Climate Change

Noam Chomsky talks Climate Change and His Message to the Future

January 15, 2015Uncategorized2015, Activism, Climate Change, Global Warming, Intellectual, Interview, Naomi Klein, Noam Chomsky, Noam Chomsky Climate Change, Noam Chomsky Interviewkevincaners One comment

A new interview (our second) with world-renowned intellectual Noam Chomsky. In this conversation Chomsky reflects on the challenge to humanity posed by climate change, what ordinary citizens can do to combat it, and shares some of the lessons he’s gleaned from his life including what his advice would be for present and future generations concerned about the fate of the planet.

As he says on climate change: “It’s urgent for those who have the most privilege, the most opportunity, the greatest advantages, to be in the forefront instead of in the rear in trying to impede what is likely to be a serious catastrophe.” Listen to our interview below:

For our other interview with Noam Chomsky, from February 2013, in which we spoke about his activism during the Vietnam war, and the need to “confront reality” regarding the challenges and uncomfortable truths in front of us click here.

Filmmaker Matt Anderson, “Fall And Winter” – A survival guide for the 21st century

May 24, 2013UncategorizedCIUT, Climate Change, documentary, Documentary Film, environment, Fall & Winter, Fall And Winter, Hot Docs, Matt Anderson, Nature, SXSW, torontokevincaners One comment

At this years Hot Docs film festival in Toronto, I had the chance to catch the beautiful documentary Fall & Winter. The feature debut by Vancouver raised director Matt Anderson is a captivating journey into the complex web of unfolding global crises facing our modern civilization and the mindset and path that brought us here.

And although in many respects Fall and Winter could be called an environmental film, it’s not what you might expect. Rather than a barrage of facts and figures, or a focus on one specific environmental disaster or another, Fall & Winter is something much bigger.

Over four separate trips and 16000 miles Matt Anderson and his team traveled across American looking for answers, conducting interviews, and filming the breathtaking landscapes and devastating scenes of industrial ruin that they encountered along the way.

The result is both an intellectually powerful and visually stunning indictment of a civilization in peril. And the answers aren’t what you might except.

Rather than looking at the direct superficial cause of any one specific environmental catastrophe, Fall & Winter takes a much broader perspective, and peers into the psychological, historic and spiritual factors that lie at the heart of the looming environmental catastrophes we’re confronting. It’s not just a matter of oil spills or greenhouse gases, but a much more basic but profound question, of how we view ourselves as humans and imagine our relationship to the natural world.

As with any film confronting enormous problems, Fall and Winter has its share difficult messages, but this is not a story of despair. Rather it’s a call to reimagine how we live our lives and construct our societies. The film looks both to past wisdom as well as to a range of strategies being developed by committed groups and individuals all across America who are experimenting with new ways of living, from finding new uses for abandoned neighborhoods in Detroit to learning how to construct cobb houses in Oregon.

Filmmaker Matt Anderson

All the while Fall & Winter manages to not only be insightful and important, but an engaging joy to watch. It had its Canadian debut at Hot Docs earlier this month to sold out crowds and before that played at SXSW in Austin Texas. While he was in Toronto accompanying the film I took the chance to sit down with director Matt Anderson and speak with him about the film, the journey of making it, and about our changing relationship with the earth.

There are plans in the works to tour Fall And Winter around to various cities across America and (hopefully) Canada this summer. If it comes to a town near you, I highly recommend it. To find out more about the film and to keep up on news of upcoming screenings, check them out at http://www.fallwintermovie.com/

And, remember to make sure to subscribe to our Podcast!

Political Activist & Intellectual Noam Chomsky on Confronting Reality and Speaking Out

March 24, 2013UncategorizedActivist, American Politics, Chomsky, Climate Change, Conversation, dissident, father of modern linguistics, Foreign Policy, Interview, Keystone XL, Linguistics, MIT, Noam Chomsky, noam chomsky on climate change, Obama, Occupy, Professor, professor noam chomsky, Vietnam War, young noam chomskykevincaners Leave a comment

This week, an episode we’re very excited about- an interview with renowned public intellectual Noam Chomsky!

From his activism during the Vietnam War and overcoming self-deceit, to the Keystone Pipeline and the looming threat of climate change.

The Public interviewing Political Activist and MIT Professor Noam Chomsky

Noam Chomsky is widely considered the most important intellectual alive today. In the academic world he is heralded as “father of modern linguistics” thanks to ground breaking theory of syntactic structure which revolutionized the field, as well as for his significant contributions to disciplines from psychology to computer science.

But to ordinary people around the world he better known and admired for his willingness to speak truth to power. For decades he has served as a constant thorn in the side of the U.S. elite and political establishment, delivering lectures, publishing books and writing articles that take on everything from U.S. foreign policy, and state capitalism to distortion in the news media.

Young Noam Chomsky

In the 1960’s he was one of the most prominent figures opposing the Vietnam War and became heavily involved in resistance efforts, leading a tax revolt against the state, and helping students avoid the draft. But his activism didn’t stop with the end of the war, And throughout the 70’s 80s and 90s Chomsky continued devoting his time and speaking out on political issues ranging from the U.S. overthrowing democratic governments Latin America, to corporate attacks on the working class.

And it continues right up to today. He has rallied against the Obama administration for their extrajudicial use of drones strikes and policy of targeted assassinations, and he continues to warn of the environmental and climate crisis currently facing humanity.

He has published upwards of 100 books, and despite his age, he doesn’t seem to show any signs of slowing dow. At 84 he maintains a gruelling schedule, regularly traveling around the world to for political talks and lectures, writing a constant stream of articles, and sitting down for hundreds of interviews a year.

For our interview, I sat down with Noam Chomsky at his office at MIT in Boston.

If you’re interested in checking out more of Noam Chomsky’s articles and interviews a great resource is www.chomsky.info

David Miller Former Mayor of Toronto on Sustainability and the Future of Cities

March 24, 2013UncategorizedCity Hall, Climate Change, David Miller, environment, Harvard, Interview, Mayor of Toronto, Policy, Sustainability, toronto, Transit, TTCkevincaners Leave a comment

Well it can almost be hard to believe it now, but before “Gravy Train” Rob Ford took the helm at city hall, Toronto had a decidedly different mayor in David Miller. One who spearheaded many transit and environmental initiatves while he was in office.

David Miller, former mayor of Toronto

So this week on The Public a full hour conversation with former mayor of Toronto David Miller – on growing up with his single mom in England and Ontario, his days as a student at both the University of Toronto and Harvard, his jump into politics and time at city hall, as well as his ongoing work on finding ways to make our cities truly sustainable for the future.

Remember, for the entire archive of our interviews subscribe to our podcast or visit us in iTunes