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Green Time TV, June 2017: Protecting People, Land, and the Future

on Thu, 05/18/2017 - 9:07am

by Don Fitz

Human rights are inseparable from protecting land and preparing for the future. June 2017 Green Time episodes explore how we can defend ourselves when human/environmental rights are threatened.

Why should we be worried about fossil fuels and pipelines? In the first June Green Time, host Don Fitz and guests Byron Clemens, a St. Louis activist, and Amber Duvall, of Earth Defense Coalition, explore dangers of pipeline accidents. They discuss indigenous people's treaty rights, the right to clean water, oil money investments and financial contributions to political campaigns. They cover issues related to the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) and the Diamond, Sabal Trail and Spire piplines. Byron protested DAPL in North Dakota and Amber did so in Iowa. They look into how First Amendment rights are threatened by legal efforts to prevent protests.

What sort of problems do veterans face when they get out of the military? During the second June Green Time, host Don Fitz and guests Michael McPhearson, of Veterans For Peace, and Kennedy Davis, of Veteran Court Technology Clinic, explore difficulties vets have in returning to the civilian world, adjusting to their families, getting an education, and finding and keeping a job. They look at how these issues can be intensified if the veteran has drug addiction, alcoholism, traumatic brain injury or Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Do those with PTSD truly have a “disorder” or is their stress a normal reaction to being involved in people's deaths? How can these problems be complicated by vets who are homeless or do jail time? They look at older vets from the Vietnam era and other conflicts as well as current era vets.

The power grid is what allows us to have electricity. But it can be disrupted. At times there may be a major instability. A steel cable tethering a blimp may come undone at the bottom, and the blimp may sail away dragging the cable across power lines. The third June Green Time has host Don Fitz and guest William Pickard of the Department of Electrical and Systems Engineering at Washington University discussing breaking the grid into isolated fragments called islands. The big problem is what we do when most of the electric power is generated by photovoltaics and the sun goes down. Colossal amounts of storage will be needed.

Differences between health care in Denmark and the US could hardly be more stark. The final June Green Time features host Don Fitz and guests Mimi Signor of Missourians for Single Payer and Dr. Johan Andersen, Department of Occupational Medicine, Aarhus University, Herning, Denmark (Visiting Professor at Washington University), covering the connection between health care and the larger social welfare system in Denmark. The cost of Danish health care is much less than in the US and its citizens live longer. It may be time for Americans to demand the right to free health care.

May shows include portions of the movie Backhoe LockdownToxic Dump Liberation, The Law of Diminishing ReturnsandFix It.

Green Time appears at noon on Saturdays in St. Louis on Channel 24-1 and at 8 pm on Mondays in St. Louis on Channel 24-2, Springfield on Channel 39, Joplin on Channel 36 and Marshfield on Channel 17. Green Time programs air on these dates:

  • June 3, 5: “Sacred Land vs. Divine Money,”

  • June 10, 12: “Vets Coming Home,”

  • June 17, 19: “Power Grid Resilience,” and

  • June 24, 26: “Socialized Medicine in Denmark.”

“Like” Gateway Greens on Facebook and click “Get notifications.” Also see Green Time on https://www.youtube.com/user/GreentimeTV. To help produce Green Time TV call 314-727-8554 or email fitzdon@aol.com