David Remnick has appeared as the guest of Terry Gross on “Fresh Air” a number of times over the years, talking about Russia, Muhammad Ali, and other subjects. Hosting “Fresh Air” for nearly forty-five years, Gross is a defining voice of NPR, and is perhaps the most celebrated interviewer of our time. In October, 2019, the tables turned, and Gross joined Remnick as his guest for a live interview at The New Yorker Festival. They spoke about how she first found her way to the microphone, the role of feminism in establishing NPR, the limits of her expertise, and what she has had to give up to prepare for serious conversations day after day.

This week, Democratic Presidential candidates met for their final debate before the Iowa caucuses, a few weeks after Trump ordered the targeted killing of the Iranian military commander Qassam Suleimani. They talked about how America’s role in the world is threatened by the President’s erratic—and, in the case of Ukraine, likely criminal—approach to foreign policy. But many voters remain skeptical that Trump can be beaten. Susan B. Glasser joins Dorothy Wickenden to discuss the radical uncertainties of the 2020 race.

The United States has the largest prison population in the world. But, until the publication of Michelle Alexander’s book “The New Jim Crow,” in 2010, most people didn’t use the term mass incarceration, or consider the practice a social-justice issue. Alexander argued that the increasing imprisonment of black and brown men—through rising arrest rates and longer sentences—was not merely a response to crime but a system of racial control. “The drug war was in part a politically motivated strategy, a backlash to the civil-rights movement, but it was also a reflection of conscious and unconscious biases fuelled by media portrayals of drug users,” Alexander tells David Remnick. “Those racial stereotypes were resonant of the same stereotypes of slaves and folks during the Jim Crow era.”

On Tuesday, President Donald Trump announced his Administration’s Middle East peace plan. The unveiling occurred in the midst of the Senate impeachment trial of Trump, for abuse of power and obstruction of Congress, and on the day that the Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, was indicted on charges of bribery, fraud, and breach of trust, in three cases. While nominally presenting a two-state solution, the plan heavily favors Israeli interests. Robin Wright joins Dorothy Wickenden to discuss the Trump Administration’s plan in the Middle East and the dangers that Trump and Netanyahu pose to the future of democracy in their countries.

In the nineteen-thirties, authoritarian regimes were on the rise around the world—as they are again today—and democratic governments that came into existence after the First World War were toppling. “American democracy, too, staggered,” Jill Lepore wrote in The New Yorker, “weakened by corruption, monopoly, apathy, inequality, political violence, hucksterism, racial injustice, unemployment, even starvation.” Lepore talks with David Remnick about how Americans rallied to save democracy, and how we might apply those lessons in a new era with similar problems. 

On Tuesday, voters in New Hampshire cast their ballots in the Democratic Presidential primary. Following the debacle surrounding the Iowa caucuses, many Democrats hoped that the results from New Hampshire would bring clarity to the race. Bernie Sanders won, arguably making him the front-runner. But close behind him was Pete Buttigieg, who also narrowly won the Iowa caucuses, and Amy Klobuchar, whose third-place finish gave her campaign renewed energy. Benjamin Wallace-Wells joins Eric Lach to discuss the New Hampshire primaries and how a clear picture of the future of the Democratic contest remains elusive.

Rachel Bitecofer, a political scientist at the Niskanen Center, in Washington, D.C., thinks that most pollsters and forecasters rely on outdated ideas about how candidates succeed. She argues that the outcome has far less to do with the candidates’ ideology than we think it does. Her perspective has been controversial, but in July, 2018, months before the midterm elections, her model predicted the Democratic victory in the House with an accuracy unmatched by conventional forecasters. And it suggests that Democrats should stop worrying about losing, and focus on firing up their voters.

This week, the former film producer Harvey Weinstein was convicted on two counts of sexual assault in a New York court. Weinstein, who has been accused of sexual misconduct by more than ninety women, has become an emblem of misogyny in Hollywood, and of the systems that protect wealthy and powerful men from the consequences of criminal misconduct. Rebecca Solnit joins Dorothy Wickenden to discuss whether the Weinstein verdict is a turning point in the #MeToo movement, and what it takes to expose the lies of those in power in business and politics.

Joe Biden’s pitch to voters has been remarkably consistent: he says he can unite older voters, people of color, and moderates into a coalition that can defeat Donald Trump. A series of gaffes, concerns about his voting record, and disappointing results in the early primaries seemed to doom Biden’s candidacy. But big victories in South Carolina and on Super Tuesday have given new credence to his claim that he’s the best person to take on Trump in November. Evan Osnos joins Dorothy Wickenden to discuss how Biden became the Democratic front-runner and how he’ll go about winning over skeptical young, progressive voters.

The earliest epidemics date back to Neolithic times, and, in the millennia since, viral outbreaks have repeatedly shaped the course of human history, influencing behavior and creating and destroying cultural norms. In the weeks since COVID-19 became a worldwide emergency, people are showing resilience, humor, and creative ways of communicating as governments and businesses struggle to respond. Robin Wright joins Dorothy Wickenden to discuss differing responses to infectious diseases across time and cultures, and the global political ramifications of COVID-19.

Even as the scale of the coronavirus outbreak was becoming apparent, spring breakers flooded the beaches of Florida and New Yorkers continued to congregate in parks. Despite the warnings of politicians and health-care professionals, many people failed to treat the coronavirus pandemic as a serious threat. Daniel Kahneman, a Nobel Prize-winning expert on human behavior, told Maria Konnikova that the problem isn’t just that the threat posed by COVID-19 is hard to grasp, it’s that public officials haven’t done enough to explain the threat. “There should be clear guidelines and clear instructions. We all ought to know whether we should open our Amazon packages outside the door or bring them in,” Kahneman said. “It’s not a decision individuals should consider making on the basis of what they know, because they don’t know enough to make it.”

Experts predicted that Wednesday, April 15th would be a peak of the COVID-19 pandemic in New York City, its epicenter. On that day, a crew of New Yorker writers talked with people all over the city, in every circumstance and walk of life, to form a portrait of a city in crisis. A group-station manager for the subway talks about keeping the transit system running for those who can’t live without it; a respiratory therapist copes with break-time conversations about death and dying; a graduating class of medical students get up the courage to confront the worst crisis in generations; and a new mother talks about giving birth on a day marked by tragedy for so many families. The hour includes contributions from writers including William Finnegan, Helen Rosner, Jia Tolentino, Kelefa Sanneh, and Adam Gopnik, who says, “One never knows whether to applaud the human insistence on continuing with some form of normal life, or look aghast at the human insistence on continuing with some form of normal life. That's the mystery of the pandemic.”

Though some economies have begun reopening, many people around the world are battening down for an indefinite period of extreme social distancing. Loneliness can be a destructive force. The toll of isolation on people’s health has been well documented, but isolation can also be a potent political tool, one often wielded by autocrats and despots. Masha Gessen joins Dorothy Wickenden to discuss how the pandemic is reshaping politics, for better and for worse.

'As we face the challenges of the twenty-first century, we need to recapture the perception of God that is so vividly reflected in the book of Daniel.'

'Whenever we face a big problem, we also should recognize that our God is great enough to resolve even the most unsolvable challenges.'

'God continues to change lives today. No matter how proud or sinful people may be, in God there is mercy and power to turn rebellious sinners into children of the God of Heaven.'

'With the coming of the Son of Man, God’s dominion is restored to those to whom it properly belongs. What Adam lost in the garden, the Son of Man recovers in the heavenly judgment.'

'How often do you think about just how closely tied heaven and earth are? How might you live differently if you always kept this truth alive in your heart and mind?'

'How do we distinguish between the Word of God and human tradition? Why is it so important that we make this distinction?'

'This week we will look at sola Scriptura in greater detail. We will learn that sola Scriptura implies some fundamental principles of biblical interpretation that are indispensable for a proper understanding of God’s Word.'

'If we approach and interpret the Bible wrongly, we will likely come to false conclusions, not just in the understanding of salvation but in everything else that the Bible teaches.'

Today on Political Rewind , reports that medical facilities are not releasing enough information on coronavirus. What information is missing, and what does this mean for the public? And, voting by mail is now a crucial but contentious tool for residents to participate in upcoming elections. What’s the latest on this form of voting?

Thursday on Political Rewind , the ongoing public health crisis has given doctors, public officials and many Georgians a series of challenging decisions as society grapples with an unprecedented situation. On our show today, we discuss how somber decisions regarding public health such as who gets ventilators or an ICU bed, or how vaccines are tested are made.

Today on Political Rewind , Georgia agriculture takes a hit from the coronavirus. Farmers face concerns over exposure to the virus and uncertain retailers cutting demand. We heard from Agriculture Commissioner Gary Black on how the ongoing public health crisis is affecting the state’s farming businesses.

Tuesday on Political Rewind , Gov. Brian Kemp announced gyms, salons, bowling alleys and other specific indoor facilities will be able to reopen by Friday, with restaurants and theaters able to reopen next week. These businesses must comply with social distancing and other safety requirements. The move has drawn sharp criticism from elected leaders and commentators who say the move comes too soon and is not backed by enough data.

Wednesday on Political Rewind , the political consequences of the pandemic. The governor’s recent decision to slowly re-open businesses in Georgia has drawn criticism and national attention. How will voters respond to the public health efforts of elected officials at all levels of governments in this crucial election year?

Friday on Political Rewind , mayors from across the state discuss how they are handling the coronavirus pandemic. How are municipal leaders responding to Gov. Brian Kemp’s latest move and how do they think their constituency will respond?

Monday on Political Rewind , we discussed the upcoming 2020 elections, and how campaigns are handling the shelter-in-place conditions found across the state and the country. Nearly 830,000 people have applied for absentee ballots for the 2020 combined primary so far. That represents a huge increase in applications over 2016’s primary, and reflects efforts by officials and the public to avoid the spread of coronavirus from in-person voting.

My [six-year-old] kid wrote a song called, "I Wonder What's Inside your Butthole" Quite honestly, it slaps. Twitter | Threadreader (Be sure to check out the remixes)

I have discovered a love of a genre of media I cant' really describe. In the past few weeks I've fallen in love with being intrigued/puzzled and I'm seeking more of the experience. It started with Knives Out then straight to Agatha Christie movies, took a detour through the computer games Oxenfree & Outer Wilds, Gone Girl also hit the spot and ended in a glorious late night binge last night of Russian Doll. I am seeking your recommendation for entertainment that scratches that whodunnits/whydunnits/whatdunnits itch.

The entertainment doesn't have to necessarily be who dunnits, though they can be. They don't have to tackle existential issues either, though again they can. I would prefer interesting non traditional characters, or at the very least for the women in them to not be the "prize" if it's an older movie/book. I love me an unreliable narrator. Something you can consume a second time after you've reached the end & see how it was all there all along if only you'd known what to look for. Conclusions don't have to give all the answers or even be happy, but at least end with some sense of satisfaction. Please help me find my. All suggestions appreciated but please, no horror or terror porn or gratuitous violence or gore. ie murders, if they happen, take place off screen or not in great detail.

Four functions of markets - "The period from 2008 until now has been a kind of undead neoliberal era. Post Great Financial Crisis, neoliberal ideas have been discredited among much of the public and are actively contested even within governing elites. But, absent consensus on some new set of social heuristics, not much has actually changed. Material interests in the continuity of institutions shaped by neoliberalism remain strong."[1]

Continuity now is broken. When this pandemic is "over" (whatever that means), the undead bones of neoliberal governance may well yet again gather themselves from the chaos and reconstitute the suave, smooth-talking vampire to whose predations we have grown unhappily accustomed.[2] But they may not. We may find ourselves in a period of social experimentation and change.[3] If so, as we diminish (not eliminate!) the role of markets, it is useful I think to understand the variety of functions that markets serve, so that framers of new institutions understand what will be excised, what may sometimes need to be replaced. So. Here are four functions of markets:

1. Markets serve as Hayekian information processors
2. Markets naturalize outcomes, defusing social conflict
3. Markets "flip the incentives" surrounding resource utilization
4. Markets launder history

Obviously, the list is not exhaustive.

• Singapore is a cautionary tale - "The lesson: you can't beat this virus without taking care of your most vulnerable workers."
• 7 things we must do before we open up - "We asked American experts if they thought we could do it. Their answer? None of you are close to being ready."[4]
• GOP conflation of the public interest with corporate/investor interests - "GOP demands to immunize businesses from liability for death and injury due to workplace infection amounts to a very frank acknowledgment that re-opening endangers the life and health of workers and risks broader spread of infection... which implies a view verging on sociopathic class warfare: fatal losses to workers and communities are tolerable but financial losses to the investor class is not."

• The U.S. Needs Way More Than a Bailout to Recover From Covid-19 - "Shore up the markets, sure, but don't stop there. It's time for Congress and the White House to do things that have been unthinkable since JFK's moonshot. It's time to go big."
• Plutocratic grift - "We'll need to reform our political economy of public private parasitism."
• Productive Public-Private Partnering In Times Of Public Crisis - "The American economy has always been 'mixed,' partnering public with private ownership and control. In times of crisis the public role both has to and always grows larger. Here's how to do it now."[5,6] (via)

• Satya Nadella: crisis requires co-ordinated digital response - "We need citizens and customers to demand partnership across sectors."
• See No Evil - "Software helps companies coordinate the supply chains that sustain global capitalism. How does the code work—and what does it conceal?" (via)
• Will the Coronavirus Create a More Progressive Society or a More Dystopian One? - "A progressive turn is certainly possible, but so is its antithesis: a further upsurge in right-wing populism, and the strengthening of antidemocratic forces." (via)

• The Class Politics of the Dollar System - "Managing an international public good." (via)
• Fixing the Bailout Scammers: The Ten Percent Solution - "No one in policy circles actually believes in the market... The people in power believe in using the government to give themselves as much money as possible. Usually they can do this through structuring the market so that money flows upward."[7] (via)
• Workers need financial security and bargaining power - "The fact that progressive policymakers don't automatically and intuitively appreciate the immense advantage of enhanced UI over a paycheck guarantee speaks volumes about their level of awareness of the real lives of low wage workers. These extra dollars will change lives... Left-leaning policymakers should fully leverage enhanced UI to extract maximum financial assistance and maximum bargaining power for lower wage workers as they confront a severe economic downturn, a predatory labor market and rampant disregard for worker health and safety... What workers need now is economic security, financial flexibility and institutional advantages that will allow them to drive a hard bargain."[8]

Terri Windling (03/2020), "Once upon a time in Paris...": "As the vogue for fairy stories evolved in the 1670s and '80s, Madame d'Aulnoy emerged as one of the most popular raconteurs in Paris ... she soon formed a glittering group around her of nonconformist women and men, as well as establishing a highly successful and profitable literary career ... So how, we might ask, did Perrault become known as the only French fairy tale author of note?" Elizabeth Winter (12/2016), "Feminist Fairies and Hidden Agendas": "the term contes de fées ... was coined by ... d'Aulnoy in 1697, when she published her first collection of tales." Volker Schröder (2018-2019): this collection "is often described as 'lost' or 'untraceable'" and its "sequel has become just as scarce"; but d'Aulnoy's tales are available online, and mixed reviews such as those of the Brothers Grimm may call to mind her childhood marginalia: "if you have my book and ... don't appreciate what's inside, I wish you ringworm, scabies ... and a broken neck."

A couple of articles that are free to read online break down specifics of d'Aulnoy's stories. In "A Transformed Woman," part of her occasional column On Fairy Tales at Tor.com, Mari Ness discusses Madame d'Aulnoy's "The White Cat," a story that has also been recommended previously on Metafilter. And in "Early Modern French Feminine Narratives: Subverting Gender Roles and Sexual Identity in Mme d'Aulnoy's Beauty or the Fortunate Knight (1698)," [PDF] Harold Neeman discusses the story also known as "Belle-Belle" (likewise recommended previously on Metafilter).

More general thematic analyses of work by d'Aulnoy and her peers include Bronwyn Reddan's "Scripting Love in Fairy Tales by Seventeenth-century French Women Writers" [PDF] and "Thinking Through Things: Magical Objects, Power, and Agency in French Fairy Tales" [PDF] (the latter available temporarily from Project MUSE) and also Meghan Kort's "Imagining Girlhood in Seventeenth-Century Female-Authored Fairytales."

Works by several other authors writing in French from the 17th C. to the 19th C. illuminate d'Aulnoy's connections and her legacy (often via the collection Four and Twenty Fairy Tales, which is also at Gutenberg):

• Marie-Jeanne L'Héritier (Wikipedia): "The Discreet Princess; or The Adventures of Finetta," as discussed in Mari Ness's "Enchantment and Distrust." L'Héritier has also been credited as the co-author of the queer and/or trans (avant la lettre) romantic fairy tale, "Histoire de la Marquise-Marquis de Banneville," along with Perrault and L'Abbé de Choisy ("Une Collaboration Inattendue au XVIIe Siècle").
• Catherine Bernard (Wikipedia): Inès de Cordüe, which contains the story "Riquet à la houppe," which would later be retold by Perrault in a version available in English.
• Henriette-Julie de Murat (Wikipedia): "Perfect Love"; "Anguillette"; "Young and Handsome"; "The Palace of Revenge"; "The Prince of Leaves"; and "The Fortunate Punishment." Notes. See also Mari Ness's "Imprisonment and the Fairy Tales of Henriette Julie de Murat."
• Catherine Durand (Wikipedia.fr): Les petits soupers de l'esté, ou avantures galantes, avec l'origine des fées, which may only be available in English from Black Coat Press--one of many translations there by science fiction author Brian Stableford.
• Charlotte-Rose de Caumont de La Force (Wikipedia): "Fairer Than a Fairy"; and "The Good Woman." Notes.
• Gabrielle-Suzanne de Villeneuve (Wikipedia): "The Story of Beauty and the Beast." Notes. But see also Andrea H. Everett's thesis, Villeneuve's "La belle et la bête" (1740): An Annotated Edition in English. Incidentally, both translations include the surprising second half of the story in which Beauty and the Beast turn out to be cousins.
• Marguerite de Lubert (Wikipedia): "The Princess Camion"; "Princess Lionette and Prince Coquerico." Notes.
• Jeanne-Marie Leprince de Beaumont (Wikipedia): "The Prince Désir and the Princess Mignone"; "Prince Chéri"; "The Widow and Her Two Daughters"; "Prince Fatal and Prince Fortuné." Notes.
• Sophie Rostopchine, Countess of Ségur (Wikipedia): "Blondine, Bonne-Biche, and Beau-Minon"; "Good Little Henry"; "History of Princess Rosette"; "The Little Gray Mouse"; and "Ourson." See also Claire-Lise Malarte-Feldman's "La Comtesse de Ségur, a Witness of Her Time" [PDF] ("the adult reader today will find more than the dark sadomasochist that some critics have found"), available temporarily from Project MUSE.
• George Sand (Wikipedia): Légendes rustiques, available at Gutenberg in French, purports to tell local legends in a realist mode, but it also references fairies, ogres, and the fairy tale tradition in France. The version at Gallica features amazing illustrations by her son, e.g. "Les Demoiselles" or "Les Lavandières ou Laveuses de Nuit."

MeFite odinsdream recently came across some old abandoned police sketch software for Macintosh systems from the 1980s, then wrapped it up in a web-based emulator, and now you can play with it in your browser! Make your own face sketches. [via mefi projects]

Can you read your grandma's handwritten recipe cards, or your great-grandfather's old letters? Turn your cursive skills to something useful -- help an archivist transcribe a document! The United States National Archive's "Citizen Archivist" initiative seeks volunteers to help out with documents from a wide range of areas, from correspondence from job-seekers at the Schyuylkill Arsenal during the US Civil War to the 1975 trial of Leonard Peltier: https://www.archives.gov/citizen-archivist But if these topics don't interest you, there are lots more projects under the fold.

Libraries and archives are turning to volunteers to help out with transcribing handwritten documents, tagging them, and adding comments to existing transcriptions. All of these activities help make often inaccessible historical documents available to the public, both by making them readable and by making them easier to find in online catalogs and search engines.

Help the Smithsonian Institute make historical documents and biodiversity data more accessible by transcribing field notes, diaries, ledgers, logbooks, currency proof sheets, photo albums, manuscripts, biodiversity specimens labels, and more. (previously, previously, previously)

The Library of Congress has several transcription campaigns going on right now. If your Spanish is good, they're in particular need of people to help transcribe documents written in Spanish, Latin, and Catalan between 1300 and 1800, and open the legal history of Spain and Spanish colonies to greater discovery.

If your Spanish is good and you've got some paleography skills, Neogranadina offers opportunities for students, researchers, and history buffs to contribute to the cataloging of thousands of digitalized documents from the 16th, 17th, and 18th centuries held by Colombian archives.

Volunteer with the Boston Public Library to turn its collection of handwritten correspondence between anti-slavery activists in the 19th century into texts that can be more easily read and researched by students, teachers, historians, and big data applications.

Freedom on the Move is a transcription project that draws on an archival collection housed at the University of North Carolina Greensboro. With the advent of newspapers in the American colonies, enslavers posted "runaway ads" to try to locate fugitives. Additionally, jailers posted ads describing people they had apprehended in search of the enslavers who claimed the fugitives as property. Transcribers can help transform the ads into a searchable database. (previously)

Chicago's Newberry Library seeks help in transcribing letters and diaries that reveal everyday life in the 19th and 20th century. Areas include family life in the Midwest, American Indian history, and U.S. western expansion.

University College London's project to transcribe original and unstudied manuscript papers written by Jeremy Bentham (1748-1832), the great philosopher and reformer, has won multiple awards.

Interested in colonial US history? Harvard's libraries need volunteers to help transcribe 18th-century handwritten materials from its North America Collection.

The Library of Virginia has a plethora of transcription projects, from private papers and business records that contain biographical details of enslaved people, to petitions, court records, summonses, patents, accounts, proceedings, returns, grants, proclamations, and more from Virginia's colonial past.

Help transcribe "Information Wanted" advertisements taken out by former slaves searching for long lost family members. The ads taken out in black newspapers mention family members, often by name, and also by physical description, last seen locations, and at times by the name of a former slave master.

Phillips Academy seeks volunteers to help transcribe legal documents, letters, books, and original works of several members of the Phillips family including Samuel Phillips (founder of Phillips Academy Andover) and his uncle John Phillips (founder of Phillips Exeter Academy).

The United Kingdom's National Archives "Africa Through a Lens" project aims to improve knowledge of colonial period Africa photographs. They seek volunteers who might recognize anything or anyone in the photographs, or can help identify inaccuracies in the descriptions and help us to map the images for which they don't have locations.

Stanford University has multiple transcription projects up and running, including materials related to the 1906 earthquake, the papers of railroad mogul/robber baron Leland Stanford, and more.

The Georgian Papers Programme (GPP) is a ten-year interdisciplinary project to digitize, conserve, catalogue, transcribe, interpret and disseminate 425,000 pages or 65,000 items in the Royal Archives and Royal Library (UK) relating to the Georgian period, 1714-1837.

The papers of the War Department, which burned in 1800, recorded not just the military history of the early United States, but Indian affairs, veteran affairs, naval affairs (until 1798), as well as militia and army matters. Papers of the War Department 1784-1800, an innovative digital editorial project, seeks to reconstruct this lost archive through a painstaking, multi-year research effort available online to scholars, students, and the general public.

From the Page, a software for transcribing documents and collaborating on transcriptions, has a impressive list of transcription projects that may be of interest.

"Firing whistleblowers isn't just a side-effect of macroeconomic forces, nor is it intrinsic to the function of free markets. It's evidence of a vein of toxicity running through the company culture. I choose neither to serve nor drink that poison." Tim Bray, VP and Distinguished Engineer at Amazon, resigns.

He talks about (archive link in case his blog is down) the power dynamics that led to his resignation:

The victims weren't abstract entities but real people; here are some of their names: Courtney Bowden, Gerald Bryson, Maren Costa, Emily Cunningham, Bashir Mohammed, and Chris Smalls. I'm sure it's a coincidence that every one of them is a person of color, a woman, or both. Right?

...

Amazon is exceptionally well-managed and has demonstrated great skill at spotting opportunities and building repeatable processes for exploiting them. It has a corresponding lack of vision about the human costs of the relentless growth and accumulation of wealth and power. If we don't like certain things Amazon is doing, we need to put legal guardrails in place to stop those things. We don't need to invent anything new; a combination of antitrust and living-wage and worker-empowerment legislation, rigorously enforced, offers a clear path forward.

Don't say it can't be done, because France is doing it.

...

Amazon Web Services (the "Cloud Computing" arm of the company), where I worked, is a different story. It treats its workers humanely, strives for work/life balance, struggles to move the diversity needle (and mostly fails, but so does everyone else), and is by and large an ethical organization. I genuinely admire its leadership.

Of course, its workers have power. The average pay is very high, and anyone who's unhappy can walk across the street and get another job paying the same or better.

Spot a pattern? At the end of the day, it's all about power balances. The warehouse workers are weak and getting weaker, what with mass unemployment and (in the US) job-linked health insurance. So they're gonna get treated like crap, because capitalism. Any plausible solution has to start with increasing their collective strength.

Every week, for a quarter of a century now, WEMU's David Fair has delivered "Issues of the Environment," which has brought information involving our community's environmental health. He has welcomed numerous guests to discuss matters, such as managing food waste, monitoring climate change, and fighting hazardous chemicals like PFAS. This week, David welcomes Washtenaw County water resources commissioner Evan Pratt for a look back at 25 years of "Issues of the Environment."

Last year, the City of Ann Arbor declared a "climate emergency." Now, the city aims to be carbon neutral by the year 2030. Missy Stults, City of Ann Arbor's Sustainability and Innovations Manager, provides further details on the plan with WEMU's David Fair in this week's "Issues of the Environment."

By all accounts, electric vehicles are the future. Right now, EV’s comprise a small percentage of the automotive marketplace. A new study from the Ecology Center in Ann Arbor shows the electric vehicles owners are paying far more in taxes and fees and that can serve as a disincentive to purchase. The center’s Charles Griffith joined WEMU’s David Fair for this week’s "Issues of the Environment" to share the study’s findings and discuss the need to create policy that will create tax parity for EV vehicles.

Governor Gretchen Whitmer recently released the latest Michigan state budget, and it includes funding for a number of environmental programs. And, it builds on the initiatives launched in her first budget cycle as governor. In this week's "Issues of the Environment," WEMU's David Fair talks over environmental priorities, progress, and challenges with State Senator Jeff Irwin.

In an attempt to reduce its carbon footprint, the University of Michigan has pledged to freeze its investments in fossil fuel companies. This move has drawn praise from such activist groups as the U-M's Climate Action Movement (CAM). But it also says the school needs to go much further. CAM member and U-M doctoral student Noah Weaverdyck discusses it all with WEMU's David Fair on this week's "Issues of the Environment."

Since President Donald Trump took office, 58 environmental protection policies have been rolled back or rescinded. 37 more are in the process of being taken off the books. In this week's "Issues of the Environment," WEMU's David Fair checks in with 12th District Michigan Congresswoman Debbie Dingell about efforts to thwart federal policies that threaten environmental health and sustainability.

A series of "energy freedom" bills, which would allow customers to diversify energy generation and usage is before the Michigan Legislature. For this week's "Issues of the Environment," WEMU's David Fair talks with Ed Rivet, executive director of the Michigan Conservative Energy Forum, about a new strategy to move the measures forward.

Maintaining water service and safety remains an essential service during Governor Whitmer's "Stay Home, Stay Safe" executive order. In this week's "Issues of the Environment," WEMU's David Fair talks with the manager of Ann Arbor's water treatment services, Brian Steglitz, about managing the system to filter out virus and chemical contamination.

The Centers for Disease Control continues to recommend wearing gloves and masks while in public. More and more people are following recommended guidelines. However, getting rid of those personal protective equipment (PPE) items is often being done improperly. In this week's "Issues of the Environment," WEMU's David Fair talks with Washtenaw County Public Works manager Theo Eggermont about proper disposal to protect public health and the environment.

Today marks the 50th anniversary of Earth Day. A group of environmentally aware and concerned students at the University of Michigan formed the group ENACT during a rather heady time on campus in 1969. Through activity and organization, it led to the first-ever Earth Day in 1970. In Part 1 of a special, Earth Day edition of "Issues of the Environment," WEMU's David Fair caught up with David Allan to look back at the five decades since that event. Allan was a founding member and co-chair of ENACT and an organizer for the first Earth Day.

Today marks the 50th Earth Day in the United States, which traces its origins to Ann Arbor. Normally, there would have been a huge celebration, but the coronavirus pandemic has put a halt to that. For Part 2 of a special, Earth Day edition of "Issues of the Environment," WEMU's David Fair spoke with Jonathan Overpeck, dean of the U-M School for Environment and Sustainability. They discuss an online celebration of Earth Day and look ahead to what the future may hold.

Food production has been seriously disrupted to the coronavirus pandemic. It has forced producers, including dairy farmers, to dispose of more of their supplies, which has led to more food waste. Joe Diglio, president/CEO of the Michigan Milk Producers Association, has a conversation with WEMU's David Fair about how the problems are being addressed in this week's "Issues of the Environment."

It's been forecast that this spring will be quite wet. That could bring flooding to portions of Washtenaw County. Washtenaw County Water Resources Commissioner Evan Pratt joined WEMU's David Fair to discuss planning for such issues and the proactive nature of work already underway on this week's "Issues of the Environment."