Radio Curious

When we purchase and consume what we believe is necessary for our  lives, do we obtain what we need or do we end up with what the forces of 21st century capitalism tell us what we need?  In this edition of Radio Curious we visit with Benjamin Barber, author of “Consumed, How Markets Corrupt Children, Infantilize Adults, and Swallow Citizens Whole.”The concepts of dumbing down the consumer and the development of brand devotion in the early years of a person’s life are explored in this book. I spoke with Benjamin Barber from his home in New York City in early April, 2007 and began our conversation by asking him to explain how consumers are targeted in a way that there will never be enough shoppers, and how consumers are as he states, infantilized.

Benjamin Barber is a Senior Research Scholar at The Center on Philanthropy and Civil Society of The Graduate Center, The City University of New York, the President and Founder of the Interdependence Movement, and Walt Whitman Professor of Political Science Emeritus, Rutgers University.

The book he recommends is “The March” E.L. Doctorow.  This interview was recorded on April 9, 2007, and was originally broadcast April 11, 2007.

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The effect of the voluntary climate change Accords adopted by 195 nations at the 21st Conference of the Parties, commonly known as the COP-21, is the topic of this edition of Radio Curious. Those Accords, found on the United Nations website, have been severely criticized due to the time for compliance and the lack of enforcement provisions, among other issues. A summary of the Accords was published in the New York Times on December 13, 2015.

In the opinion of Dr. Guy McPherson, a Professor Emeritus of Natural Resources, Evolutionary Biology and Conservation Biology from the University of Arizona, the Accords are smoke and mirrors, will have no effect on climate change and could well cause increase in carbon emissions. He agrees with James Hansen, the former NASA scientist who also criticized the Accords. Hansen is quoted in the December 12, 2015, issue of as saying the intention to reach a new global deal on cutting carbon emissions beyond 2020, is ‘no action, just promises.’

Professor McPherson is the author, along with Carolyn Baker, of “Extinction Dialogues: How To Live With Death In Mind,” both of whom were guests on Radio Curious in September 2015.

McPherson believes the way to respond to the peril of the climate crisis is for each person to go inward and consider who we are, reach out to our relatives and friends and foster the personal connections that are important to us before it is too late.

When Guy McPherson and I visited by phone from his home in rural New Mexico on December 13, 2015, we began when I asked him for his thought about the COP-21 Accords.

The books he recommends is, “Every Cradle Is a Grave: Rethinking the Ethics of Birth and Suicide,” by Sarah Perry, and “Die Wise: A Manifesto for Sanity and Soul,” by Stephen Jenkenson.

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Peru is a county about which I’ve been curious for over 60 years, beginning when I first learned of the Inca Empire.  Ten years later the Peace Corps sent me to Peru as volunteer for two years in 1964.

Peru’s current societies are windows into a world in which many Andean people live in the three adjoining countries of Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia.   The complex societies which flourished in this region, centuries before the Inca Empire was destroyed by the Spanish invaders in the 16^th century are still very much a part of the lives of people whose homes and communities are located high in the Andes between 10,000 and 14,000 feet above sea level.  Many still enjoy and celebrate the traditions rooted in the ancient cultures of their land.

When Radio Curious visited Peru and Bolivia in the fall of 2015 we engaged in several conversations about ancient and current times in Peru. Edith Zapata, an independent licensed Peruvian tour guide, based in Cusco, Peru, is our guest in this edition of Radio Curious.

Edith Zapata and I visited in the court yard of a somewhat noisy guest hostal in Cusco, Peru, on November 10, 2015.  We began our conversation with her description of the geological history of the Cusco valley, and moved forward in time to how some of the current leaders of the Catholic Church and some of the people of the greater Cusco area related to each other.

Edith Zapata, a licensed independent Peruvian tour guide, based in Cusco, Peru.  You may contact her by email at ezv27@hotmail.com.  The movie she recommends is “In Search of Happyness,” starring Will Smith.

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In this program we visit Brussels, Belgium, to discuss the effects of the November 13, 2015, Islamic extremist terrorist attacks in Paris, France. 

Our guest is Jean-Jacques Jespers, who recently retired as the anchor for the television news broadcast aired nightly in French on the Belgium National Television Network.  While the terrorist attacks occurred in Paris, France, investigations led authorities to neighboring Belgium in search for the suspects-causing a state of emergency in the country’s capital city, Brussels.

Currently Jean-Jacques Jespers is a journalism professor and a member of the Belgian Journalist’s Committee on Human Rights.  Jean-Jacques Jespers and I first met here in Mendocino County, California, in 1977, when he was the leader of a television news magazine team reporting on California. 

When Jean-Jacques Jespers and I visited by phone from his home in Brussels on November 28, 2015, we began when I asked him to describe what occurred and what the Belgian people’s reactions were to the November 13, 2015, terrorist attacks in Paris and the lock-down in Brussels.

The books Jean-Jacques Jespers recommends are the three volume “Century Trilogy” by Ken Follette. Click here to listen or on the media player below.

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