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Conflict of Interest

Written by: Kevin Ellis
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  • Summary

  • Conflict of Interest is a podcast about the world, through a discerning lens of journalism, politics and above all Vermont. Kevin Ellis goes against the grain of today’s politics and celebrity culture to talk about the massive change all around us and how the world actually works. You will hear from Kevin’s Vermont neighbors AND national voices on difficult issues. Vermont is becoming, or always has been, a place, a real place. We are not interested in the Vermont of the tourist guides. We are not going to talk to Ben and Jerry’s ice cream. We will talk to them about what it is like to sell the company and do something new - and the frustrations, fear and uncertainty that comes with changing your life. Part interview, part history lesson about stuff you won’t see or hear on CNN or NPR.
    820862
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Episodes
  • The Dark Side of Capitalism with David Bollier

    The Dark Side of Capitalism with David Bollier
    Mar 27 2024
    Author and Activist David Bollier explains The Commons, a different kind of economic system that values people over profits and puts cooperative action at the center of society instead of companies or the government. Bollier explains the concept of “enclosures’’ and the misunderstanding of the famous essay “Failure of the Commons.’’ Far from a fringe movement, The Commons is here to stay.
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    37 mins
  • Can We Eliminate Nuclear Weapons? Author Ward Wilson thinks so

    Can We Eliminate Nuclear Weapons? Author Ward Wilson thinks so
    Dec 8 2023
    Author and activist Ward Wilson believes we can eliminate nuclear weapons and not because he is a woo woo liberal. Wilson has talked to the Generals, the diplomats and former presidents of countries. His experience led him to believe that worldwide elimination is possible because the weapons are not “useful’’ and because a nuclear mistake is more and more likely to happen. His central thesis is that since the development of the atomic bomb, a hazy and lazy argument has grown up around the weapons that make it difficult to think clearly about how to deal with them. The result: Wilson’s latest book -  “It is Possible: A Future without Nuclear Weapons.’’ It is endorsed by not one, not two, but seven Nobel Laureates and at least two former four-star generals, one of whom commanded the nuclear arsenal. The nuclear weapons historian Richard Rhodes calls Wilson’s work a “stunning breakthrough work’’ that gives us a way out from under what John Kennedy called the nuclear sword of Damacles.  Martin Sherwin, a Pulitzer Prize winning historian and the author of the great book about Robert J. Oppenheimer called Wilson’s book: “Arguably the most important contribution to the debate over the efficacy of nuclear deterrence ever written.” And the mayor of Nagazaki, Japan said: ““Ward Wilson’s book assures us that our vision of a “world without nuclear weapons” is not only possible but the only rational way to protect humanity and the planet from another Hiroshima and Nagasaki.” With recommendations like that, I wanted to know how someone could have broken through the fog and the paralysis in the country around nuclear weapons policy.  I’ve known Wilson for 35 years. He has been working on this book his whole adult life. And the historians, generals and heads of state are saying he is on to something big. Join us as we take it on.
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    37 mins
  • Wales Shows Us the Way

    Wales Shows Us the Way
    Nov 9 2023
    In 2015, Wales (a country) passed a law called the Future Generations Act. And they made Sophie Howe the first Commissioner for Future generations in the World. Her job - make sure all government agencies consider the interest of future generations in everything they do. Doesn’t government always do that? Turns out the answer is No. Howe joined me for a conversation on a visit to Vermont to explain how the Welsh are doing things right - or at least better. When the Welsh government wants to build a new highway, they have to get the approval of the commissioner for Future generations. Howe didn’t have the power to veto anything. But she used the bully pulpit to force the highway agency to bring more facts to the table. The result? No highway and more government spending on bikeways and pedestrian priorities. Howe’s visit to Vermont was sponsored by a small group of UVM professors and activists uniting around the issue of well being, of forcing government agencies to consider the actual well being of the people before they act. Sounds easy, or revolutionary. Let’s listen to Sophie Howe explain it.
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    32 mins
Political Science Social Sciences
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