Your Call

On this edition of Your Call's One Planet Series, we discuss an explosive Guardian investigation that found major oil and gas companies are planning 195 projects that threaten to shatter the 1.5C climate goal. If governments do not act, these firms will continue to cash in as the world burns, according to the report.

According to the Guardian, the US is the leading source of potential emissions. Its 22 carbon bombs include conventional drilling and fracking, and span the deep waters of the Gulf of Mexico to the foothills of the Front Range in Colorado to the Permian basin. Together they have the potential to emit 140bn tonnes of CO2, almost four times more than the entire world emits each year. Saudi Arabia is the second biggest potential emitter after the US, with 107bn tonnes, followed by Russia, Qatar, Iraq, Canada, China and Brazil.

On this edition of Your Call’s One Planet Series, we discuss an Inside Climate News Investigation about the use of wastewater from oil wells to irrigate food crops in California.

For decades, farmers in California’s Kern County have turned to wastewater from oil production to help irrigate their crops during extended dry spells. The water irrigates 95,000 acres of cropland in California’s southern San Joaquin Valley, according to the California Regional Water Quality Control Board. What are the environmental and health effects of this practice?

On the next Your Call's media roundtable, we'll discuss ongoing coverage of the Uvalde, Texas massacre, the police response, Republican Senators' records on gun policies, and Republican politicians claiming to protect children while the majority sell them out.

Later in the show, we'll discuss the Jan 6 hearings, which begin next Thursday.

On this edition of Your Call, we'll discuss how we can reach young men like the self-described white supremacist and antisemite who shot and killed 10 people at a Tops supermarket in Buffalo, New York.

According to a document written by the 18-year-old white shooter, he researched a zip code with a high percentage of Black residents and traveled three hours to Tops several times before carrying out the massacre. We'll speak with former white supremacists about how we can reach young men before they embrace racism and commit extreme acts of violence.

On this edition of Your Call, we'll discuss how we can reach young men facing isolation, bullying, and family struggles before they're driven to extreme acts of violence.

The 18-year-old gunman who carried out a massacre at Robb Elementary in Uvalde, Texas last Tuesday was dealing with bullying and a difficult home life, according to reports. Peers also say he had a pattern of violent relationships, threatened teen girls online, shot at random people with a BB gun, and hurt animals.

Over the past decade, the majority of mass shooters were severely bullied and had a history of disciplinary trouble, according to a Secret Service study that analyzed 41 similar school attacks.

On this edition of Your Call, we’ll find out if this time will be different. Will the massacre of 10 Black people in Buffalo, New York, and 19 children and two teachers in Uvalde, Texas, finally force Senate Republicans to support basic gun control?

Gun violence, not just mass shootings, left at least 156 people dead and 412 injured from 5pm ET Friday to 5am Tuesday, according to the Gun Violence Archive.

Last week, the New York Times reached out to all 50 Republicans in the Senate to find out if they’d support legislation that would expand criminal background checks to would-be purchasers on the internet and at gun shows and give the F.B.I. more time to investigate gun buyers flagged by the instant background check system.

Five Republican Senators are open or undecided; 14 are opposed or leaning no; 31 declined to answer or deflected. Out of 50 Republican Senators, all but three have an A or A+ rating from the National Rifle Association.

On this edition of Your Call, we'll find out how easy it is to buy a gun in the US. Americans own 393 million firearms. That half of the world’s civilian firearms. The US leads the world in firearms per capita.

In 2020 alone, more than 45,000 Americans died by gunfire, more than any other year on record. That figure represents a 25 percent increase from 2015, and a 43 percent increase from 2010. According to the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence, 321 Americans are shot every day in the US (210 survive; 111 die).

It only took five clicks for Quartz staffers to purchase one of the two rifles the Uvalde, Texas gunman bought a few days after turning 18. Daniel Defense sells the DDM4V7 AR-15-style weapon online for $1,870, plus tax. Shipping to a local gun shop is free.

On this edition of Your Call's Media Roundtable, we'll discuss the latest from Uvalde, Texas.

At a press briefing this morning, Texas Department of Public Safety director Steven McCraw said 19 officers were on the scene. The commander made a decision not to enter the building. During this time, the gunman fired 315 rounds into classrooms and two children called 911. One of those children was shot and killed, according to reports.

With the benefit of hindsight, McCraw said not entering was the "wrong decision." From what we know, there should have been an entry. When there is an active shooter, officers should enter the scene and keep shooting. He would not say whether lives would have been saved if officials entered sooner.

Why has it taken so long to release this information? Who will be held accountable?

On this edition of Your Call, we're discussing how society should respond to racism, hate crimes, and self-described white supremacists like the 18-year-old white shooter who researched a zip code with a high percentage of Black residents before killing 10 people in Buffalo.

Three-quarters of Black Americans are worried that they or someone they love will be attacked because of their race, according to a Washington Post poll. Elder Asian Americans report significant fear of physical assault, stress and anxiety, according to Stop AAPI Hate. The Uvalde, Texas school massacre that left 19 children and two teachers dead, almost all Latino, has opened old wounds for those affected by the El Paso massacre that left 23 people dead and over two dozen injured.

On this edition of Your Call, we're discussing the mass shooting at a Uvalde, Texas elementary school, which left 19 children and two adults dead. The 18-year-old shooter, who lived in the area, was killed by officers, according to officials.

This marks the 27th school shooting this year and the 119th school shooting since 2018, according to Education Week. More than 300,000 students in K-12 schools have experienced gun violence on campus since the Columbine shooting on April 20, 1999. Guns are now the leading cause of death among children, according to research published in the New England Journal of Medicine. For decades, car accidents were the leading cause of death among children.

Texas, a state with more than a million gun owners, has some of the least-restrictive gun laws in the country. Gun owners 21 and older can legally open carry in public without a license. As Republican-controlled states make it easier to buy and carry guns, how can we address this crisis?