WERU Special: Martin Prechtel 9/18/15

Producer/Host: Andree Bella

Interview with Martin Prechtel on Grief and Praise

Key Discussion Points:
a) How do the people in your Mayan village grieve for someone who has died?
b) What role can community, friends and family play in turning grief into beauty?
c) What happens when a culture doesn’t express its grief?
d) What is the relationship between unresolved grief and war?
e) What part can elders of a community play in transforming grief into beauty?

Guest: Martin Prechtel, social activist and author of The Smell of Rain on Dust: Grief and Praise

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RadioActive 9/17/15

Producer/Host: Meredith DeFrancesco
Issue: Environmental and Social Justice

Issue: Environmental and Social Justice

Program Topic: Bar Harbor’s Community Solar Farm Project

Key Discussion Points:
1) Today we talk about two solar projects in development in Bar Harbor. One, a roof top array on the public works building to power that building and the other, a community solar farm which will power a number of homes. Bar Harbor’s will be the first community solar farm on public land in the state.
2) We talk with Bar harbor town councilor Gary Friedman about local efforts to develop sustainable energy and address climate change.
3) We talk with a ReVision Energy representative, John Loft, about action being taken around the state to transition to solar power.

Guests:
Gary Friedman, Bar Harbor town councilor, 288-5323
John Luft, Revision Energy, branch manager,Liberty,
[email protected]

www.revisionenergy.com,

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Maine Currents 9/16/15

Producer/Host: Amy Browne

According to a recent study* the decrease in carbon footprint from reduced reproduction is “huge” compared to lifestyle changes and conservation efforts. Yet people who choose not to have children are almost universally considered to be selfish or social outcasts. Despite this, the “childfree by choice” movement seems to be growing.

Guests:
Dr. Amy Blackstone, University of Maine Professor and Chair of the Sociology Department. Professor Blackstone studies childlessness and the childfree choice, childfree families, workplace harassment, and civic engagement. Her work has been published in a variety of peer-reviewed journals including American Sociological Review, Law & Society Review, Sociology Compass, and Gender & Society. Professor Blackstone’s research has been featured by various media outlets including the Katie show, MPBN Radio, NBC, Fox, Today.com, MSNBC, Marie Claire, Dame, Huffington Post, and other local and national venues, including WERU’s “Reproductive Left” with Abbie Strout (Listen to an archive of that program here: archives.weru.org/reproductive-left/2015/03/reproductive-left-3315/ ) Dr. Blackstone is also a founding Advisory Board member of Feminist Reflections, a blog hosted by The Society Pages. She has served as a Consulting Editor for Contexts and is author the textbook Principles of Sociological Inquiry: Qualitative and Quantitative Methods. She and her husband Lance, who is also with us today, blog about the childfree choice at werenothavingababy.com/
Lance Blackstone’s day job is managing software development. He enjoys all things tropical – in particular, snorkeling and scuba diving on tropical islands and, when not on a tropical island, propagating coral in his home reef aquariums.
Karen Marysdaughter is a war tax refuser, climate activist, and the Office Manager at the Peace & Justice Center of Eastern Maine. Larry Dansinger, in addition to being the host of the WERU short feature “Outside the Box”, has been an organizer for many years on justice, peace, and environmental issues and formerly paid staff for Resources for Organizing and Social Change. He and Karen Marysdaughter have lived together as a couple since 1982.

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