Podcasts about Union Carbide

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Il disastro di Bhopal è il peggior incidente industriale della storia. Nella notte tra il 2 e il 3 dicembre 1984, una nube tossica si diffuse dallo stabilimento chimico della Union Carbide a Bhopal, in India, causando migliaia di morti e danni incalcolabili alla popolazione e all'ambiente. Con oltre 20000 vittime, il disastro di Bhopal è ancora oggi una ferita aperta. In questo episodio ricostruiamo gli eventi di quella notte, le cause dell'incidente e le sue conseguenze. Abbonati per supportare il nostro progetto Missione Cultura e diventare mecenate di Geopop: https://geopop.it/Muh6X Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

First, we talk to The Indian Express' Nikhil Ghanekar about the relocation of 337 metric tonnes of hazardous waste from Bhopal's Union Carbide factory that was generated during pesticide production between 1969 and 1984 and was dumped on the premises.Next, The Indian Express' Anonna Dutt speaks to us about the second phase of the Genome India project, which was approved by the government in 2020 with the aim of creating a comprehensive catalogue of genetic variations found in the Indian population. (13:28)Finally, we talk about Prime Minister Narendra Modi commissioning three advanced Naval combatants INS Surat, INS Nilgiri and INS Vaghsheer. (22:41)Produced and hosted by Niharika NandaEdited and mixed by Suresh Pawar

40 năm sau vụ rò rỉ khí độc hại nhất trong lịch sử ở nhà máy thuốc trừ sâu Union Carbide do Hoa Kỳ sở hữu tại thành phố Bhopal ở miền trung Ấn Độ, nhà chức trách Ấn độ vừa dọn dẹp sạch sẽ những thứ sót lại. Vụ rò rĩ khiến hàng ngàn người đã thiệt mạng, vô số các nạn nhân sống sót và con cái họ hiện nay vẫn đang phải vật lộn với các vấn đề sức khỏe mãn tính.

Authorities in India have removed four decades' worth of toxic waste from a chemical factory that saw one of the deadliest gas leaks in history. In December 1984, thousands of people were killed from a gas leak at a US-owned Union Carbide pesticide factory in the country's central city of Bhopal. As a result, today thousands of survivors and their children are still battling with chronic health issues.

This is the Catchup on 3 Things by The Indian Express and I'm Ichha Sharma.Today is the 2nd of January and here are the headlines.The Supreme Court slammed the Punjab government today over the hunger strike by farm leader Jagjit Singh Dallewal, saying that the state's attitude appeared to be against reconciliation and its officials were spreading the wrong impression that the court is trying to persuade Dallewal from breaking his fast.  Justice Surya Kant, presiding over a two-judge Bench said, quote, “There appears to be a deliberate attempt in the entire media where your state government officers are trying to create an impression that there is a persuasion by the court to Mr Dallewal to break the fast. That's why he is probably reluctant”, unquote.Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu has said that the Solar Energy Corporation of India's agreement to purchase power from the Adani Group was an advantage for the state government and any action on the bribery charges would be taken only after a thorough examination of the records. On Tuesday, speaking at Vijayawada, the CM said that the state government cannot scrap contracts unless there is adequate proof of irregularities. The development comes more than a month after Gautam Adani's indictment in the United States over allegations of bribing Indian government officials for securing “lucrative solar energy supply contracts”.The Chattogram Court in Bangladesh has denied bail to monk Chinmoy Krishna Das Brahmachari, in a hearing held under tight security today. Bangladesh Supreme Court lawyer Apurba Bhattacharya and 10 others had appeared before the court to represent the monk. The bail request was turned down after about 30 minutes of hearing both parties' arguments. Chinmoy Krishna Das, spokesperson of Bangladesh Sammi lito Sanatani Jagran Jote, was arrested on November 25 in Bangladesh on charges of sedition.After 40 years, the process of relocating the toxic waste from Bhopal's Union Carbide factory began Wednesday night when 12 containers carrying 337 metric tonnes of hazardous waste departed for Pithampur. Officials said the waste is being transported under tight security through a 250 km-long green corridor. Each container has a unique identification number, and detailed route information has been shared with the district administration and police. The chosen route was selected to minimize traffic disruptions at night. The specialised containers, which are moving at a speed of 40-50 km per hour, will halt briefly at designated points. Along with the containers, police escorts, ambulances, fire brigades, and a quick response team are accompanying the convoy. Each container is manned by two drivers.A terrorist attack on New Year's Day in New Orleans left 15 dead and over 30 injured when a pickup truck rammed into a crowd on Bourbon Street. The suspect, identified as Shamsud Din Jabbar, was killed in a gunfight with police after the attack. Speaking on the incident, US President Joe Biden said that every resource is being utilized to ensure there is no threat to the American people. He further said that law enforcement is investigating any possible connection between the “terror attack” and the Tesla Cybertruck explosion in Las Vegas.''This was the Catch Up on 3 Things by The Indian Express.

Support the Bhopal Medical Appeal https://www.bhopal.org/Episode two: The Green Revolution  explores the historical, political and economic forces that came together to make the Bhopal Gas Disaster a catastrophe just waiting to happen. Focusing on India's so called “Green Revolution” we discuss the long term consequences of short term technological fixes to the environmental challenges with which the new post-colonial state was confronted - not least the persistent problem of food security and the threat of famine. We explore how new laws such as the Foreign Exchange Regulation Act contributed to Union Carbide's decision to cut corners in the building and safety of its plant in Bhopal, and we discuss  some very different responses to the environment at the Green Revolution within India in the 1970s and 1980s.This month, all new sign ups on Patreon will be given directly to the Bhopal Medical Appeal. Music "Recurring anomaly"  by Charles Holmehttps://www.epidemicsound.com/track/bcoMezO9lb/Support the show

The Bhopal tragedy of 1984 at a Union Carbide pesticide plant in India killed thousands of people. The incident resulted from multiple safety failures: contaminated methyl isocyanate (MIC) storage, disabled safety systems and poor plant management. It led to significant changes in process safety, including the development of OSHA's Process Safety Management standard, the Center for Chemical Process Safety, and international safety directives like the Seveso protocol. Chemical engineer Ramin Abhari has created graphic novels to communicate the lessons learned, emphasizing the importance of inherently safer design, proper management of change and maintaining critical safety systems during plant decommissioning.

The US Presidential debate was yet another example of average Americans struggling to combat sophisticated mis-dis-information and propaganda. In parallel, we have all watched as Amazon was caught engineering their Alexa assistant to favor one political side over the other. A federal judge has also ruled that Google will be punished for illegally monopolizing the internet search market, which furthermore includes the manipulation of accessible data, often altered in favor of corporations and zealot-ideology. Search engines like Bing promote sexual abuse content of children and Instagram connects pedophile networks, just as Google's Dragonfly program was a censorship engine for China that has, at least in concept, been employed against the American people. But it's China warning against Americans spying on Chinese citizens, a report from NBC notes. Meanwhile, Chinese agents like Linda Sun infiltrated the Governor's office of New York; Senator Diane Feinstein employed a Chinese spy for 20 years; Congressman Eric Swalwell was penetrating Christine Fang while she infiltrated him; the Chinese ran a bio-lab in California; China operates police stations in major US cities, and famously Confucius Institutes at Universities. It appears that China has infiltrated schools, local governments, and corporations across the United States. Massive corporations own politicians, foreign governments have easily infiltrated the country, and universities are nothing but programming facilities for generations of drones. Just as the movie Network pointed out in 1976: “There is no America. There is no democracy. There is only IBM, and ITT, and AT&T, and DuPont, Dow, Union Carbide, and Exxon. Those are the nations of the world today.” The only difference today is that those most opposed to these companies are nothing but PR representatives, not politicians. -FREE ARCHIVE & RSS: https://www.spreaker.com/show/the-secret-teachings Twitter: https://twitter.com/TST___Radio Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thesecretteachings WEBSITE (BOOKS, RESUBSCRIBE for early show access): http://thesecretteachings.info Paypal: rdgable@yahoo.com CashApp: $rdgable EMAIL: rdgable@yahoo.com / TSTRadio@protonmail.com

Topic: The US Presidential debate was yet another example of average Americans struggling to combat sophisticated mis-dis-information and propaganda. In parallel, we have all watched as Amazon was caught engineering their Alexa assistant to favor one political side over the other. A federal judge has also ruled that Google will be punished for illegally monopolizing the internet search market, which furthermore includes the manipulation of accessible data, often altered in favor of corporations and zealot-ideology. Search engines like Bing promote sexual abuse content of children and Instagram connects pedophile networks, just as Google's Dragonfly program was a censorship engine for China that has, at least in concept, been employed against the American people. But it's China warning against Americans spying on Chinese citizens, a report from NBC notes. Meanwhile, Chinese agents like Linda Sun infiltrated the Governor's office of New York; Senator Diane Feinstein employed a Chinese spy for 20 years; Congressman Eric Swalwell was penetrating Christine Fang while she infiltrated him; the Chinese ran a bio-lab in California; China operates police stations in major US cities, and famously Confucius Institutes at Universities. It appears that China has infiltrated schools, local governments, and corporations across the United States. Massive corporations own politicians, foreign governments have easily infiltrated the country, and universities are nothing but programming facilities for generations of drones. Just as the movie Network pointed out in 1976: “There is no America. There is no democracy. There is only IBM, and ITT, and AT&T, and DuPont, Dow, Union Carbide, and Exxon. Those are the nations of the world today.” The only difference today is that those most opposed to these companies are nothing but PR representatives, not politicians. -FREE ARCHIVE & RSS: https://www.spreaker.com/show/the-secret-teachingsTwitter: https://twitter.com/TST___RadioFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/thesecretteachingsWEBSITE (BOOKS, RESUBSCRIBE for early show access): http://thesecretteachings.infoPaypal: rdgable@yahoo.comCashApp: $rdgableBuy Me a Coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/tstradioSUBSCRIBE TO NETWORK: http://aftermath.mediaEMAIL: rdgable@yahoo.com / TSTRadio@protonmail.com

By the 1980s, uranium towns like Uravan had weathered a few booms and busts. The promises of the atomic future – like flying cars and limitless electricity – weren't coming to fruition. Along the way, health professionals began to notice that miners were dying from cancer at alarming rates. As radiological science improved and regulations were put in place, it was clear that uranium posed a health risk to those who mined and lived in uranium towns like Uravan – but just how much is still a point of contention. Find referenced studies and stories, along with photos, at www.aleccowan.com/boomtown In this episode: Tandie Van Sell Morgan, former Uravan resident whose father worked in the uranium mill. Miguel Morales, professor of physics at the University of Washington Howard and Caren Stephens, former Uravan residents and Union Carbide employees. Howard worked in various positions with the company, including as a safety engineer. Dr. John Boice, radiation epidemiologist at Vanderbilt University who published a series of studies on health risks in uranium towns throughout the American West, including in Uravan. Michael Amundson, professor of history at Northern Arizona University.

Tim Walker took to writing children's novels at the age of 45 and became popular with his series of action-adventure stories published as a trilogy in 2007. The books -- Shipley Manor, The Flying Fizzler and Rise of the Rattler – unbottled his thoughts on everything, from corporate greed to religious extremism. The award winning designer-turned author has now published his second book, which has a link with one of India's worst catastrophes, the Bhopal gas tragedy. Tim's book titled The Prisoner of Bhopal is a historical fiction novel based on the real incident, which he says he wrote for children of the present generation who were not a witness to the tragedy. In 1984 when Tim was working as a young graphic designer, he was tasked with designing a leaflet on a pesticide for Union Carbide, which was similar to that manufactured at their plant in Bhopal. As he was completing his task, the Bhopal disaster was announced over the radio, and Tim was asked to stop work. The events of that day stuck with him and inspired him to write about it decades later and incidentally, the book has been published in the year commemorating the 40th anniversary of the disaster. From corporate misconduct to climate change, Tim covers it all in The Prisoner of War by telling an intriguing story of a 10-year-old boy who is kidnapped and how it connects to the Bhopal gas leak. Tim says his book will help children to learn about different cultures, places and issues, explore different perspectives and develop deeper understanding of the world in the past. Host: Soma Basu, Senior Deputy Editor, The Hindu Edited by Jude Francis Weston

After World War II, uranium became one of the most sought-after elements in the world — and in the sparse canyons of the four-corners region, uranium company towns began to spring up and sell the ore to the U.S. Government. The 1950s were the golden years, when rich “uraniumaires” bought private jets and anybody could go from country rags to riches. But before long, the uranium rush would come crashing down. And one town, named Uravan, would disappear entirely. Find referenced studies and stories, along with photos, at ⁠www.aleccowan.com/boomtown⁠ In this episode: Howard and Caren Stephens, former Union Carbide employees and residents of Uravan Bill Barnes Jr., former Union Carbide mill worker and resident of Uravan Eva Fernandez, former Uravan resident Bob Ince, a one-time uranium miner whose family operated mines in Gateway, CO Michael Amundson, professor of history at Northern Arizona University

Bill Woodburn joins Charli today to talk about how he is literally Engineering Tomorrow, take a listen to learn just howBill is Founder and Chairman of the Board at Engineering Tomorrow, a public charity dedicated to inspiring high school students to pursue a path in engineering. He is a Founding Partner of Global Infrastructure Partners—a private equity fund focused on energy and transportation asset investing and ownership. Prior to the formation of GIP in 2006, Bill spent 23 years at GE, where he served as President and CEO of GE Infrastructure. Before leading GE Infrastructure, he was President and CEO of GE Specialty Materials. In that role, he oversaw key acquisitions including those that led to the GE entry and expansion in the water technology business. Prior to joining GE, he held engineering and marketing positions at Union Carbide and was an engagement manager at McKinsey & Co. focusing on energy and transport industries. Bill holds M.S. and B.S. degrees in Engineering from Northwestern University and the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy, respectively. Bill is a Member of the National Academy of Engineering.Read up at EmpoweringPumps.com and stay tuned for more news about EPIC at Colorado School of Mines this November!Find us @EmpoweringPumps on Facebook, LinkedIn,  Instagram and Twitter and using the hashtag #EmpoweringIndustryPodcast or via email podcast@empoweringpumps.com 

We examine whether a safe work environment truly enhances productivity and engagement or if it stifles business efficiency. Historical incidents like the Union Carbide disaster and BP's Deepwater Horizon blowout are analyzed to question if neglecting safety can still lead to profitability. Finally, we break down the misconception that good safety practices automatically translate to business profitability. We highlight the tangible benefits such as enhanced publicity, stronger client relationships, and improved employee satisfaction, and stress the importance of complex discussions about the actual costs vs. benefits of safety practices.The Paper's AbstractThis research addresses the fundamental question of whether providing a 15 safe workplace improves or hinders organizational survival, because there are conflicting predictions on the relationship between worker safety and organizational performance. The results, based on a unique longitudinal database covering over 100,000 organizations across 25 years in the U.S. state of Oregon, indicate that in general organizations that provide a safe workplace have significantly lower odds and 20 length of survival. Additionally, the organizations that would in general have better survival odds, benefit most from not providing a safe workplace. This suggests that relying on the market does not engender workplace safety.Discussion Points:Is safety “good for business”? Examining the relationship between safety and business viabilityBhopal and the costs, Occidental - you can still make money without safetyThe backgrounds and qualifications of the paper's authorsWorkplace safety can both benefit and hinder organizational survival due to productivity prioritization and potential risksWorkplace safety and business performance are complexly related, with a study showing a decrease in survival odds and length due to safety prioritizationSafety compliance at the lowest minimal cost may hinder productivity and divert attention from safety, leading to increased risksSafety is not inherently good for business; instead, it can bring tangible benefits like publicity, client relationships, and employee satisfactionStrict regulations and upfront investments in safety are necessary for fostering a safer work environment and ensuring business successTakeaways - Stop claiming safety is “good for business”The answer to our episode's question is, “So the short answer is on average, no. At least according to this study, businesses are more likely to survive in the short term and long term if they're hurting more people more seriously.”Quotes:“The sorts of things that you do to improve safety are the sorts of things that I thought should also improve productivity and reliability in the long run.” - David“Which is science, right? That's what it's about. We think we're right until we get a new piece of information and realize that maybe we weren't as right as we thought we were.” - David“Even though there is a reasonably high volume of research out there, it's really hard to look very directly at the question.”- Drew“So we know from this data that it's not true that providing a safe workplace makes you more competitive.” - DrewResources:The Paper: The Tension Between Worker Safety and Organization SurvivalThe Safety of Work PodcastThe Safety of Work on LinkedInFeedback@safetyofwork

Welcome to Paranormal Spectrum, where we illuminate the enigmatic corners of the supernatural world. I'm your host, Barnaby Jones, and today we have a very special guest joining us:Dr. C. Michael Scroggins has over 40 years in the R&D, Electrical and Project Management Engineering field. Dr. Scroggins has worked in R&D for companies such as British Petroleum, Union Carbide and as a private consultant for emerging technologies and new prototype equipment designer. For Baptist Memorial Hospital System as the Bio-Med Director and System IT Installation Manager, General Services Administration as a Project Director for Presidential Libraries, Power Generation Designer, and over saw the program for monitoring and lowering power usage in all Federal Building in the United States. Currently Dr. Scroggins is a Research Scientist/Senior Electrical Engineer for Deepwater power Distribution Systems for BP. Recently he worked as a Senior Engineer in the automobile and in R&D for a building materials production company. Currently Dr. Scroggins is the Chief Technology Officer for CMS Emerging Technologies, LLC a female veteran owned small business consulting Technologies Company. He is involved in cutting edge Research and Development, working with the separation of subatomic molecular particles to control molecular combinations in their simplest form. Most recently working with the development of energy capturing CNT (Carbon Nanotube) enhanced paint and control system to augment hybrid and electric automobile battery power generation and new motor technologies that increase torque and lower operating costs by up to 30%. In addition to the above technologies, has developed systems to augment the growth and longevity of plants and the microbial counts in the soil. Over the past twenty five years Dr. Scroggins has developed patents for monitoring molecular combinations within the human body to detect early signs of anomalies at early stages within the human body. This coupled with the development and interpretation of cellular reactions to specific forms of excitation has allowed a paradigm shift in the recognition of how the human body reacts to daily stimuli. He holds patents on several areas including: “Medical Diagnostic Tool based upon Non-Destructive Determination of the Material Composition of Internal Organs and Tissues” – “Integral Enhancement of Organic and Inorganic Matters Using Specific Tonal and Vibrational Levels” – “Orbital Motor and Generator” just to mention a few. The research in these areas has opened pathways into understanding how the natural events in molecular combinations affect every aspect within the human body and the world around us. Dr. Scroggins has partnered in the research of adult stem cell activation process to allow the use of the individuals self-produced stem cells to combat the breakdown of the individual's cellular structures. Working with Dr. Larry Farwell and Dr. Janet Angel to further the work Dr. Farwell has done in brainwave interaction and interpretation and Dr. Angel's work in environmentally safe oil eating bacteria. Dr. Scroggins currently working with Amelia Vogler (Your Healing Space) Cyndi Dale (President of Life Systems Services) and John Inmon (noted musician and Sound production Guru) on Universal Resonance sound, body and mind frequency alignment. Dr. Scroggins holds degrees in Electronic Engineering, Robotic Engineering, Industrial Engineering, Masters in Engineering Project Management and Computer Technology Management with PhD's in Theology, Metaphysics and currently completing PhD's in Genetic Anthropology and Cosmology. Dr. Scroggins is affiliated with Institute of Marine Engineering, Science and Technology (IMarEST) as a Global Chartered Engineer and recognized as Fellow and Subject Matter Expert in the field of Society of Underwater Technology (SUT) as a Chair person for Subsea Power Distribution Systems and deployment applications.Click that play button, and let's unravel the mysteries of the UNTOLD! Remember to like, share, and subscribe to our channel to stay updated on all the latest discoveries and adventures. See you there!Join Barnaby Jones on the Paranormal Spectrum every Thursday on the Untold Radio Network Live at 10am Central – 8am Pacific and 11am Eastern. Come and Join the live discussion next week. Please subscribe.We have twelve different Professional Podcasts on all the things you like. New favorite shows drop each day only on the UNTOLD RADIO NETWORK.To find out more about Barnaby Jones and his team, (Cryptids, Anomalies, and the Paranormal Society) visit their website www.WisconsinCAPS.comMake sure you share and Subscribe to the CAPS YouTube Channel as wellhttps://www.youtube.com/channel/UCs7ifB9Ur7x2C3VqTzVmjNQ

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Dans cet épisode #145, nous allons parler de la mini-série The Railway Men, sortie en 2023, et qui revient sur la plus grande catastrophe industrielle du monde : la fuite de gaz de Bhopal en 1984.Alors que le pays est déjà dans une période trouble survient un incident qui va faire des milliers de morts en l'espace d'une nuit et des centaines de milliers de blessés et d'handicapés sur plusieurs générations.Comment l'entreprise américaine Union Carbide a-t-elle pu laisser cela arriver ? Qui sont les héros de cette nuit d'enfer ? La série est-elle fidèle à la réalité ? Suivez-nous sur instagram : bollywood_versus et twitter : BV_podcast

[originally published on Patreon May 10, 2022; now you should check out Tanner's blog, Getting Spooked] Today I'm joined by a very special guest, Fortean expert Tanner Boyle (@TannerFBoyle1) to discuss some early high strangeness, and particularly a lot of the incredibly underdiscussed parapolitical angles to said phenomenon. We discuss the weird figures around the Mothman thing, the factories around Point Pleasant, the backgrounds of people like John Keel, Woodrow Derenberger, and Indrid Cold, and the Lanulos abduction story. We talk Bosco Nedelcovic, Union Carbide, COINTELPRO, men in black, the Hopkinsville goblins, the Flatwoods Monster, the recurring theme of weird connections between cryptozoology and espionage, and the alien abduction concept. We discuss certain salient aspects of the Betty and Barney Hill abduction, and the truly insane stories of several hypnosis experts.  At the end, we contemplate what's left of these stories and their possible utility as psychological operations. Links: https://twitter.com/TannerFBoyle1 https://mcfarlandbooks.com/product/the-fortean-influence-on-science-fiction/ https://tannerfboyle.substack.com/ Songs: I Got Abducted by a UFO - the Lillingtons Hardcore UFOs - Guided By Voices When You See Those Flying Saucers by the Buchanan Brothers Calling Occupants of Interplanetary Craft - Klaatu

Dit keer bespreken we Limitarisme van Ingrid Robeyns. De ondertitel is, Pleidooi tegen extreme rijkdom. Robeyns is econoom, filosoof, en hoogleraar ethiek van instituties aan de universiteit van Utrecht. Het boek heeft ze in het Engels geschreven en is daarna vertaald naar het Nederlands. De Engelse versie is nu ook gepubliceerd. 10 hoofdstukken Hoeveel is te veel? Het houdt de armen arm terwijl ongelijkheid toeneemt Het is besmet geld Het ondermijnt de democratie Het steekt de wereld in brand Niemand verdient het om multimiljonair te zijn Met het geld kunnen we zoveel dingen doen Filantropie is niet de oplossing Ook de rijken zullen hiervan profiteren De weg vooruit Een interessant boek dat mij nog meer de ogen openmaakte voor de sociale ongelijkheid in de wereld. Een boek vol met data waarom het een slecht idee is dat enkele mensen zoveel geld hebben. Een boek dat past in deze tijd. Vanochtend hebben 25 miljardairs een open brief gestuurd naar de vergadering van WEF in Davos. Sebastian Klein is hier actief mee bezig na de verkoop van zijn aandeel in Blinkist en dat hij het grootste deel van het vermogen in een stichting heeft ondergebracht. En de dochter van mede-oprichter van BASF die nu 25 miljoen van haar vermogen gaat weggeven. Ook goede documentaires over bij Tegenlicht. Nieuw rapport Survival of the richest van Oxfam is net uit, rijkdom nog steeds verder toegenomen van enkelen. Er is wel veel data en niet echt concrete voorstellen hoe we dit veranderen, zoals ze zelf zegt, ze is meer van het onderzoeken en aantonen wat er aan de hand is en niet van het organiseren van de oplossing. Dus ze heeft in het laatste hoofdstuk een aantal deeloplossingen die niet verder zijn uitgewerkt. Sander Schimmelpenninck leek daar concreter in, in zijn boek. Goed om te onthouden dat het gaat over extreme rijkdom, de rijken en super rijken. De centrale vraag in haar onderzoek is Kan iemand té rijk zijn? Inleiding bovengrens (politiek) 10 miljoen, ethische grens 1 miljoen Hoeveel is te veel? Patriotic millionaires Rijkdomsgrens, ethische grens en politieke grens aan rijkdom. Politiek: 10 miljoen Het houdt de armen arm terwijl ongelijkheid toeneemt Het is besmet geld Nazimiljardairs slavenhandel politieke leiders die hun eigen land plunderen en inwoners uitbuiten corruptie familie Sackler - OxyContin, Union Carbide, kleding in sweatshops, Amazon Belastingontduiking en ontwijking - gebrek aan handhaving - terwijl wel veel controle op toeslagen - bij belastingfraude door rijken is veel meer te halen. Het ondermijnt de democratie Beïnvloeden van politici, ondersteunen van campagnes en verkiezingen. Ondersteunen van campagnes en lobbies die eigen producten ten goede komen. Koch-netwerk Het steekt de wereld in brand Klimaat, biodiversiteit, fossiele brandstoffen, vervuiling - wordt geld mee verdient. Daarnaast hebben rijken veel meer spullen, woningen , luxe, vliegreizen Niemand verdient het om multimiljonair te zijn Met het geld kunnen we zoveel dingen doen Filantropie is niet de oplossing Ook de rijken zullen hiervan profiteren De weg vooruit het ontmantelen van de neoliberale ideologie. Klassenbarrieres afbreken (de economie versterken) Betere balans tussen de economische machten De fiscale beslissingsmacht van de overheid herstellen (sociaal contract) Inbeslagname van besmet geld en herstelbetalingen voor geleden schade uit het verleden (Nazimiljardairs) De internationale economische architectuur eerlijk moeten berichten Het begrenzen van topbeloningen Een halt toeroepen aan de intergenerationele overdracht van rijkdom (schenkingen en erfenissen radicaal begrenzen) “Er is een enorm onaangebroken potentieel in wat de 99 procent zou kunnen doen. De belofte van een betere toekomst ligt daarom bij ons.” Opvallende lessen uit het boek voor mij:

Ze won de Spinozapremie én een Nobelprijs. Joyeeta Gupta geldt als één van de meest invloedrijke klimaatwetenschappers van ons land. Deze aflevering in het kort:⇨ Zo zit het met aardsysteemgrenzen⇨ Wat is klimaatrechtvaardigheid⇨ Fossiele industrie verdoezelde klimaatbewijsOpvallend genoeg is zij bij het grote publiek in Nederland niet heel bekend. Gupta werd geboren in Delhi, studeerde aan Harvard en kwam door de liefde zo'n 35 jaar geleden in Nederland terecht. Haar interesse in klimaat en milieu werd aangewakkerd door de giframp bij Union Carbide in Bhopal, in 1984. Duizenden mensen overleden of werden ernstig ziek. De lakse manier waarop de Amerikaanse eigenaar met deze ramp omging was voor haar aanleiding om zich met klimaatrechtvaardigheid te gaan bemoeien. ‘We hebben op aarde een beperkte milieugebruiksruimte en veel hulpbronnen zijn in het bezit van een select, rijk gezelschap', aldus Gupta. Ze noemt dat absurd.Groenlandse ijskappenIn het gesprek met haar gaat het verder nog over tipping points. Belangrijkste klimaatsystemen op de aarde die in het rood lopen, zoals de Groenlandse ijskappen en het permafrostgebied in Siberië. Ze legt uit wat er gebeurt als die instorten. Kupta is als wetenschapper betrokken geweest bij belangrijke internationale panels en commissies, waaronder het Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). In die rol won ze in 2007 zelfs een Nobelprijs, samen met Al Gore.Kleine visjes, grote betekenisHarm wijst in zijn relaas naar een publicatie in het tijdschrift Animal Welfare. Daarin wordt voor het eerst onthuld hoe ongelooflijk veel vis er ieder jaar wereldwijd wordt gevangen. Een extreem groot gedeelte daarvan wordt verwerkt tot vismeel en olie voor boerderijdieren. Kleine vissen spelen een essentiële rol aan de basis van de voedselketen in de oceanen. Hij roept dan ook op tot vangstbeperking.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Ze won de Spinozapremie én een Nobelprijs. Joyeeta Gupta geldt als één van de meest invloedrijke klimaatwetenschappers van ons land. Deze aflevering in het kort: ⇨ Zo zit het met aardsysteemgrenzen ⇨ Wat is klimaatrechtvaardigheid ⇨ Fossiele industrie verdoezelde klimaatbewijs Opvallend genoeg is zij bij het grote publiek in Nederland niet heel bekend. Gupta werd geboren in Delhi, studeerde aan Harvard en kwam door de liefde zo'n 35 jaar geleden in Nederland terecht. Haar interesse in klimaat en milieu werd aangewakkerd door de giframp bij Union Carbide in Bhopal, in 1984. Duizenden mensen overleden of werden ernstig ziek. De lakse manier waarop de Amerikaanse eigenaar met deze ramp omging was voor haar aanleiding om zich met klimaatrechtvaardigheid te gaan bemoeien. ‘We hebben op aarde een beperkte milieugebruiksruimte en veel hulpbronnen zijn in het bezit van een select, rijk gezelschap', aldus Gupta. Ze noemt dat absurd. Groenlandse ijskappen In het gesprek met haar gaat het verder nog over tipping points. Belangrijkste klimaatsystemen op de aarde die in het rood lopen, zoals de Groenlandse ijskappen en het permafrostgebied in Siberië. Ze legt uit wat er gebeurt als die instorten. Kupta is als wetenschapper betrokken geweest bij belangrijke internationale panels en commissies, waaronder het Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). In die rol won ze in 2007 zelfs een Nobelprijs, samen met Al Gore. Kleine visjes, grote betekenis Harm wijst in zijn relaas naar een publicatie in het tijdschrift Animal Welfare. Daarin wordt voor het eerst onthuld hoe ongelooflijk veel vis er ieder jaar wereldwijd wordt gevangen. Een extreem groot gedeelte daarvan wordt verwerkt tot vismeel en olie voor boerderijdieren. Kleine vissen spelen een essentiële rol aan de basis van de voedselketen in de oceanen. Hij roept dan ook op tot vangstbeperking.

This is the web version of Foreign Exchanges, but did you know you can get it delivered right to your inbox? Sign up today:TODAY IN HISTORYDecember 2, 1805: At the Battle of Austerlitz, Napoleon wins what was arguably his greatest victory against a larger joint Russian-Austrian army. The Allies suffered 36,000 dead/wounded/captured compared with only 9000 for the French. The French victory was so complete that not only did it end the War of the Third Coalition, it allowed Napoleon to create the Confederation of the Rhine among the German states that had become French clients. Emperor Francis II was then forced to dissolve the Holy Roman Empire, which had been in existence continuously since 962 and traced its origins back to Charlemagne's coronation as “emperor of the Romans” in 800.December 2, 1942: Enrico Fermi and his team create the first self-sustaining nuclear reaction at “Chicago Pile-1,” a rudimentary reactor built under the campus of the University of Chicago. This was the first milestone achievement for the Manhattan Project in its race to build a nuclear bomb before Nazi Germany.December 3, 1971: The Pakistani military undertakes preemptive airstrikes against several Indian military installations, beginning the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971, itself the final phase of the Bangladesh Liberation War. India was preparing to enter the war on Bangladesh's side anyway, so when I say these strikes were “preemptive” I am not using that term in the phony, George W. Bush “hey they might attack us someday, you never know” sense of the term. The war, to put it mildly, was a complete disaster for the Pakistanis, who were forced to surrender a scant 13 days later and had to give up their claims on “East Pakistan” (Bangladesh) while suffering around a third of their military killed, wounded, or captured. In one of Henry Kissinger's more notorious acts, the Nixon administration opted to support Pakistan despite evidence of its armed forces committing major atrocities against Bangladeshi civilians.December 3, 1984: A Union Carbide pesticide plant in Bhopal, India, spews toxic methyl isocyanate gas overnight, resulting in the deaths of between 3800 and 16,000 people and causing injury to at least 558,000 more. Union Carbide maintains that the leak was caused by deliberate sabotage, though Indian courts subsequently found several officials at the plant guilty of negligence. The “Bhopal Disaster” remains one of the worst industrial catastrophes in history and its adverse effects are still being felt by people in that region to the present day.MIDDLE EASTISRAEL-PALESTINEThe Israeli military (IDF) was advancing on the southern Gazan city of Khan Younis on Sunday, with Hamas officials and residents both reporting indications of nearby fighting and the IDF later confirming that it has sent ground forces into southern Gaza. The IDF has been ordering civilians to evacuate the eastern reaches of Khan Younis, and of course it's posted a helpful interactive map on its website that warns civilians of imminent danger provided those civilians have reliable internet access and haven't lost their special IDF secret decoder rings. Residents of Khan Younis will likely move further south to Rafah, though that city is also under heavy IDF bombardment so it's not really safe either. Israeli officials say the IDF struck more than 400 targets over the weekend, and the official Gazan death toll had risen at last check to 15,523. The real death toll may be substantially higher, given the likelihood of bodies that haven't yet been recovered and the closure of most of the hospitals that were handling casualties.Elsewhere:* Aid shipments into Gaza have resumed. The Palestinian Red Crescent Society says that 100 truckloads of aid entered the territory from Egypt on Saturday and I believe the aim was to bring in a similar number of trucks on Sunday though I have not seen any information yet as to whether that was accomplished.* The Biden administration may be “pressing” Israel and Hamas to resume negotiations, as White House spokes-ghoul John Kirby told NBC on Sunday, but there's no indication it's having any success. After the ceasefire collapsed on Friday the Israeli government recalled its Mossad negotiators from Qatar, and for Hamas's part the Islamist group's political wing has sworn off any future prisoner swaps “until the war ends.”* The administration is continuing to send large quantities of ordinance to the IDF, including massive “bunker buster” bombs. So any claim that it's really pushing the Israeli government to negotiate a ceasefire or even demonstrate greater discernment in its bombardments really doesn't hold up terribly well.* Israel Hayom is reporting that “key figures” in the US Congress have been shown the text of a “new initiative” that would condition future US aid to Egypt, Iraq, Turkey, and Yemen (all of which it identified as “Arab states,” which would be news to the Turks) on the willingness of governments in those four states to enable the ethnic cleansing of Gaza by taking in refugees. That same outlet has also reported (in Hebrew, so here's a summary from Ryan Grim) that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has asked Minister of Strategic Planning Ron Dermer to put together a plan to “thin the population in Gaza to a minimum,” which if nothing else is an incredible euphemism. The Biden administration has rejected any forced and/or permanent relocation of Gazan civilians, a point that Vice President Kamala Harris reiterated during her visit to the COP28 climate summit in Dubai over the weekend. But it perhaps could be sold on the idea of a “voluntary” (in quotes because in reality it would be anything but) evacuation that is characterized as temporary even if there's no real intention to ever let the evacuees return.* The Guardian says its reporting has confirmed the findings of that bombshell +972 Magazine piece from a few days ago, which reported that the IDF has been using an AI system called “Habsora” (“The Gospel”) to identify targets under a process that's been likened to a “mass assassination factory.” The system is producing targets faster than the IDF can attack them, including private homes where the likelihood of civilian casualties is high. Israeli officials are apparently insisting that the AI is programmed to minimize civilian risk, an assertion that cannot be squared with the high number of civilian casualties incurred so far in this conflict.* Israeli settler mobs attacked two West Bank villages in separate incidents on Saturday, killing at least one Palestinian in one of those attacks. The human rights organization Yesh Din says it's catalogued some 225 settler attacks against Palestinians in the West Bank since October 7, resulting in at least nine deaths.* On a somewhat related note, one of the people killed in last Thursday's shooting in East Jerusalem turns out to have been an Israeli civilian who shot and killed the two Hamas attackers and then was mistakenly gunned down by Israeli soldiers. Video footage apparently shows the man disarming, kneeling, and opening his shirt to demonstrate to the soldiers that he was not a threat, but one of them killed him anyway. The incident has raised issues regarding the trigger happiness of Israeli security forces and the wisdom of the Israeli government's armed vigilante program, which in addition to risking civilian Palestinian deaths also risks more “friendly fire” shootings like this one.* The Washington Post published a story this weekend about the hasty evacuation of al-Nasr Children's Hospital in northern Gaza last month. Without going into some of the grislier details, the staff was forced to evacuate by the IDF and left behind four premature infants who likely would not have survived relocation. They say Israeli officials told them the infants would be taken out in Red Cross ambulances but apparently they were left to die and, eventually, decompose. Reporters discovered their remains during the ceasefire. Israeli officials insist that they never ordered al-Nasr's evacuation and have questioned the veracity of the story, despite video evidence and a recording of a phone call that the IDF itself released in which an Israeli official appears to acknowledge the need to rescue patients from the facility. The Red Cross says it never agreed to assist the evacuation and that conditions in northern Gaza would have made it impossible for its personnel to get to al-Nasr to retrieve the infants.* I mention the al-Nasr story because it strikes me as especially galling. In general I'm trying not to focus heavily on individual atrocities or allegations of atrocities in compiling these newsletters—there would be no space for anything else otherwise. I hope readers don't mistake that for apathy about any of these stories, going back to and including the atrocities committed/allegedly committed by Gazan militants on October 7 (I know cases of sexual violence have been receiving heavy coverage of late). I feel my role here is to try to provide an overview and for me that means keeping some distance from specific events. I'm sure I don't do that consistently but it is my aim.SYRIAAccording to Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, that Saturday morning Israeli missile attack in the vicinity of Damascus killed at least two of its personnel who were in Syria on an “advisory” mission. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that the strikes killed two Syrians who were affiliated with Hezbollah as well as two foreigners, presumably these IRGC members, while wounding five other people.YEMENHouthi rebels in northern Yemen fired a barrage of missiles and drones at ships in the Red Sea on Sunday. The group damaged three commercial ships and also fired at least three drones at the US naval destroyer USS Carney, which shot the projectiles down. There's no indication of any casualties and two of the vessels reported only minor damage (I'm unsure as to the status of the third). I would not be surprising if the US military were to retaliate against the Houthis in the near future, and there is a genuine risk that this could lead to a full-blown resumption of the Yemen war—though of course that would require Saudi Arabia's involvement.IRAQIraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shiaʿ al-Sudani reportedly told US Secretary of State Antony Blinken during a phone conversation on Saturday that Baghdad does not appreciate the US military carrying out attacks on Iraqi soil. The US attacked two Iraqi militia-linked targets on November 22 (during this newsletter's holiday pause), “killing nine pro-Iran fighters” in retaliation for attacks against US personnel according to AFP. Those attacks tapered off during the Gaza ceasefire, but as we know that ceasefire is no longer operative.On Sunday, US forces carried out a drone strike on a militia target in Iraq's Kirkuk province, killing at least five people and wounding five more. There was initially no indication as to responsibility (though one didn't exactly have to be Sherlock Holmes to solve this caper), but the US military later confirmed that it was responsible and characterized the strike as preempting “an imminent threat.”ASIAPAKISTANUnspecified gunmen attacked a bus in northern Pakistan's Gilgit-Baltistan region late Saturday, killing at least nine people and injuring at least 26 others. The bus driver was among those killed, along with the driver of a truck with which the bus collided. There's been no claim of responsibility and the main body of the Pakistani Taliban has taken the rare step of denying any involvement.PHILIPPINESA bombing targeting a Catholic mass killed at least four people and left several others wounded on the campus of Mindanao State University in the southern Philippine city of Marawi on Sunday. Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attack via Telegram. The previous day, the Philippine military said its forces killed at least 11 jihadist militants in nearby Maguindanao province in an attack targeting “suspected leaders and armed followers of the Dawla Islamiyah [i.e. ‘Islamic State'] and the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters” to borrow the AP's verbiage. I don't know whether Sunday's bombing was planned in advance or was intended as a direct retaliation for Saturday's incident.AFRICAGUINEA-BISSAUThe president of Guinea-Bissau, Umaro Sissoco Embaló, characterized Thursday night's gun battle between elements of the National Guard and his Presidential Palace Battalion as an “attempted coup” in comments to reporters on Saturday. Embaló had been out of the country attending the COP28 summit when the incident took place and said it had delayed his return to Bissau. National Guard commander Victor Tchongo is now in government custody, but Embaló appeared to suggest that there were other coup plotters behind Tchongo and said he would open an investigation into the incident on Monday. The National Guard is part of the Interior Ministry, which AFP says is “dominated” by the African Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde (PAICG). That party, which won June's parliamentary election and now controls the government, is opposed to Embaló.BURKINA FASOThe military governments of Burkina Faso and Niger announced on Saturday that they are both withdrawing from the G5 Sahel regional counterinsurgency force. That group was formed in 2014 with the aim of pooling resources to battle the various jihadist groups that were threatening Sahelian governments. It began deploying joint forces a couple of years later, but as you might already have concluded it's had minimal impact on the region's jihadist crisis. Mali's ruling junta quit last year, so of the original five member states only Mauritania and Nigeria still remain.ETHIOPIAOfficials in Ethiopia's Oromian regional government have accused the rebel Oromo Liberation Army of killing at least 36 civilians in attacks on three villages that took place on November 24 and 27. The OLA apparently hasn't commented and there's no confirmation of the government claim, but the alleged attacks took place not long after another round of peace talks between the OLA and Ethiopian government broke down, so it's conceivable the group decided to lash out in that moment. The OLA was formed as the military wing of the Oromo Liberation Front in the 1970s but broke away from the group's political leadership when the latter reached a peace accord with the Ethiopian government in 2018. It frequently attacks non-Oromo communities in Oromia, though authorities have only said that the victims of these attacks were Orthodox Christians without reference to ethnicity.EUROPEUKRAINERussian military operations in eastern Ukraine may have hit a couple of speed bumps over the weekend. For one thing, reports that emerged on Friday suggesting that the Russians had seized the town of Maryinka, southwest of the city of Donetsk, appear to have been a bit premature. Ukrainian forces are reportedly still in control of some parts of the town, including a coking plant, though that may change in relatively short order of course. Elsewhere, the Ukrainian military claimed on Saturday that Russian attacks on the city of Avdiivka had completely ceased for a full day. That too could change in a hurry, and indeed may already have changed by the time you read this, but it suggests the Russians were at least regrouping after spending the previous several days in what seemed like intense fighting to try to take the city.The Ukrainian government says it's investigating a claim that Russian soldiers summarily executed two surrendering Ukrainian military personnel. Details are minimal but there's a video of this alleged incident circulating on social media. Needless to say, intentionally killing surrendering soldiers is a war crime.FRANCEA knife-wielding attacker killed one German tourist and wounded two other people near Paris's Eiffel Tower late Saturday. The attacker is a French national who was on a French government “watch list,” had apparently pledged allegiance to Islamic State, and was also “known for having psychiatric disorders” according to Reuters. He cited the conflict in Gaza, among other triggers, to police after his arrest.AMERICASBRAZILBrazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva said on Sunday that he has no intention of bringing Brazil into full membership in the OPEC+ bloc and would stick to “observer” status only, one day after he somewhat incoherently told reporters that he wanted to join the group of major oil producing nations to try to encourage them to stop producing oil. OPEC+ extended a membership offer to Brazil on Thursday, which I gather has raised some eyebrows given Lula's stated commitment to combating climate change. Brazil's state-owned oil company, Petrobras, is continuing to pursue new oil exploration, also despite Lula's climate change position, though he says his aim is to invest oil profits in non-fossil fuel energy alternatives (and to encourage OPEC+ nations to do likewise). Oil remains the cause of, and solution to, all of humanity's problems.VENEZUELAVenezuelans, or at least the ones who participated, apparently voted overwhelmingly in Sunday's referendum to support their country's territorial claim on western Guyana's Essequibo region. Election officials said that the vote was 95 percent in favor for all of its five clauses—the most contentious of which was a question about whether or not to declare Essequibo a new Venezuelan state and extend citizenship to its residents—though there's not much insight as to turnout. There's no indication that the Venezuelan government is planning any imminent steps to try to actualize its claim on Essequibo but the referendum has nevertheless caused some consternation in Guyana and internationally.UNITED STATESFinally, HuffPost's Akbar Shahid Ahmed offers some welcome reassurance that the worst Middle East “expert” in Washington is still central to the Biden administration's regional policy:Four men in Washington shape America's policy in the Middle East. Three are obvious: President Joe Biden, Secretary of State Antony Blinken and national security adviser Jake Sullivan. The fourth is less well-known, despite his huge sway over the other three ― and despite his determination to keep championing policies that many see as fueling bloodshed in Gaza and beyond.His name is Brett McGurk. He's the White House coordinator for the Middle East and North Africa, and he's one of the most powerful people in U.S. national security.McGurk crafts the options that Biden considers on issues from negotiations with Israel to weapon sales for Saudi Arabia. He controls whether global affairs experts within the government ― including more experienced staff at the Pentagon and the State Department ― can have any impact, and he decides which outside voices have access to White House decision-making conversations. His knack for increasing his influence is the envy of other Beltway operators. And he has a clear vision of how he thinks American interests should be advanced, regarding human rights concerns as secondary at best, according to current and former colleagues and close observers.Indeed, even though McGurk has spent nearly 20 years giving bad advice about the Middle East to a succession of US presidents—and even though his fixation on Saudi-Israeli normalization at Palestinian expense may have helped trigger the October 7 attacks—his influence today appears to be greater than it's ever been. I'm sure that makes all of us feel a little better.Thanks for reading! Foreign Exchanges is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.foreignexchanges.news/subscribe

Join us for $Mic's first side episode! We're diving into the causes, events and outcomes of the deadliest Industrial disaster in history Sources: They're coming, give us a minute! Have questions or thoughts for a future episode? Drop us a line on reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/profiteersvsthepeople/ Alternatively, you're always welcome to shoot us an email: profitvspeeps@gmail.com

None Wiser than the Law is a miniseries of in-depth conversations with Justice MN Venkatachaliah, providing an intimate exploration of the legal realm, his life journey, political insights, and the Indian constitution. The title of this podcast draws inspiration from Aristotle, who said to seek to be wiser than the law is the very thing which is by good laws forbidden. Justice Venkatachaliah, a distinguished figure in the realm of jurisprudence, acknowledges this aphorism in one of his landmark judgments, setting the tone for this series of conversations. Alok Prasanna Kumar, a co-founder of the Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy, spoke to former Chief Justice of India MN Venkatachaliah in August 2023. Their discussion spans an array of topics, encapsulating the Justice's journey from a young lawyer to a Supreme Court judge, his landmark judgments, and his insights on the ever-evolving legal landscape and society. In the second episode of the series, Justice MNV and Alok delve into two pivotal judgments that revolve around two of the most harrowing incidents in independent India's history: the Bhopal Gas disaster in 1984 and the Babri Masjid demolition in 1991. These tragic events spawned a multitude of legal cases, with two of the most significant cases finding their way to the Supreme Court, with Justice Venkatachaliah on the bench. These cases, namely Union Carbide Corporation Ltd v the Union of India (decided in 1991) and Dr Ismail Faruqui v Union of India (decided in 1994), hold paramount importance in the context of these events. The Supreme Court's role in facilitating the settlement between the Union of India and Union Carbide has been a subject of extensive debate, as has its contribution to the eventual resolution of the Babri Masjid dispute. In this episode of BIC Talks, we endeavor to shed light on the motivations and considerations that underpinned the court's decisions, providing insight into why the court took the actions it did in these consequential cases. Subscribe to the BIC Talks Podcast on your favourite podcast app! BIC Talks is available everywhere, including iTunes, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Castbox, Overcast and Stitcher.

On the night of December 2, 1984, a deadly gas leak at the Union Carbide pesticide plant in Bhopal, India led to what has been described as the world's worst industrial disaster. In the immediate aftermath of the gas leak, thousands of people died and hundreds of thousands were injured from exposure to the toxic gas methyl isocyanate. But long after the international headlines and news reports dwindled to silence, long after Union Carbide paid a paltry settlement to survivors, long after the disaster faded from much of the world's memory, the gas leak continues to haunt the residents of Bhopal. In this episode, we trace the path of methyl isocyanate from initial discovery to the night of the disaster and the years that followed. We then explore what about this gas makes it so very deadly before assessing how the contamination still present at the site is causing health problems for residents decades after the gas leak.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Join Host Michael Lerner in a conversation with Gary Cohen, founder of Healthcare without Harm. They will trace the evolution of the modern health and environmental justice movement over the years, starting in 1996, when Gary founded the organization after the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency identified medical waste incineration as the leading source of dioxin, one of the most potent carcinogens. You can hear a past conversation with Gary here, one of the first conversations at The New School. Gary Cohen Gary is a co-founder and president of Health Care Without Harm (http://noharm.org ), the international campaign for environmentally responsible healthcare. HCWH is working to prevent disease and illness in society by assisting the healthcare sector to understand the links between a healthy environment and healthy people and helping hospitals become more environmentally sustainable as well as anchors in their communities for resilience, equity and community wellness. He is president of Practice Greenhealth, a U.S. membership affiliate of HCWH with over 1300 hospital members. He is also the co-founder of Greenhealth Exchange, a sustainable purchasing cooperative in the U.S. healthcare sector. Gary is a member of the International Advisory Board of the Sambhavna Clinic in Bhopal, India, which provides free medical care to the survivors of the Union Carbide gas disaster in Bhopal. Gary was awarded the MacArthur "Genius:" award in 2015, and the Champion for Change for Climate Change and Public Health by the White House in 2013. He was also awarded the Skoll Global Award for Social Entrepreneurship in 2006 and the Frank Hatch Award for Enlightened Public Service Award in 2007. Host Michael Lerner Michael is the president and co-founder of Commonweal. His principal work at Commonweal is with the Cancer Help Program, CancerChoices.org, the Omega Resilience Projects, the Collaborative on Health and the Environment, and The New School at Commonweal. He was the recipient of a MacArthur Prize Fellowship for contributions to public health in 1983 and is author of Choices in Healing: Integrating the Best of Conventional and Complementary Therapies (MIT Press). Find out more about The New School at Commonweal on our website: tns.commonweal.org. And like/follow our Soundcloud channel for more great podcasts. #commonweal #newschoolcommonweal #healthcarewithoutharm #healthcare #greenhealthcare #dioxin #toxics

This week Tee was delighted to welcome Tom Volinchak to the podcast for a deep dive into the world of water and what you need to know about it. Tom is a globally recognized authority on the science behind water purification technology and water science. Tom's love affair with science began as a young boy going through three chemistry sets at age 10 and learning 5 different ways to blow things up by the age of 12. By the age of 15 Tom was creating homemade electronic gadgets to alter the sound of his guitar and accordion kicking off a lifelong love affair with engineering and technology. Tom received a BS in Biology focused on Microbiology and Virology, with a minor in Chemistry. In college, he took part in the study of the environmental effects of unbridled Steel Mill pollution on the now-recovering Mahoning River in Youngstown, Ohio. This turned out to be the starting point for his fascination with water. Just a few of his accomplishments included designing high-purity water technology for Aerospace, Power Generating, Automotive, Electronics, Chemical/Petrochemical, and Heavy Industry. Tom was responsible for placing water technologies and purification systems with US Steel, Union Carbide, Degussa, Ohio Edison, Penn Power, American Electric Service, and Ford Motors.  Tom created his own consulting firm aimed at eliminating toxic drinking water and offering education, consulting, and problem-solving services to anyone experiencing water challenges. He continues to provide high-purity water services, water recycling, and waste minimization/green water technology to industries and institutions across the globe. His designs have found homes with entities such as Drexel Chemicals, PMC Biogenix, Georgia Pacific, Hardy Bottling, St. Jude Children's Hospital, The Cleveland Clinic, Carnegie Mellon University, University of Tennessee, and many more. Tom was Recognized for designing the first US Deionized water system for Honda Motors and also created a company around the world's first-ever, 100% green water purification media. His company manufactures a patented technology that turns previously carbon-rich rice husk (bio-waste) into an ultralow cost, carbon-reducing, pollution-reducing water purification.  In addition to his technical accomplishments, Tom has also authored 2 books on the subject of water: What You Don't Know About Water, But Should, and Open Tap: Drink Poison / Let's Fix It. In this conversation, he shares his enormous knowledge of our water systems and how he believes the process of manufacturing our homes needs to change in order to protect citizens from the increasingly polluted water supply here in America. In addition, Tee and Tom address the most effective filtration systems available and the steps you can take to protect yourself and your family from dangerous drinking water. Connect with Tom: Website Book Facebook YouTube Twitter TikTok  Everyone subscribing to Tom's YouTube channel or website will receive a free digital (pdf) copy of his E-book, - Water: What You Don't Know But Should. __________________________________ Follow Therese "Tee" Forton-Barnes and The Green Living Gurus: Tee's Organics - Therese's Healthy Products for You and Your Home:  The Green Living Gurus Website  Instagram Youtube Facebook Healthy Living Group on Facebook Tip the podcaster! Support Tee and the endless information that she provides: Patreon Venmo: @Therese-Forton-Barnes last four digits of her cell are 8868 For further info contact Tee: Email: Tee@TheGreenLivingGurus.com Cell: 716-868-8868 DISCLAIMER: ANY INFORMATION PROVIDED HERE IS GENERAL GUIDANCE AND NOT MEANT TO BE USED FOR INDIVIDUAL TREATMENT. PLEASE CONTACT YOUR PROVIDER OR DOCTOR FOR MEDICAL ADVICE. Produced by Social Chameleon    

SIX MINUTES FROM THE 1976 FILM "NETWORK" STILL RELEVANT TODAY-James HohmannWashington PostNed Beatty, who died June 13, 2021 at the age of 83, appeared in more than 160 movies and television shows, mostly in minor but memorable roles — none more enduring than his bravura performance in “Network,” the 1976 film that earned him an Oscar nomination for best supporting actor.Beatty was hired a week before filming, his scene was shot in a day and he appears on screen for just six minutes near the end of a two-hour movie. But his boardroom rant as Arthur Jensen, the chairman of an over-leveraged conglomerate that owns a television network, captured the zeitgeist not only of that time, but of ours as well, laying bare the undercurrents that pit nationalism and populism against globalism and corporatism.Beatty as Jensen rages at his network's anchorman, Howard Beale, for thwarting an acquisition by the Saudis. More than four decades later, it remains one of the greatest and most resonant monologues in the history of American cinema.“You have meddled with the primal forces of nature, and you will atone,” Jensen roars at Beale, the mentally ill, mad-as-hell TV host played by Peter Finch. “You get up on your little 21-inch screen and howl about America and democracy. . . . We no longer live in a world of nations and ideologies, Mr. Beale. . . . The world is a business.”The movie was intended as a cultural critique amid the fallout from Watergate, Vietnam and stagflation. With its dark satire of TV culture, “Network” is mostly remembered as an indictment of the corrupting temptations of chasing ratings. The film presciently anticipates the rise of reality TV, as well as cable news programming that focuses more on entertaining — and agitating — than informing. Watching it 45 years later, the movie feels like a harbinger of two men who once hosted their own shows — Ronald Reagan and Donald Trump — becoming president.Beatty's six-minute turn in “Network” remains his masterpiece, and its message is just as sharp now, if not sharper. “The nations of the world today,” he rails, are IBM, ITT, AT&T, DuPont, Dow, Union Carbide and Exxon. If that corporate roster sounds a bit dated, it is difficult to consider its 21st-century version, studded with social media and Internet giants such as Facebook, Google and Amazon, and conclude that Beatty's message is any less relevant.

Carolyn Harding with Rachna Dhingra, environmental and social activist who works in Bhopal, India, with the survivors of the world's worst industrial disaster, the 1984 Union Carbide India Limited Corporation's poisonous gas leak- killing thousands of people. Rachna Dhingra works on the issues of medical care, research, social support, economic needs, assessment and cleanup of toxic waste, legal claims for appropriate compensation and corporate accountability of Union Carbide & Dow Chemical. She works with a group called Bhopal Group for Information and Action and also with International Campaign for Justice in Bhopal. In 2003 she quit her job in Michigan, US and moved to Bhopal to work with those exposed to poisons of Union Carbide & Dow Chemical. On December December 3, 1984, in the middle of the night, 40* tons of methyl isocyanate (MIC) and other poisons leaked from Union Carbide's Indian subsidiary plant in Bhopal, in the state of Madhya Pradesh, India. Talk about what happened that night. www.bhopal.net Rachnya@gmail.com * in the Guardian article of June 14, 2023, they cited 27 tons of MIC were leaked. GrassRoot Ohio - Conversations with everyday people working on important issues, here in Columbus and all around Ohio. Every Friday 5:00pm, EST on 94.1FM & streaming worldwide @ WGRN.org, Sundays at 2:00pm EST on 92.7/98.3 FM and streams @ WCRSFM.org, and Sundays at 4:00pm EST, at 107.1 FM, Wheeling/Moundsville WV on WEJP-LP FM. Contact Us if you would like GrassRoot Ohio on your local station. Face Book: https://www.facebook.com/GrassRootOhio/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/grassroot_ohio/ All shows/podcasts archived at SoundCloud! https://soundcloud.com/user-42674753 Apple Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/.../grassroot-ohio/id1522559085 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCAX2t1Z7_qae803BzDF4PtQ/ Intro and Exit music for GrassRoot Ohio is "Resilient" by Rising Appalachia: https://youtu.be/tx17RvPMaQ8 There's a time to listen and learn, a time to organize and strategize, And a time to Stand Up/ Fight Back!

Get to know these successful thought leaders and find out how they present themselves and their crafts as experts in their fields. Mark Bowser is a sales advice maven. He is the author of “Sales Success” with Zig Ziglar and “Nehemiah on Leadership”. He takes pride in providing training seminars and consultations to some mega-corporations such as Southwest Airlines, General Electric, FedEx Logistics, NFL's Baltimore Ravens, United States Marine Corp, Princeton University, Dell Computers, and Ford Motor Company. If you have an ineffective sales team, it is best to reach out to Mark Bowser by logging on to https://markbowser.com/ and by connecting with him via LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/markbowser. Scott Messer is the founder of Sales Evolution, LLC. He has been a business development professional and serial entrepreneur for over 25 years. Before starting Sales Evolution, LLC, he held different sales, sales management, and executive positions at Union Carbide, American Chemsol Corporation, Griff Machine Products Company, Ultimate Software Group, Data Flow Information Systems, Compuware Corporation, and Growth Dynamics. If you're the CEO, or you sit on the board of a company, and the sales organization is kind of shattering either quarter over quarter, you might want to reach out to Scott Messer by going to his website at https://www.salesevolution.com/ or visiting his profile at https://www.linkedin.com/in/scottmesser/.  David Polinchock is the Co-Founder of A New Space for Future of Retail, VR/AR & OOH, a Pioneer in Using VR for Advertising, and Co-Founder of Unified Brand Experience Lab. He is passionate about looking for innovative ways to create compelling, authentic, and relevant brand experiences. He is an early pioneer of Experiential Advertising and the use of VR in advertising and marketing. His track record includes creating the first advertising programs that use VR and helping generate $10 million + in revenue for AT&T AdWorks by designing and running an innovative and engaging media lab experience. If you're in a number of different areas in the retail side merchandising stores, and you want to make sure that you don't disappear tomorrow, you may want to reach out to David Polinchock by going to https://www.linkedin.com/in/polinchock/.  Global Credibility Expert, Mitchell Levy is a TEDx speaker and international bestselling author of over 60 books. As The AHA Guy at AHAthat (https://ahathat.com), he helps to extract the genius from your head in a two-three hour interview so that his team can ghostwrite your book, publish it, distribute it, and make you an Amazon bestselling author in four months or less. He is an accomplished Entrepreneur who has created twenty businesses in Silicon Valley including four publishing companies that have published over 800 books. He's provided strategic consulting to over one hundred companies and has been chairman of the board of a NASDAQ-listed company. Mitchell has been happily married for thirty years and regularly spends four weeks in Europe with family and friends. Visit https://mitchelllevy.com/mitchelllevypresents/ for an archive of all the podcast episodes. Connect to Mitchell Levy on: Credibility Nation YouTube Channel: https://bit.ly/3kGA1LI Credibility Nation LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/credibilitynation/ Mitchell Levy Present AHA Moments: https://mitchelllevy.com/mitchelllevypresents/ Thought Leader Life: https://thoughtleaderlife.com Twitter: @Credtabulous Instagram: @credibilitynation Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Dust Bowl in the 1930s caused by extensive soil erosion in the southern plains region of the United States, led to  severe dust storms during a period of extensive drought. For five days in December 1952, the Great Smog of London smothered the city, wreaking havoc and killing thousands. In the early 1950s, the Minamata Bay was the center of the outbreak of the Minamata Disease caused by Mercury poisoning caused by toxic waste from the nearby Chisso Chemical Plant. In December 1984, the world's worst industrial disaster happened in the City of Bhopal in India after the poisonous gas Methyl Isocyanate leaked from the local Union Carbide plant.

Dip into your own pocket before asking Union Carbide to pay up more: SC on Bhopal gas disaster, 100s of flights across US grounded due to FAA system outage, Minister schools Adnan Sami on RRR Telugu row and other top news in this bulletin.

Sedan debutsingeln "Die Jugend" 1988 har Pouppeé Fabrikk varit Sveriges hårdaste electronic body music-band. De har också rönt stora framgångar med sitt hemliga black industrial-projekt MZ412. När Strage fyller 50 lyckas han äntligen bjuda hem Henrik Björk och Leif Holm på tårta. De berättar bland annat om uppväxten i kanonstaden Karlskoga, om att vara så långa – och se så hårda ut – att de fick det gemensamma smeknamnet Fyra meter stryk, om när MZ412 var förband till Union Carbide (och det bara kom 20 personer), om när Pouppée Fabrikk hade Marduk som förband, om tyska trångsyntare, om antika analogsyntar och om den viktiga skillnaden mellan jaktbas och straffbas. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

When one of journalist Rajkumar Keswani's friends dies at the Union Carbide plant after exposure to toxic gas, he decides to investigate. Local government officials dismiss him, but safety reports smuggled to him open his eyes to the potential for disaster. Rajkumar Keswani wrote his first article 40 years ago, warning of the dangers posed by safety lapses and poor maintenance at the chemical plant. During a dogged investigation pitting him against political power, corporate money and the indifference of the media and public opinion, he never gave up. This cinematic documentary - narrated by Narinder Samra and featuring key witnesses - tells Keswani's courageous story for the first time. Producer: Neil McCarthy (Death in Ice Valley podcast)

Il y a 38 ans, à Bhopal, en Inde, se produisait la catastrophe chimique la plus mortelle de l'histoire. Une explosion à l'usine américaine de pesticides Union Carbide libérait un nuage toxique qui allait provoquer la mort de plus de 20.000 personnes. Retour sur ce drame industriel, dont les conséquences se répercutent encore aujourd'hui en Inde.

The Bhopal gas tragedy was the worlds worst industrial accident. Tens of thousands of people died and many more suffered long term illnesses when lethal methyl isocyanate gas leaked from the Union Carbide plant in the city in central India on 2nd December 1984. For the previous two years one man had been predicting that Bhopal was an accident waiting to happen. Forty years ago this month the Bhopali journalist Rajkumar Keswani wrote his first article warning of the dangers posed by safety lapses at the plant. During a dogged investigation pitting him against political power, corporate money and the indifference of the media and public opinion, he never gave up. This cinematic documentary series tells his story for the first time. Episode 4. Bhopal on the Brink of Disaster Keswani decides he must get the attention of law makers and show them his evidence. His safety concerns are raised in the State Assembly but the labour minister at the time bats them away giving Keswani the sense that Union Carbide is unimpeachable. He then petitions the Supreme Court of India, but gets no reply. Feeling somewhat defeated and with increasing financial woes, Keswani decides to take a steady job at a newspaper in a nearby city. But soon enough his conscience drags him back to Bhopal where he writes to the editors of national newspapers. He gets a big break, publishing a comprehensive account of his findings in a leading national daily. He waits for a response. Narrator Narinder Samra Written and researched by Anubha Yadav and Radhika Kapur Music and Sound Design by Shreyan Chatterjee Studio Mix by Donald McDonald Producer Neil McCarthy

The Bhopal gas tragedy was the world's worst industrial accident. Tens of thousands of people died and many more suffered long term illnesses when lethal methyl isocyanate gas leaked from the Union Carbide plant in the city in central India on 2nd December 1984. For the previous two years one man had been predicting that Bhopal was an accident waiting to happen. Forty years ago this month the Bhopali journalist Rajkumar Keswani wrote his first article warning of the dangers posed by safety lapses at the plant. During a dogged investigation pitting him against political power, corporate money and the indifference of the media and public opinion, he never gave up. This cinematic documentary series tells his story for the first time. Episode 5. The Fatal Night As the city slept on the night of the 2nd December 1984, a huge leak of lethal methyl isocyanate escaped from the Bhopal Union Carbide chemical plant. Keswani realises his worst fears have come to pass. All his warnings have been ignored and now people are dying in their thousands before him. Union Carbide refuses to divulge what gas has been released and hospital doctors are helpless, not knowing what treatment to administer desperate patients. After the tragedy, Rajkumar Keswani is honoured with India's most prestigious award for journalism. In his acceptance speech he said he was receiving this award for his greatest journalistic failure. Narrator Narinder Samra Written and researched by Anubha Yadav and Radhika Kapur Music and Sound Design by Shreyan Chatterjee Studio Mix Donald McDonald Producer Neil McCarthy

The Bhopal gas tragedy was the worlds worst industrial accident. Tens of thousands of people died and many more suffered long term illnesses when lethal methyl isocyanate gas leaked from the Union Carbide plant in the city in central India on 2nd December 1984. For the previous two years one man had been predicting that Bhopal was an accident waiting to happen. Forty years ago this month the Bhopali journalist Rajkumar Keswani wrote his first article warning of the dangers posed by safety lapses at the plant. During a dogged investigation pitting him against political power, corporate money and the indifference of the media and public opinion, he never gave up. This cinematic documentary series tells his story for the first time. Episode 1. A Friend Dies Keswani is the kind of journalist who finds his stories on the ground, talking to people in his native Bhopal. One evening he learns from his friend Ashraf, a worker at the Union Carbide chemical plant, that there are regular safety lapses and leaks. Shortly afterwards, Ashraf dies when he's exposed to lethal gases. A grief stricken Keswani decides he must find the truth behind safety concerns at the plant. But when questioning government officials he finds nothing but support for the multinational company that had chosen Bhopal as its base. He hears more worrying accounts from local union officials and when they are published in a small article, retribution follows. Keswani feels sure that something troubling is going on behind the scenes. Narrator Narinder Samra Written and researched by Anubha Yadav and Radhika Kapur Music and Sound Design by Shreyan Chatterjee Studio Mix by Donald McDonald Producer Neil McCarthy With thanks to Down To Earth

The Bhopal gas tragedy was the worlds worst industrial accident. Tens of thousands of people died and many more suffered long term illnesses when lethal methyl isocyanate gas leaked from the Union Carbide plant in the city in central India on 2nd December 1984. For the previous two years one man had been predicting that Bhopal was an accident waiting to happen. Forty years ago this month the Bhopali journalist Rajkumar Keswani wrote his first article warning of the dangers posed by safety lapses at the plant. During a dogged investigation pitting him against political power, corporate money and the indifference of the media and public opinion, he never gave up. This cinematic documentary series tells his story for the first time. Episode 2. The Smell of Grass Keswani digs deeper and discovers that a town planning order to relocate the chemical plant to an industrial zone, away from densely populated areas, was ignored. Union leaders smuggle him into the factory where he sees first hand the lack of safety controls and general disrepair. He learns more about the chemicals being manufactured as pesticides inside Union Carbide and understands the danger if they were to leak. He sits down to write his first 'Rapat' newspaper article under the headline 'Save, Please Save this City', and waits for a response. Narrator Narinder Samra Written and researched by Anubha Yadav and Radhika Kapur Music and Sound Design by Shreyan Chatterjee Studio Mix by Donald McDonald Producer Neil McCarthy

The Bhopal gas tragedy was the worlds worst industrial accident. Tens of thousands of people died and many more suffered long term illnesses when lethal methyl isocyanate gas leaked from the Union Carbide plant in the city in central India on 2nd December 1984. For the previous two years one man had been predicting that Bhopal was an accident waiting to happen. Forty years ago this month the Bhopali journalist Rajkumar Keswani wrote his first article warning of the dangers posed by safety lapses at the plant. During a dogged investigation pitting him against political power, corporate money and the indifference of the media and public opinion, he never gave up. This cinematic documentary series tells his story for the first time. Episode 3. Friendly Business The more Keswani investigates the more he finds a cosy relationship between Union Carbide and local politicians and journalists. He's determined to expose the nepotism he uncovers but yet again, his written warning to the city falls on deaf ears. His friends and family don't believe him either, apart from his wife. Money troubles don't help. But Keswani is sure he has truth on his side, and sets his sights on the highest court in the land. Narrator Narinder Samra Written and researched by Anubha Yadav and Radhika Kapur Music and Sound Design by Shreyan Chatterjee Studio Mix by Donald McDonald Producer Neil McCarthy

David P. Savage is our guest today. I must say at the outset that he conveyed to me a concept I believe we all should consider. Near the end of our time, David discussed the concept, “Unlocking the possible within a culture of collaboration”. David will explain that and many other thoughts and insights during this episode.   David has been extremely involved in the energy industry throughout his career. He has led teams and groups and he also has taught others to lead using his concepts around collaborative leadership.   No matter what David teaches and says, I find him to be a person who is always learning. He also passes along what he has learned, a trait I admire.   I believe you will enjoy our discussion today. As always, please let me know what you think, and please give us a 5-star rating wherever you find this podcast.   About the Guest: David brings expertise, experience, and leadership including oil and gas, renewable energy, health care, entrepreneurship, stakeholder engagement, business development, coaching, and conflict management. Over a ten-year period, David and his partners collaborated to develop 5 companies and 4 not for profits. Since 2007, Savage Management has focused on building capacity, innovation, and accountability in people and in and between organizations and communities. Beginning in 2015, David has published seven books and hosted forty-five podcasts on collaborative leadership, negotiation, critical thinking, and collaboration. Currently, David is; ✔   President, Savage Management Ltd. (since 1993), ✔   President 2021/22, Rotary Club of Cranbrook Sunrise, ✔   Co-Chair, Environmental Sustainability Rotary Action Group D 5080 (SEBC, E. Washington & N. Idaho), ✔   Advisor, The Canadian Energy, and Climate Nexus, and ✔   Director, Waterton Glacier International Peace Park Association. Past director roles include the ?aq'am (St. Mary's Indian Band) Community Enterprises, Canadian Association of Professional Speakers Calgary, Heart and Stroke Foundation Alberta, Nunavut and NWT, Petroleum Joint Venture Association (President) and Mediators Beyond Borders International- Canada. David's public speaking highlights include; ✔   Mediating the Evolution of Climate Justice for Mediators Beyond Borders International (MBBI), ✔   Nobody Gets to be Right: How to Lead Collaboratively for MBBI, ✔   Leading as a Positive Conflict Resolver: Don't be an A.C.E. Hole, ✔   How to Produce Better Outcomes through Well Designed Collaborations for Rotary International Conference and ✔   Creating Shared Value is the Way: Collaboration is the Path. Conflict, misunderstanding, misalignment of organizations and their leadership, lost productivity, wasted time, and wasted resources resulting from limiting perspectives, distraction, and hardline positions are damaging our today and our future. Our shared future matters!  David's books; Seven books available in print, eBook, and audiobook. Better by Design: Your Best Collaboration Guide, Break Through to Yes: Unlocking the Possible within a Culture of Collaboration 2018 Edition, The Collaborative Podcast Series: Book 1: The Foundations For Collaboration, Book 2: The Collaborative Guest Podcasts, Book 3: The 10 Essential Steps and Book 4: Unlocking the Possible, Break Through to Yes: Unlocking the Possible within a Culture of Collaboration Think Sustain Ability published in Sustain Magazine Company to Company Dispute Resolution Council published the Let's Talk Handbook. david@davidbsavage.com / 403-466-5577 / https://www.davidbsavage.com/ Let's talk.       About the Host: Michael Hingson is a New York Times best-selling author, international lecturer, and Chief Vision Officer for accessiBe. Michael, blind since birth, survived the 9/11 attacks with the help of his guide dog Roselle. This story is the subject of his best-selling book, Thunder Dog.   Michael gives over 100 presentations around the world each year speaking to influential groups such as Exxon Mobile, AT&T, Federal Express, Scripps College, Rutgers University, Children's Hospital, and the American Red Cross just to name a few. He is an Ambassador for the National Braille Literacy Campaign for the National Federation of the Blind and also serves as Ambassador for the American Humane Association's 2012 Hero Dog Awards.   https://michaelhingson.com https://www.facebook.com/michael.hingson.author.speaker/ https://twitter.com/mhingson https://www.youtube.com/user/mhingson https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelhingson/   accessiBe Links https://accessibe.com/ https://www.youtube.com/c/accessiBe https://www.linkedin.com/company/accessibe/mycompany/ https://www.facebook.com/accessibe/       Thanks for listening! Thanks so much for listening to our podcast! If you enjoyed this episode and think that others could benefit from listening, please share it using the social media buttons on this page. Do you have some feedback or questions about this episode? Leave a comment in the section below!   Subscribe to the podcast If you would like to get automatic updates of new podcast episodes, you can subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts or Stitcher. You can also subscribe in your favorite podcast app.   Leave us an Apple Podcasts review Ratings and reviews from our listeners are extremely valuable to us and greatly appreciated. They help our podcast rank higher on Apple Podcasts, which exposes our show to more awesome listeners like you. If you have a minute, please leave an honest review on Apple Podcasts.     Transcription Notes Michael Hingson  00:00 Access Cast and accessiBe Initiative presents Unstoppable Mindset. The podcast where inclusion, diversity and the unexpected meet. Hi, I'm Michael Hingson, Chief Vision Officer for accessiBe and the author of the number one New York Times bestselling book, Thunder dog, the story of a blind man, his guide dog and the triumph of trust. Thanks for joining me on my podcast as we explore our own blinding fears of inclusion unacceptance and our resistance to change. We will discover the idea that no matter the situation, or the people we encounter, our own fears, and prejudices often are our strongest barriers to moving forward. The unstoppable mindset podcast is sponsored by accessiBe, that's a c c e s s i  capital B e. Visit www.accessibe.com to learn how you can make your website accessible for persons with disabilities. And to help make the internet fully inclusive by the year 2025. Glad you dropped by we're happy to meet you and to have you here with us.   Michael Hingson  01:20  Hi, and welcome to another episode of unstoppable mindset. Today we are going to be talking with David Savage. David is an expert in helping companies manage conflict and he deals with leadership. And when I asked him how he wanted me to introduce him, he also said and I'm never late for dinner. So I can't argue with that either. David, welcome to unstoppable mindset.   David Savage  01:47 Thanks, Michael.   Michael Hingson  01:49 I'll bet he didn't think I was going to do that, folks. But you know, that's what you get for asking in the answering. So Well, we're glad you're here. Why don't you tell me a little bit about you, maybe sort of early stuff and all that and we'll go where we go. All right.   David Savage  02:04 Really appreciate this. And hello to all of your network of fans out there who enjoy dinner. The background to me is I've published seven books and 45 podcasts on collaborative leadership and inclined conflict resolution. I teach negotiation, mastery circles. And I'm the grandfather of five. I've been in the natural resource and energy, energy transition business all my career. And throughout my career, I've realized I really enjoy working with people and getting business to work better together. When I'm called in to be a firefighter, when supper on the stove is on fire, I I find that it's often that common sense thing that people miss. Often the they get stopped in their stoppable mindset is to their anger and their their reptilian brain and their reactivity. And rather than one of the my 10 essential steps to collaboration is set your intention. So before I met with you in this recording session, Michael, I am sat and set my intention to say let's have some fun today. Let's go different pathways. So you and I are picking up on the same vibe here. But I always want to remind myself on what do I want to have for this conversation or what's the outcome and of course the outcome for this is not only to have fun and not be late, but also to allow your listeners your viewers a few nuggets on my perspective on an unstoppable mindset.   Michael Hingson  04:00 Where are you located?   David Savage  04:02 I live in Cranbrook British Columbia and Kootenay Rockies of Canada.   Michael Hingson  04:08 So it's not dinnertime. So you also don't want to be late for lunch.   David Savage  04:12 Yeah, well, and I just made lunch for me and my partner and so it's all good. And and in fact, in a couple hours we want to go to Naik into the community forest and it's some nature breathing in   Michael Hingson  04:28 fresh air. Yes. Well being a grandfather of five. So when you became a grandfather, was it kind of a quantum leap to I can spoil these kids and send them home at the end of the day and all the things that we hear about grandfather's   David Savage  04:45 Well, I'd like to tease that that grandpa grandparents or parents without rules. At the same time, I just love developing the relationship with my grandkids in teaching them value views and how they are loved and respected, I think indoors with my grandchildren, because in this world today we have a lot of separation, a lot of polarization. And that generation and the next generations younger than me, are the most talented and brilliant in history. So. So for my grandchildren, I want to allow them to, to dream together. We're in fact, with two of my grandchildren, 14 year old green and 12 year old Sarah, we're actually in the process of writing a book together to help them those possibilities in their mind that they can, they can create, they can they can be in. If our shared book is only read by the three of us, that's fine. If it's read by a young adult in Afghanistan even better.   Michael Hingson  06:02 There you go. Why do you think that you're unstoppable?   David Savage  06:10 Yeah, I struggled with that question. In preparing for this discussion, Michael. Of course, nobody's really unstoppable. But when I face dramatic obstacles, I really go to my values. I really go to my sense of, okay, who am I? transparency, honesty and integrity. take the high road. So in some instances, you know, in my own personal life, about seven years ago, I had a huge challenge in my personal life. And people kept on saying, Well, why don't you you know, play the same game as they are, I just won't do that. Because that would actually stop me to allow me to continue to evidence to my family, my grandchildren, my clients, that being honest, being an integrity and and showing my vulnerability, then I can include them. What happened with that is, at the end of the day, the really challenging several years for me, I came out, probably better than anybody expected. Because I would not be dragged down I would not be stopped and in my sense of who David Savage is,   Michael Hingson  07:34 well, do it. Do it slightly a different way. What what do you think unstoppable means or what is unstoppable mean to you?   David Savage  07:47 Yeah. I really believe it is a sense of okay, yes, we are going to have some major obstacles in our lives there, there will be diversions and detours. But to me, Michael unstoppable means I know who I am, I know where I want to go to. And and I will be unstoppable in achieving my goals, my intentions, my dreams.   Michael Hingson  08:13 You know, it's interesting that when phrases and words suddenly catch on with people, they get overused. And I do hear a lot about something being unstoppable or someone being unstoppable. And unstoppable is become a pretty, pretty major buzzword. And I think sometimes overusing those words diminishes their value. And another one is amazing. We always hear about something being amazing, or someone being amazing. I know, people with disabilities who succeed and do the same things that everyone else does or do are called Amazing. And why is that? Really because in reality, what it means is you just don't have a high enough expectation of us to recognize that. It is an amazing, it is what everyone else can do. And why shouldn't we be able to do it, so don't call us amazing. Call us normal call us part of society. But you know, it's that are unstoppable. And it's the same sort of thing. We overuse the terms, but I like unstoppable mindset and the way you just described it, because that's really what it's all about your goal. Unless something really causes you to change it. Your goal is what you you shoot for and what you work to achieve. It may well be that your original plan for how to achieve that goal may change. But still it's the goal. It's the overarching principle that stays the same.   David Savage  09:48 Yeah, yeah. And I love the combination of the two words because unstoppable to me, Michael, is the mindset. Yeah, I can be deterred Written, delayed and all that stuff, but if my mindset is, I want to, I have the skills, I have the network, I have the resources available to me somewhere to get to where I want to be, then it's really my mindset. It's the mindset that gets me there.   Michael Hingson  10:18 Yeah. Which is really what it's all about. Hence, why we call this unstoppable mindset because I think it really comes down to mentally what you think and how you go forward. You know, there are a lot of ways to do it. Some people talk a lot about visioning, vision boards and other things like that. And there's in some people just adopt the mindset that I'm going to achieve my goal. But also achieving your goal means that you're going to do it in an ethical sort of way, too. Yeah.   David Savage  10:51 And the word victim just popped into my heart and mind, Michael is, there are some of us, all of us some of the time, but some of us that just want to hang on to being the victim. Well, to me, that just means I'm giving my ex myself an excuse to not get what I really deserve. And I'm not courageous enough to take the risk of failure or retry, retry, retry, you know, I've got one client, I've been working with coaching. And they, they simply want to go to that mode of, you know, the world is bad to me and I want them to negotiate a better world for themselves. It takes time the victim applies to all of us. What I would also say a real good friend of mine for the last 15 years is a disability rights advocate lobbyist in Washington DC for probably a decade and really worked hard in integrity because she had visible challenges that I don't have and about five to seven years ago Rhonda decided joining in to take a break you know Washington's are sometimes a toxic place and and she ended up going on a three months walk about literally she just took a little economy car and drove around North America talking to folks and saying hey, do you mind if I sleep on your in your spare bedroom or you know, she often captain or occur. And with when we were out on Vancouver Island, she would go swimming with us. So while she had limited use of her limbs, she was unstoppable she still is and she's still a strong strong image and connection and friend for my family members that said well, flicks liquid Rhonda Dyson, she's pretty unstoppable. And it was also self care for her to to get away for a few months and just kind of hit reset,   Michael Hingson  13:09 which is really what it's about, to a large degree. I know a woman who happens to be blind and she and a friend of hers who also is blind. Two or three years ago, I can't recall which just decided they were going to go down and spend a period of time in Peru hiking and touring and so on just the two of them by themselves. And they did and had a heck of a time. And what she said to me was it was certainly unusual to do that to women by themselves much less to women who happened to be blind, but hey, we had so much fun wouldn't trade it for the world it's it's all about mindset and all about attitudes to do the things to do the things that we we choose to do and want to do. And it's like anything else. It's something where were our goals may take a while to achieve. I mean, I think it would be fun to drive a car to really drive a car at least I have in the past but really seriously now given the way most people drive I'm not sure I want to be on the road I I just admire my wife all the heck because of the fact that she drives us around. And and you know, the two of us and people are crazy. They just the way they drive and I hear her descriptions all the time. She also happens to be a person in a wheelchair so she uses hand controls and does it but geez driving has just gotten to be crazy in the world.   David Savage  14:51 Yeah, the you know one of the metaphors that I like to talk about and use when it comes to overcoming barriers is either sports or racecar driving, you know, if I'm driving my Missouri, at 140 miles an hour, 200 kilometers an hour, and there's a crash in front of me. If I look at the crash, I'm going to hit the crash. If I look at where the sliver of road in between that car and the ditch or the wall, I can get there. So it is that constant sense of where do I want to be and continue to look at that? I, there's just so I have no credibility, because when it comes to disabilities, I have many abilities. I've got many disabilities, maybe mentally sometimes. But at the end of the day, what I do with respect to diversity is I really focus on including all the voices, including all the perspectives, so people that are very different from me, people with a different culture, different abilities, different demographics, I really want to, to the best of my ability, include them in my negotiation, my leadership and my teams to say some of the most brilliant insights come from the most unexpected places. Often, oftentimes in my, in my green team, and my rotary environmental sustainability group in Washington, Idaho and British Columbia, the most brilliant ideas come from the 16 to 18 year old young people. And they tell me, David, we've never had this voice. Nobody's actually listened to us before. And we say, as the old folks, please, please inform us, please share your wisdom, because it is and when, especially when we're talking about sustainability, it is your future and our shared future. But we better stop minimizing those that are  nodes that are that we're in conflict with, they have much to teach me.   Michael Hingson  17:26 But it also goes the other way. And that is that people who have lived long lives who have been successful or who have observed life, also have a lot of information that they can share. And all too often, we ignore that as well, especially when they get past a particular age. How do we break down that barrier as well? Yeah,   David Savage  17:53 ageism is I think what we're talking about right is, Well, geez, I was an ageist once, before I got old. I remember telling my parents when I was a young kid. Yeah, don't trust anybody over 30. And oftentimes, in our culture, especially in North America, anybody that's over 60 Well, they're not worth the investment. They, you know, they're rigid, whatever, those shackles they put on our opportunities. It's just, you know, we are our job, as elders, as mentors, as coaches, is to create the safe space and mentor and help encourage. And I think our job is not to block the block the road just to continue that metaphor is, I find that there's too many people in my demographic, they're still trying to hang on to power. And our greatest gift now is to encourage the healthy use of power by those that are younger than me. So So I think it's a bit of a twist on the ageism. Yes, I love my work. I want to do this work for another 10 years at least, I'd love my clients around North America. But it's time for me to do everything I can to support those clients, those young people, those next generation, those people that are are different from me in so many experiences and cultures, it's it's prime time to get them ready, capable, accountable. And in leadership,   Michael Hingson  19:38 of course, you get to be 30 At some point, and as some say, it's amazing. When you think back on it, how much your parents learned by the time you were 30 Right?   David Savage  19:51 Yes. Yeah, I think I think I think Michael there is a somewhat predictable when you know, to me roles start saying no, most often, that's a healthy thing. And then when a teenager starts expressing and demanding their power, that's understandable and expectable, but at some point, but once those young leaders have their own mortgages, their own careers, their own children, it's like, huh, Mom and Dad weren't all that stupid.   Michael Hingson  20:25 And the other side of it is that, as we gain more wisdom, hopefully and as we get older, rather than saying no to those teenagers necessarily, it would be it would be appropriate to say no, but let me show you and tell you why I say that. And then you do have to let people make their own mistakes. And, and IT risk taking is certainly a part of what we all have to do. I remember when my parents were told that I was blind at about four months old, and the doctor said, send him to a home because no blind child could ever amount to anything, my parents rejected that. You're kidding. And oh, oh, it happens all the time, even today, that the expectations for people who happen to be blind are extremely low. And they blame it all on the blindness, rather than allowing us the opportunity to flourish. And it doesn't just happen with people who are blind. I mean, we see it with race and so many different kinds of things in our world. But for blind people, it happens all too often, my parents went the other way, I don't think to an extreme, by any means, because they always kept an eye on me, they always talked with me, but they let me do stuff. until I was five, we lived in Chicago, when I'd walked down to the local candy store, I'd walk around the neighborhood, I went to kindergarten when I was four, and was involved with a lot of activities around the school, some of which I remember and some of which I don't. But my parents then when we moved to California allowed me to take risks and a little bit more rural community, I learned to ride a bike and figure out how to know where cars were, when they were parked on the streets and other things like that. And they allowed me occasionally to kind of get get hurt a little bit or whatever. But there were always discussions around and saying, what did you learn from that? And I think that's the biggest issue that we can teach anyone is introspection, and say, at the end of the day, whether things went well, or they didn't go, well. What did you learn from it? And can you go back and think about that, can you go back and think of the choices and how you would improve what you do?   David Savage  22:52 Very much. So I just want to go back to my first of my 10 essential steps in collaborative leadership is sent set intention is my intention for that young person on my staff or my child, it's my intention for them to grow powerful, influential, successful, and brilliant and healthy. While there is one roadmap for me and for that relationship, or is my intention to keep them safe? And I think those are almost mutually exclusive intentions. Seat safety can do a lot of harm.   Michael Hingson  23:38 Well, yeah, um, I think the issue about safety is that we need to teach what it means to be safe and to stay safe. And then we need to let people make choices based on really having the the appropriate knowledge, which is part of the whole way we get to be successful in understanding some of these things. Because ultimately, you have to try things for yourself. I mean, how often do children get told don't touch the stove? It's hot. And you know, eventually they're going to touch the stove when a Tom but but why do they do that? Are they doing it just to rebill? Are they doing it because they don't understand what it means. And if if it's the ladder, it's all about exploration. But once they do it once, they won't do it again, because they now really understand. And it's like blindness. People talk about blindness all the time and they talk about what we can't do and that blind people are not really capable of working successfully like others. And of course, we can show lots of evidence of that. And a lot of blind people subscribe to that because they don't know differently until the time that They, in fact discover they can do what they really want to do. And employers discover that hiring a person who is blind or someone who is different than they really isn't that big of a deal because we can help them become successful, then it isn't just a theory anymore. It's an emotional buy in.   David Savage  25:24 Yes. I'm also thinking of another friend of mine in Calgary. When London, England was hosting the Summer Olympic Games, he was the drummer on the video to introduce everyone to the London Olympics. And no, just picture a drummer doing great work, really high energy. And then think about when there was the Paralympic Games. And he was a victim of thalidomide, he has no arms, and yet he's one of the best drummers I've ever heard. So there's there's a challenge to our perspectives. I think also, when I think of some of the helicopter parents who just want to protect and therefore disrespect, and disempower their own children or their own staff members, then I think of people like Michael, who was high up in a tower on September 11 2001, you should definitely wear it safe, and you survived.   Michael Hingson  26:36 Well, you know, and helicopter parents, for example. I understand it, intellectually, I understand and you do to what their concerns are. But what, and let me go on with today's world, it's got to be a whole lot less safe being a kid than it used to be, especially girls, but not just girls, but kids in general. And at the same time, if we don't find ways to teach children the same things that we learn from our parents, although we may be doing it in a different way we are and coming at it from different directions, we still need to teach them those things, because those are the basic things that allow us to survive.   David Savage  27:26 Yeah, a huge challenge and opportunity to change that mindset of we need to lock everything up, we need to keep our children safe, we need to need to need to need to, well, I still have family members and friends that don't have a lock on their house. So they can go away for two weeks and they know that house is going to be fine. That mindset of we need to protect ourselves against what might be out there. And I definitely agree with you might call that some of the risks are very great and very dramatic. And at the same time, if if we are falling prey to that mindset of fear and scarcity, it really takes away again, the power, the ability, the risk taking for people just to have fun outside, go out with your friends and not feel like you have to be driven to and from and all of that good stuff. God in your organization and being a be able to just do a lot of different innovative things together. When we get so tight, and so fearful of the consequences, I think the consequences are already here.   Michael Hingson  28:45 Yeah, and we, we make the consequences, all that much worse by not preparing people. And that's what we as older people also need to learn to do is to understand the society and help prepare those younger than we and use our knowledge and creativity to find other ways to teach. I remember being in New York before we moved to New Jersey, when I was working for a company, I would travel back to the New York area from time to time. And I decided I wanted to take a walk around Midtown Manhattan. We were up near Times Square actually. I was staying at a hotel. And I'm another thing I was I was gonna go to my favorite record store in New York City at the time that actually sold records even in the 1990s colony records. And I walked out of the door to my hotel. And this guy comes up to me and he says, hey, you know, I'm a guardian angel. Do you know who we are? And I said, Yeah, I'm familiar with you guys. Being around to help people and so on. He said, I'd like to just walk with you. And I said you don't need to. He said I really would like to and I said well if you feel it's necessary. But you know, here's what we're gonna do. And I let him walk with me and it was fine. Other times P and other people weren't around. But I would like to think that he didn't just do that sort of thing for me. And as I learned, and in learning more about them, I wasn't the only person who got assisted or monitored by these people. And it was really nice to know that there were people who were spending the time to look out for you, so long as they didn't try to restrict, you know, what you do. Now, if I wanted to go into the middle of Central Park where it was dark, I suspect he would have been a little bit more concerned. But I also wouldn't do that, because that's a reasonably unsafe place to be. And so I think that there are certainly practices that we all need to deal with to help keep ourselves safe. But I learned enough about the environment that I understood a lot of those things, and even so he wanted to help. That was fine.   David Savage  31:02 Yeah. I'm thinking about the definition of respect that I was taught about 18 years ago, me and others were teaching and negotiation mastery at the Omega institutes near Rhinebeck, upstate New York. And one of the participants came up to me and said, Dave, do you know what the definition of respect is? And I said, Well, yeah, I think I do. But obviously, you have another take. And she said, respect is not doing for others what they can do for themselves. And I love that. I just love that definition of respect.   Michael Hingson  31:45 I am a firm believer, and we need to teach people to fish, not give them a fish. And yeah, I think that makes absolutely perfect sense. I know that. And I've said it before in this podcast. When ever I've hired a person to sell for me, I have always, on the first day said, I know I hired you, I'm your boss, but I hired you because you did a good enough job to convince me that you could sell our products. So my job is not to tell you what to do and how to do it. But my job is to work with you to see how I can be a second person on your team, and add value to what you do. And as we learn to work together better. And we figure out how I can assist you, which will be different from how I assist the guy at the desk next to you, then we will have a better relationship and you will be more successful. And the point is that I could add value to the people whom I hired. And that's the way it really ought to be. And one of the value is that I could could teach them things and they had to be willing to to listen. And the people who chose not to take advantage of a lot of that kind of stuff weren't successful. And the ones who did were extremely successful. But it wasn't just because of necessarily what I did. But they were already on a path to being observant and analyzing and making good decisions.   David Savage  33:25 And may I suggest open   Michael Hingson  33:27 and open. And so we were able to be successful together.   David Savage  33:35 That being coachable that part of me being coachable being realizing that I don't know it all. And you and I and others can do far more together than I can ever do. On my own. It's it's apparent, but sometimes it's just not apparent.   Michael Hingson  33:55 Right. Tell me what you mean by Nobody gets to be right. I've heard you say that before.   David Savage  34:01 Well, we've we've talked about teenagers and somebody that and children and all that and and I learned as a father that raised my three kids on my own substantially. You is more important for me to give them power and accountability, positive and negative. Then I I learned in so many that conflicts that I've engaged myself in by simply listening and listening and listening. profound ideas and innovations changes to the directions come when I come forward not feeling I have to pitch or convince or sell you. Pardon me, Michael. So I think as a leadership coach, encouraging leaders and family members and parents to be more curious, the less polarizing and command and control the greater the outcome. So it is it is in this these complex times is a real power to be curious.   Michael Hingson  35:11 Curiosity is a wonderful thing, and we should never discourage it. And, in fact, we should encourage it. And all too often again, we discourage it way too much.   David Savage  35:25 Yeah. Yeah, all I can say is listen, listen, listen, I have in companies that I've been part of the management, we've run into some conflicts. And after weeks and weeks of simply listening to our opposition, we came up with far better capital expenditure and facility plans, and our shareholder, our shares tripled, very quickly. If I would have been command and control, this is the way we're going to do it, I'm going to convince you and I've got these rights while that company was still next door, and they never got anything built. So this is not soft skills. These are hard skills for communication for families, for organizational leaders to say, what if I stayed open? What if I actually realized that there's a gift in what the person it seems to be challenging me, there's something there some gems, some piece of gold that I need to uncover?   Michael Hingson  36:31 One of my favorite books on leadership and team building is The Five Dysfunctions of a Team by Patrick Lencioni. And yes, yeah. And I think one of the most important things he talks about is, when you're working as part of a team, when the team makes a decision, or even if the team leader says this is the way we're going to do it, you go along with that. But if it turns out, it wasn't a good decision, then the team recognizes that collectively, it has the wisdom to make a change, and to try something different, and it may happen several times. But it has to start with respecting that the team is in it together. And respecting that. Who ever maybe created the final decision that wasn't right, is also wise enough to recognize it wasn't right and then work to find a better solution.   David Savage  37:36 Very much, so very much. So. You know, Patrick Lencioni is an amazing leader. He's taught me a lot. Another book that I really encourage our your listeners, your community, to read, listen to take in is think again by Adam Grant. And I just want to share a quote that really, I think lands the point that you and I are exploring here. It takes humility to reconsider our past commitments, doubt, to question our present decisions and curiosity to reimagine our future plans. What we discover along the way can free us from the shackles of our familiar surroundings, and our former selves. I think that's a, an incredible invitation to learning. And through curiosity, and challenging myself to think again, and then think again.   Michael Hingson  38:40 Well, Jimmy Carter once said, we must adjust to changing times while holding to unwavering principles. And I think that that's just as important. There are basic tenets, there are basic principles. And I think that as we progress in our development, which is another way of saying maybe as we get older, we make sure we understand the principles but then we have to teach those principles to others and recognize we may get to them in a different way. I mean, in the past, you went to school and teachers wrote on the blackboard, and they lectured to you and so on. It's a whole different world. We're still teaching, we need to adjust to the fact that the process might change. But what we have to do is still the same.   David Savage  39:30 Yeah, the my experience I just sold a used for runner, and my habit is to buy brand new and I want and then drive it for 500,000 kilometers 350,000 miles. And so I sold mine and and I had the experience this time because I had that vehicle for 13 years I had this experience of We put it on Facebook, and the awful toxic comments on Facebook from just trying to sell a great condition used for runner. Everybody had to pile on and be really rude and angry. And then they started to a social media fake that people that really love the vehicle said, Oh, no, this is really great. He was just astounding. So I just thought, you know, I gotta take it off Facebook, this is not a conversation where I can get my use for runner in the hands of somebody that would really love it and appreciate it. Went on to ge, ge and autotrader. And all those and there was much more civil. But again, you know, changing in culture, my view is, if you like a vehicle, come look at that, look at the service records, get it inspected, drive it, talk to the owner. And then if you like it, then making an offer. On those other online sites, people said, well, we take this much, and I said, I'm not going to negotiate until I know that you're going to come and look at it and see what you really buying. Because, you know, I could sell you a bucket bucket of bolts for half price. But that's not a bucket of balls. And and so of all the people there was probably 30 people on Facebook, that were posting toxic comments, there was probably 20 people on the other platforms that just wanted to talk about price. And there was only four that came in sight. And then I had a number of people saying, jeez, that is worth it. I'd like to buy that. So as a negotiator, I always say you know, the money comes last, whether it's your corporate culture, your family, but to deal with a the issues, the interests, the opportunities, and then whatever's left, we can talk about compensation. But in in my social media and my online experience in selling a used for renter, it's like, wow, that wouldn't have happened even five years ago. And yeah, I'd rather just, I was, I think it might have been with you and I talking last week, Michael, I said your three wonderful to have 10,000 connections on LinkedIn. But four would be very profound if they were the right four,   Michael Hingson  42:18 correct? Well, and connections is the operative word. I was talking with someone yesterday about a lot of the things with social media. And the fact is that, are we really connecting with a lot of social media, Facebook, and so on, you just talked about posting a lot of toxic comments and so on. But it took some heavy work to get to four people who really connected with you. And then decided this was worth exploring, rather than just spewing out a lot of toxic stuff that doesn't serve anyone's purpose.   David Savage  43:00 Or even selling a one size fits all solution. You know what? There's so many people that approach I'm sure you way more than me, Michael, just hit you with here's my package, and here's why you need to buy it. And that just doesn't work for me. It's okay. What's the challenge? What's the optioning? What's the pain? And then let's collaboratively come up with a solution or a service that suits you. Well, then that takes way too much time I just want to package? Well, you don't want to really solve your opportunity or your problem then   Michael Hingson  43:37 when people asked me to come and speak. And I'm sure you see it a lot to the very first question is what do you charge? So I'm, I'm glad to tell people I I say all the time well, in 2016, Hillary Clinton got $250,000 to speak for Goldman to Goldman Sachs. And I think I'm worth it. And in some people stop for a second. And then they realize maybe that really wasn't what he meant. And it breaks, but it breaks down a lot of barriers. And ultimately, my response is I'll give you a number. But we really need to see what you need. And I have I've done presentations where we settled on a number but I will also say as long as I'm there. And we do settle on a number as opposed to it being a hard and fast. It has to be a certain amount, right. But I also say that when I'm there, I'm your guest, and I want to add as much value as I can. And so now that we've agreed on a number, let me also say if there are other things that I can do for you, in addition to speaking during this particular time segment at your event, if I can do any other workshops and so on, let me know I am glad to do that because I'm coming there to help you to be of assistance to you to add value to your event and I will Do whatever you need me to do. And some people have really taken me up on that. And it turns out that I've done a whole lot more work than we originally talked about. I don't charge more for that, because I'm there to be of assistance. I'm going to be there anyway. And it's also a lot of fun.   David Savage  45:19 Yeah. So to your point, you know, you might do a keynote, and then two or three breakout sessions and private meeting and follow up. You know, I guess that's not only very clever and generous expertise, Michael. But it's also the realization that no matter how much money even if somebody offered me a quarter million, which nobody has yet, for some reasons,   Michael Hingson  45:44 offered me that I'm really disappointed. But yeah, go ahead. But even if they did,   David Savage  45:49 I think your quote, your response would be the same as mine is, how do we make this really effective over time? Because Because being a speaker, you know, it's not all that difficult to create some hallelujah moments. But I think this statistic says is three weeks after a speech, nobody actually remembers what you said. But they can remember what you challenged them with, or how have you felt? Yeah, so so it's a it's a long term commitment. It's not a pay me a bunch of money, and I'm gonna go cash a check and run away. Not at all not not for you, not for me.   Michael Hingson  46:27 That's my belief. And when people come back in six or nine months, or even years later and say, We remembered you, because, yeah, and we want you now to come back, or we remember what you said. And we really appreciate that. And we still hear from people about the time you were there, then I can't I can't complain a bit.   David Savage  46:50 I think that's true. And leaving earlier this afternoon, I was approached by a group by the central Canada. And I said, Well, how did you find me? And they said, well, our President participated in one of your negotiation mastery circles 13 years ago. So there you go. Some words still worked. And I think the other parts in you know, when we talk about unstoppable mindset and diversity and supporting those that aren't naturally are currently in the inner power circle. I think it's also important to allow them to negotiate what they pay me. So for example, I have a series of prices. If if, if a client is in a major conflicts, and they're going to try Oh, well, there's one rate, the opposite end is if it's a person, as an entrepreneur, or starting out or university or just not in the advantage position, I let them name their price. So sometimes that's free, and sometimes that's 20 bucks. And I'll say, okay, because I believe in you. Yeah.   Michael Hingson  48:06 And sometimes the, the, the amount has to be reasonable enough to make it so you don't lose a lot of money, at least expenses. And sometimes I've spoken just to get expenses paid, and I will sometimes do that. But I also find the people who just try to always negotiate you down to paying as little as possible, are the ones that take a lot more work than, than others. And they also can be some of the more challenging ones to work with, from the standpoint of just, they're hard to work with, as opposed to genuinely trying to deal.   David Savage  48:44 Yeah, they're the, they're the ones wanting to buy the foreigner for two thirds of the value, they're not prepared to actually make the investment of building a relationship with you designing something that's powerful. And, and I'm also thinking of that famous wine experiment, you know, where, where they took a bunch of wine experts, and they said, here's a $90 bottle of wine, and here's a $9 bottle of wine, and then got them to rate them individually. And then they switched the labels. And I was the one that they were told was the $90 bottle of wine was far superior to the 919 dollar one. So that there is that impact of you know, separate and aside from those starting out starting over entrepreneurship. You were valued more, the more you charge, which is kind of an interesting metric.   Michael Hingson  49:42 Right? Well, Trader Joe's, which is a store shop in this country, it's a decent chain, had Charles Shaw wine, or sometimes called to buck Chuck because they sold it for $2 A bottle. Wine wasn't the greatest in the world, but I recall many years ago, there was a blind taste test in New York. And one of the wines was to buck Chuck. And it won the top award for wine. And then when people discovered it, they all wanted to change their minds. And, but but the bottom line, is it. The damage was already done, folks, if you will.   David Savage  50:21 Yeah. So. So I want to I know that we're getting close to the end of our discussion, Michael, and I'm really enjoying this because you and I play together? Well, I believe. I want to ask you a question.   Michael Hingson  50:36 All right, and then I've got a couple for you. But go ahead. What is   David Savage  50:39 in this moment is one quality that you think is most important to be an unstoppable mindset? What's one quality?   Michael Hingson  50:52 For me, I would think that probably the most important quality is that you truly analyze, and think about what you are doing and what you want. And, in your own mind, create what you feel is the pathway to get there. And then be open to change. So in a sense, openness is part of it. But it doesn't mean lack of confidence. But rather, you need to be open to dealing with your plan. And addressing in your own mind the issue of how do I tweak it as I go, but this is where I want to get to, and I want the plan to be it isn't having a million dollars in the bank. I think I think unstoppable is when we are helping ourselves to move forward emotionally, intellectually. And through that, obviously, also, physically and in terms of our own survival and other things like that.   David Savage  52:02 So may I ask you a second question?   Michael Hingson  52:05 Oh, sure.   David Savage  52:07 How do you want to get remembered 10 years after you pass.   Michael Hingson  52:14 I want people to remember me as someone who helped them who was able to teach them something. And I want to be remembered as somebody who was open to learning. Thank you. Now why did you ask?   David Savage  52:37 Well, to me it is that unwavering principles that you mentioned from President Carter, it is what we would call an extra, you know, it's, it's how do I stay focused on the my pathway, if I could call it that way, my, my route my values. And oftentimes when I deal with organizations and communities in conflict, I take them to the future they want to create, and we can always agree on that, then we need to work backwards. Okay. If you want to be remembered that way, what do we need to do in the next three years, and the next year, the next month, the next day? You know, it's much easier map that way? Right?   Michael Hingson  53:21 Tell me a little bit about what you're doing now. And I want to get to your books also. But what you're doing, you talked about hosting and being involved in mastermind courses and mastery courses, and so on. Love to learn a little bit about that.   David Savage  53:38 But as we as we touched on earlier, I think change takes time. So the way I approach what I serve my clients, and my volunteer obligations is the set the intention, create the measurable objectives based on the challenges and opportunities and do it over time to a gently so that we're all very, very busy. And habits take time to change. So I prefer to work with people over a six month period as opposed to a two day period. And I also I also encourage insurrection. Some of my clients have told me that I incite insurrection, because in organizations when the people in the middle have started challenging the people at the top. I think that success. I think that means they're thinking for themselves they trust enough to challenge and their ideas can be now heard. That doesn't happen overnight. And oftentimes the person in the corner office or at the top of the food chain isn't very happy when that happens. So I guess the other pre condition is the Listen at the top must buy in and must be seen to be participating and be learning as we go together.   Michael Hingson  55:07 What's one question that you ask to help understand the leadership style of someone or a new contact?   David Savage  55:16 Well, something that I was informed of, by a friend who at one time was the VP of Union Carbide. Heather asked me told me this question asked me this question. In history, in literature in fantasy, whatever, what is one person that you most want to be like? So whether it's fictional or real, what's one person that you really like to be seen as? And that's not only an engaging question, because a lot of us don't have the immediate answer to that. But what Heather told me at that time was, she's used that one question, you know, what's that superhero that you'd like most likely to be? What like, is the most profound human resources, candidate or board selection committee question she ever asked. And if, you know, some people will say, I want to be Vladimir Zelensky, or I want to, I want to be, you know, Nancy Pelosi, or I want to be, you know, any number of things. Some people don't want to be Batman. But it can actually give you a sense of their playfulness of how they want their focus their pathway, their goal, their next shift would be. So that that's one question that in itself, we can turn that into our whole further conversation as to what's that all about? What does that mean to you? What does it feel like when you get to that point? So they start so they start to claim that space?   Michael Hingson  57:08 And you get so many interesting answers from that, and the people who perhaps have thought about it, although maybe they haven't thought about it quite that way. But then Nevertheless, when you ask the question, and it pops out, you obviously can, can go in so many directions will Why do you choose that person or tell me more about that?   David Savage  57:29 Well, in in Heather's case, when she was at Union Carbide, you know, this would have been 25 years ago, the new boss said Hitler, and she resigned the next day. And Union Carbide had a series of disasters over the next two years, I won't go into them, but horrific disasters, so it really worked for her. Yep.   Michael Hingson  57:55 So who would? Who would you answer that about what would your answer be? I was afraid you knew I was gonna ask that I   David Savage  58:01 was afraid. I've always struggled with answering my own question, Michael. Because I don't have heroes. Well, it sure I have heroes that there's many admirable people in the world. But I don't attach to any of them. You know, if if I said, Geez, I'd really love to be George Harrison. Well, that's nice. But it's so it's not me. That's not me. And I think, to me, it's about becoming David.   Michael Hingson  58:39 Well, and that's true. If I had to pick someone out, because I can see you might try to spring this so I was about to I'll answer. My favorite science fiction book is The Moon is a Harsh Mistress by Robert Heinlein. And it's a story of the takes place in 2075 300 years after the US revolution. And as part of that whole thing. There is a a technician, basically, who works on the it's a revolution on the moon. So the moon has been colonized, and so on. And so there's this whole system where what you pick up on fairly quickly as the moon is being treated, like America was being treated by England in 1775. And there's this computer technician who's working on their major mainframe who discovers that the computer has as he put it woke up and it's, it's, it's established its own personality and so on. And he and the computer, and a few other people start to think about how do we revolt and rebel against the lunar authority, the company on Earth, it's coordinating the moon stuff, right and keeping everyone subjected to horrible things. And along the way, one of the people that he brings into this Is Professor Bernardo dela Paz, who was one of his teachers. And I would like to be most like Professor Bernardo dela Paz, because one of the things that that happened is that the professor as, as the main character in the book, Manuel Garcia Kelley talks about, he said, the professor once said, many times, I will be teaching someone, something that I don't know a lot about. But as long as I can stay at least a lesson ahead and continue to learn myself, then we'll make progress. It wasn't quite the way he said it. But similar to that, and I liked that attitude. And I just think it's the kind of attitude I would like to have is, if I can teach and as long as I can stay a little bit ahead and be challenged, and work with people, then I'm good.   David Savage  1:00:54 Yeah. So you're evolving your lessons evolving your own learning, and not simply rolling out, you know, the curriculum that you've done for the last five years?   Michael Hingson  1:01:04 Right. Tell me a little bit, because as you said, I know we're getting a little bit late, but we're having a lot of fun with this. But tell me about your books.   David Savage  1:01:17 Well, thank you, Professor dill abounds.   Michael Hingson  1:01:20 I'm you should read the book. It's a great book.   David Savage  1:01:23 I haven't read a Heinlein book in a long time, but I love them viewed beautiful art history and visionary writing my books. Actually, in the three books that I'm writing right now, one with two of my grandchildren, it is fiction. So I'm getting into fiction, the seven books that I've published so far on Audible. Kindle, in print, I've, it's really a breakthrough to Yes, unlocking the possible within a culture of collaboration. So I'll say it again, unlocking the possible within a culture of collaboration. And I guess, my 10 essential steps for collaborative leadership, my better by design, which was my 2018 latest book, I really want to help people work together better. One of the one of the things that I think is clever about the the title, the cover of my first two books, breaks through the s, is I've shadowed four letters in the title of break through the s on the cover. And those letters are E. G. O 's, and egos are the greatest barriers to collaboration. So I love the playfulness, I love having some artistry in that. And unlike any other book that I've seen, you noticed since I started writing these in 2015, and still writing, there's not a lot of books on collaboration. And the books that are on collaboration are not collaborative books. So along the curiosity and nobody gets to be right line, Michael, I reached out and include quotes, on my seven books in my 45 podcasts, from 100 Different people in eight different nations to say, Well, what do you think about what is the greatest barrier to collaboration? What do you feel is your highest value, things like that, that are really important and, and well, while I go through, some people say if you've failed a lot, and that's true, I have failed a lot. And it's important for me to give examples of how I've failed in my collaborations, what I've learned from them, and how I, how I offer that to the listener to say, well, this is what Dave went through. Now, here's what I might do. Probably the bit, if I'm asked, okay, what's, what's the one thing, Professor Diller pause and they want to come back to being playful? is just having that pause, Professor of the pause, just have that pause between stimulus and response. Where we can say what is my intention? What what do I want to create here? And is my No, we talked about a number of words that are misused and misunderstood. Collaboration in the last seven years has become one of those along with sustainability. They are such profound and brilliant words, but they're thrown out to without any regard as to what it really takes to focus on sustainable leadership on collaborative leadership on I'm actually creating innovative teams. Yeah, we, we think we can just call a meeting, and we'll do some whiteboard work? Well, no, no, it's like that speaker negotiation, if that's the way you approach it, that you're going to be a little limited in what your outcomes are. Yeah.   Michael Hingson  1:05:21 And openness is, is ultimately where it starts.   David Savage  1:05:28 Very much. So I don't like it to be right. I do not know at all I need to encourage myself and my clients to towards critical thinking, because speed of change, and the increase in complexity is getting more and more challenging at every moment. So we must go there as opposed to defensive, angry, control based leadership.   Michael Hingson  1:05:56 Well, David, it has been absolutely fun having you on unstoppable mindset, how can people reach out to you and learn more about you, and maybe contact you?   David Savage  1:06:07 Thank you, Michael, for the opportunity to speak with you for this hours, it has been delightful again, I really appreciate you and my website would be David B savage.com. And you can find that ton of resources, videos, audio, their downloads. And what I would offer is anybody that contacts me, and quotes here in new and I talk in this podcast, then I will offer them a free digital copy of my book better by design, how to create better outcomes through well designed collaboration. And I'd be happy to have a conversation with any of your listeners just to say, okay, what can I learn? What can I learn from you today? There you go.   Michael Hingson  1:07:06 Well, perfect. So I hope people will reach out to you. And I'd love to hear how that goes and what you what you discover and and who interacts with you. So I, of course want to keep in touch and communicate. Anyway, I've learned a lot today. And I have always been a believer that if I don't learn as least as much as whoever I'm working with, then I haven't done my job right. So I really appreciate all this time with you. And we will spend some more together, I'm sure.   David Savage  1:07:37 Thank you so much, Michael and take good care.   Michael Hingson  1:07:40 Well, you as well. And everyone who's listening. Remember, go to David be savage.com. And if you reach out to David refer to unstoppable mindset podcast, and you can get a free digital copy of his book. I'd like to hear from you to know what you thought of today's so please feel free to reach out to me my email address is Michaelhi at accessibe.com. That's M I C H A E L H I at A C C S S I B E.com. Or go to our podcast page www dot Michael Hingson M i C H A E L H I N G S O N.com/podcast. Thanks again for listening. Thanks for being here. Hope you'll join us next week. And when you rate this podcast, we hope that you will do that and give us a five star rating. We would appreciate it very much. So again, David, thank you very much for being here. Thank you. We'll see you all next time.   Michael Hingson  1:08:43 You have been listening to the Unstoppable Mindset podcast. Thanks for dropping by. I hope that you'll join us again next week, and in future weeks for upcoming episodes. To subscribe to our podcast and to learn about upcoming episodes, please visit www dot Michael hingson.com slash podcast. Michael Hingson is spelled m i c h a e l h i n g s o n. While you're on the site., please use the form there to recommend people who we ought to interview in upcoming editions of the show. And also, we ask you and urge you to invite your friends to join us in the future. If you know of any one or any organization needing a speaker for an event, please email me at speaker at Michael hingson.com. I appreciate it very much. To learn more about the concept of blinded by fear, please visit www dot Michael hingson.com forward slash blinded by fear and while you're there, feel free to pick up a copy of my free eBook entitled blinded by fear. The unstoppable mindset podcast is provided by access cast an initiative of accessiBe and is sponsored by accessiBe. Please visit www.accessibe.com. accessiBe is spelled a c c e s s i b e. There you can learn all about how you can make your website inclusive for all persons with disabilities and how you can help make the internet fully inclusive by 2025. Thanks again for listening. Please come back and visit us again next week.

Happy Independence Day!- Pranay Kotasthane and RSJThis newsletter can often seem pessimistic about India. That isn’t true, though. Every year, on Independence Day, we remind ourselves and our readers why we write this newsletter. This is how we ended the Independence Day edition of 2020:“What we have achieved so far is precious. That’s worth reminding ourselves today. We will go back to writing future editions lamenting our state of affairs.We will do so because we know it’s worth it.”  This year we thought it would be fun (?) to run through every year since 1947 and ask ourselves what happened in the year that had long-term repercussions for our nation. This kind of thing runs a serious risk. It can get tedious and all too familiar. Most of us know the landmark events of recent history and what they meant for the nation. Maybe. Maybe not. We’ve given an honest try (of over 8000 words) to see if there’s a different way of looking at these familiar events and their impact on us. Here we go.1947 - 1960: Sense Of A Beginning 1947Perhaps the most significant “What, if?” question for independent India surfaced on 17th August 1947 when the Radcliffe Line was announced. The partition of the Indian subcontinent has cast a long shadow. What if it had never happened? What if Nehru-Jinnah-Gandhi were able to strike a modus vivendi within a one-federation framework? These questions surface every year around independence.The indelible human tragedy of the partition aside, would an Akhand Bharat have served its citizens better? We don’t think so. We agree with Ambedkar’s assessment of this question. In Pakistan or the Partition of India, he approaches the question with detachment and realism, concluding that the forces of “communal malaise” had progressed to such an extent that resisting a political division would have led to a civil war, making everyone worse off. The partition must have been handled better without the accompanying humanitarian disaster. But on the whole, the partition was inevitable by 1947.“That the Muslim case for Pakistan is founded on sentiment is far from being a matter of weakness; it is really its strong point. It does not need deep understanding of politics to know that the workability of a constitution is not a matter of theory. It is a matter of sentiment. A constitution, like clothes, must suit as well as please. If a constitution does not please, then however perfect it may be, it will not work. To have a constitution which runs counter to the strong sentiments of a determined section is to court disaster if not to invite rebellion.” [Read the entire book here]1948What if Mahatma Gandhi wasn’t killed that year? How would the course of our history change? Gandhi spoke like an idealist and worked like a realist. He was possibly the most aware of the gap between the lofty ideals of our constitution and the reality of the Indian minds then. He knew the adoption of the constitution was only half the work done. He’d likely have devoted the rest of his life to building a liberal India at the grassroots level. His death pushed a particular stream of right-wing Hindu consciousness underground. We still carry the burden of that unfinished work.1949The Constituent Assembly met for the first time in December 1946. By November 26th 1949, this assembly adopted a constitution for India. Even a half-constructed flyover in Koramangala has taken us five years. For more context, Pakistan’s Constituent Assembly began work on 10th August 1947, and their first constitution came into force in March 1956, only to be abrogated two years later. India’s founding fathers and mothers were acutely aware that they were elite, unelected, and unrepresentative of the median Indian. They dared to imagine a new nation-state while grappling with that period's harsh economic, social, and political realities. Their work should inspire us to strengthen, improve, and rebuild—but never to give up on—the Republic of India.For more, check out the miracle that is India’s Constitution in our Republic Day 2021 special edition.1950We have written about our Constitution a number of times. It is an inspiring and audacious document in its ambition to shape a modern nation. It has its flaws. Some consider it too liberal; others think it makes the State overbearing. Some find it too long; others feel it comes up short. This may all be true. However, there is no doubt our constitution has strengthened our democracy, protected the weak and continues to act as a tool for social change. It is our North Star. And a damn good one at that. 1951Few post-independence institutions have stood the test of time as the Finance Commission (FC), first established in 1951. In federal systems, horizontal and vertical imbalances in revenue generation and expenditure functions are commonplace. Closing the gap requires an impartial institution that is well-regarded by various levels of government and the people. The Finance Commission is that institution.It’s not as if it didn’t face any challenges. As a constitutional body established under article 280 of the Constitution, it was sidelined by an extra-constitutional and powerful Planning Commission until 2014. But we have had 15 FCs in total, and each key tax revenue-sharing recommendation has become government policy.1952Our Constitution adopted a universal adult franchise as the basis for elections. Every citizen was to be part of the democratic project. There was to be no bar on age, sex, caste or education. And this was to be done in one of the most unequal societies in the world. The ambition was breathtaking. To put this in context, women were allowed to vote in Switzerland only in 1971. Not only did we aim for this, but we also moved heaven and earth to achieve it in 1952. In his book India After Gandhi, Ram Guha describes the efforts of the government officials led by the first Election Commissioner, Sukumar Sen, to reach the last man or woman for their ballot. The elites may lament vote bank politics or cash for votes scams and question the wisdom of universal franchise. But we shouldn’t have had it any other way. And, for the record, our people have voted with remarkable sophistication in our short independent history. 1953 For a new nation-state, the Republic of India punched above its weight in bringing hostilities on the Korean peninsula to an end. Not only did the Indian government’s work shape the Armistice Agreement, but it also chaired a Neutral Nations Repatriation Commission (NNRC) that was set up to decide the future of nearly 20,000 prisoners of war from both sides. This experience during the Cold War strengthened India’s advocacy of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM).  1954Article 25 guaranteed the freedom of conscience and the freedom to profess, practice, and propagate religion to all citizens. But how does one define a religious practice? And can a practice under the garb of religion breach the boundary of individual rights or public morality? This is a familiar conflict zone in secular States and would inevitably show up in India because everything in India can be construed as a religious practice. Like Ambedkar said during the constituent assembly debates:“The religious conceptions in this country are so vast that they cover every aspect of life from birth to death…there is nothing extraordinary in saying that we ought to strive hereafter to limit the definition of religion in such a manner that we shall not extend it beyond beliefs and such rituals as may be connected with ceremonials which are essentially religious..."In 1954, the Supreme Court gave a landmark judgment on what constitutes a religious practice in what’s known as the Shirur Math case. It held that the term religion would cover all practices integral to that religion. Further, the Court will determine what practice will be deemed essential with reference to doctrines within that religion itself.This test of ‘essentiality’ in religion has kept the public, the legislature and the courts busy since (entry of women in Sabarimala, headscarf in Islam, to name two). The outcome has bent towards individual liberty in most contexts, but the ambiguity in the definition of essential means it could go the other way too.1955Another wild "What, if” moment that we like to recall relates to Milton Friedman’s visit to the Indian finance ministry in 1955. What shape would India’s economy have taken had his seminal document “A Memorandum to the Government of India 1955” been heeded?In this note, Friedman gets to the root of India’s macroeconomic problems—an overburdened investment policy, restrictive policies towards the private sector, erratic monetary policy, and a counterproductive exchange control regime. Being bullish about India’s prospects was courageous when most observers wrote epitaphs about the grand Indian experiment. But Friedman was hopeful and critical both.The Indian government, for its part, was humble enough to seek the advice of foreigners from opposing schools of thought. At the same time, it was too enamoured by the Soviet command and control model. In fact, many items from Friedman’s note can be repurposed as economic reforms even today.Here’re our points from Friedman’s note.1956The idea of One Nation, One ‘X’ (language, election, song, tax, choose any other) is both powerful and seductive. It is not new, however. Back in the 50s, there was a view that we must not strengthen any identity that divides us. So when the question of reorganisation of the colonial provinces into new states came up, an argument was made that it must be done on factors other than language. Nehru, ever the modernist, thought the creation of language-based states would lead us down the path of ethnic strife. The example of nation-states in Europe built on language in the 19th century and the two devastating world wars thereafter were too recent then. So, he demurred.Agitation, hunger strikes and deaths followed before we chose language as the primary basis for reorganising the states. It was perhaps the best decision taken by us in the 50s. As the years since have shown, only a polity assured of its heritage and identity will voluntarily accept diversity. The melding of our diversity into a single identity cannot be a top-down imposition. We should never forget this.1957India’s economic strategy of state-led industrialisation through deficit financing in pursuit of import substitution took off with the Second Five-Year Plan. Heavy industries needed imported machinery, inflating India’s import bill. Since the exchange rate was pegged to the British pound, it meant that Indian exports became pricier. This imbalance between rising imports and flagging exports was financed by running down the foreign exchange reserves. By 1957, India witnessed its first foreign exchange crisis. This event had a significant effect on India’s economy. Instead of devaluing the rupee, the government opted for foreign exchange budgeting - every investment in a project needed government approval for the foreign exchange required to buy foreign inputs. The immediate crisis in 1957 led to controls that worsened India’s economic prospects over the next 35 years.1958The government nationalised all insurance companies a couple of years earlier. India hadn’t gotten into a socialist hell yet, so this was a bit of a surprise. The proximate cause was a fraud that few private life insurers had committed by misusing the policyholders’ funds to help their industrialist friends. A run-of-the-mill white-collar crime that should have been dealt with by the criminal justice system. But the government viewed it as a market failure and moved to nationalise the entire industry. It would take another 45 years for private players to come back to insurance. Insurance penetration in India meanwhile remained among the lowest in the world.  Also, in 1958, Feroze Gandhi took to the floor of Lok Sabha to expose how LIC, the state insurer, had diverted its funds to help Haridas Mundhra, a Calcutta-based businessman. The same crime that private insurers had done.The government would repeat this pattern of getting involved where there was no market failure. The outcomes would inevitably turn out to be worse. Seven decades later, we remain instinctively socialist and wary of capital. Our first reaction to something as trifling as a surge price by Ola or a service charge levied by restaurants is to ask the State to interfere.1959“The longest guest of the Indian government”, the 14th Dalai Lama pre-empted the Chinese government’s plans for his arrest and escaped to India. Not only did India provide asylum, but it also became home to more than a hundred thousand Tibetans. Because of the bold move by the Indian government in 1959, the Central Tibetan Administration continues its struggle as a Nation and a State in search of regaining control over their Country to this day. This event also changed India-China relations for the decades to come.1960Search as hard as we might; we hardly got anything worth discussing for this year. Maybe we were all sitting smugly waiting for an avalanche of crisis to come our way. Steel plants, dams and other heavy industries were being opened. The budget outlay for agriculture was reduced. We were talking big on the international stage about peace and non-alignment. But if you had looked closer, things were turning pear-shaped. The many dreams of our independence were turning sour.The 60s: Souring Of The Dream1961The Indian Army marched into Goa in December 1961. The 450-year Portuguese colonial rule ended, and the last colonial vestige in India was eliminated. It took this long because Portugal’s dictator Antonio Salazar stuck to his guns on controlling Portuguese colonies in the subcontinent, unlike the British and the French. Portugal’s membership in NATO further made it difficult for the Indian government to repeat the operations in Hyderabad and Junagadh. Nevertheless, that moment eventually arrived in 1961. This was also the year when India’s first indigenous aircraft, the HAL HF-24 Marut, took its first flight. Made in Bengaluru by German designer Kurt Tank, the aircraft was one of the first fighter jets made outside the developed world. The aircraft served well in the war that came a decade later. It never lived up to its promises, but it became a matter of immense pride and confidence for a young nation-state.1962Among the lowest points in the history of independent India. We’ve written about our relationship with China many times in the past editions. The 1962 war left a deep impact on our psyche. We didn’t recover for the rest of the decade. The only good thing out of it was the tempering of idealism in our approach to international relations. That we take a more realist stance these days owes its origins to the ‘betrayal’ of 1962.1963ISRO launched the first sounding rocket in November 1963. Over the years, this modest beginning blossomed into a programme with multiple launch vehicles. The satellite programmes also took off a few years later, making India a mighty player in the space sector. 1964If you told anyone alive in 1964 that less than 60 years later, Nehru would be blamed for all that was wrong with India by a substantial segment of its population, they would have laughed you out of the room. But here we are in 2022, and there’s never a day that passes without a WhatsApp forward that talks about Nehru’s faults. It seems inevitable that by the time we celebrate the centenary of our independence, he would be a borderline reviled figure in our history. But that would be an aberration. In the long arc of history, he will find his due as a flawed idealist who laid the foundation of modern India. 1964 was the end of an era.1965As the day when Hindi would become the sole official language of the Indian Union approached, the anti-Hindi agitation in the Madras presidency morphed into riots. Many people died in the protests, and it led to the current equilibrium on language policy. The “one State, one language” project moved to the back burner, even as Hindi became an important link language across the country. The lesson was the same as in the case of the 1956 states reorganisation: melding our diversity into a single identity cannot be a top-down imposition.1966The two wars in the decade's first half, the inefficient allocation of capital driven by the second and third five-year plans, and the consecutive monsoon failure meant India was on the brink in 1966. The overnight devaluation of the Rupee by over 50 per cent, the timely help with food grains from the US and some providence pulled us back from it. The green revolution followed, and we have remained self-sufficient in food since.The experience of being on the brink taught us nothing. We still believe in the Pigouvian theory of market failure, where government policies are expected to deliver optimality.  Strangely, the idea that we reform only in crisis has only strengthened. There cannot be worse ways to change oneself than under the shadow of a crisis. But we have made a virtue out of it.1967This was the year when the Green Revolution took baby steps, and the Ehlrichian prediction about India’s impending doom was put to rest. But it was also the year when the Indian government made a self-goal by adopting a policy called items reserved for manufacture exclusively by the small-scale sector. By reserving whole product lines for manufacturing by small industries, this policy kept Indian firms small and uncompetitive. And like all bad ideas, it had a long life. The last 20 items on this list were removed only in April 2015. We wrote about this policy here. 1968In the past 75 years, we have reserved some of our worst public policies for the education sector. We have an inverted pyramid. A handful of tertiary educational institutions produce world-class graduates at the top. On the other end, we have a total failure to provide quality primary education to the masses. It is not because of a lack of intent. The National Education Policy (NEP) that first came up in 1968 is full of ideas, philosophy and a desire to take a long-term view about education in India. But it was unmoored from the economic or social reality of the nation. We often say here that we shouldn’t judge a policy based on its intentions. That there’s no such thing as a good policy but bad implementation because thinking about what can work is part of policy itself. NEP is Exhibit A in favour of this argument.1969 The nationalisation of 14 private-sector banks was a terrible assault on economic freedom under the garb of serving the public interest. The sudden announcement of a change in ownership of these banks was challenged in the courts, but the government managed to thwart it with an ordinance. Fifty years later, we still have low credit uptake even as governments continue to recapitalise loss-making banks with taxpayer money.1970The dominant economic thinking at the beginning of the 70s in India placed the State at the centre of everything. But that wasn’t how the world was moving. There was a serious re-examination of the relationship between the State and the market happening elsewhere. The eventual shift to a deregulated, small government economic model would happen by the decade's end. This shift mostly passed India by. But there were a few voices who questioned the state orthodoxy and, in some ways, sowed the intellectual seeds for liberalisation in future. In 1970, Jagdish Bhagwati and Padma Desai published their monograph, India: Planning for Industrialisation, which argued that our economic policies since independence had crippled us. It showed with data how central planning, import substitution, public sector-led industrial policy and license raj have failed. But it found no takers. In fact, we doubled down on these failed policies for the rest of the decade. It was a tragedy foretold. What if someone had gone against the consensus and paid attention to that paper? That dissent could perhaps have been the greatest service to the nation. It is useful to remember this today when any scepticism about government policies is met with scorn. Dissent is good. The feeblest of the voice might just be right.The 70s: Losing The Plot1971Kissinger visited China in July 1971 via Pakistan. Responding to the changing world order, India and the USSR signed an Indo–Soviet Treaty of Peace, Friendship and Cooperation in August of that year. India had become an ally of the USSR. Four months later, the India-Pakistan war pitted India and the USSR against Pakistan, China, and the US. The Indian strategic community came to internalise USSR as a super-reliable partner and the West as a supporter of India’s foes. It took another three decades, and the collapse of the USSR, for a change in this thinking. Even today, Russia finds massive support in the Indian strategic establishment. We had problematised this love for Russia here. 1972India won the 1972 war with Pakistan and liberated Bangladesh. India’s unilateral action stopped a humanitarian disaster. The victory was decisive, and the two parties met in Simla to agree on the way forward. This should have been a slam dunk for India in resolving festering issues on the international boundary, Kashmir and the role of the third parties. But international diplomacy is a two-level game, and Bhutto played that to his advantage. We explained this in edition 30. We paid a high price for giving away that win to Bhutto.1973The Kesavananda Bharti verdict of the Supreme Court rescued the Republic of India from a rampaging authoritarian. The basic structure doctrine found a nice balance to resolve the tension between constitutional immutability and legislative authority to amend the constitution. Bibhu Pani discussed this case in more detail here. 1974You are the State. Here are your crimes. You force import substitution, you regulate the currency, you misallocate capital, you let the public sector and a handful of licensed private players produce inferior quality products at a high cost, you raise the marginal tax rate at the highest level to 97 per cent, you run a large current account deficit, and you cannot control Rupee depreciation.Result?People find illegal ways to bring in foreign goods, currency and gold. And so was born the villain of every urban Bollywood film of the 70s. And a career option for a capitalist-minded kid like me. The Smuggler.But the State isn’t the criminal here. The smuggler is. And the State responded with a draconian law to beat all others. An act the knowledge of whose expanded form would serve kids well in those school quizzes of the 80s. COFEPOSA — The Conservation of Foreign Exchange and Prevention of Smuggling Act. A predatory state's defining feature is how it forces ordinary citizens to do unlawful activities. COFEPOSA was the mother of such laws. It has spawned many children. 1975This blank editorial by the Indian Express says it all. 1976We view our population as a core problem. The politicians, the public servants and the ordinary citizens share this view. We don’t want to acknowledge our governance deficit. Calling population a problem allows us to shirk the responsibility of running a functioning State. We have written about the flaw in thinking about the population as a problem on many occasions.How far could we go to control the population? Well, in 1976, during the peak of the Emergency, the State decided to sterilise male citizens against their wishes. This madness ended when the Emergency was lifted. But even today calls for population control keep coming back. 1977The first non-Congress union government was an important milestone for the Indian Republic. While Morarji Desai’s government did reverse the worst excesses of the Emergency rule, its economic policies were less successful. This period went on to witness a demonetisation in search of black money (2016 from the future says Hi!), and the same old counter-productive policies in search of self-reliance.1978Despite all available evidence that statist socialism was an abject failure, the Janata government that came to power decided to double down on it. One of the great ideas of the time was to force MNCs to reduce their stake in their Indian subsidiaries to below 40 per cent. A handful agreed, but the large corporations quit India. One of those who left was IBM in 1978. The many existing installations of IBM computers needed services and maintenance. In a delightful case of unintended consequences, this led to the nationalisation of IBM’s services division (later called CMC). Domestic companies started to serve this niche. Soon there were the likes of Infosys, Wipro and HCL building a business on this. CMC provided a good training ground for young engineers. And so, the Indian IT services industry got underway. It would change the lives of educated Indians forever.1979In a classic case of violating the Tinbergen rule, the Mandal Commission recommended that the reservation policy should be used to address relative deprivation. While the earlier reservations for oppressed castes stood on firm ground as a means for addressing unconscionable historical wrongs, the Mandal Commission stretched the logic too far. Its recommendation would eventually make reservation policy the go-to solution for any group that could flex its political muscles. We wrote about it here. 1980After ditching the Janata experiment and running out of ideas to keep Jan Sangh going, the BJP was formed. It wasn’t a momentous political occasion of any sort then. A party constitution that aimed for Gandhian socialism and offered vague promises of a uniform civil code and nationalism didn’t excite many. Everything else that would propel the party in later years was to be opportunistic add-ons to the ideology. The founding leaders, Advani and Vajpayee, would have been shocked if you told them what the party would be like, four decades later.The 80s: A Million Mutinies Now1981This year witnessed a gradual shift away from doctrinaire socialism in economic policymaking. “The Indira Gandhi government lifted restrictions on the expansion of production, permitted new private borrowing abroad, and continued the liberalisation of import controls,” wrote Walter Anderson. The government also “allowed” some price rises, leading to increased production of key input materials. The government also permitted foreign companies to compete in drilling rights in India. All in all, a year that witnessed changes for the better. 1982The great textile strike of Bombay in 1982 was inevitable. The trade unions had gotten so powerful that there was a competitive race to the bottom on who could be more militant. Datta Samant emerged intent on breaking the monopoly of RMMS on the city's workers. And he did this with ever spiralling demands from mill owners in a sector that was already bloated with overheads and facing competition from far eastern economies. There was no way to meet these demands. The owners locked the mills and left. Never to come back. The old, abandoned mills remained. The workers remained. Without jobs, without prospects and with kids who grew up angry and unemployed. The rise of Shiv Sena, political goondaism and a malevolent form of underworld followed. Bombay changed forever. It was all inevitable.1983The Nellie massacre in Assam and the Dhilwan bus massacre in Punjab represent the year 1983. Things seemed really dark back then. It seemed that the doomsayers would be proved right about India. Eventually, though, the Indian Republic prevailed. 1984Her Sikh bodyguards assassinated India Gandhi. The botched Punjab policy of the previous five years came a full circle with it. An unforgivable backlash against innocent Sikhs followed. A month later, deadly gas leaked out of a Union Carbide factory in Bhopal, killing and paralysing thousands. 1984 will rank among the worst years of our republic. There were two silver linings in retrospect. One, we would learn to manage secessionist movements better from the harrowing Punjab experience. Two, had Indira continued, would we have had 1991? Our guess is no.1985This was an eventful year in retrospect. Texas Instruments set up shop in Bangalore. It was to begin one of modern India’s true success stories on the world stage. This was also the year when the Anti-defection law transformed the relationship between the voter and her representative. Political parties became all-powerful, and people’s representatives were reduced to political party agents. We have written about this changing dynamic here. This was also the year when the then commerce minister, VP Singh, visited Malaysia. The visit was significant for India because it served as a reference point for Singh when he visited that country again in 1990, now as the Prime minister. Surprised by Malaysia’s transformation in five years, he asked his team to prepare a strategy paper for economic reforms. This culminated in the “M” document, which became a blueprint for reforms when the time for the idea eventually came in 1991.1986Who is a citizen of India?  This vexing question roiled Assam in the early 80s. The student union protests against the widespread immigration of Bangladeshis turned violent, and things had turned ugly by 1985. The Assam accord of 1985 sought to settle the state's outstanding issues,, including deporting those who arrived after 1971 and a promise to amend the Citizenship Act. The amended Citizenship Act of 1986 restricted the citizenship of India to those born before 1987 only if either of their parents were born in India. That meant children of couples who were illegal immigrants couldn’t be citizens of India simply by virtue of their birth in India. That was that, or so we thought.But once you’ve amended the definition of who can be a citizen of India, you have let the genie out. The events of 2019 will attest to that.1987Rajiv Gandhi’s ill-fated attempt to replicate Indira Gandhi’s success through military intervention in another country began in 1987. In contrast to the 1971 involvement, where Indian forces had the mass support of the local populace, the Indian Peacekeeping Force (IPKF) got itself embroiled in a bitter Sri Lankan civil war. Not only did this involvement end in a failure, it eventually led to Rajiv Gandhi’s brutal murder in a terrorist attack. The policy lesson internalised by the strategic community was that India must stay far away from developing and deploying forces overseas.1988Most government communication is propaganda in disguise. However, there are those rare occasions when government messaging transcends the ordinary. In 1988, we saw that rare bird during the peak era of a single government channel running on millions of black and white TV sets across India. A government ad that meant something to all of us and that would remain with us forever. Mile Sur Mera Tumhara got everything right - the song, the singers, the storyline and that ineffable thing called the idea of India. No jingoism, no chest beating about being the best country in the world and no soppy sentimentalism. Just a simple message - we might all sing our own tunes, but we are better together. This is a timeless truth. No nation in history has become better by muting the voice of a section of their own people. Mile Sur Mera Tumhara, Toh Sur Bane Hamara, indeed.  19891989 will be remembered as the year when the Indian government capitulated to the demands of Kashmiri terrorists in the Rubaiya Sayeed abduction case. It would spark off a series of kidnappings and act as a shot in the arm of radicals. 1990VP Singh dusted off the decade-long copy of the Mandal Commission report and decided to implement it. This wasn’t an ideological revolution. It was naked political opportunism. However, three decades later, the dual impact of economic reforms and social engineering has increased social mobility than ever before. Merit is still a matter of debate in India. But two generations of affirmative action in many of the progressive states have shown the fears of merit being compromised were overblown. The task is far from finished, but Mandal showed that sometimes you need a big bang to get things going, even if your intentions were flawed.1990 also saw the exodus of Kashmiri Pandits (KPs) from the valley. A tragedy that would bookend a decade of strife and violence in India. The only lesson one should draw from the sad plight of KPs is that the State and the people must protect minority rights. We’re not sure that’s what we have taken away from it. And that’s sad.The 90s: Correcting The Course1991With the benefit of hindsight, the 1991 economic reforms seem inevitable. But things could well have been different. In the minority government, powerful voices advocated in favour of debt restructuring instead of wholesale reforms. In the end, the narrative that these changes were merely a continuation—and not abandonment—of Nehru and Indira Gandhi’s vision for India carried the day. This political chicanery deserves some credit for transforming the life of a billion Indians. 1992Harshad Mehta scammed the stock markets. It wasn’t a huge scam. Nor did it hurt the ordinary Indians. Fewer than 1% invested in markets back then. Yet, the scam did something important. It set in motion a series of reforms that made our capital markets stronger and safer for ordinary investors. Notably, over the years, Mehta came to be seen as some kind of robber baron figure. Capitalism needed an anti-hero to catch the imagination of people. Someone who could reprise in the 90s the Bachchan-esque angry young man roles of the 70s. Mehta might not have been that figure exactly, but he helped a generation transition to the idea that greed could indeed be good.Also, Babri Masjid was brought down by a mob of kar sevaks in 1992. It will remain a watershed moment in our history. The Supreme Court judgement of 2019 might be the final judicial word on it. But we will carry the scars for a long time.1993The tremors of the demolition of the Babri Masjid were felt in 1993. Twelve bombs went off in Bombay on one fateful day. The involvement of the city’s mafia groups was established. The tragic event finally led to the government rescuing the city from the underworld. Not to forget, the Bombay underworld directly resulted from government policies such as prohibition and gold controls. 1994One of the great acts of perversion in our democracy was the blatant abuse of Section 356 of the constitution that allowed the union to dismiss a state government at the slightest pretext. Indira Gandhi turned this into an art form. S. R. Bommai, whose government in Karnataka was dismissed in this manner in 1988, took his case up to the Supreme Court. In 1994, the court delivered a verdict that laid out the guidelines to prevent the abuse of Section 356. It is one of the landmark judgments of the court and restored some parity in Union and state relationship.Article 356 has been used sparingly since. We are a better democracy because of it.1995India joined the WTO, and the first-ever mobile phone call was made this year. But 1995 will forever be remembered as the year when Ganesha idols started drinking milk. This event was a precursor to the many memes, information cascades, and social proofs that have become routine in the information age. 1996Union budgets in India are occasions for dramatic policy announcements. It is a mystery why a regular exercise of presenting the government's accounts should become a policy event. But that’s the way we roll. In 1996 and 1997, P. Chidambaram presented them as the FM of a weak ragtag coalition called the United Front. But he presented two budgets for the ages. The rationalisation of income tax slabs and the deregulation of interest rates created a credit culture that led to the eventual consumption boom in the next decade. We still carry that consumption momentum.1997The creation of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) is an important public policy milestone for India. By no means perfect, the setting up of TRAI helped overturn a norm where government departments were both players and umpires. TRAI made the separation of “steering” and “rowing” functions a new normal. That template has been copied in several sectors thereafter, most recently in the liberalisation of the space sector. 1998India did Pokhran 2, which gave it the capability to build thermonuclear weapons. We faced sanctions and global condemnation. But the growing economy and a sizeable middle class meant those were soon forgotten. Economic might can let you get away with a lot. We have seen it happen to us, but it is a lesson we don’t understand fully.Also, in 1998, Sonia Gandhi jumped into active politics. The Congress that was ambling towards some sort of internal democracy decided to jettison it all and threw its weight behind the dynasty. It worked out for them for a decade or so. But where are they now? Here’s a question. What if Sonia didn’t join politics then? Congress might have split. But who knows, maybe those splinters might have coalesced in the future with a leader chosen by the workers. And we would have had a proper opposition today with a credible leader.1999This was a landmark year for public policy. For the first time, a union government-run company was privatised wholly. We wrote about the three narratives of disinvestment here. 2000We have a weak, extended and over-centralised state. And to go with it, we have large, unwieldy states and districts that make the devolution of power difficult. In 2000, we created three new states to facilitate administrative convenience. On balance, it has worked well. Despite the evidence, we have managed to create only one more state since. The formation of Telangana was such a political disaster that it will take a long time before we make the right policy move of having smaller states. It is a pity.The 2000s: The Best Of Times2001Not only was the Agra Summit between Musharraf and Vajpayee a dud, but it was followed by a terrorist attack on the Indian parliament. It confirmed a pattern: PM-level bilateral meetings made the Pakistani military-jihadi complex jittery, and it invariably managed to spike such moves with terrorist attacks. 2002There was Godhra and the riots that followed. What else is there to say?2003The Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management (FRBM) Act and the Civil Services Pension Reform are two policy successes with many lessons for future policymakers. We have discussed these on many occasions. 2004The NDA government called for an early election, confident about its prospects. India Shining, its campaign about how good things were, wasn’t too far from the truth. It is how many of us felt during that time. The NDA government had sustained the reform momentum of the 90s with some of the best minds running the key departments. Its loss was unexpected. Chandrababu Naidu, a politician who fashioned himself like a CEO, was taken to the cleaners in Andhra Pradesh. Apparently, economic reforms didn’t get you votes. The real India living in villages was angry at being left out. That was the lesson for politicians from 2004. Or, so we were told.Such broad narratives with minimal factual analysis backing them have flourished in the public policy space. There is no basis for them. The loss of NDA in 2004 came down to two states. Anti-incumbency in Andhra Pradesh where a resurgent Congress under YS Reddy beat TDP, a constituent of NDA. TDP lost by similar margins (in vote share %) across the state in all demographics in both rural and urban areas. There was no rural uprising against Naidu because of his tech-savvy, urban reformist image. Naidu lost because the other party ran a better campaign. Nothing else. The other mistake of the NDA was in choosing to partner with the ruling AIADMK in Tamil Nadu (TN) over DMK. TN was famous for not giving split verdicts. It swung to extremes between these two parties in every election. And that’s what happened as AIADMK drew a blank.Yet, the false lesson of 2004 has played on the minds of politicians since. We haven’t gotten back on track on reforms in the true sense. 2005The Right to Information Act and the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act came into force in 2005. The “right to X” model of governance took root.2006In March 2006, George W Bush visited India and signed the Civil Nuclear Cooperation Agreement with Manmohan Singh. From facing sanctions in 1998 for Pokhran 2 to the 123 Agreement, this was a victory for Indian diplomacy and its rising status in the world. You would think this would have had bipartisan support among the political class in India. Well, the Left that was part of UPA and the BJP that worked on the deal when it was in power, opposed it. Many shenanigans later, the deal was passed in the parliament in 2008. It is often said there’s no real ideological divide among parties in India. This view can be contested on various grounds. But events like the opposition to the nuclear deal make you wonder if there are genuine ideological positions on key policy issues in India. Many sound policy decisions are opposed merely for the sake of it. Ideology doesn’t figure anywhere. 2007It was the year when the Left parties were out-lefted. In Singur and Nandigram, protests erupted over land acquisition for industrial projects. The crucible of the resulting violence created a new political force. As for the investment, the capital took a flight to other places. The tax on capital ended up being a tax on labour. Businesses stayed away from West Bengal. The citadel of Left turned into its mausoleum.2008Puja Mehra in her book The Lost Decade traces the origin of India losing its way following the global financial crisis to the Mumbai terror attack of 2008. Shivraj Patil, the home minister, quit following the attack and Chidambaram was shifted from finance to fill in. For reasons unknown, Pranab Mukherjee, a politician steeped in the 70s-style-Indira-Gandhi socialism, was made the FM. Mehra makes a compelling case of how that one decision stalled reforms, increased deficit and led to runaway inflation over the next three years. Till Chidambaram was brought back to get the house in order, it was too late, and we were halfway into a lost decade. It is remarkable how bad policies always seem easy to implement while good policies take ages to get off the blocks.2009The Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) was established in January 2009 to architect a unique digital identity for persons in a country where low rates of death and birth registrations made fake and duplicate identities a means for corruption and denial of service. Under the Modi government, the digital identity — Aadhaar — became the fulcrum of several government services. This project also set the stage for later projects such as the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) and Abha (Health ID).2010There’s petty corruption everywhere in India. It is pervasive. Not surprisingly, it is one political issue leading to mass movements in India. The anti-corruption mood gripped India in 2010 on the back of the 2G spectrum scam, where the chief accountant of the government claimed a notional loss of about Rs. 1.8 trillion to the exchequer. Auctioning of natural resources wasn’t exactly a transparent process then. It was evident there was a scam in the allotment of the 2G spectrum. But the 1.8 trillion number was a wild exaggeration that anyone with a semblance of business understanding could see through. It didn’t matter. That number caught the imagination. UPA 2 never recovered from it. More importantly, the auction policy for resources was distorted forever. We still suffer the consequences.The 2010s: Missed Opportunity2011India’s last case of wild poliovirus was detected in 2011. Until about the early 1990s, an average of 500 to 1000 children got paralysed daily in India. The original target for eradication was the year 2000. Nevertheless, we got there eleven years later. India’s pulse polio campaign has since become a source of confidence for public policy execution in India. We internalised the lesson that the Indian government can sometimes deliver through mission mode projects. 2012If you cannot solve a vexing public policy issue, turn it into a Right. It won’t work, but it will seem like you’ve done everything. After years of trying to get the national education policy right, the government decided it was best to make education a fundamental right in the Constitution. Maybe that will make the problem go away. A decade later, nothing has changed, but we have an additional right to feel good about.2013This year saw the emergence of AAP as a political force via the anti-corruption movement. AAP combines the classic elements of what makes a political party successful in India - statist instincts, focus on aam aadmi issues, populism and ideological flexibility. Importantly, it is good at telling its own version of some future utopia rather than questioning the utopia of others. 2014The BJP came to power with many promises; the most alluring of them was ‘minimum government, maximum governance’. Over the past eight years it has claimed success in meeting many of its promises, but even its ardent supporters won’t claim any success on minimum government. In fact, it has gone the other way. That a party with an immensely popular PM, election machinery that rivals the best in the world, and virtually no opposition cannot shake us off our instinctive belief in the State's power never ceases to surprise us.2015The murder of a person by a mob on the charges of eating beef was the first clear indication of the upsurge of a new violent, majoritarian polity. It was also one of the early incidents in India of radically networked communities using social media for self-organisation. Meanwhile, 2015 also witnessed the signing of a landmark boundary agreement between India and Bangladesh, which ended the abomination called the third-order enclave. The two States exchanged land peacefully, upholding the principle that citizen well-being trumps hardline interpretations of territorial integrity. 2016There will be many case studies written in future about demonetisation. Each one of them will end with a single conclusion. Public policy requires discussion and consensus, not stealth and surprise. We hope we have learnt our lesson from it.2017Until 2017, many in India still held the hope of a modus vivendi with China. Some others were enamoured by the Chinese model of governance. However, the Doklam crisis in 2017, and the Galwan clashes in 2020, changed all that. Through this miscalculation, China alienated a full generation of Indians, led to better India-US relations, and energised India to shift focus away from merely managing a weak Pakistan, and toward raising its game for competing with a stronger adversary. For this reason, we wrote a thank you note to Xi Jinping here. 2018It took years of efforts by the LGBTQ community to get Section 377 scrapped. In 2018, they partially won when the Supreme Court diluted Section 377 to exclude all kinds of adult consensual sexual behaviour. The community could now claim equal constitutional status as others. There’s still some distance to go for the State to acknowledge non-heterosexual unions and provide for other civil rights to the community. But the gradual acceptance of the community because of decriminalisation is a sign that our society doesn’t need moral policing or lectures to judge what’s good for it.2019The J&K Reorganisation Act changed the long-standing political status quo in Kashmir. Three years on, the return to political normalcy and full statehood still awaits. While a response by Pakistan was expected, it was China that fomented trouble in Ladakh, leading to the border clashes in 2020. 2020We have written multiple pieces on farm laws in the past year. The repeal of these laws, which were fundamentally sound because of a vocal minority, is the story of public policy in India. Good policies are scuttled because of the absence of consultation, an unclear narrative, opportunistic politicking or plain old hubris. We write this newsletter in the hope of changing this. 2021The second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic left behind many bereaved families. People are still trying to pick up the pieces. The sadness was also interrupted by frustration because of the delays in getting the vaccination programme going. India benefited immensely from domestic vaccine manufacturing capability in the private sector. Despite many twists and turns in vaccine pricing and procurements, the year ended with over 1 billion administered doses. In challenging times, the Indian State, markets, and society did come together to fight the pandemic. So, here we are. In the 75th independent year of this beautiful, fascinating and often exasperating nation. We are a work in progress. We might walk slowly, but we must not walk backwards. May we all live in a happy, prosperous and equal society. Thanks for reading Anticipating the Unintended! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support our work. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit publicpolicy.substack.com

In this episode, we are beyond grateful to have in our presence a living legend, a forty-five year, environmental health activist, John Blair…a commercial mortgage banker turned Pulitzer Prize winning photojournalist.  See the photo:  https://cdn.ebaumsworld.com/mediaFiles/picture/677914/85339150.jpgHe founded and still serves as president of Valley Watch, Inc. whose purpose is "to protect the [public health and environment of the lower Ohio River Valley. He also published, for three years a monthly newspaper called the Ohio Valley Environment during a really activist surge in the early 1980s.A believer in active civil disobedience, he gained notoriety when he stole the groundbreaking shovels at a Union Carbide hazardous waste facility in Henderson, KY in 1985.  Watch the video:  https://youtu.be/_V-BvOlXoNYIn 1997, John, had an epiphany regarding the need to eliminate coal as an energy source.During the early 2000s, he was instrumental in stopping a number of new coal plants as well as helping establish new rules for national air quality standards and helping to establish a number of small community-based organization that usually successfully fought local environmental issues.Since 2018, he has been working with one of those groups-SW indiana Citizens For Quality of Life in Spencer County, IN to stop a bizarre proposal to build a coal to diesel refinery. We learn the 3 "C's" of environmental activism: Confrontation, Cooperation and Civil Disobedience.Find out one of the best ways to stop a polluting, poisonous behemoth is sometimes to just...steal the shovels...at the groundbreaking...right in front of them...live on the air.We deepen into the powerful mantra "Think globally act locally." and how vital that is right now!Learn the key is Perseverance. The only thing that wins is outlasting the other side.We cheer each other on…Don't give up – Get up!  Don't get depressed - Get Determined!Have the epiphany…You get fired when you speak your mind and when you stay quiet…so you might as well speak your mind.Learn to discern fiction from fact.Set out to change the world and fight injustice.Ask the question…what can I do to help fight for a healthy, viable planet?John says, “Freedom is like a muscle. It atrophies if it is not exercised.”  We know our conversation with this living legend will strengthen us to fight this good fight!Personal Websitehttp://valleywatch.netSocial Media linkfacebook.com/ecoserve------Support Caravan of the HeartMore about Caravan of the HeartA podcast...a blisscast, a variety show for the soul by Troubadours of Divine Bliss, Aim Me Smiley & Renee Ananda, a touring folk music duo, inspirational speakers, retreat leaders, and advocates for this planet and its people.On this podcast, we have heart-to-heart conversations around freeing our dreams and amplifying love in all things. Enjoy an exhilarating mélange of exchanges where the arts meet awareness to champion and elevate the love of yourself, others, and the Earth. Join this caravan of seekers sharing what they find that empowers love in every part of the journey. Summon a revolution of Love through devotion, purpose, creation, Earth care, and community. "Come, come, whoever you are. This is not a caravan of despair." Rumi Love is Spoken HereSupport the show

On this West Virginia Morning, a trial begins Wednesday in the U.S. District Court in Charleston with Union Carbide as the defendant. The company was sued by a property owner in South Charleston alleging contamination from an industrial landfill Union Carbide owns. The lawsuit argues the company violated state and federal law and needs to pay civil penalties.

In this episode, we learn about what's happening in Bhopal today: a parallel crisis that was brewing under Bhopal at the same time as the gas tragedy, also the direct result of the Union Carbide factory.

In Episode 4, we hear the next chapter of Rasheeda Bi's epic story, about Warren Anderson - the now-infamous CEO of Union Carbide - and the messy start of the compensation distribution.

Episode 2 tells the story of the scene in Bhopal the next morning for the survivors, how the Union Carbide factory and gas leak came to be, and the many controversies surrounding the tragedy -- starting with the death toll.

Throughout his career of teaching, writing and organizing, Ken Geiser has been one of the most important theoreticians of the Toxics movement, as well as a Johnny Appleseed, having a hand in the creation, development and sustenance of more than two dozen organizations, while mentoring many other Toxic Avengers. Among many accomplishments, Ken was one of the authors of the landmark Toxics Use Reduction Act in Massachusetts. Ken served as the Director of the https://www.turi.org/ (Toxics Use Reduction Institute) from 1990 to 2003 and in 2001 published his first book, “https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/materials-matter (Materials Matter),” while teaching as a professor of Work Environment at the University of Massachusetts at Lowell. I spoke with Ken from his farmhouse in Maine. In the interview, Ken offers a couple of stage-setting stories about his childhood in Scottsdale, Arizona and early experiences as an undergrad studying architecture at U.C. Berkeley. He describes the parallel paths of his graduate studies at MIT and his work organizing to protect neighborhoods from highway projects and waste dumps, to the creation of the National Toxics Campaign with John O'Connor. Key events discussed in Ken's evolution of understanding and engagement in the Toxics movement include the contaminated drinking water in Woburn, Massachusetts, the fight over a PCB dump in Warren County, North Carolina, and the death of thousands caused by the gas leak from the Union Carbide plant in Bhopal, India. Ken describes the process leading to the passage of the Toxics Use Reduction Act in 1989, and his work following the law's enactment, including his leadership of the Toxic Use Reduction Institute (TURI). He recounts some of his extensive work with colleagues and allies across the country, building organizations to tackle various aspects of the Toxic Chemicals problem.

The Bhopal Tragedy and Plume Gas.*correction: UUC should be UCC (Union Carbide Corp.) Make sure to follow the podcast on instagram and twitter @eng_misjudgment for pictures for each episodeSources:AIChE. (2021, November 7). CCPS Process Safety Glossary. CCPS. https://www.aiche.org/ccps/resources/glossary?title=gas#views-exposed-form-glossary-pageAnderson, C. (2014, November 2). Warren M. Anderson, who was chief of Union Carbide during the Bhopal disaster in 1984, dies at 92. Washington Post. https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/warren-m-anderson-who-led-union-carbide-during-1984-bhopal-disaster-dies-at-92/2014/11/02/31aa9c9e-61d8-11e4-8b9e-2ccdac31a031_story.htmlBroughton, E. The Bhopal disaster and its aftermath: a review. Environ Health 4, 6 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1186/1476-069X-4-6Dow Corporate. (n.d.). West Virginia Operations. Retrieved September 21, 2021, from https://corporate.dow.com/en-us/locations/west-virginiaMandavilli, A. (2018, July 10). The World's Worst Industrial Disaster Is Still Unfolding. The Atlantic. https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2018/07/the-worlds-worst-industrial-disaster-is-still-unfolding/560726/NBC News. (2014, December 6). Union Carbide Disaster In Bhopal India | Flashback [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FHJs3TwgsUQPatterson, B. (2020, September 24). Lawsuit Alleges Union Carbide Failed To Report Toxic Landfill. WVPB. https://www.wvpublic.org/news/2020-08-07/lawsuit-alleges-union-carbide-failed-to-report-toxic-landfillPeterson, MJ, "Title Case Study: Bhopal Plant Disaster" (2009). Ethics in Science and Engineering National Clearinghouse. 314. Retrieved from https://scholarworks.umass.edu/esence/314Taylor, A. (2021, July 1). Bhopal: The World's Worst Industrial Disaster, 30 Years Later. The Atlantic. https://www.theatlantic.com/photo/2014/12/bhopal-the-worlds-worst-industrial-disaster-30-years-later/100864/The Economist. (2014, December 2). The Bhopal gas tragedy: Toxic legacy [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IwPSDMUtNmkTumulty, K. (2019, March 11). Scores Hurt by Leaking Chemicals : Faulty Valve Cited at Union Carbide's West Virginia Plant. Los Angeles Times. https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1985-08-12-mn-3942-story.htmlUnion Carbide Company. (n.d.). Union Carbide Company. Http://Www.Unioncarbide.Com/. Retrieved September 21, 2021, from http://www.unioncarbide.comUSCSB. (2014, December 2). Reflections on Bhopal After Thirty Years [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HZirRB32qzUVice Asia. (2021, January 21). Why We Must Never Forget The Bhopal Gas Disaster | I Was There [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PMQANu8PGMQ&feature=youtu.beWithnall, A. (2019, February 15). Bhopal gas leak: 30 years later and after nearly 600,000 were poisoned, victims still wait for justice. The Independent. https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/bhopal-gas-leak-anniversary-poison-deaths-compensation-union-carbide-dow-chemical-a8780126.html