The coronavirus pandemic is sweeping across the globe and has arrived in Vermont. Stanford epidemiologist Steve Goodman discusses the uniquely dangerous dimensions of this new pandemic, the botched federal response, the impact of the Trump Administration’s misinformation, and why he calls COVID-19 “a tsunami.” (March 11, 2020 broadcast)
“The problem isn’t really individuals making money. The problem is having an entire system that grows the wealth of billionaires at the expense of everything else we care about — including our democracy,” writes Chuck Collins in an op-ed for CNN Business, “The US would be better off with fewer billionaires.” Collins, who is the heir to the Oscar Mayer fortune, has long championed raising taxes on the rich and campaign finance reform, and writes extensively about inequality. Collins discusses Mike Bloomberg, the problem with philanthropy, and the many ways that billionaires undermine the middle class and democracy. (March 11, 2020 broadcast)
Chuck Collins, co-editor, Inequality.org at the Institute for Policy Studies, author, Born on Third Base
Vermont House Speaker Mitzi Johnson is 1 of just 8 female Speakers of the House in US legislatures. Johnson was elected to the VT House of Reps in 2002. She rose to be chair of the powerful Appropriations Committee, and was elected Speaker in 2017. She discusses the recent historic veto override of Vermont Gov. Phil Scott on raising the minimum wage — the first such override in the state since 2009. She also discusses the presidential run of Bernie Sanders, a tax and regulate system for marijuana, climate change, sexism, and how women lead. (March 4, 2020 broadcast)
Mitzi Johnson, Speaker of the Vermont House of Representatives
2020 marks the 50th anniversary of Act 250, Vermont’s signature land use and development law. It was passed at a time when Vermont was undergoing significant development pressure. Two new interstate highways, I-89 and 91, had recently opened, increasing development pressure. But in the late 1960s, Vermont had no environmental regulations or land use controls. So Gov. Deane Davis appointed a commission to explore how to deal with these new challenges. The result was Act 250, which the Vermont legislature passed in 1970. The law provides a public, quasi-judicial process for reviewing and managing the environmental, social and fiscal consequences of major subdivisions and developments in Vermont.
Fast forward a half century. In January 2020, the Scott administration and the Vermont Natural Resources Council, which are often adversaries on environmental issues, proposed a package of Act 250 reforms. This reform plan has generated controversy among environmentalists and legislators. Last week, the legislature stripped out a key reform proposal to professionalize the development review process. What is the future of Act 250 and reform efforts? What has Act 250 contributed during its half-century? (February 26, 2020 broadcast)
Peter Walke, commissioner, Vermont Department of Environmental Conservation
Brian Shupe, executive director, Vermont Natural Resources Council
Vermont Senate President Pro Tem Tim Ashe on the key legislative issues in 2020, including the failure of paid family leave and the veto of a higher minimum wage. He accuses Gov. Phil Scott of “governing by veto or veto threat.” And he discusses his political future and his run for Lieutenant Governor. (February 19, 2020 broadcast)
Visitors to Vermont’s mountains will encounter people with disabilities skiing and participating in sports that once might have seemed beyond reach. They are participants with Vermont Adaptive Ski & Sports, a nationally recognized organization that empowers people of all abilities through inclusive sports and recreational programming regardless of ability to pay. We discuss the impacts and origins of this pioneering program. (February 19, 2020 broadcast)
Kim Jackson, director of communications & marketing, Vermont Adaptive Ski & Sports
Emily Cioffi, mono skier
Kyle Robideaux, a skier with visual impairment who is also an ultra trail runner
The programs that low-income rely on are under attack. Nationally, Pres. Trump is slashing money for food stamps and affordable housing, to name a few. In Vermont, Gov. Scott is proposing to eliminate funds for two longstanding anti-poverty programs: the Micro Business Development Program, established in 1988, which provides free assistance and access to capital to help low-income Vermonters start their own businesses, and the Vermont Matched Savings Program, established in 2000, which matches saving and offers financial education program for low-income Vermonters. Representatives of Vermont’s community action agencies and program participants discuss the role and impacts of these antipoverty programs and what will happen if they are eliminated. (February 12, 2020 broadcast)
In fall 2019, Rebecca Holcombe became the first declared candidate for Vermont governor in the 2020 gubernatorial race. Holcombe is a former teacher, principal, and she served as Vermont’s secretary of education under Governors Peter Shumlin and Phil Scott. Now she is running to unseat Scott as governor. Holcombe discusses why she’s running and the issues that are a priority for her, including climate change, workforce development, health care and education. (February 5, 2020 broadcast)
TURNmusic is a chamber music ensemble with attitude. It is taking classical music out of its comfort zone, venturing into the community to play in bars, meeting halls and other offbeat venues. Conductor Anne Decker of Waterbury, Vermont, says the professional ensemble is part of her mission to use music to build community and support good causes, such as an upcoming concert to benefit the ACLU of Vermont. Decker talks about the power of music to bring people together. (February 5, 2020 broadcast)
More than 8,000 Vemonters are under some form of correctional control. One in four people incarcerated in Vermont have not been convicted of a crime. A new bipartisan consensus is emerging for criminal justice reform. A poll released this week by the ACLU of Vermont shows that two in three Vermonters want to reduce the prison population by investing in community-based alternatives, and four in five Vermonters support alternatives for offenses resulting from substance misuse, mental health conditions and poverty. James Lyall discusses efforts to cut Vermont’s prison population in half, other criminal justice reform legislation, as well as recent court decisions around immigrant rights. He also talks about his greatest concerns about civil liberties in the Trump era. (January 29, 2020 broadcast)
This week, Vermont’s nonprofit news publication VTDigger was awarded a $900,000 grant by the American Journalism Project to support its work as a daily statewide news source. This is the largest grant ever received by VTDdigger, which recently celebrated its tenth anniversary. VTDigger has been cited by Harvard’s Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics & Public Policy and the New York Times as a national model for providing local news. Anne Galloway, the founder and editor of VTDigger, talks about the future of local journalism in the age of Facebook & Google, how she started what began as a one-woman operation to cover state politics, the Trump effect on local news coverage and what is next for VTDigger. (January 29, 2020 broadcast)
Does it make sense to pay people to move to Vermont to solve a workforce shortage? Does spending more on tourism marketing actually bring more tourists? Is Vermont losing or gaining workers? Vermont State Auditor Doug Hoffer follows the money and offers his often contrarian view of what works and what doesn’t. Hoffer, who took office in 2013, also dispels rumors of his retirement to confirm that he will run for re-election in 2020. (January 22, 2020 broadcast)
Will Vermont finally get paid family & medical leave, a higher minimum wage and legalized marijuana sales that are taxed and regulated by the state. Vermont House Majority Leader Jill Krowinski (B-Burlington) discusses the politics and possibilities of the 2020 legislative session in Vermont. (January 22, 2020 broadcast)
Rep. Jill Krowinski, Vermont House Majority Leader
This week, Vermont Lt. Gov. David Zuckerman announced that he would run to replace Gov. Phil Scott, who is widely assumed will run for a third term in 2020. If Zuckerman were to defeat Scott, he would be the first candidate to defeat an incumbent Vermont governor in 60 years. Zuckerman is a Progressive/Democrat who will run on the Democratic ticket, and he will first have to win a Democratic primary against former Education Secretary Rebecca Holcombe. Zuckerman talks about the issues that matter to him, his strategy for winning and how he got into politics. (January 15, 2020 broadcast)
Vermont Lt. Governor David Zuckerman, candidate for governor
Ken Squier is an American broadcasting legend and Vermont icon. He is best known to Vermonters as the owner of WDEV Radio Vermont, the 90-year-old independent radio network, and to its listeners as the host of Music to Go to the Dump By. The last three years have been especially momentous for Squier. He sold Thunder Road, the Vermont car racing track that he co-founded more than a half century ago. In January 2018, he was the first journalist inducted into the NASCAR Hall of Fame, a recognition of his lifetime achievement as a broadcaster with CBS and TBS and as the founder of Motor Racing Network. Squier reflects on community media, the state of the country and his legacy. (January 8, 2020 broadcast)
Ken Squier, NASCAR Hall of Fame broadcaster and owner, WDEV Radio Vermont
Why are women a disproportionate share of Vermonters in poverty? Why are 4 out of 10 women who work full time unable to meet their basic needs? Why do women earn 84 cents for every dollar earned by a man? What does it cost a young mom to take a few years off to raise kids? These questions and more are the focus of a report on Women, Work & Wages from Change the Story Vermont, an initiative to align policy, program, and philanthropy to fast-track women’s economic status in Vermont. The organization recently received national attention when it created sports jerseys emblazoned with #equalpay, which were worn by members of the Burlington High School girls soccer team during a game this fall. The players were penalized for wearing unauthorized uniforms but their advocacy of equal pay for women went viral. We spend the hour discussing the issues affecting women, work and poverty in Vermont. (December 18, 2019 broadcast)
Kiah Morris was elected to the Vermont State Legislature from Bennington in 2014 and re-elected in 2016. She was the only female African-American Vermont state representative at that time. In September 2018, she resigned from the legislature in the wake of racist attacks from white nationalists. The shocking story of what happened to her was reported in the New York Times, Washington Post, CNN, BBC and other news outlets. In January 2019, Vermont Attorney General TJ Donovan announced that he would not bring criminal charges against the man who was harassing Morris and her family, insisting that racially offensive speech was protected. Civil rights groups including the NAACP and Justice for All denounced the decision and the Vermont ACLU called for an investigation of the Bennington Police for its “systemic racism problem.” Morris has continued to speak out against racism and misogyny both locally and globally. She was recently part of an Oxfam America delegation to Central America where she met with survivors of domestic and sexual violence. Morris discusses her ongoing fight for justice. (December 11, 2019 broadcast)
Jake Burton Carpenter, who died on November 20, 2019 at the age of 65, was a trailblazer in many ways. He took his passion of riding a single plank — a snowboard — and transformed it into a global phenomenon and thriving business. He was also a much beloved member of the his community in Stowe, Vermont, where he built a pool and fitness center and could often be found riding the trails at Stowe Mountain Resort. We discuss Carpenter’s life and legacy. (December 4, 2019 broadcast)
Lisa Lynn, editor, Vermont Ski & Ride
Chris Doyle, Rapid Prototype Engineer, Burton Snowboards
Imagine Vermont with a network of trails and huts that would allow a mountain biker, hiker or skier to travel throughout the mountains staying entirely off the grid and in the backcountry. Other states, including Colorado, New Hampshire and Maine, have well-developed hut systems, but Vermont is new to this wave. RJ Thompson discusses how the decades-old vision of a network of mountain huts for Vermont is being turned into reality. (December 4, 2019 broadcast)
Bess O’Brien is an award-winning filmmaker whose work has changed the public discourse on issues ranging from addiction to incarceration. Her film The Hungry Heart, about the prescription drug crisis in Vermont, impacted the state’s drug policy. All of Me shone a light on eating disorders and her latest, Coming Home, focuses on ex-prisoners returning to their Vermont communities. O’Brien is currently producing The Listen Up Project, a musical based on the lives of Vermont teens. She is the founder of Kingdom County Productions with her husband, filmmaker Jay Craven. Vermont Gov. Peter Shumlin said, “Every state in the Union should be so lucky to have Bess O’Brien working for them in support of children and families.” (November 20, 2019 broadcast)
China has been in the headlines from protests in Hong Kong, to human rights abuses in western China to Pres. Donald Trump’s trade war. China expert James Millward explains what is behind Trump’s obsession with China, the crackdown on ethnic minorities and what lies ahead for the world’s most populous country. (November 13, 2019 broadcast)
James Millward, professor, Department of History and School of Foreign Service, Georgetown University
Arlie Russell Hochschild is one of the most influential sociologists of our time. She is the author of nine books, including her latest, the bestseller, Strangers in Their Own Land: Anger and Mourning on the American Right. In that book, she travels to Louisiana, the second-poorest state, to explore why its neediest populations both rely on federal aid and reject the concept of “big government.” She went there to gain insight insight in Donald Trump’s base. (November 13, 2019 broadcast)
Arlie Russell Hochschild, professor of sociology, UC Berkeley, author, Strangers in Their Own Land: Anger and Mourning on the American Right
Elizabeth Shackelford was a career diplomat in the U.S. State Department until December 2017, when she resigned in protest against the Trump administration. Shackelford served in U.S. embassies in Poland, South Sudan, Somalia, and Washington, D.C. She was considered a rising star in the diplomatic corps and received the State Department’s highest honor for consular work for her service in South Sudan. She now lives in Rochester, Vermont. She discusses why she quit, why more than half of career foreign service officers have also resigned, what happened in Ukraine, and the importance of democratic protest. (November 6, 2019 broadcast)
Elizabeth Shackelford, US diplomat who resigned in protest
Around the US, rural areas are in decline. Can rural areas thrive? Matt Dunne argues that rural areas can be centers of innovation and is piloting a model project in the struggling city of Springfield, VT with a new organization whose mission is to build “a network of rural innovation hubs to spark the revival of small towns across America.” (October 30, 2019 broadcast)
Matt Dunne, Founder and Executive Director, Center on Rural Innovation
One in four births in Vermont are now attended by midwives and the number of midwife-attended births in the United States has more than doubled since 1991. A new study shows that greater access to midwife care is linked to better outcomes for families. We discuss birthing and midwifery today with Vermont midwives who attend home births, work in Planned Parenthood, hospital-based midwives and a midwife who works in Africa. (October 23, 2019 broadcast)
Bonny Steuer, Certified Nurse Midwife (CNM), president, Vermont chapter, American College of Nurse Midwives, practices at UVM Medical Center
Rebecca Montgomery, CNM & Certified Menopause Practitioner, adjunct professor of nursing, UVM, practices at Vermont Gynecology in S. Burlington
Elisa Vandervort, CNM, family nurse practitioner, practices at Central Vt Medical Center, Gifford Hospital and University of Dodoma in Tanzania, Africa
April VanDerveer, CNM, practices at Full Spectrum midwifery, specializes in home births
President Trump’s abandonment of the Kurds has resulted in the slaughter of a former American ally and has realigned the Middle East. Trump claimed that the conflict between Turkey and the Kurds, which he greenlighted in a phone call with Turkish President Erdogan, “has nothing to do with us.” Peter Galbraith is a former diplomat and was a State Senator from Windham County, Vermont. He helped expose Saddam Hussein’s gassing of the Kurds in the 1980s and 1990s, and from 1993 to 1998, he served as the first U.S. Ambassador to Croatia. He recently returned from northern Syria where he was mediating with the Kurds. He condemns the betrayal of the Kurds, saying it will result in a resurgence of America’s adversaries, and accuses Trump of behaving like a Russian asset. (October 16, 2019 broadcast)
Re-entering the workforce? Changing careers? Two career coaches discuss how to effectively tell your story, from writing resumes to using LinkedIn. (October 16, 2019 broadcast)
In February 2019, 26-year-old Jenna Tatro died of a drug overdose at her family’s home in Johnson, Vermont. Now her parents, Greg and Dawn Tatro, have dedicated themselves to fighting opioid addiction and helping those who suffer with it. The Tatros have established Jenna’s Promise, a nonprofit organization that is building a community-based center in Johnson for people in recovery from addiction. They have renovated a former church and plan to open a coffee shop to both house and employ people in recovery. The Tatros are the owners of G.W. Tatro, a family-owned 60-year-old construction company based in Jeffersonville. They share Jenna’s story, discuss the responsibility of pharmaceutical companies in driving addiction, and describe how they will help those struggling with addiction. (September 25, 2019 broadcast)
On September 20, 2019, millions of people walked out of schools, workplaces and homes to heed the call of a global climate movement: “Join young climate strikers in the streets and demand an end to the age of fossil fuels. Our house is on fire — let’s act like it. We demand climate justice for everyone.” The strike was inspired by 16-year-old Swedish activist Greta Thunberg, who launched a climate strike outside the Swedish parliament to demand action on climate change. In Vermont, student activists from around the state and leading businesses joined the call during a week of action. We speak with businesspeople and activists on why they support the strike. (September 18, 2019 broadcast)
Jenn Swain, global senior sustainability manager, Burton Snowboards
Kristin Kelly, director of communications, Green Mountain Power
Divya Gudur, student organizer, Middlebury College
Bram Kleppner, CEO at Danforth Pewter since 2011, has been a forceful advocate for progressive change while turning around his company from losses to growth and profitability. Under his leadership, Danforth has become the world’s first 100% solar-powered pewter workshop, implemented company-wide profit-sharing, paid parental leave, paid time off for community service and given employees a seat on the Board of Directors. Danforth is now striving for zero fossil fuel use and raising its lowest wage to $15/hour a year before Vermont does. He is the recipient the 2019 Terry Ehrich Award for Lifetime Achievement from Vermont Businesses for Social Responsibility. He is also the great nephew of feminist pioneer and aviator Amelia Earhardt, who vanished in 1937 while flying around the world. Kleppner discusses how business can be a change agent, as well as his view on what happened to Earhardt (September 18, 2019 broadcast)
Writer Kate O’Neill is on a mission to end the stigma surrounding drug addiction, which she identifies as the biggest barrier to treatment. This mission is personal: her sister, Madelyn Linsenmeir, died in October 2018 after years battling opioid addiction. O’Neill is the author of “Hooked: Stories and Solutions from Vermont’s Opioid Crisis,” a remarkable year-long series of articles in the Vermont news weekly Seven Days. The series explores the state’s opioid epidemic and efforts to address it using traditional journalism, narrative storytelling and O’Neill’s own experiences. O’Neill discusses addiction and pregnancy, links to sex trafficking, and the personal impact of researching and writing about her sister’s death. (September 11, 2019 broadcast)
Medicare for All has evolved from a progressive pipe dream, to a central plank in Sen. Bernie Sanders 2016 presidential campaign, to a mainstream policy idea embraced by nearly every leading 2020 Democratic presidential candidate. Now a new group has emerged to make the case for single payer health care. Business for Medicare for All was started by former health insurance executive Wendell Potter and MCS Industries Chairman and CEO Richard Master, who say the existing health insurance system costs companies more than a single-payer plan would. The two want to uncouple health insurance from the workplace, making health care more available to independent contractors and others. Dan Barlow, the organization’s executive director, discusses the evolution of the movement for single payer health care and lays out the plan to sign up 10,000 businesses to advance the cause. Barlow was the former policy manager for Vermont Businesses for Social Responsibility and a longtime journalist. (September 11, 2019 broadcast)
Dan Barlow, executive director, Business for Medicare for All
Vermont now has the lowest unemployment rate in the country (2%). That’s good news, but the bad news is that Vermont employers are struggling to find help. Meanwhile, many college graduates are pondering their future. Internships may unite these employers and employees. A recent study by the Vermont Futures Project suggests that internships are under-utilized. We speak with reps from VBSR’s Vermont Intern Program, Champlain College, employers and interns to learn who is offering paid internships, how issues of equity are being addressed and how employers and employees can turn internships into jobs.
Samantha Sheehan, communications manager, Vermont Businesses for Social Responsibility, Vermont Intern Program
Pat Boera, associate director, Career Collaborative, Champlain College
Patrick Dansereau, intern at Vermont Mutual, Champlain College, Class of 2020
The Trump administration is proposing to kick over 3 million people off of food stamps, about 8 percent of the total the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP. In Vermont, over 13,000 people would lose 3SquaresVT benefits, some 13 percent of the current caseload that equates to an approximate loss over $7.5 million in annual benefits for Vermonters. This includes 4,600 children who are expected to lose 3SquaresVT benefits under this proposal, and many of these school-aged children are at risk of losing access to free meals at school as well. We discuss this threat with Anore Horton, executive director of Hunger Free Vermont, which is leading a campaign to oppose the cuts. We are also joined by officials from several Vermont schools to talk about the face of hunger in children and the threat of losing financial support. (August 28, 2019 broadcast)
Over 70 percent of Americans believe that economic system is rigged against them. And the three wealthiest men control more resources than the bottom half of all Americans. What’s the alternative? Marjorie Kelly, co-author (with Ted Howard) of The Making of a Democratic Economy: Building Prosperity for the Many, Not Just the Few, highlights projects that build community wealth and democratize our economy. Kelly is executive VP at the Democracy Collaborative and the co-founder of Business Ethics magazine. (August 21, 2019 broadcast)
Marjorie Kelly, co-author, The Making of a Democratic Economy: Building Prosperity for the Many, Not Just the Few
Dan Hock began volunteering at Bike Recycle Vermont in 2005 while attending Saint Michael’s College. Bike Recycle was a social enterprise with a mission of giving bikes to those in need. It was located across the street from Old Spokes Home, a much loved Burlington bike shop founded by Glenn Eames in 2000. In 2015, Hock and several others raised $300,000 and bought Old Spokes Home from Eames and integrated Bike Recycle into it. The bike shop and nonprofit moved into a new location in early 2019. Old Spokes Home — its motto is “creating access to bikes and the opportunities they provide for our whole community” — is now a thriving social enterprise and a commercial business. Hock discusses the role that bikes can play in transforming the lives of low-income people and his journey as a former bike racer and global cyclist to being a co-owner of a bike shop with a social mission. Dan Hock was named a 2019 VBSR Young Changemaker of the Year. (August 21, 2019 broadcast)
Dan Hock, programs director, Old Spokes Home, Burlington, Vt.
Millions of people worldwide are affected by autoimmune disease, which includes conditions such as chronic fatigue syndrome. The symptoms are often dismissed by doctors, families and friends. Cynthia Li faced this firsthand, but as a doctor herself, she found herself becoming what she and colleagues dismissively called a “difficult patient.” Li’s life, career and marriage nearly came crashing down when she began experiencing mysterious health symptoms. Tests came back normal, baffling her doctors—and herself. Li has written a new book about her journey,Brave New Medicine: A Doctor’s Unconventional Path to Healing Her Autoimmune Illness. She discusses how she came to terms with her condition and how she is now helping others. Dr. Cynthia Lireceived her medical degree from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas and has practiced as an internist in San Francisco. She now has a private practice in integrative and functional medicine and serves on the faculty of the Healer’s Art program at the University of California San Francisco School of Medicine. She lives in Berkeley, CA, with her husband and their two daughters. (August 7, 2019 broadcast)
Dr. Cynthia Li, author, Brave New Medicine: A Doctor’s Unconventional Path to Healing Her Autoimmune Illness
When Gwynne Berry fell on the ice while skiing in January 2017, she suspected she had a concussion. A Vermont native, she was shocked a short while later when she awoke speaking with a foreign accent. Berry, a former ski racing coach and a mother of two in Waterbury, Vermont, who works part-time as an office administrator, has been grappling for over two years with foreign accent syndrome, a rare disorder that strikes about 100 people worldwide. Her accents have ranged from French Canadian, to Swedish, Czech and now Irish. Berry is the subject of a short documentary, “Miss Me, I’m Irish.” She talks about the challenge of recovering from a serious brain injury and her healing journey. (August 7, 2019 broadcast)
With a climate denier in the White House, states are taking the lead in passing climate change initiatives. The vice chairs of Vermont’s Climate Solutions Caucus discuss their priorities, what laws have won and lost in Vermont and future plans. The nonpartisan Vermont Climate Solutions Caucus of the Vermont Legislature was founded in 2012 to support legislation that promotes Vermont’s economy while reducing reliance on fossil fuels. It currently includes 82 members in the Vermont House and Senate. (July 31, 2019 broadcast)
Vermont Rep. Sarah Copeland-Hanzas (D-Bradford), vice chair, Climate Solutions Caucus
Vermont Sen. Chris Pearson (P/D-Burlington), vice chair, Climate Solutions Caucus
Anne Watson was elected mayor of Montpelier, Vermont’s capital city, in 2018. By day, she is an award-winning teacher of science, math and financial literacy at Montpelier High School. She is also coach of MHS’s boy’s varsity ultimate Frisbee team, which just won the state championship, making it the first state-sanctioned high school varsity ultimate Frisbee title in the country. Watson talks about her work to advance energy efficiency and fight climate change in her work with the city, and the challenges and opportunities facing women in political leadership. (July 31, 2019 broadcast)
2019 is the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing. It also marks another milestone: the 50th anniversary of the height of the Vietnam War and the popular movement that arose to confront it. By 1969, more than 14,500 young American soldiers had been killed and a half million had served in combat. Antiwar protest raged in the streets, on campuses and in capitols across the country. One of the unusual features of the Vietnam era was the emergence of citizen diplomacy — Americans who traveled to Vietnam and return to tell what they saw. In 2013, one group returned to Vietnam to participate in observances of the 40th anniversary of the signing of the Paris Peace Accords that ended the war. Out of that trip came a book, The People Make the Peace: Lessons From the Vietnam Antiwar Movement, edited by Karín Aguilar-San Juan and Frank Joyce. A number of the contributors recently returned from Vietnam where they launched a Vietnamese language edition of the book. Three of those contributors discuss their history with the Vietnam War, their trips to Vietnam during the war and lessons that the antiwar movement holds for today’s activists. Judy Gumbo is an original member of the Yippies who visited the former North Vietnam and helped organize a Women’s March on the Pentagon; she spent most of her professional career as a fundraiser for Planned Parenthood. Jay Craven is a Vermonter, award-winning producer, independent film writer/director, impresario, and community arts activist. He traveled to Vietnam in 1970 as part of a delegation of college newspaper editors and student body presidents and returned to help lead the 1971 May Day demonstrations in Washington that resulted in the largest mass arrest for non-violent civil disobedience in U.S. history. Frank Joyce has been in involved in many labor, antiracist, human rights and antiwar campaigns. He was a member of the UAW International Union staff for eighteen years. (July 17, 2019 broadcast)
Could a space-based nuclear weapon trigger the simultaneous meltdown of every nuclear power plant on the East Coast? And has the plunging price of renewable power rendered every other form of energy obsolete? Nuclear whistleblowers Maggie & Arnie Gundersen think so. They also assess whether Iran’s nuclear program poses a threat to the US. The Gundersens know the nuclear business from the inside: Arnie Gundersen is a nuclear engineer who defended the nuclear industry for 20 years, managing and coordinating projects at 70 nuclear power plants in the US. In 1991, after complaining about lax nuclear safety to his superiors, he was fired, and the industry turned on him. That’s when he and his wife Maggie Gundersen, who worked as a spokesperson for the nuclear industry, became leading critics of nuclear power, forming Fairewinds Energy Education. Arnie Gundersen now consults on nuclear power. (July 10, 2019 broadcast)
For the last decade, Lindsay DesLauriers has been in the news as an advocate for paid family leave and other progressive causes in her role as the state director for Main Street Alliance. In 2018, DesLauriers turned her skills from advocacy to her family business. She is now president and COO of Bolton Valley Resort, which her father Ralph purchased in the 1960s, and which she now runs with two of her brothers. DesLauriers discusses her journey from being a child growing up on a ski mountain, to ski bumming in Colorado, to returning to Vermont to champion socially responsible businesses, and now to shepherding her family’s ski area into a new era as one of the ski industry’s few female chief executives. She is implementing paid family leave in her own business and tackling the challenges that climate change poses to a Vermont ski area. (July 10, 2019 broadcast)
Lindsay DesLauriers, President & COO, Bolton Valley Resort
On this Independence Day show, we discuss the battle for civil liberties in Vermont and around the country. Jay Diaz and Lia Ernst have been staff attorneys for the American Civil Liberties Union of Vermont since 2015. They have been arguing — and winning — precedent-setting cases that address racial profiling, government transparency, immigrant rights, prisoner rights and other issues. They discuss what’s at stake and why they fight. (July 3, 2019 broadcast)
What do the war on drugs, the military-industrial complex and Elvis Presley have in common? They are all the subject of films by filmmaker and Vermont resident Eugene Jarecki. Jarecki is an Emmy and Peabody award-winning documentary director who has twice won the Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival. Jarecki has spent his career exposing and exploring American capitalism and culture in works such as his 2006 film about US militarism called “Why We Fight,” and his 2012 film, “The House I Live In,” about systemic racism in the “war on drugs.” His other film subjects include Henry Kissinger and President Ronald Reagan. Jarecki discusses how he bought Elvis’s 1963 Rolls Royce and drove it across American for his latest film, The King, his life in films and why he declined an opportunity to interview Donald Trump for his film. (June 19, 2019 broadcast)
Thirty years ago, journalist, author and activist Bill McKibben wrote The End of Nature, the first book for a general audience about climate change. He went on to found 350.org, the first global climate change movement, and he has helped launch the fast-growing fossil fuel divestment movement. McKibben, who is the Schumann Distinguished Scholar in Environmental Studies at Middlebury College, has a new book that details where we’ve come in the 30 years since he first warned about the dangers of climate change. Falter: Has the Human Game Begun to Play Itself Out? argues that climate change is proceeding at a far more rapid pace than scientists once predicted and humans are losing the race for survival and their own humanity. McKibben on his 30 year journey, where we are now, and where we are going. This Vermont Conversation was recorded live at Bridgeside Books in Waterbury, VT. (June 12, 2019 broadcast)
Bill McKibben, founder, 350.org and author, Falter: Has the Human Game Begun to Play Itself Out?
In January 2019, public interest advocates weighed in on the Vermont Conversation with their priorities for the 2019 legislative session in Vermont. Five months later, they return to discuss what happened: who won, who lost, what’s still in play on key legislation including banning plastic bags, $15 minimum wage, paid family leave, medical monitoring for toxics and campaign finance reform. (June 5, 2019 broadcast)
Paul Burns, executive director, Vermont Public Interest Research Group
This year, the Vermont House Judiciary Committee passed legislation on a number of national hotbutton issues. This included passing the strongest abortion rights law in the country, enacting a 24-hour waiting period for handgun purchases and removing the time limit for victims of child sexual abuse to bring claims against their abusers. Democratic Rep. Maxine Grad is the chair of the Vermont House Judiciary Committee. This is Grad’s 19th year representing the Mad River Valley towns of Waitsfield, Duxbury, Fayston, Warren and Moretown. This year saw her featured in a NY Times article about Vermont’s landmark abortion rights law. Grad discusses the challenge of confronting tough issues and her priorities going forward. (June 5, 2019 broadcast)
Rep. Maxine Grad, chair, Vermont House Judiciary Committee
Rep. Ann Pugh, chair of the Vermont House Committee on Human Services, was recently featured in the New York Times discussing Vermont’s historic abortion rights legislation, which she co-sonsored. Sen. Ginny Lyons, chair of the Vt. Senate Committee on Health and Welfare, is a sponsor of a proposed amendment to the Vermont constitution protecting abortion rights. These two measures offer the strongest protection of abortion rights in the US. The two legislative leaders discuss abortion rights, child care and other new protections for women and families, as well as the political stalemate that ended the 2019 legislative session. (May 29, 2019 broadcast)
Rep. Ann Pugh, chair, Vermont House Committee on Human Services
Sen. Ginny Lyons, chair, Vermont Senate Committee on Health and Welfare
What would you do if you lost your ability to speak? That was one of many challenges confronting Stanford professor Debra Meyerson when she suffered a stroke at age 53. Her book, Identity Theft: Rediscovering Ourselves After Stroke, explores the impact of her stroke on her life and the often-overlooked emotional recovery from a stroke. Her husband Steve Zuckerman (cousin of Vermont Lt. Gov David Zuckerman) joins her in the conversation. (May 29. 2019 broadcast)
