Fires and Flurries (576)

Stefan starts the show with a look an the California wildfires that as of this post has claimed 31 lives and thousands of acres of land. During this discussion we also highlight an unusual statistic about how 30-40% of the firefighters working to battle the blaze (in part due to Hurricane relief in Huston) are inmates of local prisons as part of a work program.

• California wildfires: 29 dead as winds threaten to worsen out-of-control blaze
• ‘Just ash and bone’: Death toll in California wildfires reaches historically grim heights
• California fires coverage: Fires in Sonoma and Napa counties grow

In the middle section Saryn and Stefan discuss the imminent canceling, or at least de-fanging of the clean energy act passed in the USA as part of President Obama's legacy. What does it mean, and how might it happen as well as how the media can do a better job of covering these stories.

• Fightback begins over Trump's 'illegal and irresponsible' clean power repeal
• The GOP wants to repeal Obama's climate plan. Like health care, it's going to be a fiasco.
• The EPA Owes Us a Reason for Killing Clean Power Plan

In the final section we talk more about the role of the media in public discourse, specifically with regards to the false equivalence between data, research and personal (or corporate) opinion. Saryn also introduces the idea of 'trade deals for peace and climate justice'. We will return at some point to this topic to investigate more thoroughly but email us if you have thoughts or ideas!

This Weeks Music:

Federal Lights "Into the Ground" & Slow Leaves "Life of a Better Man"

What do you think?

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