International

Host Margaret Harrington speaks with Arnie Gundersen, Chief Engineer of Fairewinds Energy Education, on the de-commissioning of Vermont Yankee - The State of Vermont and Nuclear Regualtory Commission.  More information: www.fairewinds.org  or Fairewinds Interview

Pope Francis’s encyclical, Laudato Si, is an urgent call for politicians, policy makers, and all citizens of planet earth to make care for the environment central in our decision making. He appeals for recognition of the “seamless garment of life” which connects the smallest micro-organism in the biosphere to the life of humans and demands that we extend the notion of rights to all living creatures. Linking environmental degradation to war and poverty, he maintains that only a radical shift in our relationship with the earth will allow future generations to survive and flourish.

Panelists - Jon Erickson, Professor at the Rubenstein School of Environment and Natural Resources, and Fellow of the Gund Institute for Ecological Economics at the University of Vermont - Sister Gail Worcelo of the Green Mountain Monastery - Clive Gray, Retired Third World Development economist, formerly of the Harvard Institute for International Development, share perspectives on the Pope Francis's encyclical Laudato Si.  Keynote address by John L. Allen, Jr. can be viewed here.

Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), welcomes Peace Corps Director Carrie Hessler-Radelet to Vermont for a Peace Corps recruitment event for students at UVM, Middlebury College and Saint Michael’s College. The event highlights UVM’s Peace Corps Prep Program, which was established to offer more targeted and skill-building opportunities to undergraduate students interested in serving in the Peace Corps or in other international development and service organizations.

The event also features remarks by Peace Corps volunteer Taylor Dorn of Essex Junction, who will appear via Skype from Panama.

Vermont is the top-ranked Peace Corps Volunteer-producing state in the nation on a per capita basis. UVM ranked 7th nationally among medium size schools, with 25 alumni currently serving around the world. Among small schools nationally, Middlebury College ranked 3rd and Saint Michael’s College ranked 20th, with 16 and 9 volunteers respectively.

Leahy long has championed the Peace Corps and for more than two decades has headed the Senate panel that funds its annual budget. Leahy currently is the Ranking Member of the State Department and Foreign Operations Subcommittee of the Appropriations Committee.

Carol Urner is WILPF's National Disarm - Dismantle the War Economy Project Chair and has dedicated her life to the movement for a nuclear weapons-free world. She leads a converstion on hope for nuclear abolition.
The Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty of 1972 states that in exchange for the non-nuclear countries giving up all efforts to build nuclear weapons, the nuclear nations will gradually work towards the elimination of their nuclear stockpiles. That has not happened, in fact, every one of the nine nuclear powers is spending vast sums to enlarge and/or modernize their arsenals. A new initiative by 158 non-nuclear nations called 'filling the legal gap' calls for the explicit prohibition of nuclear weapons and establishment of a framework for their elimination. The proposed Nuclear Weapons Ban treaty would make nuclear weapons totally illegal! More information on Women's International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF)  www.wilpf.org