Part One:
CAN WE FIGHT CLIMATE CHANGE THROUGH UNIVERSAL NATIONAL SERVICE?
We speak with Maj. Gen. Dennis Laitch about universal service, whereby every American who comes of age would be required either to serve in the military or to serve her/his country/community in some other capacity. The current all-volunteer force is not working, according to the criteria of fairness, sufficiency and sustainability. And it contributes to the civil/military gap in American foreign policy; we are becoming more reliant on militarization as the basis for our foreign policy.
General Laitch and his colleague Larry Wilkerson have connected the idea of universal service to the global fight against the damages caused by climate change. While we’ll still need a ready military to defend us against aggressors, many other people’s universal service might consist of measuring climate evidence and ramifications, analyzing data, modeling potential mitigating factors and developing more sustainable sources of energy.
Part Two:
ONE GRUESOME PICTURE IS WORTH 1,000 WORDS ABOUT THE HORRORS OF WAR.
We speak with Richard Cahan about his photographic book, “Aftershock: The Human Toll of War” (with Mark Jacob). The book captures the experiences of World War II veterans and the war zones they fought in, through the eyes of the soldiers themselves.
Unlike many war photographs which glorify the action, the sexy heroes, the victory, this book shows us the ugly, dirty, murderous and painful face of what actually happens during warfare. Many of the photos also demonstrate the consequences of war. Taken just after the war ended, we see photos of devastated cities, reduced to rubble by relentless bombing. We see starving homeless people rummaging through garbage for something – anything – to put in their empty bellies.
We conclude that high school students should look at these photographs and see — really see — what it looks like to immerse oneself in warfare.
