Diane Rehm interviews founder of National Resources Defense Council

James Gustave Speth appeared on The Diane Rehm Show, Thursday March 27th. He is the dean of the School of Forestry and Environmental Studies at Yale University and co-founder of the Natural Resources Defense Council.
 
Mr. Speth and Mrs. Rehm discuss environmental issues, State policies and the way things are. From the interview link: “A leading environmentalist explains how American-style consumer capitalism harms the planet and what must be done to save the earth for future generations.”
 
Listen to the interview or read the transcript here.
 
His recently published book on these subjects is entitled “The Bridge at the Edge of the World” (Yale Univ. Press) (Amazon.com).

Examining the Origins of America’s ‘Founding Faith’

Highly recommended. Click the first link to listen to the 39 minute interview and to read an excerpt from Steven Waldman’s book:

Fresh Air from WHYY, March 11, 2008 · Was America meant to be a Christian nation? Author Steven Waldman attempts to answer this and other questions related to America’s religious history in his new book, Founding Faith: Providence, Politics, and the Birth of Religious Freedom in America.

Waldman is the co-founder of Beliefnet.com, a website devoted to spirituality and faith issues. In tandem with his book, Beliefnet has opened an online archive of historical documents related to the separation of church and state, and religious freedom in America.

Michael Pollan “In Defense of Food” (and older stuff, too)

I was lucky enough while commuting to catch an interview with Michael Pollan on NPR’s Talk of the Nation, Science Friday (highly recommended) discussing his new book, In Defense of Food. The 35 minute interview can be listened to here or here. This looks like another terrific offering from a wonderful author.

I first learned of Mr. Pollan and his food-based investigative journalism, during another interview with Terri Gross on Fresh Air. He discussed the lengths he went to for a New York Times Sunday Magazine article entitled “Power Steer” on the life of meat cows. He set about to steward a cow through it’s short life-cycle in the meat industry and the results were, well, listen to that fascinating broadcast here (51 minutes).

Ellen Page, young Canadian actress extraordinaire

On the 5th of December, I heard this short interview with Ellen Page. Her name was new to my ears, though by the end of the radio spot I vowed to check out everything she’s done. What intrigued me were her discerning comments regarding Hollywood’s climate for young actresses. Her views were refreshing and conveyed strong ethics.

Ellen Page at AllMovie.com

The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy

This fascinating presentation aired on the “It’s Your World” radio series released by the World Affairs Council:

Originally publishing “The Israel Lobby” as an essay in the London Review of Books in March 2006, John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt’s analysis of the Israel Lobby and its influence on U.S. foreign policy was one of the most controversial articles in recent memory. Having deepened and expanded their argument to confront recent developments in Lebanon and Iran, Mearsheimer and Walt join the World Affairs Council for a public exchange in San Francisco, where they will discuss their contention that the material and diplomatic support provided by the United States to Israel is due largely to the political influence of a loose coalition of individuals and organizations that actively work to shape U.S. foreign policy in a pro-Israel direction. They argue that this lobby has a far-reaching impact on America’s posture throughout the Middle East-in Iraq, Iran, Lebanon, and toward the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

The discussion is available in streaming video via RealPlayer and in downloadable MP3 format. Note that the MP3 doesn’t have the correct file extension and the filename must be appended with “.mp3″ (without the quotes). The entire show is just over an our long and counts as college credit somewhere, I’m sure. It’s getting a bullet point on my resume no matter what. Either way, please take my word for it, it’s worth the time.

(For Windows computers, I highly recommend Real Alternative in place of the invasive RealPlayer, and Foobar2000 for playing all audio files. Mac OS-based systems will receive my enlightened recommendations once someone donates a MacBook Pro with 15.4″ LED LCD, 2.4GHz CPU, hologram projector and flux-capacitor at 1.21 Jigawatts.)