Syria, Conflict and Refugees

Thursday, December 3, 2015, 10am to 11:30 in the Meeting Room (behind the fireplace)

For our next meeting, we will look at the conflict in Syria and its refugees. Here are the background videos:

• The Syrian war, who is fighting who
• How Climate Change affected Syria
• A Syrian refugee story
• Republican reaction after the Paris attacks

-------------------------- Updated 12/3/15 --------------------------

These are the additional videos shown at the meeting:

• John Oliver On Accepting Syrian Refugees
• Russia orders new sanctions against Turkey
• Obama's Thanksgiving address

Road to Paris

Thursday, November 19, 2015, 10am to 11:30 in the Meeting Room (behind the fireplace)

This will be the last meeting before the ultimate UN climate summit COP21 being held in Paris starting November 30. Some say that this meeting is humanity's last chance to advert catastrophic climate change. We will discuss the key events leading up to the meeting using the following videos as background:

• A history of climate change negotiations
• Latest IPCC report
• The largest climate march ever
• Republican excuse for inaction
• China agreement
• Green Climate Fund for developing nations
• The Pope and other religious leaders call for action
• Exxon caught misleading the public
• Obama rejects Keystone
• How Paris is different for previous attempts

Crumbling Infrastructure

Thursday, November 12, 2015, 10am to 11:30 in the Meeting Room (behind the fireplace)

Our bridges, levees, water mains, roads, sewers and dams are deteriorating. Yet we put off their maintenance even though we need the jobs. Thing will only get worse with climate change. For our next meeting, we will discuss the state of our infrastructure and the politics behind it. Here are the videos we will use for background:

• Crumbling America - A History Channel Documentary
• LaHood, Rendell make push to revitalize US infrastructure - PBS News Hour
• Infrastructure - John Oliver