#1331 A look into our frightening, fiery future (Australia Bushfires)
Best of the Left - Leftist Perspectives on Progressive Politics, News, Culture, Economics and Democracy
Jay Tomlinson
4.5 • 3.4K Ratings
🗓️ 25 January 2020
⏱️ 78 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Air Date 1/25/2020
Today we take a look at the climatic, political and social dynamics at play that have helped set the country of Australia ablaze both literally and figuratively
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SHOW NOTES
Australia’s grim warning to the world: our dangerous, climate-altered future is here, right now.
Ch. 2: Listener connections to the Australia Fires Part 1 - The Brian Lehrer Show - Air Date 1-14-20
Umair Irfan talks about the environmental and human costs of the fire, its connection to climate change, and why any Australians are frustrated with how their politicians are responding to the disaster.
Diane talks with David Wallace-Wells, deputy editor at New York Magazine and author of “The Uninhabitable Earth.”
Michael Mann on Australia’s grim warning to the world: our dangerous, climate-altered future is here, right now.
Ch. 5: Climate Change, News Corp, and the Australian Fires - On the Media - Air Date 1-15-20
Damien Cave is the New York Times bureau chief in Sydney, and he recently wrote about "How Rupert Murdoch Is Influencing Australia's Bushfire Debate."
Ch. 6: Australian Fires and the Culture Wars - Behind the News, Jacobin Radio - Air Date 1-13-20
Writer Jeff Sparrow on the Australian fires.
Diane talks with David Wallace-Wells, deputy editor at New York Magazine and author of “The Uninhabitable Earth.”
Ch. 8: The Green News Report - Air Date 1-14-20
Australia’s catastrophic bushfires cause $2 billion in damages; 2019 was the second hottest year ever recorded globally; PLUS: 150 arrested at Jane Fonda’s ‘Fire Drill Fridays’ climate protest
Ch. 9: Listener connections to the Australia Fires Part 2 - The Brian Lehrer Show - Air Date 1-14-20
Umair Irfan talks about the environmental and human costs of the fire, its connection to climate change, and why any Australians are frustrated with how their politicians are responding to the disaster.
The crisis in Australia & moving toward a GND.
VOICEMAILS
Ch. 11: Hacking your home screen - Annonymous from Connecticut
Ch. 12: Liberals and Progressives need to be a united front - Heather from Colorado
FINAL COMMENTS
Ch. 13: Final comments on why any coherent theory of change should bring progressives and Democrats together into a unified force
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Welcome to this episode of the award-winning Best of Left Podcast in which we shall learn |
| 0:07.3 | about the climatic, political, and social dynamics at play that have helped set the country |
| 0:12.8 | of Australia ablaze, both literally and figuratively. |
| 0:17.0 | Clips today come from the Mother Jones Podcast, the Brian Lerichow, Diane Reem on my mind, |
| 0:23.8 | on the media, behind the news from Jack Evan Radio, the Green News report, and the Michael |
| 0:29.3 | Brock's Show. |
| 0:36.4 | This happens all the time in Australia and there are worse fire seasons than others. |
| 0:41.6 | What makes this so unprecedented is the scale of it, and the number of fires that are burning |
| 0:47.2 | continuously. |
| 0:49.0 | These have been going on for months since at least September, during our what was the |
| 0:53.3 | end of winter then, and we're just beginning the fire season proper now. |
| 0:58.7 | My home state of New South Wales has about 130 plus fires still burning there. |
| 1:04.0 | Many dozen more in Victoria, the state to the south. |
| 1:08.5 | 2019 was of course the hottest and driest year on record in Australia beats all the records. |
| 1:15.4 | This is what firefighters and climate scientists have been warning this about. |
| 1:19.8 | I was reading a 2008 government report as is my warrant. |
| 1:25.5 | Even in that report, it said 2020, watch out for 2020. |
| 1:29.0 | This is a season that you're going to start seeing the actual effects of climate change |
| 1:32.8 | in the bushfire season. |
| 1:34.8 | We call them bushfires in Australia called wildfires here. |
| 1:38.2 | A little difference you'll hear throughout this show. |
| 1:41.8 | NYC Studio at Mother Jones.com |
... |
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