Robert Reich has a special Tax Day message, explaining why the wealthiest 1% pay a much lower tax rate than the rest of us--and what we can do about it. Published on Apr 15, 2014

"Guarda Bosques" (Forest Keepers) 45 min.

On April 15th 2011, when organized crime thugs teamed up with the logging industry and different government agencies to pillage precious and sacred forests at gun-point, the indigenous Purepecha community of Cheran, Michoacan, Mexico rose up with sticks, rocks, and bottle rockets against what can only be described as their local narco-government. Since then, they have taken the authorities offices, weapons, and pick-up trucks, ousted all political parties and all local and state police, and have re-established a traditional form of self-governance that includes its own council of elders, a community "police", known as a "ronda", and its own forest defense team, or forest keepers, known as the "Guarda Bosques."

El 15 de abril de 2011, después de que los matones del crimen organizado se habían unido con la industria maderera y distintas agencias del gobierno para saquear los bosques preciosos y sagrados con la fuerza de las armas, la comunidad indígena Purépecha de Cherán, Michoacán, México, se levantó con palos, piedras y cohetones contra lo que sólo se puede describir como su narco-gobierno. Desde entonces, han tomado control de las oficinas de las autoridades, sus armas y sus camionetas para luego echar fuera a todos los partidos políticos y todos los policías locales y estatales. Han re-establecido una forma de auto-gobernación tradicional que incluye su consejo de ancianos, su "policía" comunitaria, conocida como "la ronda," y su propio equipo para la defensa de los bosques, conocido como los "Guardabosques."

Maya Salsedo - Brower Youth Award Winner 2012 - For Salsedo, the personal is political. Salsedo is the descendent of emmigrants from Puerto Rico who found their way to Hawaii in order to work in sugar cane fields. Her family has always had trouble accessing healthy food. That experience with food insecurity spurred Salsedo to dedicate herself to advancing food justice. In 2011 — while working as a youth organizer with the Earth Island Institute-sponsored project Rooted in Community — she proposed creating a Youth Food Bill of Rights. The declaration grew out of Salsedo's vision for a food system that is good for consumers, producers, and the planet and which gives local communities more control over the food they eat. Salsedo has since motivated her peers to spread the word about the Youth Food Bill across the nation. Her work has provided the foundation for dialogues about what food justice means to today's youth.

Season Two launches on March 1st with The Story of Citizens United v. FEC, an exploration of the inordinate power that corporations exercise in our democracy, second in a series by Annie Leonard, The Story of Stuff.