Two countries in Africa. Two crises beyond comprehension... For almost 20 years , the Lord?s Resistance Army has been waging war against the Ugandan government. 25,000 children have been abducted and forced to fight, kill, carry supplies, and serve as sex slaves. Today between 1.6 ? 2 million people are displaced in Northern Uganda .. this ?forgotten? emergency is said to be the world?s second ? biggest neglected crisis (by Alertnet) The first is Darfur, Sudan, -Three million people need food aid or have fled their homes, more than 200,000 are estimated by the United Nations to have died because of the violence, and thousands of women and girls have been raped... Sudan's government and the pro-government Arab militias (the Jan-Jah-Weed) are accused of war crimes against the region's black African popula- tion, although the UN has stopped short of calling it genocide. International response was slow, until recently when celebrities began calling for peace in Darfur and swift governmental action -

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Today ? new approaches to environmental distress. Scientists have warned our care of the planet is reaching new levels of alarm. In Canada, some of the reason for concern looks like this: drought on the prairies at worse levels than the 1930?s, beetles living through warmer winters are devastating BC?s forestry, smog causing $1 billion a year in Ontario hospital visits, flooding in the east coast, and in the Arctic - animals under threat. Today on LU - Canada?s best known environmentalist, David Suzuki talks to us about the problems and the spiritual nature of environmental need and we talk to Justin Trudeau who urges action for protecting our future. We?ll also hear from a group representing environmental missionaries around the world. Could God be warning us we?re running out of time? A Rocha - a world wide reach into motivating communities into action for the environment. In the past 30 years, the destructive category of storms in the tropics has nearly doubled. The Global Insurance industry claimed over $40 billion in insured losses due to extreme weather events. In the summer of 2003, Europe?s heat wave was blamed for the deaths of 20,000 people The World Health Organization says climate change is responsible for at least 150,000 people a year. Even preachers fearing that millions of lives could be lost in global ?warming and warming related disasters are lobbying Washington for change.

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In a culture where accessibility to pornography is getting much easier and the media assaults us with a parade of lusty images, there is a growing concern over what affect this is having on us.

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Has the Church been involved in a 2000 year old cover up? Examining the conspiracy theory in the Da Vinci Code? If there was any doubt that history of the church still has power to launch mystery and intrigue, just enter Hollywood?s latest take on The DaVinci Code. A high paced murder mystery from best-selling novelist Dan Brown. Its made a controversial impact on faith communities. A novel claiming historical accuracy that contradicts many tightly held Christian beliefs, author Dan Brown has created an intense debate, and a lot of money. Today we look at the story and impact of the Da Vinci Code. So what?s a mystery without a good hunt for the facts? Today we go looking for a few clues of our own on the Da Vinci Code controversy. We?ll take you to keepers of the ancient secrets ? the Dead Sea Scrolls Institute. But first, let?s start with why this story has caught the public imagination. Over 50 million copies of Dan Brown?s book have been sold. Time Magazine says in the past two years, only the Bible is still outselling it. In the past 30 years, the destructive category of storms in the tropics has nearly doubled. The Global Insurance industry claimed over $40 billion in insured losses due to extreme weather events. In the summer of 2003, Europe?s heat wave was blamed for the deaths of 20,000 people The World Health Organization says climate change is responsible for at least 150,000 people a year. Even preachers fearing that millions of lives could be lost in global ?warming and warming related disasters are lobbying Washington for change.

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The Gift of Life through organ donation becomes a choice for a grieving family. We bring you a remarkable reunion with the woman who now lives with their little girl?s heart and lungs ? today on Listen Up.

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The story of how a community reached out to forgive a man who had caused their lives enormous loss. We revisit the Louis Creek and Barriere fire, and the community who had to face its flames. Our story begins with Mike Barre. The man who pled guilty to setting a fire that consumed 26,000 hectares, an area twice the size of Toronto. More than 850 wildfires were burning in British Columbia in August, 2003 and thousands were evacuated from their homes for safety. Mike is working on a backyard tree, installing a satellite dish for high speed internet to his mountain side home. He butts out his cigarette in a tinder dry forest. While walking back to his house, he turns around and sees smoke. Mike was guilty of dropping a burning substance within one kilometer of forest. His cigarette aggravated British Columbia?s inferno of 2003. More than $31 million of government fire fighting was underway. No one died in the fires that ensued, but there were millions of dollars in property loss. The community?s largest employer, the sawmill and its 170 jobs, gone. 75 homes engulfed in flames. Barriere and Lewis Creek faced their crisis and pulled together. Its hard to pinpoint just where this wave of forgiveness begins, but volunteers and donations flooded into Lewis Creek and Barriere and set a tone of hope. Lots were cleared, ruined property carted away and after a long days work ? volunteers and victims gathered in the church for healing circles. The Appel?s met Mike at a healing circle ? Their uninsured home and welding business, valued at hundreds of thousands of dollars was gone. The Appel?s began a petition to plead mercy at a court trial Mike would be facing. 2400 signatures from town residents helped Mike ? the judge choose not to impose the maximum fine of $500,000 or a three-year jail term ? rather, he decided Mike?s case was a warning for all to be more careful in tinder dry seasons. Mike was fined $3,000. Two civil suits are still are still underway against him. The church became a new friend through the ordeal. Pastor Bob Basher and Mike met for weekly breakfasts. Mike meanwhile ? has started a whole new chapter on his life. One year after the fire, Mike was in the lake with his pastor, getting baptized. Mike and Pastor Bob have become good friends through the Lewis Creek and Barriere Fire - Mike sees him each week as a life coach. Easter has a deeper meaning for Pastor Bob and his church as they remember the lessons they work on about forgiveness: ??forgiveness was the first word Jesus mentioned on the cross?.and it takes in our mental, our forgiveness ?..and not only does that forgiveness theme travel through what?s happened here in Barrier, we have forgiveness coming out of ashes.? ?This whole community now has a new hope and faith in the future ??we are captivated by that word through forgiveness.?

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As part of the Easter season we our taking a look back at a movie that has shaped how we think of Easter ? The Passion of the Christ - and today we are joined by two-time academy award winner, Mel Gibson?. Mel Gibson says the Passion re-cut loses none of its artistic integrity in the process of the edit and the less violent version is suitable for anyone to see. Mel Gibson will join us from Los Angeles, and filmmaker Jody Eldred will share about his documentary on the impact the Passion of the Christ has made.

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Today we look at the case of Christian missionaries and their determination to bring the story of Christ even when they're not welcome and we look at beliefs worth dying for. An Afghan court has sparked international controversy as it decides if Abdul Rahman should be executed for converting to Christianity. The sentence, while legal under Afghan's Muslim Sharia law, would be a violation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Choosing which faith to follow can be a matter of life or death.

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School's out and students are up for a party! When you think of spring break what comes to mind on university campus? Girls Gone Wild, Excessive Drinking, Out-of-Control Partying? Well, it's that time of year. Students are finding themselves with a little more time on their hands and a wealth of opportunities to spend it on. We?re going to explore the culture around university?s party life today. We?ll hear from students at a variety of schools explain how they navigate their choices and we?ll travel with a group as it headed out on spring break to New Orleans. Guests & Links Trinity Western Sping Break Trip Commentary Corner: Students, Spring Break and Consuming Fun Lorna's Wrap GUESTS & LINKS UNIVERSITY PANEL JESSICA MILNE ? English Major, Wilfred Laurier University RAED ARMALY- History Major, Wilfred Laurier University ADRIAN DEGROOT- Commerce Major, McMaster University BRENDA SLOMKA- Residence Life Coordinator, Queens University HEATHER FITZGERALD- Director of Student Life, University of Waterloo MICHAEL ATKINSON www.mcmaster.ca Michael Atkinson has been an Assistant Professor in Sociology at McMaster University since 2003, and is a member of the Institute of Globalization and the Human Condition at McMaster. He received his PhD in Sociology from the University of Calgary in 2001, and taught in the Department of Sociology at the Memorial University of Newfoundland from 2001-2003. Atkinson?s teaching and research interests focus on radical body modification, masculine aesthetics in sports cultures, and criminal violence in Canadian professional sports. He has conducted ethnographic research on Canadian political parties, ticket scalpers, tattoo enthusiasts and Straightedge youth. Atkinson?s current research projects include the study of ergogenic supplement use among young, male, recreational athletes, men?s cosmetic surgery practices, and legal intervention into professional ice hockey. These nationally funded research efforts are intended to help Atkinson explore the changing roles of men in Canada, and the shifting understandings of masculinity in a range of institutional settings. Atkinson is author of the book Tattooed: The Sociogenesis of a Body Art (University of Toronto Press, 2003), and has published research on the body in diverse academic journals including The Canadian Review of Sociology and Anthropology, Sex Roles, Youth & Society and The International Review of the Sociology of Sport. Michael Atkinson was this year's unanimous choice for the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) Aurora Prize, which recognizes an outstanding new researcher who is building a reputation for exciting and original research in the social sciences or humanities. Research Interests Areas: Qualitative and Historical Methods; Figurational Sociology; Masculinity; Body Modification; Sports Violence; Youth Subcultures. Michael Atkinson's sociological interests largely revolve around issues in body modification, masculinity, and sport deviance. Theoretically, his research explores the explanatory and descriptive potential of 'figurational sociology'. His ongoing research projects include qualitative-historical examinations of the following: 1. Sports violence and crime. Even though sociologists have critically inspected a wide-range of rule-breaking behaviours in a diversity of institutional contexts, few have approached violence occurring in or around the 'playing field' as worthy of serious investigation. My research in the sociology sport involves the interrogation of certain forms of sports-related violence as potentially criminal, and deserving of closer scrutiny. I am presently involved in qualitative research efforts on violence in professional/amateur ice hockey in Canada (a SSHRC funded study with Dr. Kevin Young from the University of Calgary), terrorism at mega-events such as the Olympics, and animal abuse in sport settings. 2. Radical body modification. In this broad area, I am presently working on two qualitative research projects. These interconnected ventures are hinged on the analysis of bodies as sites of identity construction and texts of culture. First, I continue to explore the cultural use of tattooing in Canada. As social understandings of tattooed flesh are ever fluctuating, I am attending to the diverse meaning structures encoded into tattoos by wearers. Second, I am studying more mainstream forms of cosmetic surgery among males in Canada (SSHRC funded from 2004-2007). While we know much about women's involvement in cosmetic/plastic surgery, men's experiences 'under the knife' have been neglected in the sociological literature. 3. Dietary supplementation and masculinity. This ethnographic research venutre (undertaken with Dr. Andrew Hathaway from The Centre for Addiction and Mental Health in Toronto) is designed to empirically inspect if and how men connect the consumption of exercise and health supplements to the pursuit of masculinity. Building on what Young and White (1999) refer to as the performance of "dangerous masculinity" through sport, we are interested in documenting if the pursuit of masculinity through supplementation leads men to take a series of calculated risks with their bodies. By attending to Pope et al.'s (2000) call for empirical investigation of the "gateway hypothesis" in gym cultures, we also wish to explore whether the consumption of rather mild exercise supplements leads some men to experiment with more dangerous and illegal substances like anabolic steroids. We are also inspecting social policy implications for more a stringent, State-based control of the distribution of bodybuilding supplements. Although the products must pass Canadian food and drug safety standards, of scarce consideration in existing State policy governing them is the role they potentially play in either: a) the creation of pathways into serious drug use among weight-trainers; or, b) the promotion of unattainable male body images in Canada. Books Atkinson, M. (2003). Tattooed: The Sociogenesis of a Body Art. Toronto: The University of Toronto Press. Young, K. and Atkinson, M. (under contract). Sports, Deviance, and Social Control. Champaign: Human Kinetics.

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