NUCLEAR INDUSTRY - Nuclear Ore Extraction

"Residents in the Southwest struggle with the health effects of nuclear ore extraction" PBS NewsHour 8/8/2022

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SUMMARY:  Residents of the Southwest including many Indigenous people have for years been exposed to high levels of radiation from uranium extraction and refining, a toxic legacy from the Cold War's weapons program and nuclear power generation.  Stephanie Sy reports in partnership with investigative news outlet ProPublica on a community’s fight for survival and to hold a company and government accountable.

MISSIONARY SCHOOLS - History of Wiping Out Indigenous Culture

"Schools tried to forcibly assimilate Indigenous kids. Can the US make amends?" PBS NewsHour 6/23/2021

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SUMMARY:  A mass grave with the remains of 215 children was recently found near the now-closed Kamloops Indian Residential School in British Columbia, Canada, exposing a dark history of forcibly assimilating Indigenous people.  Secretary of Interior Deb Haaland announced a federal initiative Tuesday that will “uncover the truth and the lasting consequences of these schools” in the U.S.  Jeffrey Brown reports.

SUCCESSFUL PEOPLE - The Quality of 'True Grit'

"What quality do the most successful people share?  True grit" PBS NewsHour 5/12/2016

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SUMMARY:  What makes a person successful?  For Professor Angela Duckworth, the answer is grit, an intangible trait that motivates passion and perseverance.  In a study at West Point, Duckworth found that grit mattered more for success than leadership ability, intelligence and physical fitness.  Now, she hopes to introduce grit to classrooms across the country.  Economics correspondent Paul Solman reports.

ROBERTO DIAZ, CEO, Curtis Institute of Music:  As the sound opens, we have to have the vibrato open more.

PAUL SOLMAN (NewsHour):  World-renowned violist Roberto Diaz.  Diaz now heads the tuition-free Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, the hardest college in America to get into, where he's taught for years.

But what sets Diam and his students apart?

ROBERTO DIAZ:  What we do here is teach students how to work and motivate themselves over a very long period of time.

PAUL SOLMAN:  That pretty much defines grit, the catchword concept of psychologist Angela Duckworth and subject of her new book, “Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance.”

ANGELA DUCKWORTH, Author, “Grit”:  Nobody gets to be good at something without effort, no matter what your aptitude is.  And grit is about the effort part of the equation, right?  Grit says, you know, whatever your talent is, you're going to have to invest effort in order to develop skill.

PAUL SOLMAN:  For years now, Professor Duckworth has been on a mission, to teach grit to those who lack it.  When she began her career as an inner-city teacher.

ANGELA DUCKWORTH:  It struck me that the gap between my highest-achieving and my lowest-achieving kids was yawning.  How can we get kids to do better, and in particular the kids who I could tell from interacting with them had the aptitude, had the talent, to learn what I was asking them to learn, but weren't?

CLIMATE CHANGE - From the Eyes of Peru's Indigenous People

"Peru’s indigenous people call for protections against environmental threats" PBS NewsHour 12/11/2014

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GWEN IFILL (NewsHour):  International delegates have gathered for climate change talks in Lima, Peru, this week, hoping to build the framework for a plan to cut the world’s heat-trapping gas emissions.

Secretary of State John Kerry arrived there today to help with that new accord.  But, for many Peruvians, the focus is local, as mining and timber operations encroach into once pristine areas inhabited by indigenous tribes.

Jeffrey Brown is in Lima, and has this report, part of his series Culture at Risk.

JEFFREY BROWN (NewsHour):  There were dancers and drummers, banners and chants, traditional clothing of all kinds, a march of thousands, many of them tribal people, that shut down part of downtown Lima for several hours, demanding better protection of their lands and their cultures.  They came from near and far, some very far.

This group from the Ucayali region in Eastern Peru had traveled for several days, by boat, plane, and bus, to get here from their remote homes.

Grimaldo Villacorta heads the group.

GRIMALDO VILLACORTA (through interpreter):  For us, as an indigenous population, it’s important to be here, because we want to stop climate change.  We used to have regular seasons, summer and winter, during which we planted our seeds.  But now, with the climate changing, we can work the land, but sometimes we cannot plant seeds.  There is no production.