pollution

"The real issue here is that modern humanity looks at nature as a great big resource for our pleasure, profit and convenience, and we do whatever we want with it. We're in trouble," says Maude Barlow of our current relationship with the our natural world. She and Shannon Biggs have spearheaded the discussion over the legal rights of nature, a discussion that has gone all the way to United Nations, where arguments are now being heard. "I think that what we?re trying to do here is take a step forward and realize that we?re not just damaging the earth, but we?re damaging people," says Shannon. A year after the Deepwater Horizon explosion claimed the lives of 11 and destroyed the livelihoods of many others, the link between respecting the earth and protecting the rights of humans should be clear. However, since the Deepwater disaster, the U.S. government has failed to pass a single law regulating oil and gas drilling. Shannon and Maude join us to talk about what's at stake for both the natural world and the people who benefit from it--and which American cities have taken the lead in officially recognizing the rights of nature.

Despite what you learned in science class in school, Maude Barlow says, it is in fact possible for the Earth to be running out of water. Pollution and population are on the rise, and corporations encroach on the water rights of people around the world, fencing off and bottling up a natural resource that should be available to all.Barlow is a longtime activist for water rights, National Chairperson of the Council of Canadians, and a longtime fighter against globalization. She joins Laura in studio to explain how the water crisis happened, why it's getting worse, and why we must act now to ensure access to water before the resource wars get any worse.

Hundreds of workers in the Gulf Coast cleaning up BP's oil disaster have reported symptoms of nausea, vomiting, nose bleeds, and headaches, but those almost all have been heat related, according to Deputy Assistant Secretary of Labor for OSHA Jordan Barab. So reported Michael Whitney for FireDogLake, who has been following the struggle of workers and Gulf Coast natives affected by the disaster. Whitney joins us along with Jordan Flaherty, via Skype from Louisiana, to discuss the ongoing struggle of fishermen and the other local communities that make their living and run their lives around the water in the Gulf.

Lobbyists for polluting companies and members of Congress are busy people, and sometimes they just don't have the time to make the love connections they need to keep the money flowing. PolluterHarmony is here to the rescue! (This spoof brought to you by our friends at GreenPeace.)