Wednesday, March 30, 2011

• "Prescription for Survival": A Debate on the Future of Nuclear Energy Between Anti-Coal Advocate George Monbiot and Anti-Nuclear Activist Dr. Helen Caldicott

  
  
  

  The crisis in Japan has refueled the rigorous global debate about the viability of nuclear power. Japan remains in a "state of maximum alert" as the experts scramble to contain radiation that is leaking from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power station. Nuclear energy remains a controversial topic in climate change discourse, as environmental activists argue how to best reduce the amount of greenhouse gases being emitted into the atmosphere—often the debate pits one non-renewable energy against another as renewable energy technology and research remains underfunded. Democracy Now! hosts a debate today about the future of nuclear energy between British journalist George Monbiot and Dr. Helen Caldicott. Monbiot has written extensively about the environmental and health dangers caused by burning coal for energy, and despite the Fukushima catastrophe, stands behind nuclear power. Caldicott is a world-renowned anti-nuclear advocate who has spent decades warning of the medical hazards posed by nuclear technologies, and while agreeing about the dangers of burning coal, insists the best option is to ban nuclear power. [includes rush transcript]

• Haitians Deported from the U.S. Held in “Absolutely Horrific” Conditions

  
  
  

  The United States resumed the deportation of Haitians back to Haiti in January even as the country remains ravaged by an earthquake and cholera epidemic. In February, one of 27 Haitians deported and sent directly to a Haitian detention center died of cholera-like symptoms. Citing inhumane conditions, the Center for Constitutional Rights has called for the Obama administration to extend the Temporary Protected Status for Haitian immigrants in the United States. Democracy Now!’s Amy Goodman recently spoke with CCR’s Laura Raymond in Port-au-Prince. “The walls of the detention center here were covered in feces and vomit, and the bathrooms weren’t working, so men had to go to the bathroom in trash bags. And these conditions, during a cholera epidemic, are literally deadly,” Raymond says. [includes rush transcript]

• Haitians Face Imminent Eviction from Displaced Persons Camps

  
  
  

  Reconstruction efforts in Haiti have barely begun 15 months after a devastating earthquake killed thousands and left more than 1.5 million people homeless. Hundreds of thousands of people still live in makeshift shelters in hundreds of tent camps across Haiti. Democracy Now!’s Sharif Abdel Kouddous reports from one of those camps and speaks with residents who face imminent eviction by landowners even though they have nowhere else to go. [includes rush transcript]

• Sharif Abdel Kouddous Transitions from Democracy Now! Senior Producer to Middle East Correspondent

  
  
  

  Democracy Now! bids a fond farewell to Sharif Abdel Kouddous, our senior news producer for the past eight years. Kouddous joined Democracy Now! in 2003 just as the United States invaded Iraq. He was soon covering Iraq and then returned to produce the daily show, traveling to New Orleans in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, to the climate change conferences in Copenhagen, Bolivia and Cancún, and together with Amy Goodman to Haiti to cover the return of former Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide just weeks ago. During the popular uprising in Egypt, Kouddous became the eyes and ears of Cairo’s Tahrir Square as he reported throughout the uprising. Kouddous is heading home to Egypt and will continue his work reporting as a Democracy Now! correspondent. [includes rush transcript]