This week, Religion & Ethics NewsWeekly kicks off its 19th season on PBS.
Religion & Ethics NewsWeekly is a production of THIRTEEN Productions LLC for WNET. Visit www.pbs.org/religionandethics for additional information. Show #1901 will be fed over PBS at 5:00 p.m. EST on September 4 (check local listings).
Affordable Heart Surgery – In India, there is a heart surgeon whose centers provide world-class care at a fraction of the cost in the West, surgery that even India’s poor can afford. Dr. Devi Prasad Shetty’s secret is a combination of highly efficient hospital care and an insurance system that charges just ten cents a month. He tells Fred de Sam Lazaro that “If a solution is not affordable, it’s not a solution,” and sees no reason the most sophisticated surgery cannot be available to all the world’s poorest people.
Jewish Environmentalism – At an organic farm in Falls Village, CT, Jews in their 20’s are learning how to “cultivate the soil and their soul,” to grow food, milk goats and protect the earth through a 3 month Adamah fellowship sponsored by the Jewish environmental organization Hazon. According to Hazon’s founder and President Nigel Savage, “Jewish tradition comes alive when you engage with the physical world.” Savage, who took part in an interfaith meeting on climate change in advance of the UN meeting this fall, praised Pope Francis for calling climate change a moral issue in his recent encyclical. Kim Lawton spoke with fellows on the farm about the connection between sustainability and spirituality.
###
