The Canadian Tar Sands is the largest industrial project on earth. And the potential environmental consequences have brought together citizens from across borders, to fight its rippling effects.

This is the first of a two part special, on the growing resistance to the tarsands, produces by Barbara Bernstein.

Featuring:

Natural healing can take many forms.  These days, the Latin American “curandera” is re-emerging in the US, after generations of going underground.

On this edition, producer Erica Hellerstein takes us on a journey to identity through an ancient medicinal practice.

Featuring:   

We profile women fighting the expansion of global militarism and violence. Korean sister Stella Soh campaigns to save an UNESCO world heritage site from a planned military base.

US activist Kathy Kelly founded Voices for Creative Nonviolence. And Brazilian Miriam Nobre works with the World March of Women.

Featuring:   

Victims and perpetrators sitting down face to face…it can help heal their wounds, and our society. Incarcerating our way out of crime clearly hasn’t worked, and it’s costing us billions. Meanwhile, school suspensions are reaching record highs.

Now, Institutions across US are finally starting to consider problem solving methods other than punishment.  Restorative justice is gaining ground–in the schools, and behind bars.

Featuring:   

Rodeo is a part of life for many Americans. But if you’re an LGBTQ rodeo fan participating in the sport you love can mean hiding part of who you are to fit in. But a tight knit group of queer cowboys has found a way to live the country and Western lifestyle in their own way.  You don’t often hear the words “gay” and “rodeo” together. On this edition Producer Vanessa Rancaño brings us one bull rider’s story.

Featuring:   

More than 60 countries either ban or require labeling on GMO foods; the US is not one of them. As GMO regulation moves to a local level, frustrated consumers and farmers are pushing for state or county regulations, but the seed and pesticide companies are fighting back.

Today, we bring you a special episode investigating corporate control of our democracy and our dinner plates. This program is part of What the Fork, a collaboration between Making Contact, Center for Media and Democracy/The Progressive Magazine and Food Democracy Now.

Featuring:   

Parenting has never been easy.  Merging your politics with your parenting decisions can be even more challenging.  On this edition, fathers…and mothers…on fatherhood and how it’s changing. Traditional ideas about what a dad is supposed to be are slowly disappearing, but what will take their place?

Featuring:

Description:

As Brazil prepares to host the 2014 soccer World Cup many are questioning the economic, environmental, and social cost of this sporting mega-event. From soccer ball manufacturing in Pakistan, to forced evictions in Brazil to make way for World Cup infrastructure, who wins, when the World Cup comes to town? On this edition of Making Contact, we take a closer look at the good, the bad, and the ugly side of the “beautiful game.”

Featuring: 

Dave Zirin; author “Brazil’s Dance With the Devil: The World Cup, the Olympics, and the Fight for Democracy”, Mohammad Idrees and Ghafoor Husain, soccer ball workers; Safdar Sanda, soccer ball factory owner; Sarfraz Bashir, chairman of Sialkot Chamber of Commerce. Santiago Halty, founder Senda Athletics; Nasir Dogar, chief executive Independent Monitoring Association for Child Labor, Djani da Silva,resident of Camarigibe; Ana Ramalho  professor of urban planning and architecture at the Federal University of Pernambuco,

Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender seniors are much more likely than their straight counterparts to be alone and isolated as they age. Housing and support for these elders is a growing need--and the issue is not confined to the United States. On this edition, we’ll visit Jakarta Indonesia, and Los Angeles, California, to hear stories of building housing and community for LGBTQ seniors.

Featuring: Michael Adams, Services and Advocacy for GLBT Elders executive director; Alice Herman, Rosie Delmar, Triangle Square residents; Eric Harrison, Gay and Lesbian Elder Housing executive director; Yulianus Rettoblaut, waria activist and community leader; Yoti Maya, Mbok Sri, waria elders. Special thanks to FSRN-Free Speech Radio News.

Americans eat out more than any other people. But the workers who put food on our restaurant tables are struggling to feed themselves and their families. On this edition, Saru Jayaraman, co-director of the Restaurant Opportunities Centers United and author of “Behind the Kitchen Door” makes the case for bringing justice to restaurants and how ordinary diners can help.

Featuring:

Saru Jayaraman, co-director of the Restaurant Opportunities Centers United and author of “Behind the Kitchen Door”