am.

Visit our Facebook page for links to the articles discussed in this episode: https://www.facebook.com/pg/BenchTalkRadio/posts/?ref=page_internal

K.A. Owens interviews Rev. Dawn Cooley. Topic-What is a Unitarian?

Recorded Wednesday January 31, 2018.

Second air date- Friday March 28, 2024.