Laura Flanders Videos

The Earth Island Institute created the annual Brower Youth Awards to honor six young people for their outstanding activism and achievements in the fields of environmental and social justice advocacy. Each winner is awarded $3000 and brought to San Francisco for the award week and a backcountry camping trip. Adarsha Shivakumar used his proceeds from winning a spelling bee to co-found a project growing sustainable jatropha, a plant that can be used as biofuel, in India. His work provides an ecologically friendly and economically profitable crop for farmers who would otherwise grow tobacco, a much more harmful plant. This video from Rikshaw Films shows the impact Adarsha and his project have had around the world.

One of the many things that angered people about Sarah Palin was her support for aerial hunting of wolves. In honor of the release of Palin's book (and Nation editors Betsy Reed and Richard Kim's response book, Going Rouge), our Got Docs feature this week is Return to the Wild: A Modern Tale of Wolf and Man from MoFilms. Wolves have been around for ages, and the myths and stereotypes about them have been around almost as long. Laws that protected the wolves have led to an increase in their population, but that has brought them into contact with more people who aren't used to predators in their midst. This documentary takes a look at the ways people and wolves can and do coexist, as well as the conflicts that inevitably arise.

Sheriff Joe Arpaio is a household name for all the wrong reasons. Known for accusations of racial profiling and immigration raids in Maricopa County, Arizona, Arpaio is held up as a hero by anti-immigrant groups but has created a climate of fear in his state, where the Latino community is afraid to call the police for common complaints for fear of deportation. Recently stripped of his federal authority to make immigration arrests, Arpaio continues to conduct raids and appears not to fear repercussions. Salvador Reza, U.S. Air Force veteran, community organizer and renowned immigrants rights activist, joins Laura for an exclusive interview on Arpaio's ongoing mistreatment of his community. Reza notes that the Obama administration, specifically Homeland Security secretary and former Arizona governor Janet Napolitano, have mostly made symbolic moves to control Arpaio, but in practice allow him to do whatever he wants. Going forward toward immigration reform, Reza calls for nationwide action. Thanks to Dennis Gilman for the video footage in this segment.

The National Book Awards were announced this week; Colum McCann was honored for his fiction work Let the Great World Spin: A Novel , and T.J. Stiles' biography of Cornelius Vanderbilt won the nonfiction prize. Dave Eggers, author of Laura's book of the year, Zeitoun , received this year's Literarian Award. In honor of the book awards, today on GRITtv we discuss other books we loved. From a biography of progressive icon Molly Ivins to Tracy Kidder's tale of a young medical student from Burundi, Jeannie Vanasco of Lapham's Quarterly, Julian Brookes of the Progressive Book Club and Sir Harold Evans, of The Week magazine and former president and publisher of Random House trade group, talk about the books that they think deserve more recognition. Which books impressed you this year? Leave them in comments or email to grittv@grittv.org and maybe we'll discuss them on the air.

Maricopa County, Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio was recently stripped of his federal authority to make immigration arrests after repeated complaints that he abuses power and uses racial profiling to target Latinos in his community. Salvador Reza, U.S. Air Force veteran, community organizer and renowned immigrants rights activist, joins Laura for an exclusive interview on Arpaio's ongoing abuses.Dennis Gilman brought us video footage from an Arpaio raid and from protests in Arizona, where white supremacist groups showed up to support Arpaio's policies.The National Book Awards were announced this week; Colum McCann was honored for his fiction work Let the Great World Spin: A Novel , and T.J. Stiles' biography of Cornelius Vanderbilt won the nonfiction prize.

Hurricane Katrina is often referred to as a natural disaster as if it was all nature's fault. Not man's. The reality of course is that federal, state and local governments ignored warnings from scientists for years, both that climate change would lead to increased storm activity, and that destruction of wetlands outside of New Orleans had hurt the city's natural defenses against a storm surge. Calls for fixing levees and infrastructure investments went unheeded while the doctrine of markets and profits held sway. Well, this week a federal district judge finally ruled that the Army Corps of Engineers was indeed responsible for part of the devastation in New Orleans' Lower Ninth Ward and parts of St. Bernard Parish. The failure of the Corps to recognize the hazards wetland destruction had created was "clearly negligent on the part of the Corps," said U.S. District Judge Stanwood Duval Jr.. "Furthermore, the Corps not only knew, but admitted by 1988" the threats to human life ... And yet it did not act in time to prevent the catastrophic disaster that ensued." In this decision alone the government could wind up paying $700,000 in damages -- doesn't sound like enough. More importantly, though, the ruling could open the gates to judgments that could reach into the billions. No judgment of course will bring back the Ninth Ward, which years after Katrina and Rita is still largely a ghost town. But this acknowledgment that the destruction didn't have to happen is important. Long neglect of federal infrastructure by governments more concerned with tax cuts than human safety... It's not a phenomenon limited to New Orleans. By way of reparations, how about not just $700,000 to the plaintiffs but a recommitment to federal infrastructure spending. You want national security? Stimulus? Jobs? That's it, and this is the time. The F Word is a regular commentary by Laura Flanders, the host of GRITtv which broadcasts weekdays on satellite TV (Dish Network Ch. 9415 Free Speech TV) on cable, and online at GRITtv.org and TheNation.com. Follow GRITtv or GRITlaura on Twitter.com.

According to New America Media, "federal experts estimate that at least 1.6 million juveniles leave or are put out of their homes each year. Other research has found a 40% spike in the number of homeless youth over the past year." One young woman tells her story of being homeless in San Francisco, shuttling back and forth from her mother's and sister's houses. She feels drawn to her community, but also realizes that she needs to get out, that she gets into trouble over and over again.

On Tuesday, John Nichols told us that the dire jobs situation in the U.S. has had an effect on the debate surrounding escalation in Afghanistan, and that the administration is actually meeting with peace groups for the first time to discuss alternate plans. Brave New Films has been a tireless advocate against escalation, with the film Rethink Afghanistan exploring the problems there and proposing peaceful and diplomatic solutions and a responsible exit strategy. With this video, they bring together U.S. military veterans, including Matthew Hoh, to ask Obama not to send more troops to continue a war that is on its way to being America's longest in history.