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Alternative Radio for January 17, 2011
1:00 PM - 1:58 PM
[Program Website]
Today's Highlight: Alternative Radio – Noam Chomsky - "Human Intelligence & the Environment”
As a species we humans are unique because of our intellligence. At the same time we have the capacity to defer, deny and ignore unpleasant realites. To wit: the environmental crisis. The signs of climate change are clearly evident. Glaciers are melting at an astonishing rate. Floods, fires, drought, tornadoes and hurricanes are occurring with greater frequency and intensity. Rising sea levels are putting millions at risk. 2010 was the hottest year the earth has yet recorded. Conferences on mitigating global warming are held from Montreal to Copenhagen, to Cancun. But they have produced little more than hot air. The sense of urgency is just not there with the big industrial countries, responsible for most of the carbon emissions. They engage in compromises and non-binding deals leaving the basic systems and structures intact. Yet with all of the mounting evidence of the damage being done to the planet, we continue to dilly-dally. The clock is ticking.
Noam Chomsky is the internationally renowned Institute Professor Emeritus at MIT. He practically invented modern linguistics. In addition to his pioneering work in that field he has been a leading voice for peace and social justice for many decades. He is in huge demand as a speaker all over world. "The New Statesman" calls him, "The conscience of the American people." Howard Zinn described him as "the nation's most distinguished intellectual rebel." He's the author of scores of books including "Failed States," "What We Say Goes," and "Hopes and Prospects."
Alternative Radio is a weekly one-hour public affairs program offered free to all public radio stations in the U.S., Canada, Europe, South Africa, Australia, and on short-wave on Radio for Peace International.
Established in 1986, AR is dedicated to the founding principles of public broadcasting, which urge that programming serve as "a forum for controversy and debate," be diverse and "provide a voice for groups that may otherwise be unheard." The project is entirely independent, sustained solely by individuals who buy transcripts and tapes of programs.
Its "headquarters" is situated to correspond with its position in the mainstream mass media: down an alley, behind a house, on top of a garage in Boulder, Colorado. From this rarefied location, AR's programs manage to reach over 125 radio stations and millions of listeners. AR is part of the non-profit Institute for Social and Cultural Change.
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