Talking trash
There's a big dream behind a tiny door off Hinche's main street. It consists of piles and piles of plastic bottles, and a small team of dedicated recyclers that harvest it from the city's choking streets. Kay Blada Recycling is bucking the trend in a city that barely has garbage collection, let alone a culture of recycling. Some day that will change, they say. Until then, collecting and selling the plastic waste is how they survive.
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Perdiendo el Tren (Missing the Train)
AUDIO IN SPANISH. SUBTITLES COMING SOON. Eye-witness story of a man and his daughter as they ride the rails to the US. At a rest stop in Orizaba, Mexico, the pair share laughter and food with other migrants. But then a whistle blows and faces harden. A train judders into motion and the crowd begins to run. Can Filiberto and his daughter keep up? Winner of 2007 NY Festivals Award
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As Arctic warms, scientists wrestle with its climate ‘tipping point’
For Arctic scientists, the summer of 2007 changed everything. That’s when, for the first time in history, record warmth melted the Northwest Passage, nearly opening it to shipping; turned a portion of the East Siberian Sea the size of Mexico into open ocean; …
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The Caliphate of San Cristobal de las Casas
Muslim missionaries build a utopia among the displaced indigenous of southern Mexico. Their commune looks idyllic, and members say they are content, but neighbours look on with distrust, and this trip inside suggests the missionaries intentions are not all they say.
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A Night on the Barricades
In the summer of 2007, the city of Oaxaca was insurrection. A striking teachers union, joined by hundreds of disaffected NGOs, indigenous groups and other protestors ruled the streets, with barricades of burnt out vehicles at every street corner. The state government was in …
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Crossing a minefield
Three thousand villagers in the mountains of Nariño, southern Mexico, are surrounded by landmines. The explosives were set by ELN rebels after they were attacked by the Colombian army, and have already taken the lives of several residents. Tragically, the villagers, rebels and local …
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Aerosol pollution: Destabilizing Earth’s climate and a threat to health
China has seen dynasties rise and fall over the last two millennia. Such are the vagaries of human history. But researchers at Trinity College, Dublin, and Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, recently suggested a surprising natural explanation: volcanoes. Of 68 dynastic collapses since 0 AD, they …
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Haiti Untold
A one hour radio special about Haiti and the regular people living through extraordinary times. A compilation of short documentaries from the field and studio interviews. Almost a dozen American and Haitian reporters contributed. Beverley Abel produced. I co-host, and produced or helped produce many of the documentaries.
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Cloud of silence hangs over child trafficking in Haiti
There are over 200 hundreds unregulated border crossings between Haiti and the Dominican Republic. Contraband goods flow into Haiti, while migrants head the other way. Among them are countless children, compelled by poverty to seek work on the other side or forced there by traffickers …