Making Contact

They say a smart athlete will use their head. But what if using your head cost you everything? That’s a question being asked in locker rooms the world over. Whether it’s boxing, hockey, or soccer, it seems that head injuries are finally being taken seriously. In the United States, lawsuits brought by players, as well as a body of scientific evidence, has lead to growing awareness about the impact American football has on players’ brains. And now a similar debate has kicked off across the Atlantic among players and fans of the sport that American football evolved from: rugby. On this special edition of Making Contact, producer Luke Eldridge brings us to the UK to hear how rugby is dealing with the issue of head injuries. Featuring: Lewis Moody, former rugby player Dr Michael Grey, motor neuroscience physiologist at the University of Birmingham Peter Robinson, father of Ben Robinson David Barnes, Rugby Director of the Rugby Players’ Association in England

Is your children’s schoolyard routinely sprayed with pesticides? How safe your children are might depend on where you live. Today we hear about how and why one pesticide has been banned for household use, but affects the health of farmworkers and their children. Children’s health is especially fragile–so why aren’t we protecting them? Featuring: Kim Harley, Center for Environmental Research in Children’s Health associate director Isabel Arrollo, El Quinto Sol de America organizer Jennifer Sass, Natural Resources Defense Council senior scientist Tracey Brieger, Californians for Pesticide Reform co-director Marina Gomez, Brian Jimenez-Gomez, CHAMACOS research participants Margaret Reeves, Pesticide Action Network senior scientist Valerie Bengal, family physician and UC San Francisco clinical professor Brett Knupfer, Ohlone Elementary School principal Marcy Mock, Ohlone special education teacher Casimira Salazar, Ohlone migrant education teacher Cynthia Fernandez, Ohlone 2nd grade teacher Brett McFadden, Pajaro Valley Unified School District chief business officer Mary Ellen Kustin, Environmental Working Group policy analyst

Nomi Prins, journalist and a former managing director of Goldman Sachs, discusses her book All the Presidents’ Bankers, the hidden alliances that drive American power. Prins retraces the relationship between American financiers and presidents stretching more than a century. From family friends, trusted confidants to the present day; how the relationship has deteriorated and presidents have lost control of the economy. Special thanks to Pirate TV for the original recording from June 17, 2014. Featuring: Nomi Prins , journalist and author of All the Presidents’ Bankers, the hidden alliances that drive American power.

The Zapatistas are a group in the southern state of Chiapas, Mexico working to bring democracy to their country and their local communities. 20 years after their founding, the group’s influences has spread far beyond Mexico’s border through music and art. On this edition of Making Contact producer Alejandro Rosas explores how Zapatismo has influenced those in the U.S. –including himself. Special thanks to Claire Schoen and the University of California Berkeley, School of Journalism. Featuring: Hector Flores, Las Cafeteras member Margaret Chowning, University of California at Berkeley professor of Mexican history Emory Douglas, former Black Panther Party Minister of Culture

The official Day to Commemorate Agent Orange victims is August 10th and marks the start of the US military’s decade of massive chemical warfare in Vietnam in 1961. Combat, chemicals, and corporations. We’ll look at the legacy of Agent Orange, a toxic defoliant. Featuring:Ngo Thanh Nhan, co-coordinator Vietnam Agent Orange Relief and Responsibility Campaign; Fred Wilcox scholar and author: Waiting for An Army To Die and Scorched Earth; Vietnamese victims of Agent Orange featured in the KQED segments

On last week’s show we brought you to Idaho and Montana, where hundreds of trucks were routed to haul gigantic mining equipment to the Tar Sands oil fields of Alberta Canada, but an alliance of citizens and community groups was able to block the transport through environmentally sensitive land. This week we continue the saga of the megaloads heading to the Tar Sands through the Pacific Northwest and Northern Rockies. We also follow two more tendrils of the Tar Sands project stretching from Alberta to the coast of British Columbia. This is the second of a two part special, on the growing resistance to the tar sands, produced by Barbara Bernstein. Listen the the first part here. Featuring: Kevin Lewis, Idaho Rivers United conservation director Linwood Laughy, writer & historian Borg Hendrickson, Clearwater Country co-author Andrew Nikiforuk, Tar Sands: Dirty Oil and the Future of a Continent author Bob Skinner, Canada School of Energy and the Environment interim director Annick Smith, A River Runs Through It co-producer Bob Gentry, environmental attorney Steven Hawley, Recovering a Lost River author David James Duncan, The Heart of the Monster co-author Zack Porter, All Against The Haul executive director Steve Seninger, University of Montana economist Spider McKnight, All Against the Haul communications specialist

The Canadian Tar Sands is the largest industrial project on earth. And the potential environmental consequences have brought together citizens from across borders, to fight its rippling effects. This is the first of a two part special, on the growing resistance to the tarsands, produces by Barbara Bernstein. Featuring: Kevin Lewis, Idaho Rivers United conservation director Linwood Laughy, writer & historian Borg Hendrickson, Clearwater Country co-author Andrew Nikiforuk, Tar Sands: Dirty Oil and the Future of a Continent author Bob Skinner, Canada School of Energy and the Environment interim director Annick Smith, A River Runs Through It co-producer Bob Gentry, environmental attorney Steven Hawley, Recovering a Lost River author David James Duncan, The Heart of the Monster co-author Zack Porter, All Against The Haul executive director Steve Seninger, University of Montana economist Spider McKnight, All Against the Haul communications specialist

Natural healing can take many forms. These days, the Latin American “curandera” is re-emerging in the US, after generations of going underground. On this edition, producer Erica Hellerstein takes us on a journey to identity through an ancient medicinal practice. Featuring: Lauren Villa, UC Berkeley Graduate Student Atava Swiecicki Garcia Healer Sandra Pacheco, Healer and Professor of Chicana Latina Indigenous Studies at the California Institute of Integral Studies Patricia Torres, owner of Mystical Collections Anna, Psychotherapist and Sol Collective Member Lauren Villa’s father

We profile women fighting the expansion of global militarism and violence. Korean sister Stella Soh campaigns to save an UNESCO world heritage site from a planned military base. US activist Kathy Kelly founded Voices for Creative Nonviolence. And Brazilian Miriam Nobre works with the World March of Women. Featuring: Sister Stella Soh, Catholic Nun and activist with Save Jeju Island Kathy Kelly, Voices for Creative Nonviolence co-coordinator Miriam Nobre, Coordinator Of The International Secretariat Of The World March Of Women

Victims and perpetrators sitting down face to face…it can help heal their wounds, and our society. Incarcerating our way out of crime clearly hasn’t worked, and it’s costing us billions. Meanwhile, school suspensions are reaching record highs. Now, Institutions across US are finally starting to consider problem solving methods other than punishment. Restorative justice is gaining ground–in the schools, and behind bars. Featuring: Paul Jacobsen, Rosa Parks elementary school principal Mekaylah Porter, Marilyn, Rosa Parks elementary students Yari Sandel, restorative justice coordinator Helen Parker, San Francisco’s restorative practices department coach Sonya Shah, Insight Prison Project Justice Program Director Nancy Potts, mother of son killed by drunk driver Chris Scezech, drunk driver Radha Stern, mother of murder victim Sam Johnson, San Quentin prison inmate