Podcast (attitude): Play in new window | Download
Subscribe: RSS
Part One:
We speak with Amanda Paulson, reporter for the Christian Science Monitor, about the fires in the Amazon. The Amazon is not only “the lungs of the Earth,” but it also provides a wealth of services for the whole planet. The biodiversity within this ecosystem has given us humans many medicines and other products that have saved our health and improved our lives. The Amazon sends rain into the atmosphere just at the time when our farmers are planting their crops, providing the water necessary to nurture the young plants. The Amazon acts as a carbon sink, capturing carbon that otherwise would exacerbate the greenhouse effect contributing to global warming. And the bad news: now that the Amazon is burning, the heat releases the carbon back into the atmosphere, so we’ve lost most of the gains that have been made since 2000 when Brazil made a conscious policy decision to fight the deforestation process.
We ask what can be done to protect the planet’s “lungs” before we cross a threshold and the world spirals into irreversible environmental destruction. Could we pay enough money to Bolsonaro to persuade him to stop encouraging farmers and developers to destroy these special forests? Should we insist that Big Pharma pay for this, in order to save the source of crucial scientific resources? Is a financial transaction like this something that we think is the best approach? Would the money actually get to the places it should, rather than enriching the elites?
Part Two:
We check in with “Dr. Politics,” Steffen Schmidt, professor of political science at Iowa State University. We are worried about the current state of world affairs, and hoping that democracy will survive, that the fabric of our society won’t be torn apart. Boris Johnson has dissolved the British Parliament. The EU and its economies will probably suffer economic disaster from which autocrats have already begun to take over several countries. Pres. Trump’s erratic behavior and hateful policies make the US seem like a rudderless boat in a very rough ocean. Brazil’s Bolsonaro acts as if he prefers enriching his elite cronies to saving the unique Amazon rainforest, “the lungs of the earth.”
Meanwhile, back in US-electionland, we worry about our country surviving long enough to get to the 2020 election. Psychologists have pointed out that many of Pres. Trump’s unusual behavior quirks are telltale warning signs for dementia. In fact, some of Trump’s symptoms are consistent with second-stage dementia and beyond. We should insist that he undergo a full neuropsychological evaluation by objective doctors to assure the country and the world (and the economy and the law-abiding citizens) that he is medically competent to continue in office. The 25th Amendment was passed for a reason.
We also wonder whether some of Joe Biden’s behavior — mis-speaking, rambling from point to point, and failing to speak in any depth about his policy views — might also be the result of approaching dementia.
Finally, we discuss many aspects of the health care debate, including what advantages & disadvantages we’d experience by sticking with private health insurance companies compared to a single-payer or Medicare-for-all system. Does the answer depend on whether the private market offers truly free competition among a variety of insurance companies? If the problem with a Medicare-type system is that the government is less efficient than the private free market, does this argument still hold when there are only 2 or 3 (or zero) private insurance companies to choose from in some states? Do we know anyone who, upon turning 65 years old, says “Oh no, I really don’t want to go on Medicare; I wish I could keep my private health insurance”?
