Part One:
WHY WE SHOULDN’T IMMUNIZE BUSINESSES FROM LIABILITY FOR THEIR NEGLIGENCE
Our guest is Timothy Lytton, law professor at Georgia State University. We discuss what it means when Mitch McConnell and others call for legislation to “immunize” American businesses from any possible liability that causes people harm related to COVID-19.
We examine why liability law has evolved in the way it has; how it protects individuals against negligence on the part of others who fail to take reasonable precautions; and why eliminating liability would not make anyone safer except the unscrupulous who act carelessly – without reasonably considering how their choices will affect other people – in order to maximize their own personal gain.
Part Two:
HOW MILITARISM FUELS THE ENVIRONMENTAL CRISIS
We speak with Lindsay Koshgarian, director, and Lorah Steichen, outreach coordinator, at the National Priorities Project of the Institute for Policy Studies. We discuss their publication “No Warming, No War: How Militarism Fuels the Climate Crisis – and Vice Versa.” They describe how the U.S. military budget and climate change are inter-related, each one affecting (and accelerating) the other. They explain how Congress could shift our country from a war economy to investing in an end to global warming. They advocate a federal budget that prioritizes peace, economic security and shared prosperity.
Although the U.S. military is a major polluter, the climate crisis won’t be solved just by making the military “greener.” We need to change how we organize our entire economy and society.
