The Current for Aug 18. 2021
Today on The Current:
Canadians with relatives and friends in Afghanistan are desperate to help them flee the country now that it's under Taliban control, but some say they are getting no clear answers about how that will happen. Guest host Nora Young talks to retired Major-General Denis Thompson, a 39-year veteran of the Canadian Armed Forces who is working to get people out of Kabul right now; Ottawa-based Ali Mizard, who has relatives in Afghanistan and fears his people, the Hazara ethnic minority, is being forgotten; and Canada's Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Marco Mendicino, who says Canada is working to stop a humanitarian crisis that could unfold as the U.S. and its allies leave Afghanistan at the end of the month.
Plus, climate change is doing more than just physical damage around the world — people are also suffering from eco-anxiety. Neuroscientist Emma Lawrance describes eco-anxiety as the chronic fear of environmental doom, and says decision makers need to take into account the impact climate change is having on people's mental health. And activist Abbie Richards understands those worries, and says it's time to change the conversation of doom and gloom, to one of hope and action.
And with his podcast Armchair Expert, actor, director, and writer Dax Shepard has won a huge following for revealing and intimate conversations with everyone from Justin Timberlake to Hillary Clinton. In a conversation with Matt Galloway from February, he talks about sobriety, humility, the messiness of human life, and how the podcast was born in what he thought was his "greatest failure."
