Sojourner Truth Radio

Today on Sojourner Truth:

We are in an emergency. Our planet is experiencing an urgent state of crisis. The environmental devastation of our planet, accelerated by climate change, is getting worse by the day. According to the World Health Organization, climate change is the greatest threat to global health in the 21st century, surpassing even the ongoing and deadly COVID-19 pandemic. Land temperatures have increased about twice as fast as the global average. Globally, 2020 was the hottest year on record, according to NASA. The warmest years in our planets history have all occurred since 2005. Every year, approximately 75 billion tons of fertile soil is lost to land degradation, according to the United Nations.

The livelihoods of more than 1 billion people in about 100 countries are threatened by desertification. Heat waves and wildfires are becoming more frequent, intensive, and extensive. Between 2000 and 2016, the number of people exposed to heat waves increased by around 125 million. During this time, more than 166,000 people died because of heat waves. In 2020, the number of wildfires around the world were up 13 percent from 2019, which was already a record year. The World Wildlife Fund estimates that at least 75 percent of all wildfires are caused by human activity. Increased warming in the Arctic and Antarctica has also contributed to melting permafrost, glacial retreat and sea ice loss.

On Sunday, October 31, the United Nations Climate Change Conference kicked off the COP26 (Conference of the Parties) in Glasgow, Scotland. Twenty-five thousand delegates from 200 countries are attending, and around 120 heads of state. The conference, which was delayed for a year because of the COVID-19 pandemic, will run until Friday, November 12. The conference is the 26th COP to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the third meeting of the parties to the Paris Climate Accords.

Today, a special on COP26 and the urgent state of the environment. Our guests are Tina Gerhardt and Winnie Overbeek.

Tina Gerhardt is an environmental journalist and academic. Her work has been published by Grist, The Progressive, The Nation and Sierra Magazine. She is currently the Barron Professor of the Environment at Princeton University. Tina is the author of the forthcoming book, Atlas of Islands in a Rising Ocean. She is covering COP 26 for The Nation and Sierra Magazine. Her most recent article for The Nation is At COP 26, Island Nations Demand Action on Funding and Emissions.

Winnie Overbeek has been the coordinator of the World Rainforest Movement (WRM) since 2011, a global network supporting forest-dependent communities in their struggles to defend their territories in Latin America, Africa and Asia. Winnie is based in the Brazilian town of Vitoria in the Espirito Santo state. Before engaging with WRM, Winnie has worked for many years with networks and organizations in Brazil supporting communities affected by large scale tree plantations and other large-scale (agro) industrial projects.

Today on Sojourner Truth:

We are in an emergency. Our planet is experiencing an urgent state of crisis. The environmental devastation of our planet, accelerated by climate change, is getting worse by the day. According to the World Health Organization, climate change is the greatest threat to global health in the 21st century, surpassing even the ongoing and deadly COVID-19 pandemic. Land temperatures have increased about twice as fast as the global average. Globally, 2020 was the hottest year on record, according to NASA. The warmest years in our planets history have all occurred since 2005. Every year, approximately 75 billion tons of fertile soil is lost to land degradation, according to the United Nations.

The livelihoods of more than 1 billion people in about 100 countries are threatened by desertification. Heat waves and wildfires are becoming more frequent, intensive, and extensive. Between 2000 and 2016, the number of people exposed to heat waves increased by around 125 million. During this time, more than 166,000 people died because of heat waves. In 2020, the number of wildfires around the world were up 13 percent from 2019, which was already a record year. The World Wildlife Fund estimates that at least 75 percent of all wildfires are caused by human activity. Increased warming in the Arctic and Antarctica has also contributed to melting permafrost, glacial retreat and sea ice loss.

On Sunday, October 31, the United Nations Climate Change Conference kicked off the COP26 (Conference of the Parties) in Glasgow, Scotland. Twenty-five thousand delegates from 200 countries are attending, and around 120 heads of state. The conference, which was delayed for a year because of the COVID-19 pandemic, will run until Friday, November 12. The conference is the 26th COP to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the third meeting of the parties to the Paris Climate Accords.

Today, a special on COP26 and the urgent state of the environment. Our guests are Tina Gerhardt and Winnie Overbeek.

Tina Gerhardt is an environmental journalist and academic. Her work has been published by Grist, The Progressive, The Nation and Sierra Magazine. She is currently the Barron Professor of the Environment at Princeton University. Tina is the author of the forthcoming book, Atlas of Islands in a Rising Ocean. She is covering COP 26 for The Nation and Sierra Magazine. Her most recent article for The Nation is At COP 26, Island Nations Demand Action on Funding and Emissions.

Winnie Overbeek has been the coordinator of the World Rainforest Movement (WRM) since 2011, a global network supporting forest-dependent communities in their struggles to defend their territories in Latin America, Africa and Asia. Winnie is based in the Brazilian town of Vitoria in the Espirito Santo state. Before engaging with WRM, Winnie has worked for many years with networks and organizations in Brazil supporting communities affected by large scale tree plantations and other large-scale (agro) industrial projects.

Today on Sojourner Truth, our weekly roundtable. Our panelists are Laura Carlsen, Jackie Goldberg, and Dr. Gerald Horne.

The future of economic and social policy in the United States is at stake, as Congress is in a log jam on President Biden's care economy agenda. Progressive Democrats are holding out, refusing to be held hostage, by so-named Democratic Senators Manchin and Sinema. The deadline to raise the debt ceiling is fast approaching.

Meanwhile, Biden is swiftly dropping in the polls among women and people of color. Alexandria Ocasio Cortez says people are losing faith in democracy. All of this, as young people are stepping up protests against governments around the world for dragging their feet on the climate crisis.

Experts say we are living in the most explosive extinction episode ever. How has the right wing effectively controlled the economic and political agenda, no matter what party is in power? Who is funding them?

A tax against progressive thought increases as truth and democracy are under attack in schools and universities. Remember women's rights? These days, they, too, are under attack.

On the international front, tensions as Europe pivots away from the United States and the Global South tries to get out from under the major super powers.

Today on Sojourner Truth, our weekly roundtable. Our panelists are Laura Carlsen, Jackie Goldberg, and Dr. Gerald Horne.

The future of economic and social policy in the United States is at stake, as Congress is in a log jam on President Biden's care economy agenda. Progressive Democrats are holding out, refusing to be held hostage, by so-named Democratic Senators Manchin and Sinema. The deadline to raise the debt ceiling is fast approaching.

Meanwhile, Biden is swiftly dropping in the polls among women and people of color. Alexandria Ocasio Cortez says people are losing faith in democracy. All of this, as young people are stepping up protests against governments around the world for dragging their feet on the climate crisis.

Experts say we are living in the most explosive extinction episode ever. How has the right wing effectively controlled the economic and political agenda, no matter what party is in power? Who is funding them?

A tax against progressive thought increases as truth and democracy are under attack in schools and universities. Remember women's rights? These days, they, too, are under attack.

On the international front, tensions as Europe pivots away from the United States and the Global South tries to get out from under the major super powers.

Today on Sojourner Truth, our weekly roundtable. Our panelists are Laura Carlsen, Jackie Goldberg, and Dr. Gerald Horne.

The future of economic and social policy in the United States is at stake, as Congress is in a log jam on President Biden's care economy agenda. Progressive Democrats are holding out, refusing to be held hostage, by so-named Democratic Senators Manchin and Sinema. The deadline to raise the debt ceiling is fast approaching.

Meanwhile, Biden is swiftly dropping in the polls among women and people of color. Alexandria Ocasio Cortez says people are losing faith in democracy. All of this, as young people are stepping up protests against governments around the world for dragging their feet on the climate crisis.

Experts say we are living in the most explosive extinction episode ever. How has the right wing effectively controlled the economic and political agenda, no matter what party is in power? Who is funding them?

A tax against progressive thought increases as truth and democracy are under attack in schools and universities. Remember women's rights? These days, they, too, are under attack.

On the international front, tensions as Europe pivots away from the United States and the Global South tries to get out from under the major super powers.

Today on Sojourner Truth, our weekly roundtable. Our panelists are Laura Carlsen, Jackie Goldberg, and Dr. Gerald Horne.

The future of economic and social policy in the United States is at stake, as Congress is in a log jam on President Biden's care economy agenda. Progressive Democrats are holding out, refusing to be held hostage, by so-named Democratic Senators Manchin and Sinema. The deadline to raise the debt ceiling is fast approaching.

Meanwhile, Biden is swiftly dropping in the polls among women and people of color. Alexandria Ocasio Cortez says people are losing faith in democracy. All of this, as young people are stepping up protests against governments around the world for dragging their feet on the climate crisis.

Experts say we are living in the most explosive extinction episode ever. How has the right wing effectively controlled the economic and political agenda, no matter what party is in power? Who is funding them?

A tax against progressive thought increases as truth and democracy are under attack in schools and universities. Remember women's rights? These days, they, too, are under attack.

On the international front, tensions as Europe pivots away from the United States and the Global South tries to get out from under the major super powers.

Today on Sojourner Truth:

Women in Southern California and across the nation are gearing up to march for reproductive rights. This, as Texas passes a law that basically bans a women's right to decide whether or not to be a mother. Other Republican-controlled states are moving in the same direction. This is a fundamental threat to Roe v. Wade, the decades-old Supreme Court decision that protects a women's right to choose. Our guest is Emiliana Guereca, founder of the Women's March Foundation Los Angeles.

For our weekly Earth Watch, Ivonne Yanez, an Ecuadorian environmentalist, joins us to discuss her critique of the so-named "Green Economy." She also fills us in on global efforts to protect forests.

Robert Mejia joins us to discuss the Justice on Trial Film Festival, which kicks off today, Thursday, September 30.

Lastly, our weekly Earth Minute, presented by Theresa Church of the Global Justice Ecology Project.

Today on Sojourner Truth:

Women in Southern California and across the nation are gearing up to march for reproductive rights. This, as Texas passes a law that basically bans a women's right to decide whether or not to be a mother. Other Republican-controlled states are moving in the same direction. This is a fundamental threat to Roe v. Wade, the decades-old Supreme Court decision that protects a women's right to choose. Our guest is Emiliana Guereca, founder of the Women's March Foundation Los Angeles.

For our weekly Earth Watch, Ivonne Yanez, an Ecuadorian environmentalist, joins us to discuss her critique of the so-named "Green Economy." She also fills us in on global efforts to protect forests.

Robert Mejia joins us to discuss the Justice on Trial Film Festival, which kicks off today, Thursday, September 30.

Lastly, our weekly Earth Minute, presented by Theresa Church of the Global Justice Ecology Project.

Today on Sojourner Truth:

Women in Southern California and across the nation are gearing up to march for reproductive rights. This, as Texas passes a law that basically bans a women's right to decide whether or not to be a mother. Other Republican-controlled states are moving in the same direction. This is a fundamental threat to Roe v. Wade, the decades-old Supreme Court decision that protects a women's right to choose. Our guest is Emiliana Guereca, founder of the Women's March Foundation Los Angeles.

For our weekly Earth Watch, Ivonne Yanez, an Ecuadorian environmentalist, joins us to discuss her critique of the so-named "Green Economy." She also fills us in on global efforts to protect forests.

Robert Mejia joins us to discuss the Justice on Trial Film Festival, which kicks off today, Thursday, September 30.

Lastly, our weekly Earth Minute, presented by Theresa Church of the Global Justice Ecology Project.

Today on Sojourner Truth:

Women in Southern California and across the nation are gearing up to march for reproductive rights. This, as Texas passes a law that basically bans a women's right to decide whether or not to be a mother. Other Republican-controlled states are moving in the same direction. This is a fundamental threat to Roe v. Wade, the decades-old Supreme Court decision that protects a women's right to choose. Our guest is Emiliana Guereca, founder of the Women's March Foundation Los Angeles.

For our weekly Earth Watch, Ivonne Yanez, an Ecuadorian environmentalist, joins us to discuss her critique of the so-named "Green Economy." She also fills us in on global efforts to protect forests.

Robert Mejia joins us to discuss the Justice on Trial Film Festival, which kicks off today, Thursday, September 30.

Lastly, our weekly Earth Minute, presented by Theresa Church of the Global Justice Ecology Project.