Making Contact

We go to the Gulf Coast to hear why, despite the dangerous and deadly consequences, locals aren't ready to turn their back on the oil industry. What does that mean for the rest of us, as we pursue a future free of fossil fuels?

We go to California, America's leading producer of fruits, vegetables, and dairy, to see some examples of how the nation's agricultural industry is slowly but surely moving away from factory farms.

We look at how the unemployed are getting creative about making ends meet, from starting their own businesses to work-sharing.

We'll hear excerpts from the movie Gasland, including stories from residents who say their drinking water catches on fire--one of the toxic effects of hydraulic-fracking: an increasingly controversial natural gas drilling technique.

Sports writer Dave Zirin tells the story of how the Phoenix Suns basketball team took a stand against their state's anti-immigrant bill SB1070. He says athletes, too, can be revolutionaries.

We take a look at the police killing of Oscar Grant in Oakland, and the debate over who gets to decide when an officer has done something wrong.

Venezuela is undergoing a modern day revolution. Workers, small farmers and the poor consistently vote for socialist President Hugo Chavez. Economically better-off citizens denounce the president as a communist who is destroying the country, but even some on the left criticize Chavez.

We'll hear from experts who insist the U.S. has a lot to learn from social movements in Latin America -- especially in times of crisis.

This June, thousands of grassroots activists converged on Detroit, Michigan to attend the 2010 United States Social Forum. We were there and on this edition of Making Contact, we'll bring you some of the local and international voices we found.

In a special collaboration with “Feet in 2 Worlds,” we hear the story of an immigrant family torn apart after an immigration raid in Phoenix, Arizona. And we report on a successful grassroots effort to change policies at “Hutto.”