It’s no secret that our current economic model has stressed our natural environment and much of the population that inhabits it. So how can the Quaker principle of Right Relationship put things back in balance and restore a sustainable environment and economy? Also, how a 5,000-year-old delicacy inspired the world’s fiercest food fight in The Foie Gras Wars.

As stewards of the earth we often receive misinformation or conflicting data about issues impacting our environment and economy. Does it have to be either-or? Can we find the right balance between economy and environment? Can we bridge the increasing gap between the haves and have-nots? Can we—personally and collectively—protect our natural resources and build a sound economy? In Right Relationship Brown and Garver use the Quaker principle of “right relationship”—interacting in a way that is respectful to all and that aids the common good—as the foundation for a new and wholly sustainable economic model. Geoffrey Garver is our guest. He’s an environmental consultant and law lecturer in Montreal, and a member of the Board of Trustees of the Quaker Institute for the Future. Garver cowrote Right Relationship with Peter Brown, a professor at McGill University’s School of Environment.

Our second guest is award-winning journalist and reporter for the Chicago Tribune, Mark Caro. He wrote an article on Foie Gras that made the front page of the Chicago Tribune and that led him to investigate the subject in detail from both perspectives. Is the farming method unneccessarily cruel? Does is cause suffering to ducks and geese? Or as others argue, a just part of life that’s being going on since the Pharaohs began to forcibly fatten birds. Listen in and decide for yourself?

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