Your Call

On this edition of Your Call, we’re speaking with grassroots organizers who are working to get out the vote in the upcoming midterms.

According to Indivisible, six states and 29 seats stand between democracy and a MAGA coup. They're focusing on 19 House and Senate seats that are critical to maintaining and expanding the Democratic majority.

We'll find out how they're reaching people in the 26 states where Republicans have made it harder to vote in the past two years. We'll also find out how you can get involved.

Guests:

Ezra Levin, co-founder and co-executive director of Indivisible

Alex Morgan, executive director of the Progressive Turnout Project

Yasmin Radjy, executive director of Swing Left

On this edition of Your Call’s One Planet Series, Professor Marion Nestle joins us to discuss the future of food policy and her new memoir, Slow Cooked: An Unexpected Life in Food Politics.

As a public health nutritionist, Professor Nestle has spent her career advocating for changes to the agricultural system so everyone has enough nutritious food to eat. She also works to educate the public about the links between food and politics.

Most of the food produced in the US goes toward feeding animals and providing fuel for automobiles. Forty percent of corn is grown for ethanol. How can we create a food system that promotes public health?

Guest:

Marion Nestle, renowned public health advocate, Emerita Professor of nutrition, food studies and public health at New York University, and author of Slow Cooked: An Unexpected Life in Food Politics and The Food Politics blog

On this edition of Call’s Media Roundtable, we're discussing a ProPublica investigation that explores how new voting restrictions could make it harder for people with low literacy skills to exercise their right to vote.

Nearly 48 million Americans, including those with disabilities and those who have not learned English, struggle to read. ProPublica analyzed voter turnout in 3,000 counties and found that places with lower estimated literacy rates tended to also have lower turnout.

Reporters Aliyya Swaby and Annie Waldman write, "This is not only an individual hardship but a societal crisis. We wanted to look at the root causes that make reading inaccessible for so many people."

Guests:

Aliyya Swaby, reporter in ProPublica’s South unit covering children, families and social inequality

Annie Waldman, reporter with ProPublica covering education. In 2018, she contributed to the “Lost Mothers” series, which investigated the high rate of maternal mortality in the United States. This series won the 2018 Goldsmith Prize for investigative reporting, received a George Polk Award, a Peabody and was a Pulitzer Prize finalist for explanatory reporting.

On this edition of Your Call, we're discussing a 50-state investigation by the Center for Public Integrity, which found that 26 Republican controlled states have made access to voting and political representation less equal in the past two years for people of color, younger voters, and people with disabilities.

Here are a few examples: Wyoming requires voters to present a photo ID when casting ballots in person. Previously, voters were required to present ID only when registering.

In Arizona, new laws allow for the purging of names from the state’s mail-in ballot voting list if a resident misses two consecutive election cycles and requires proof of citizenship to register to vote. Indigenous leaders in the state say the proof of citizenship requirement specifically targets elders in their communities.

Missouri Republicans passed a strict new photo ID requirement and made it a crime to help people vote through registration drives and other efforts.

How will voter suppression impact the midterms and how are activists organizing to restore and protect voting rights?

Guests:

Gina Castro, freelance journalist, Pulitzer Center fellow, and racial justice fellow for the Evanston RoundTable Media

Aaron Mendelson, reporter with the Center for Public Integrity

DeArbea Walker, freelance digital journalist

Kendra Cotton, CEO of the New Georgia Project

On this edition of Your Call, we're discussing what’s at stake in the upcoming midterm elections: the climate crisis, reproductive rights, social security, Medicare, the cost of prescription drugs, taxes, immigration, poverty, voting rights, guns, and more. It's all at stake depending on who controls Congress.

House Democrats have voted to crack down on price gouging by oil companies; cap insulin at $35 for those with private insurance; protect access to birth control; make it easier to vote; ban the sale of assault-style weapons and high-capacity magazines; and enshrine Roe v. Wade into federal law. The overwhelming majority of House Republicans voted against these measures. Only 47 House Republicans out of 212 joined all Democrats in passing legislation that would protect same-sex marriages and roll back a 25-year-old law that defines marriage as between one man and one woman.

Guests:

Jodi Jacobson, longtime writer, reporter, and editor focusing on reproductive justice

Will Bunch, national columnist for the Philadelphia Inquirer

On this edition of Your Call, we're speaking with three winners of this year's Brower Youth Awards. Each year, the awards recognize the work of six young leaders who are making strides in the environmental movement.

This year's winners are organizing for fossil fuel divestment, restoring the North Texas prairie ecosystem, advancing natural disaster preparedness, and more. How are young environmental activists discussing the climate crisis and organizing around public policy and the midterm elections?

If you're in the Bay Area, you can attend the free ceremony tonight at 5:30pm at the Freight & Salvage in Berkeley.

Guests:

Hamid Torabzadeh, freshman at Brown University and leader of the American Red Cross Los Angeles READYteens Program

Raghav Kalyanaraman, high school senior in Plano, Texas and founder of Eagles for the Environment

Ilana Cohen, senior at Harvard University, freelance journalist, founder of the New York City chapter of Zero Hour, and co-founder of Fossil Free Research

On this edition of Your Call, we're continuing our discussion about how the midterm elections will determine US climate policy and the future of the planet.

Every year, the League of Conservation Voters gives lawmakers a score depending on whether they cast a pro-environment vote on selected legislation. The 2021 National Environmental Scorecard represents the consensus of more than 20 environmental, environmental justice, and conservation organizations who selected the key votes on which members of Congress should be scored.

Out of 100, the average Republican score on climate related issues was 14 percent, while Democrats scored 99 percent. Why is the media failing to question Republicans on their dismal climate record? Why aren't the Democrats spending more time discussing the crisis?

Guest:

Craig Auster, vice president of political affairs for the League of Conservation Voters

On this edition of Your Call's Media Roundtable, we're speaking with the New York Times' Nilo Tabrizy and Haley Willis about their work analyzing dozens of videos circulating online for insights about what is propelling the anti-government demonstrations in Iran and how women are leading the movement.

The growing protests were sparked by the death of Jina-Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Kurdish woman who died while in a coma after she was arrested and beaten by the so-called morality police.

The Iranian regime's security forces have ruthlessly cracked down on the anti-government protests with lethal force. Human Rights Watch documented numerous incidents of security forces unlawfully using excessive or lethal force against protesters in 13 cities across Iran. Videos show security forces using shotguns, assault rifles, and handguns against protesters in largely peaceful and often crowded settings, altogether killing and injuring hundreds. In some cases, they shot at people who were running away. At least 201people have been killed. At least 28 of those killed were children, according to The Children Rights Association, an Iranian NGO. Thousands have been arrested, including high school students, journalists, activists and lawyers.

Guests:

Nilo Tabrizy, video producer at The New York Times, focusing on Iran-related stories, breaking news and investigations

Haley Willis, video journalist with the Visual Investigations team at The New York Times

On this edition of Your Call’s Media Roundtable, we're discussing the impact of voter suppression and partisan gerrymandering on the midterm elections.

David Daley reports that because of gerrymandering, the national map not only has a Republican tilt, it has an anti-voter tilt. The number of competitive seats is at a modern low and the number of frozen, locked-in congressional maps have soared. Democrats could get more votes, but Republicans can win. He says state legislatures have been just as gerrymandered. How will this affect crucial issues like abortion and the climate crisis?

Guest:

Dave Daley, journalist and author of Ratf**ked: Why Your Vote Doesn't Count and Unrigged: How Americans Are Battling Back to Save Democracy

On this edition of Your Call, we'll discuss two documentaries featured at this year's Green Film Festival of San Francisco, which runs through October 16.

Oyate follows Indigenous water protectors fighting the Dakota Access Pipeline at Standing Rock, and introduces Native leaders, politicians, and activists using their newfound platform to shed light on injustices committed against them for centuries. The #NoDAPL struggle became a rallying cry for Indigenous people everywhere.

Into the Weeds tells the story of Dewayne "Lee" Johnson, a former Bay Area groundskeeper on a mission to hold agrochemical giant Monsanto accountable for failing to label its popular Roundup weed-killer as carcinogenic.

Guests:

Brandon Jackson, director, producer, and story producer of Oyate

Stuart James, member of the Dakota Sioux tribe and Native hop hop artist

Jennifer Baichwal, Canadian documentary filmmaker and director of Into the Weeds