Americans realize that no leadership on our environmental crises will come from our political "leaders." So people have begun making changes on their own. The show explores several approaches people are taking--including bicycling, modifying everyday behavior, and raising backyard chickens. Then Derrick Jensen explains why only political action will make any difference at all. What to do? Maybe all of the above.
Music added: James McMurtry, "God Bless America"
This show was originally broadcast in October 2009.
For decades, Bill Baird has been a crusader for reproductive rights, including the right to purchase contraceptives--still illegal in Massachusetts (and elsewhere) in the 1960s!
Seeing a woman die from an attempted coat-hanger abortion changed his life. He survived assassination attempts, 8 criminal convictions, prison brutality, the firebombing of his abortion clinic (the nation's first), the breakup of his family, and the absence of any help from NOW, ACLU, & other potential allies. One of his 3 Supreme Court cases was cited 6 times in Roe v. Wade.
A scary and stunning story, well-told by Baird himself. Excerpted from a panel discussion at the University of Hartford, February 16, 2010.