Old Mole Variety Hour September 18th, 2017

Denise Morris host this episode of the Old Mole which includes

• How do we even begin to think about the inner demons that afflict us, like guilt, self-loathing, and free-floating anxiety? Clayton Morgareidge’s new book Demystifying Demons: Rethinking Who and What We Are inquires into the nature of the human soul, how it is put together, and why so much of it is hidden from consciousness. His book revises our conception of ourselves so that our demons no longer seem to come from nowhere, but have intelligible explanations.
• Bill Resnick Talks with Jessica Tovar an organizer for Local Clean Energy Alliance of California. She grew up in East Los Angeles and worked for decades for environmental justice in a variety of urban, rural and indigenous communities. This is part 2 of a 2 part series. Today Bill and Jessica discusses the community organizing that was necessary to Persuade the Alameda County Board of Supervisors to support and enact the East Bay Community Energy Program discussed in part 1. How they got labor union support and overcome the early opposition of the building trades unions and particularly the IBEW electrical workers who worked for PG&E.  Organizing to defeat efforts by the big corporate utilities to stop the program and make sure the program gains were shared by all communities including low income people.
• Category 4 Hurricanes Harvey and Irma left a trail of destruction within two weeks of each other. In both cases, it's obvious how the priorities of capitalism made these natural disasters so much worse. But what can be done about it? Tom Becker reads an edited version of a speech by Paul Fleckenstein entitled “Climate chaos and the capitalist system” given at a meeting of an International Socialist Organization chapter at the University of Vermont.