The Schenle Laboratories, producer of penicillin Schenle and Schenle Pharmaceuticals, presents the Yankor Theater. Yankor Theater play tonight, Green Light. Our star is Robert Young. Tonight, Schenle Laboratories presents another in a new series of great dramatic programs. Some of our stories are fact. The struggles and accomplishments of great men of medicine. Others are fiction. Stories of devotion to an ideal. Individual heroism or great courage. By these programs, Schenle Laboratories would remind you that medical science and progress is not cold, impersonal research or pages of statistics, but a warm human story told in living terms, whether it's the life of one of medicine's immortals or the simple everyday record of service rendered by your own physician. Green Light, starring Robert Young as Dr. Newell Page Pedro de Cordoba as Dean Harcourt. The story of a doctor. Newell Page, surgeon, Baytree Hospital. And of a girl. Phyllis Dexter. I hated Dr. Page. I thought I would always hate him. The story, too, of a nurse. Francis Ogilvy, staff, Baytree Hospital. I love Dr. Page. I thought I would always love him. The story of a woman of great faith and courage. My mother and Mrs. John Dexter. And of a great religious man, Dean Harcourt of Trinity Cathedral. Man's progress in life is not steadily onward. Sometimes he is stopped by something that is bigger and stronger than he. Something he cannot understand and over which he has no control. That's something I like to think of as a red light flashing a halt to the forward surge of his life. And I like to believe there's a power which controls that light. Which knows in its infinite wisdom that sometimes man must stop to learn through suffering before going on. For it is as inevitable as time that man progresses to a better future. If not for himself, then through his suffering for his fellow men. When he has learned this, the signal changes and the green light frees him to resume his inexorable march into eternity. I've been listening to... I'll turn it off now, Dr. Page. What would religion be without music? There was religion long before there was music. I'm sorry. The usual greeting for the doctor is, and how is the little lady this morning? And I suppose the usual answer is, terrible doctor. But since we both are unusual people, I'd say your pulse shows marvelous repose for a patient facing surgery. You can thank Dean Harcourt for that. I do. Just as I'm thankful for anything that gives a patient courage and confidence. A shorter word for courage and confidence is... faith. Whatever it is, you'll need every bit of it now. More bad news? Oh, nothing really serious except that, well, it's not easy to prepare oneself mentally for an operation. Sometimes a postponement can cause a harmful reaction. What I'm trying to say is... You're trying to tell me my operation has been postponed? Yes, Dr. Endicott has been detained in Milwaukee. He'll be here as soon as he can. Milwaukee's a beautiful city. It's always seemed full of music to me. Years ago, we used to go there to hear the community singing. You make it work, don't you? No. I simply let it work. How simple things would be if we all had your faith. I'll let you know about the operation as soon as I possibly can. I know you will. Any word of Dr. Endicott yet, Ms. Ogilvy? No, Doctor. They can't seem to locate him. Here are Mrs. Dexter's X-rays, Neil. Thanks. Good Lord, look at that. She can't hold out much longer. We've got to do something. We'll have to wait for Endicott. She's his patient. We can't postpone this operation any longer. Her life is at stake now. I'll phone Sergey.  Not unless these X-rays are. Sergey? Sergey, this is Dr. Page. You can't do that. Endicott will... We'll operate on Mrs. Dexter immediately. Clam, Ms. Ogilvy. Yes, Dr. Page. Forceps. Dr. Page? Yes, Dr. Endicott. Thank you, Doctor. If you will assist me, I can take over now. Yes, sir. Forceps, Ms. Ogilvy. Dr. Page, make a tie, please. She's bleeding badly. Quick. I'm afraid that's that. I did everything I could. She shouldn't have died in your womb. You were doing perfect work. If Endicott had been less upset... I'd rather not talk about it. I saw exactly what happened, and I'm going to tell everybody the truth. Don't you think it's Dr. Endicott's privilege to make his own statement first? Well, glad you came in. I've been wanting to talk to you. Now, sit down. Nasty business is Dexter's death. I have been trying to convince the board of directors that her death was an unavoidable accident. It was unavoidable, wasn't it? No, sir. For some reason, you cut the pedicle too short for safe ligation. I couldn't make the tie, and the hemorrhage resulted. It should never have happened. The problem now is... I probably shouldn't have stepped in on the operation, realizing the terrific strain I'd been under. We all love Mrs. Dexter. I felt that her life was my personal responsibility, but all planes had been grounded on account of weather. I've moved heaven and earth to get here in time. I haven't slept in two days. Too tired. I'm sorry, sir. A split second, a woman dies, and a whole career dies with her. A split second is against the 40 years I've given to medicine. I can't be judged on one operation at a thousand's mule. I can't. Hello, John. What time is it? Time for you to pull yourself together. Get down to the hospital and tell Endicott and the board where to head in. I can't do that. Why not? What do you want me to do? Stand up before the board and say, Dear, dear kind gentleman, it doesn't matter to me that Dr. Endicott taught me everything I know about surgery. It doesn't matter that Dr. Endicott is one of the finest surgeons in the country. It doesn't matter how many lives he's saved, how much pain he's eased, how much comfort he's brought. No, none of that's important. Just me. I'm the only one who's important. Big, important Dr. Page. I know it's tough on you, but you've got to pretend you're not. I know it's tough on you, but you've got to protect yourself. A split second. A woman dies and a career dies with her. That isn't right either. Endicott's a human being too. He's not infallible. That's no concern of yours. If you resign, you admit that you were responsible for Mrs. Dexter's death. Exactly. Well, that clears Endicott completely. Right. Confound that you sound as if you were going to resign. I have already. Dean Harcourt. I'm Frances Ogrevey. I was the nurse on the... I was Mrs. Dexter's nurse. Oh, I see. She always listened to your broadcast, and I... I had to talk to someone, so... You see... You see, I know what happened in that operating room, and Dr. Page won't defend himself because of professional ethics, and I... I wanted to speak up, but I thought I should talk to someone first. No man makes sacrifices without reason. Whatever that reason may be, it's in itself compensation for his suffering. But why should Dr. Page sacrifice himself for Endicott? For the moment, that's Dr. Page's problem. Not yours. You must have had good reasons, otherwise you wouldn't do it. There's nothing you can do except respect that reason. I see. I've taken a lot of your time. Is there something I can do to repay you? Yes. Phyllis Dexter is waiting to see me. She's pretty upset about her mother's death. Before I talk to her, I want you to take her to the little enter room where you were taken. Ask her whatever question you wish, then come back to me and tell me what she says. Just throw your coat anywhere, Phyllis. Sorry, the apartment's a little messy. Well, it's not messy at all. I feel much better after talking to you, and it was very kind of you to invite me over. Not at all. I've got some coffee on. Will you answer the door, please? Sure. Oh, I'm sorry. I thought this was Miss Ogilvy's apartment. It is. Come in. Who shall I tell her calling? No. Hello. Hello, Frances. Well, come in. Come in. Can I check the code? No, thanks. I can only stay a moment. Perhaps I'd better go now. I had no idea you were expecting a visitor. I wasn't. He's the last person in the world I ever expected to see here. Well, as a matter of fact, I didn't expect to be here myself. I was out walking in the rain, when suddenly, to my surprise, I found myself in front of your house. Miss Dexter, Miss Phyllis Dexter, just returned from England today. Phyllis Dexter? Miss Ogilvy sort of kidnapped me away from myself. I wish you could do as much for me. That is, I... Well, I've got to run along as an appointment. Miss Dexter, may I introduce Mr. Walker? If you're as nice as Miss Ogilvy, you'll be well worth knowing. Well, thank you. Sit down, though. Well, just for a moment, I really can't stay. Did you enjoy London? Yes, very much. Why are you staring at me? Oh, I'm sorry. You remind me so much of someone. Really? Yes, someone very lovely. I never expected to meet anyone like that again. Time decides so many things, doesn't it? A split second of time, something happens. Two people meet accidentally. A knife slips. Someone takes the wrong turn, anything. And without warning, a future has been created.  Hardly, I... I only know that things happen. Sometimes it seems with deliberate cruelty. Don't let anything happen to you. Or hurt you. Well, I've got to go now. Good night. Good night? What a strange man. Him. He's a great guy. He's one of a kind. At least he's the only one I've ever seen. Do you think he'll call again soon? Honey, there's no way of telling what he'll do ever. As Dean Harcourt would say, the signals have changed. The lights are against him right now. But he'll get the green light again. He can't miss. Ladies and gentlemen, in a moment we will return to our play, Green Light, starring Robert Young. But first, a message of hope for those in the world of pain. We will continue to work together to make a promise of greater healing. Because today, in the supply room of 8,383 American hospitals, you will find penicillin. Yet only three years ago, the wonder drug was almost a medical rarity. The firms who devoted themselves to increasing the supplies of penicillin available struggled against many obstacles inherent in its production. Numbered among these firms was Shanley Laboratories. Although these companies have seen enough penicillin to fill essential needs, they cannot feel their work is done. Up to the present, research workers at Shanley Laboratories have developed such products as penicillin tablets and trochies for administration by mouth and penicillin ointment and a film equipment. Now these men are looking forward to the perfecting and production of other and perhaps entirely different types of pharmaceuticals. It is ever the aim of Shanley Laboratories to know more of what benefits to mankind may be derived from medical research. It is our aim too to translate the knowledge we gain into production of more and greater aids to healing for all members of the medical profession. And now, back to our play, Green Light starring Robert Young as Dr. Page and with Pedro de Cordoba as Dean Harcourt. Dean Harcourt, I came here to argue with you about your concept of everlasting life. All right. Please sit down. I want to know how you can justify needless death. Greed in the destruction of a career. I want to know how you can reconcile such waste with your irresistible onward drive. Why? On the Dr. Page who operated on Mrs. Dexter. I see. You have a fine religion, Dr. Page. I have none so far as I know. Religion has many definitions, at least in my dictionary such as loyalty, devotion, honor. Honor. Perhaps, but my dictionary defines it as a kind of opiate used by people with hurt sensibilities to dull them into drowsiness. A man needs more than that in his life, something he can get his hands on, something for which to live or else something for which to die.  Yes, come in. Hello, Phyllis. Hello, Dean Harcourt. Hello, Mr. Wa... I had no idea you knew Dean Harcourt. I didn't until a short while ago. Even you must be in some trouble. Is that why you're here? Well, Dean Harcourt was my mother's friend. He's mine, too. I hoped we'd meet again. I wanted to ask you to explain some of the strange things you said last night. I'm always saying strange things that I can't explain myself. Now, if you'll excuse me. Well, I had no idea you two knew each other. I've met Mr. Walker last night. Mr. Splendid, you two should make excellent friends. I'm afraid Mr. Walker doesn't agree with you. You might have made very good friends, but we met a little too late. My goodness, it's lunchtime already. You must be frightfully hungry, Phyllis. I beg your pardon? I said you must be hungry. I'm not. Sorry, I can't offer you any lunch. You eat, don't you? Me? Oh, sure. Sure, I eat often. When I was a young man, I was always taking a young lady to lunch, particularly if I've had some sort of misunderstanding. In fact, I was known as Hungry Harcourt. You ending. Shall we have lunch, Miss Daxter? Let's. Good. You two run along and have a good time. And by the way, if you have no other plans, have dinner with me next Friday, both of them. I'd love to. So would I. And bring Miss O'Gillby with you. Yes, I'll ask her. Goodbye. See you Friday. About eight. Goodbye. You're a strange man. Why do you say that? I'm sorry. Why did you say we met too late? Let's sit down on this bench a moment. All right. Last night, when I met you, it was like... well, it was almost like the beginning of a world for me. I don't know how to explain it very well, except that for a moment, it was like the dawn coming up after a long, dark night. It was as though in finding you, I'd found an answer to everything, to every heartache, to every loneliness, to every torment. I looked at you and I wanted to say, if you will spend your days with me, I'll have everything I've ever dreamed about. You thought all that? Yes. You know what I thought? I thought in some strange way, in one look with one smile, this man has put his hand upon my heart and made it his. And I thought this is the beginning of many things. It was the beginning, but it was also the ending. The ending? Why? Because your name is Phyllis Dexter and mine is Newell Page, Dr. Newell Page. Newell Page? Page! Yes, that's why I didn't want to see you again. At least not until I could find some way of telling you that you have no reason for hating me. No reason!  Well, then who did? You might at least have been man enough to accept the blame. You don't understand, it was not that... I think I do understand. Goodbye, Dr. Page. I can't understand why he isn't here. No, he's usually very prompt. Well, he'll be along. Did you two have a nice lunch in the other day, Phyllis? Why not? What happened? Nothing. You're not telling the truth. You lied to me. You introduced Dr. Page as Mr. Walker. I see. Why? Because I saw no reason to upset you or him. I'd do anything I could to make things easier for him. Why should he have things made easier for him? Phyllis, you're... Don't say it! Don't say it!  I'm a human being. I have a right to hate or love. Phyllis, what did Page do to you?  There's something else. Something within you that's been killed. He lied to me. You love him. I don't, I despise him. He didn't even have the decency to take the blame himself. Did he name another doctor? Oh, no. How could he? That's right. How could he? He's too decent, too honest to break the rules he plays by. Why do you say that? Tell her, friends. No. No, I'll play according to Page's rules now. He didn't have to listen to sermons to become good. He was born that way. He'll always be that way, no matter what happens to him. I don't understand. You will, eventually. You see, my dear, until you have faith, you don't really love. Francis. Yes? I've learned much from you today. Thank you. Will you excuse me from dinner, please? Dean, I'll call. Where are you going? Define him. Define him. I'll answer the door. Telegram for Dean Harcourt. Define your pass. Thank you. It's for you. What? What is it? I'm afraid you'll have to go a long way, Phyllis. He's in Montana. Montana? This wire is from Dr. Lane. He says you will ask him to wire and explain that he couldn't come to dinner. And he says he's very ill. He deliberately let a wooden stick bite him so that he could infect himself with spotted fever. Spotted fever?  Oh, no! Come on, we've got to get Dr. Endicott in a hurry. Dr. Endicott, Dr. Page is with John Lane. On Boone Mountain? Yes.  He'll die like all the rest. He may be dying now. He's down with spotted fever. He gave it to himself to test the vaccine.  I won't let him. We'll charter a plane.  What's my temperature? It was 102.9 an hour ago. How do you feel? Not bad. Kind of groggy. Pain in the lower quadrant of the abdomen. Make a note of it. I want to see how long it lasts. Why did you ever do such a fool thing? Deliberately infecting yourself, risking your life. If I die, I don't particularly care. And you'll have learned something. There seems to be a congestion developing in the lungs.  I'd like to see if I'm losing any resistance. Hello, Dr. Lane. How is he? Is he conscious? Yes. But he's sinking. We'll go right in. Not you, Ms. Dexter. We don't want to upset him. All right. Hello, Newell. Hello, Dr. Endicott. Francis, we can use you.   You won't have anything to say about it if that vaccine doesn't work. At the present, I share the same place in society with the guinea pig. John. Yes, Newell? Make that blood count. Watch my temperature closely. I am becoming stuporous. He's unconscious. No, not yet. Keep your nerve, Francis.  Yes, Dr. Page. What's my temperature? 104.1. Heart action. Weakening. John. Better not talk, Newell. Take another blood count. Temperature 104.1. Should break before it reaches 105. Can't take 105.  What did you say, Dr. Endicott? I was to blame, fellas. I was at fault and I never should have let him take the blame. He's got to live. If there's any justice at all, he's got to live. Now you know what you needed to know, Phyllis. No. I haven't really needed to know anything since the moment when I knew I loved him. His temperature's up to 104.2. I'll go right in. Temperature, last four readings, steady, 104.2. Dr. Endicott, can't you do something?  There's nothing we can do for him now, except pray. Francis, Phyllis, Dr. Endicott. His temperature. Look at his temperature. 103.1. It's licked. Phyllis, it's licked. He's going to live. He's going to be all right. Dr.  No, you fellas have already done the most important work on spotted fever. You won't need me here. But the people will need great doctors to help them through their birth. Doctors who haven't forgotten their oath to their fellow men. To share my substance with him and to relieve his necessities when required. I guess I lost sight of what being a doctor means for a while, Newell. But I think I've got the green light now myself. You've been listening to Dean Harcourt, too. Yes, I've been listening. And I'm going to stay out here. Newell, a letter just came from Baytree. Yes, yes, I wrote them explaining everything. Holy smoke! They've appointed me Chief Surgeon at Baytree.  Oh, Phyllis. Phyllis, how rich I am. How fortunate, how lucky, how happy, how grateful. There aren't enough adjectives to say it. I don't like to interrupt Love's young dream, but it's time for Dean Harcourt. Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God. How insatiable are his judgments and his ways past finding. For who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who hath been his counselor? Or who hath first given to him? And it shall be recompensed unto him again. For of him and through him and in him are all. Things to him be glory forever. Amen. In a moment we'll bring back our star, Robert Young. Ladies and gentlemen, Shanley Laboratories' maker of penicillin Shanley would like to remind you that the American standard of health is higher than that of any other country in the world. We feel sure you will agree that the man who has done most to make the situation true is the American doctor. Shanley Laboratories pledges to do all within our power to aid America's physicians in their work of maintaining America's high standards of health. And now, ladies and gentlemen, Mr. Robert Young. Ladies and gentlemen, to sum up the spirit of this Shanley Laboratories' program, this beautiful and simple prayer of the physician written centuries ago by Memionides seems to me to be apt and fitting. The eternal providence has appointed me to watch over the life and death of all thy creatures. May I always see in the patient a fellow creature in pain. Grant me strength and opportunity always to extend the domain of my craft. This is the prayer of the physician. It is ages old and yet today it is as new as the hope for a peaceful way of life for all the world. May we invite you to listen again next week at the same time when Shanley Laboratories presents Men in White starring Robert Taylor, a great star and a great story. Good night. Lloyd C. Douglas was produced and directed by Bill Lawrence and was broadcast through the courtesy of Warner Brothers who this year is celebrating the 20th anniversary of Sound Pictures. It was a Gene Holloway adaptation. Robert Young will soon be seen in the Hal B. Wallace Paramount production, The Searching Wind. This is Frank Graham speaking for Shanley Laboratories, producers of penicillin Shanley, and inviting you to listen to the encore theater next Tuesday at the same time when you will hear Robert Taylor in Men in White. This is CBS, the Columbia Broadcasting System.


Good morning, and welcome to Moments with Melinda. I am so glad to have you with me today. My guest is Ellen Kaler. Ellen, how are you? I'm doing well. Thanks for asking me to be on with you, Melinda. I've always been a big fan of yours. Well, I'm a big fan of yours as well, and we've known each other for many, many years. So I'm just delighted to have you on my show. Let me tell my viewers a little bit about you. So Ellen Kaler is the executive director of the Vermont Sustainable Jobs Fund, and she was awarded the Con Hogan Award for Creative Entrepreneurial and Community Leadership from the Vermont Community Foundation. She also was awarded the Arthur Gibb Award for Individual Leadership from the Vermont Natural Resources Council, and an award with the John Eastman Excellence in Leadership Award from the Snelling Center for Government. And Ellen, when I went on to do my research a few days ago to start my research on you, there's pages about you.  And there's so much information about you. I could talk to you all day, but we only have a half an hour on this. So I'm going to jump right in. So Ellen, you grew up in Buffalo. Can you talk to us a little bit about your parents and growing up and the impact that your parents had on you? Sure. Sure. Happy to. I had great parents.  She was a nurse for many years and then took time out from being a nurse to raise us four kids. I have three younger brothers. And after my youngest brother started to be in school full-time, she went back and got a second degree in anthropology and then got a master's in communicative diseases and various other things that she was interested in, epidemiology. That's what it was, not communicative diseases, epidemiology. And she did a lot of work in the Buffalo area supporting the refugee community with getting health care, access to health care, because she was just always very motivated by travel and by meeting people from all over the world and about 25% of all of the folks coming into the United States come through Canada through the entryway in Buffalo. So there was a huge need, especially during the Central American crises when we were at war with Salvador and Nicaragua, there was Guatemala, there was just a lot of folks traveling up through Buffalo. So that was always interesting to hear stories and tales of people that she had met. And my dad was an orthopedic surgeon. He passed about six and a half years ago and was a fabulous father, very supportive of us kids. Both of my parents really encouraged us to be who we wanted to be. I just feel so fortunate to have grown up in a household where self-confidence was really instilled in us, that we could be what we wanted to be. We had opportunities and definitely had privilege that many others didn't have because of our circumstances with what my parents did for work and such. But it was a great childhood. We spent a lot of time out in nature, spent a lot of time playing sports. And overall, you know, I am who I am because of my parents and their parents and my three younger brothers. And you say you're the only girl in the family? Yes. Are you the oldest? I am, which explains a lot. Oh my gosh, that explains so much. The oldest sister of three younger brothers. Yes. And if you know Myers-Briggs, I'm also an ENTJ and born in April, so I'm an Aries, so it explains a lot. But you have tremendous self-confidence and you have tremendous vision, so that explains a lot. So now I found it really, really wonderful to learn that you were an early entrepreneur because you really are an entrepreneur in your life. You come up with these great ideas and then you make them happen. You were an early entrepreneur. You started your own ski-tuning business in grade school. Yeah. I mean, you know, I was not registered, of course. No. I just, I had gotten... We always did downhill skiing on the hills of Western New York. It's nothing like the hills here and mountains here in Vermont. But I had just, you know, I had gotten into tuning my own skis and talking to other people in my neighborhood who also skied. They were like, yeah, I don't know how to do this. And yeah, my skis have got ruts in them and my edges aren't sharp. So I just, you know, used a little mimeograph maker and I just, you know, made little half-page things and stuck it in people's mailboxes and, you know, I mean, I didn't have very many, many folks take me up on it, but it was fun and it was a good start and it definitely, I think, got me thinking in that kind of entrepreneurial way. Well, it shows who you are because that's who you're an ideas person and then you take the idea and you put it into place. So you were also, as you got older, you also got involved in the anti-nuclear movement. Yeah. And you were spurred by Dr. Helen Caldecott. Yes. Talked to us a little bit about that and about the shutting down of Yankee here in Vermont. Well, I wasn't involved with the Yankee shutdown at that point. I had moved on to the jobs fund and so had plenty on my plate, but very supportive of moving in that direction, of course, cheerleader on the sidelines on that one. But yeah, back in college, Dr. Helen Caldecott, this was the, you know, height of the Cold War really, the mid and late 80s, before the Berlin Wall came down, before the Soviet Union dissolved, the rhetoric at that time was still so fierce around the Cold War and the risk of nuclear annihilation. And Dr. Helen Caldecott is this amazing, she was a pediatrician from Australia and she was so taken by the way that radioactive fallout from the above ground test before they went underground were impacting mother's milk and children and their health. And so she just became such a champion globally and just traveled tirelessly talking about the risk of nuclear war. And when she came to my campus, when I was a freshman, I just, I got the bug, it just hit me so hard. And I just had that fire in the belly that, wow, we've got to change this. This is not okay. This is, this is scary. This is like, you know, they just really captured me. And that really set me on a course for being an activist for many, many years. And yeah, how do you feel now? So how are you feeling now with where we are in our world with, I mean, do you think we've made strides or do you think we're going backwards? Where do you, what's your? Well, I mean, there's definitely, there's definitely fewer nukes out there. But I, but I don't think we're anywhere close to having anything locked down of never happening. I mean, you think about the way that North Korea keeps sabre rattling and all the testing that they are doing and how unstable they are. Like, I don't think we're in any way out of, out of danger. Do you feel that we haven't even an anti-nuclear movement today? No, I don't, it doesn't feel like it to me. I mean, do you see anything?   And then you, with Doug Hoffer at the Vermont State Otter, talk to us about, because the Peace and Justice Center must have been, it must have been in kind of its early days when you first came up here. Yes. Yeah. I mean, I think it got started in 1979. And so I joined in 1990. So 11 years in, 12 years in. And Greg Gouma was then the, the center director, remember Greg? And yeah. And when I first arrived in September of 1990, I had, I don't know, for whatever reason, Greg saw something in me and he said, well, I've got this bookstore called Maverick Bookstore on College Street. Remember that? And he's like, I need somebody to run that part time. I'm like, OK, sure. I had no idea how to run a bookstore. I had, I wasn't even a reader. I never really have been a big reader. So like, it was just pretty funny, actually, but it was interesting. It got me in the mix. I got to know a lot of people at the Peace and Justice Center and the Peace and Justice Store. And then eventually all the books basically got bought into the Peace and Justice Store eventually and Maverick went away. But yeah, that's how I got started. And then when Greg, Greg stepped down about nine months after that. And I just, you know, I applied. I had gotten to know folks. I applied and I got really lucky and they hired me and I was only 23. So they took a big chance on me. And look where they are today and where you are today. So then then you went to work and I think you said, you know, I think it's Doug Hoffer at the Vermont State Otter. And Doug, as you and I both know, is probably one of the most brilliant statisticians, minds of this man.  I mean, he and so you got to go work with Doug and he got to go work with you. I mean, that was, that must have been a match made in heaven. Well, what happened was actually my mother went out was out in Minnesota at an epidemiological conference and she came upon this thing called the Minnesota Job Gap Study. This was in 1995 and they had just released it. And it was a methodology of calculating basic needs and a livable wage. And she said, I think you might be interested in this. So I showed it to Jane Nodell and Doug Hoffer and Phil Fremonti and said, hey, do you think we should do something like this for Vermont? And Doug was like, yeah, this sounds great. He was then working at CEDO office in Burlington a long way away from being auditor. And so I reached out to the Vermont Community Foundation, got a little bit of CED money from them. And from when Robbie Harold was at USDA Rural Development, got a little bit of money from her. And we were able to put Doug on contract to basically start working on developing the Vermont version. And then that led to multiple additions of the Job Gap Study, different phases that we did. And that work really, I think probably defines most, you know, the biggest part of my contribution in those days to Vermont with through the Peace and Justice Center was working on that and creating a livable wage campaign around the state, which got a lot of minimum wage increases to happen. It led to the state legislature actually adopting the basic needs budget, livable wage calculation, which now the Joint Fiscal Office does for the state every two years, so that the legislature has that document for policy purposes. And, you know, and Doug, as an independent financial and economic analyst, went on to really support a lot of legislative conversations around policy and using data. And now, of course, he's been the state auditor for many, many years. You must be familiar with the change the story reports. Yes, yes, of course. And I was actually on the board of of Vermont Works for Women when Tiff Blumlee was the executive director for many years. And so, yeah, that was another great piece of work that Tiff was able to project manage through. And we have and we have so much more work to do for this wage and for equality for women. And I mean, those reports were I was on the Vermont Commission for women back then. And but anyway, so thank you for that incredible work that you did. Well, the funny thing is it's never done, right? That's that's the point here. So this past just literally this past fall, one of the things that happened with the legislature last session was that we had a number of us really pushed hard that that the basic needs budget needed to be reviewed. The methodology needed to be reviewed. It had been since 2008. And so there was a summer study committee and I was on it along with some other really terrific people. Alison Clarkson, Senator Alison Clarkson chaired it. And so we spent five sessions really going through that methodology. And now there's going to be some updates for the next report. But the funny thing was, you know, Doug and I were talking a lot and we're like, wait a minute, like we did this 25 years ago. How is that even possible? You know, so it just goes to show you that there's some stuff that just really does take a long time. It does. It takes it takes forever, actually. And we can never we can never let down our guard. So thank you for talking about that, because that was something I wanted to dig into as a livable wage. So see, you also went off to Harvard to study at the Kennedy School of Government. Right. Yeah, that was just that was just for a year. I needed to have a little bit of a break from after I left the Peace and Justice Center. And I didn't know exactly what I wanted to do next. And Jan Eastman, who was then running the Snelling Center for government and people like David Tucker and Lisa Lorimer and some others said, you know, Ellen, it's time for you to leave the Peace and Justice Center. And when I and when they said that to me in 2001, I was like, well, I don't know what I'm going to do next. And they're like, well, you should go to the Kennedy School and get a master's in public public administration. They have a great one year program. So I was like, OK. So, you know, it was it was a wonderful experience. The MPA, the mid career MPA program there is phenomenal. And what one of the things that's so magical about it is that about 40 to 45 percent of the class every year are international students. So you're in classes with people who are like going to be the president of Ghana someday or like people that are running, you know, there are long term diplomats or policy leads at NASA or, you know, folks that are in the Israeli military in a in a policy level. Like, like this, the the the incredible people that you get to meet at the Kennedy School is truly amazing. And it, you know, you're having these case study discussions about all these world problems. And it's just it's a phenomenal window into really learning more about the world and how people tick and how leaders are forged and and and all that. So it was a great experience. And the thing that I learned, you know, I really went into that very open and to try to see what would arise. What did I want to do next? And what kept coming up was economic justice. And so that's that's where I came back to do. And that's where you landed. And we and all of us in Vermont are so fortunate. We're talking to Alan Kaler, who is the executive director of the Vermont Sustainable Jobs Fund. And for all of my viewers, I encourage you to go to V.S.J.F. V.S.J.F.org and check out their website. It's it's a great website. So, Alan, let's move into this. So you started the peer to peer collaborative. Talk to us about that that program. Yeah, so when I when I left the Kennedy School and came back to Vermont, I had this seed of an idea that actually was born out of a number of conversations I had with Lisa Lorimer, who then was the CEO at Vermont Red Company. And she always talked about how having an advisory board was some of the best things that she ever did as a CEO because having outside eyes of other people who are really committed to Vermont Red Company succeeding in her as the CEO, but who had that outside perspective. She always found that incredibly valuable. And my supposition was that if you looked at the most successful businesses in Vermont, many of whom were members of Vermont Businesses for Social Responsibility, doing the best good in the state as a company that they all had had advisory boards or they had some kind of coaches or mentors or something like that. So and they were also the best paying and had the best benefits and the best workplace culture. So I was putting these things together and I was like, well, what would it look like if we actually stood up a project where we had, in essence, people serving as advisory board members temporarily for companies and we work with them over a 12, 18 month period to help them work on their business. And they would pay part of the cost of that. And then that would give me the inside understanding of what are the barriers to paying livable wages, right? Because back during those days when I was giving lots of talks about basic needs, budgets and livable wages, everyone, every doesn't matter the political ideology across the board. And I was like, well, of course, if you're working full time, you should be able to pay your bills. Like, of course, that's just fair. That's just right. And so so many business owners were like, I totally believe in this and I don't know how or they thought that they were paying livable wages. Like, honestly, really thought that they weren't. So I wanted to better understand, well, what's what's getting in the way? What is there some structural part of the way businesses are set up or the way they function or something that got in the way of them paying better wages and benefits? And so the peer to peer collaborative was a way to do that. And so I came back and I pitched the idea. I went in and I saw Lisa Ventress, who had just for a year had been in the role of at the Vermont Business Roundtable as the president. And I pitched the idea and I said, yeah, I'm looking to figure out like, where should I land with this? And what do you think? And she's like, well, how about if we incubate you for two years out of our office? And I think that a lot of our members would be very interested in this and giving back and being part of the team. So that's what she did. She pitched it to her board. So I had a home base for two years, a free office space, a copier, a phone, internet, and I tried to make a go of it for two years to have enough enough clients to support myself. And at that time, all of the the folks that that I had recruited to serve in this in this advisor role were doing it for free. And so it just wasn't sustainable, ultimately. So when the position opened up at the Vermont Stimble Jobs Fund in November or the fall of 2005, I applied for that. And then I was lucky enough to get that job and I brought the notion of the collaborative, peer-to-peer collaborative with me to the Jobs Fund. So that now has morphed into what is now our coaching program, business coaching program, but that was the seed of it, actually.  Let's let's do this. You know, it probably never would have happened. Well, and a lot of those businesses weren't necessarily businesses that were Vermont businesses were social responsibility. I mean, they were businesses that really could benefit from this program. Well, let's move into this. Your job that you've had now for the past 19 years, 2005, you did become the executive director of the Vermont Sustainable Jobs Fund. Share with us how this program came to be and what it does for Vermonters and talk about your creation in particular because we're going to go through some of your programs that you've that you that you're working on. But the creation of the farm to plate network. Yeah, so. So I just add to what moved you into agriculture, which seems to be the direction that you went. And I know you grew up surrounded by a lot of farms and stuff. But what what excited you about agriculture to share with that with our folks? Sure, sure. Yeah, let me do that one in a minute. I'll just say the Stimble Jobs Fund was actually created by an actor, the legislature in 1995. And that happened because a number of people in Vermont businesses social responsibility and business owners like Kevin Harper and Allison Hooper and such really believe that there was a need to have some other entity who could focus on certain sectors of the economy. And in there and what they wanted to see was more sort of the natural resource based those kinds of business sectors like ag and food and forest and energy that were like place based and where we had some ability to to to foster and nurture those types of businesses. And part of it was because the and this is this is still true today in state government.  That's just in their mandate. They can't pick and choose. They have to be there in service to all types of businesses. And so this group of of VBSR members and such really felt that there was would be a benefit to the state to have some entity that could focus on these particular sectors. So that's why we got created in 1995. And, you know, it there was Wayne Fawbush was the original executive director. And they had back in those days, they had a small pool of funds that they really just did grant making with. They it was early and it was prior to the the Community Foundation really like really growing its asset base. So it was one of the few kind of business oriented funders. And so they funded a lot of really great initiatives. So when I came on board, we were at an inflection point of the organization and the board really wanted to better, you know, after 10 years of sort of some trial and error, what what what where should we focus on? And and so that's when I stepped in and we were very small and we've grown now we're 13 employees. Now we were at like three when I started very, very small budget and this year I think we'll be on track to have about a two point seven million dollar budget. So but then to your point about agriculture. So we had done a bunch of work looking at biofuels, like growing growing oil seed crops, growing grasses, perennial grasses to create fuels that farms could use to to fuel their operations and or potentially heat homes in the form of grass, perennial grasses and VBSR again, along with rural Vermont in 2009, approached the legislature and having this sense that it would be really, really helpful to have a strategic plan for the state around food, strengthening the farm and food sector. So they approached the legislature and said, hey, we think there should be some more planning. This is like right when the recession was was really hitting hard. So there was a lot of of layoffs in state government, the agency of ag was really reduced in size and capacity. And there was a lot of there was a lot of turmoil in the dairy and the dairy crisis with prices. But then there was all this exciting stuff happening with farmers markets and CSAs and farm to school. And and so the legislature was kind of perplexed, like what's going on? You know, we've got dire straits in one part of the the sector and all this hope and optimism and young people enthusiasm on the other. Like, tell us what's going on here. So they approached me and said, would you be interested in and doing this? And I naively said, sure. So they provided a little bit of money and we are on our way with that, what ultimately became known as the Vermont Farm to Plate Initiative. It's it's in statues called the Farm to Plate Investment Program. It's under our regular statute. And yeah, we've been doing that a big part of our work ever since. It's it's a million dollar program that we're we're managing at this point. That's incredible. You're also working with Vermont Tech to create graduates who can create jobs in the growing agricultural and food sectors. Right. Well, yeah. I mean, back in 2020 and April 2020, then Chancellor Jebs Balding announced the idea that maybe the Vermont the Randolph campus at Vermont Tech should be closed. And I was like, wait a minute, you can't do that. Like, we need to graduate. We need more people being graduated in farm and food type degrees because we have all these employers that are expanding and they can't get enough workers. Like, you can't shut this down. So I reached out to then President Pat Moulton and said, hey, what do you think about if I were to pull together a group of people to work with you to really reenvision what the Ag and Food Program could be like at Vermont Tech? Would you be open to that? So she thought about it and she said yes, which I'm grateful for. And I pulled together about 40 of us to all volunteers to work over the next year to come up with a transformation plan for that program. And then unfortunately, there's been a lot of everything has really slowed down because of the consolidation of creation of Vermont State University. But but the good news is I think we're we've turned a corner. We now have at VTS, you Randolph, there's been a director, an executive director named Glenn Evans, who's been hired to run the new Center for Agriculture and Food Entrepreneurship. And it's not accepting students yet, but it's in the revitalization retransformation stage. And I'm hopeful that by the the academic year of 2025 that we'll have a new crop of students starting to go through there. And that would be awesome. So so you also have been working with the legislature on a job creation program, creating a higher level of coordination in our workforce development for jobs that aren't just in the agricultural sector, right? Yeah, I mean, the reason that we get involved in workforce development type initiatives at the systems level is because all of the businesses in the sectors that we work with are all facing workforce challenges. So I had been on the state workforce development board for many years and worked and I and I've just been, you know, I think in systems like I see big picture system stuff. And so what I see in the in the workforce system is a lot of really amazing people, a lot of really very impactful programs and a real lack of coordination and connectivity. A lot of folks working in silos. And that's how the ag system and the food system was when we when it first started and when we first started farm to plate in twenty oh nine. And so I just, you know, I've just offered to be supportive in any way that I can and have worked with a number of legislators who are also very frustrated with that lack of coordination. And so there's been a summer study committee that just released its report. It was actually a two year group of five, five folks. Senator Clarkson was on it and the chair was representative Mike Marcotte from the Commerce Committee and Adam Grinnell from representing the state workforce. The Board is the chair was on it as well as Kendall Smith from the governor's office and Jay Ramsey from the Department of Labor. So the five of them hired consultants to work with them to really understand. Well, what would it look like to really have a coordinated workforce system? And so right now there are a couple of bills in the state in the state house and in the legislature that are being considered that if we're successful could lead to the creation of an office of workforce development and expansion, which I think could provide that level of coordination that's been missing in the system. So I've just been trying to help any way I can with just, you know, thinking and all that you've had your fingers in so many things. And I have I have like six more pages that we've gone through. But we're actually running out of time here. So if you've seen the series, you are what you eat. And it's it's on Netflix and it's a four episode series. And it's basically, you know, analyzing and looking at the meat and dairy impact on climate and how our how our society is moving towards a more plant based focus. And in that I wanted to ask you about, you know, the hope that you have for Vermont with climate change and how we have to sort of change what we're doing. And I'm sure you're involved in things related to that. But have you seen that series? And do you think Vermont can move away from a dairy meat economy over the next 10 or 15 years to more of a plant based economy? I have not seen that series. I've seen a lot of good foods, food shows. High on the hog is one of my favorites, actually, on Netflix right now. But no, I haven't seen that particular series. But I would say this, you know, we are the reason that our landscape of farm fields and farms surrounded by forests looks the way they do is because of animal agriculture, which is dairy and other forms of livestock. So if dairy and other forms of livestock were to be be diminished, it would look very different here physically. So I think it's more in my mind what's important. And this is really where the agency of agriculture, the Laura Ginsburg, who's managing at the agency of the Dairy Business Innovation Center, for instance, some significant funding from USDA that's come to the state and the region and the work that I've been doing, both with farm to plate, but also with a new regional effort called New England Feeding, New England, is really to take a more balanced approach. You know, it's not about specializing on any one type of product.  You think about resilience. Well, what does resilience? It means that you can bounce back quickly. Well, if you're only producing one or two things like monoculture, like the way they do in the Midwest with corn, wheat and soy, you have a major climate disruption and you could be wiped out. You know, we saw that this summer with the summer floods, how many vegetable farmers got completely wiped out at the at the height of their of their growing season. So I actually think that the that the the thing we need to be doing is is diversifying the the product mix and also as much as we can value add to it, because that's how farms and food businesses can really thrive economically and be around for the long haul is if we're not so dependent on any one commodity. And I if you think if you look back at the data from twenty oh nine, when we first started far into play today, the dairy, we we we said in the first strategic plan, we really thought that the opportunity for dairy was around value added. And they've actually picked that has happened. We have more people today are consuming dairy, but it's in the form of cheese and yogurt and other types of dairy products. And as opposed to even though fluid milk has continued to drop. And then there's, you know, I think grass base is also really important, right? We don't have KFO feedlots like the West does. And I think that's our value add. I don't think we're going to get people to stop eating meat. But if we get if they can eat healthier, better meat that's you mainly raised, you mainly processed on grass. That also has positive climate impacts. Well, grass fed meat and dairy also has a lot of omega three. I mean, as the. Absolutely. So that I mean, the whole thing is about. So so we're coming to a close of the show, which I could go on for 20 hours with you. What words of wisdom do you have for our children today, Ellen, in the world that they're growing up in?  I would say get off social media, you know, stop stop bullying and get off social media and do things that are positive, that are about community, that are about your family, that are about your friends and neighbors, about your state and about the world. Because unfortunately, a lot of us have contributed to the circumstances we're in with climate change and the political craziness of today. And, you know, it's always been the next generation that has a way of shaking things up and making things better. So it's really, it's a big part of what we need to be focusing on is, how do we help the, you know, the Gen Zers and the millennials step into leadership and really help us to get out of the mess that we're in? Truly, because we're moving on.  You're a person who people turn to when they want new ideas, new visions, but not only are you a great thinker, you make stuff happen and you take what you see and you've actually put it into practice. And all of us in Vermont have benefited from the years that you have been here and that you've done this great work. So I want to thank you for all of that. I want to thank you, my friend. I admire you so much. And so thank you for being on my show. I really appreciate it. Absolutely. Thanks for having me.  Everything that you've done down at the waterfront and Main Street Landing is just truly transformational for the city of Burlington.  Thank you, my dear. Thank you. Thank you so much. And to my viewers, I want to thank you for joining us today. And I hope that you're doing well and I will see you very soon. Bye bye.


The company operates fixed-wing and helicopter charter services and is also one of the countries Today, Captain Andy K. demonstrates firefighting operations using what is called a Bandy Bucket System. Tropic air are demonstrating one of their Airbus 8125 helicopters for us today. The H-125 is a single-engine helicopter for performance, versatility and low maintenance costs. Filling the bucket requires that the pilot should place the bucket over a water source with a minimum depth of 1.6 meters. This could be a dam, a tank, a navy or even a swimming pool.  The pilot should lift the bucket out of the water and flies with no tension on the fly. On reaching the fire, the pilot will establish the necessary line of attack or the part of the fire to be deflected before sending out of the bombing flight that the aircraft will place over the identified area. Here's your fresh air. Another group with us called Skydive from Swahili and they are based not in Wilson Airport but next to us but in Diani Beach. At the coast, Skydive from Swahili provide tandem skydiving services, a jump school, display jumps as they're doing now and also provide parachute equipment and maintenance. Here's the first one to land on our field. Give him a clap. Give her a clap. I can't see for here. Number two coming out. Big shot from number two. So again, some famous people out there. Big shot. I think a significant investment in these approaches has been over time. There is that person with Kenya colors. Thank you.


Hello and welcome to NewsClick. Nothing drives us more than standing in solidarity with people's movements. Our teams are on the ground covering these movements extensively and hoping to bring out a change. In this segment of WeProtest, we bring you around about various such protests and movements which have taken place in the past few weeks. More than 50,000 people under the banner of All India Kisan Sabha and CITU marched in Palga district of Maharashtra against the Mumbai-Ahmadabad high-speed rail corridor. They feel that they will be massively affected by it. The rally was also a victory celebration of Kisan Long March. More than 10,000 people belonging to the working class gathered at Azad Medan in Mumbai against anti-labour policies of the Maharashtra government and also BJP-led central government. They feel that both the BJP governments have been massively attacking their rights and it needs to be stopped. More than 30,000 people cutting across party lines marched in Chennai against the dilution of the SCST atrocities act. Their demand was that the central government must protect the act and also include it in the 9th schedule of the constitution. The French government has been continuously pushing reforms which are assault on labour rights. On May 1st, more than 2 lakh workers marched in France against these assaults. Their demand was very simple that the French government should stop these reforms to restore rights of the working class. That's all for this segment. To follow detailed reports on these movements, please visit our website and follow our Facebook page. Thank you.


So a recent post by the Polish Eurogamer site points out what could be a very worrying situation for PCF. It suggests the awards coming from PCF, the PCF CEO which indicates no profits have yet been seen on the outriders, nor do they know just how many copies of the game sold. Today guys we get into it all. How's it going people my name is DP Jane if you enjoyed the video leaving a like really helps out and if you like what you see and want to see more be sure to subscribe. So to me this news came from a Eurogamer but there's also a statement from PCF which is basically Eurogamer's source and this suggests PCF don't actually know how many copies of outriders have sold nor have they received any royalties from sales. Now this information like I said originally in Polish but on the translation it uncovers a weird fishy situation between Square Enix and PCF. Now you guys can make of this what you want but I certainly don't feel this is normal between two companies working together on a game. Now sources of information you'll find link below if you do want to check them out yourself. What the sources do state people can fly speak of an agreement between them and Square Enix which means they are as in PCF would receive royalties from the game's first quarter sales by August 16th 2021 but no funds have been transferred. PCF states this can suggest according to the publisher that the revenue from sales of outriders are lower than the cost of production on the game which does include distribution and promotion. They also state that they basically don't know exactly how many copies of the game have sold. As the CEO from People Can Fly says we don't have any sales figures for outriders we estimate it at between two and three million units and assume that this was a result that would ensure profitability for this project in the first quarter of sales. The lack of payment by the publisher probably means that according to Square Enix this is not the case. He also states that this could be caused by the publisher basically Square Enix including distribution partners like Xbox as we know the games on Game Pass. The CEO of PCF goes on to state that the sales tail of the outriders game is ahead of us as a result the company expects royalties to begin later this year. Furthermore he says working with the publisher has many advantages but also its disadvantages. One of them is a low impact of sales activities and the incompleteness or as in this case the lack of data obtained from the publisher in this regard. This is one of the reasons why apart from working with publishers we have decided to develop projects whose IP will remain the property of the company and which will be published by the company itself. Ok guys on me reading through this I mean I have no idea of the contract between the two but PCF is more or less a AAA developer working under Square Enix here on outriders. Outriders was made out to be a success story not long after release with them releasing the numbers of players etc etc so this all does seem a little strange to me I won't lie I just don't think it's normal for publishers to hide the fact or be reluctant to release this kind of information to developers but when royalties come into the situation which are based off numbers it seems here something else isn't being told. Why Will State is based in a number of game owners with the player cans released doesn't necessarily mean they all purchase the game. With this game being available on Game Pass and us not knowing how many people got it there it could indeed be the case that outriders hasn't made any profit yet a weird one I know but it's definitely possible. It is a bit of a weird situation to be in my opinion especially for people can fly if it wasn't I'd see no reason for them to make a statement about it. But yeah guys this is kind of strange and I honestly don't know what it means for the future of the game we know people can fly are working on other games where that puts outriders within this already seemingly limited team I have no idea but let me know your thoughts on this guys all sources of information you'll find linked below and on that note the end of the video has arrived if you enjoyed it leaving a like really helps out if you're new around here and want to see more be sure to subscribe and if you never want to miss a video I upload you can turn notifications on by hitting that bell button but guys thanks as always for stopping by and hopefully I will see you on that next one