Dr. Ana Ruiz Diaz: Protecting Mexico's Maize

01/20/23 • 13 min

In this episode, Jordan Anderson gets to sit down with Dr. Ana Ruiz Diaz to discuss her contributions and involvement in the ongoing class action lawsuit in the Supreme Court of Mexico against the commercial cultivation of GMO corn in Mexico. Ana has worked with various corn producers in La Demanda Colectiva Maize to bring this case to the highest court in the land, and they have made meaningful progress toward their goals and continue to fight for agricultural justice. GMO corn from transnational breeders poses a threat to the ancient gene pool of local corn varieties in Mexico, the world center of biodiversity for corn.

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A Study Tour to Shimokawa, Hokkaido, Japan: Part 2

Students and faculty from International Christian University went on a study tour to Shimokawa town, in the northern part of Japan (Hokkaido). It is 90% covered by forest and hence is a town rich in natural resources. By sustainably managing its natural resources and circulating them within its boundaries, it aims to become a self-sufficient, resilient society. The town is recognized for its sustainable forest management efforts and actions to generate new value through local sustainability initiatives. It was selected as one of the 29 cities in the SDGs Future City project. This trip was sponsored and made possible by the ICU Foundation. Therefore, this episode compiles all the teachings and reflections of ICU and RadioNatura podcast participants from visiting and talking to the locals. The discussions include how and why biomass energy was introduced into the town, what brought them to live in Shimokawa and their perspectives on local sustainability in the future.

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Environmental Ethics with Prof. Deen Chatterjee

Deen Chatterjee is a Senior Fellow at the University of Utah S. J. Quinney College of Law, Faculty Director and Mentor at the Oxford Human Rights Consortium, and a Global Ethics Fellow at Carnegie Council for Ethics and International Affairs. He is also a Board of Trustee for Pax Natura. Thus, in this episode, he discusses the intersection between environment and ethics. He also unpacks issues of justice and global initiative, ethics of war and peace, and philosophy of religion and culture as they are all relate to climate issues.