WFHB Bloomington Community Radio
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 57:48 — 33.1MB)
Host Tom Healy talks with legendary Hoosier environmentalist, John Blair about “Indiana’s Inconvenient Truth: world-class pollution”. Blair is co-founder and president of Valley Watch, an Evansville-based organization devoted to the health and environmental integrity of the Ohio Valley in southwestern Indiana. He recently took training with Al Gore’s Climate Project to prepare him for public talks about global warming. Blair specifically focuses on Indiana’s contribution to greenhouse gases via coal-fired power plants. In addition, Blair, who won a Pulitzer Prize for his news photography in 1978, also speaks about media and the importance of a strong First Amendment. Blair was arrested for protesting vice-president Cheney’s visit to Evansville in early 2002. He eventually sued the city of Evansville and prevailed at trial in a case that has far-reaching implications for free speech and civil liberties. A dedicated activist, Blair also discusses the importance of citizen engagement in government and offers some suggestions from his own successes in battling the Marble Hill nuclear power plant and preventing the dumping of nuclear waste in the Hoosier National Forest.
