That we should ask our members of parliament, and ourselves.

Courtesy of The Tyee.

One of my favourite shows on television is PBS’s Frontline.

It premiered a great doc last night on Japan’s Fukushima nuclear disaster last March.

Nuclear Aftershocks raises several important questions about what happened in Japan, and whether the disaster should have been anticipated and prevented. It also shows how many countries, including the United States, have to decide what to do next with nuclear-generated power in light of Japan’s nuclear meltdown.

Japan appears to have taken several large steps away from nuclear power as a direct consequence of what happened, and could phase out nuclear reactors entirely. Law makers in Germany have shifted away from nuclear too, buttressed by powerful public opinion and fear.

The doc shows that–at this point–there is no environmentally sustainable alternative to nuclear energy, which can generate enough clean power to bridge the gap between sources such as wind and solar, and what is required for base energy requirements.

Germany for one is looking at using coal to bridge that gap.

The questions: are we willing to risk the consequences of future nuclear disasters? Can we afford not to?

Here’s a must read from The Tyee and Salon investigating the attack on U.S. carbon standards led by big oil and an Albertan diplomat in Washington.

It raises an important question: should Canadians be comfortable with this country’s diplomats working with big oil lobbyists to keep the U.S. addicted to oil from the Alberta oil sands?

Canadians who experience extreme pain can usually halt their agony with pain killers. That’s a reality that most of us take for granted, but in most parts of the world, it’s not an option.

Bureaucracy and the war on drugs are preventing those who need help the most from accessing highly effective narcotic pain killers, such as morphine. We traveled to India, Ukraine and Uganda to find out why.

Life in Pain is latest chapter of our work, broadcast on Global television, and available here.

The documentary report was shot and produced by a team of students, and teachers from the University of British Columbia’s Graduate School of Journalism International Reporting Program (IRP). Peter W. Klein, an award-winning producer who is the director of the UBC School of Journalism and the IRP, led the project.

Check out this exceptional read in The Tyee by a friend of mine. It’s a peace of journalism that I’ve been familiar with for some time now, and I’m happy to see it unveiled for everyone to read.

It opens a telling window into life as a transgendered young person, and is a good reminder that our identity is ours to be exercised as we see fit. To hell with what anybody else thinks. The subjects, Amy and Gavin, are inspirational.

I’m looking forward to the other parts in the series.

More than half the countries in the world have little to no access to pain medications, the result of bureaucratic hurdles and the chilling effect of the global war on drugs.

We traveled to India, Ukraine and Uganda to put a human face on just some of the millions of patients around the globe forced to suffer long-term illnesses in excruciating pain.

Here’s the result of our year-long investigation.

It’s been awhile since I listened to Tool’s Lateralus.

I’m not sure that music can get better than this.

For those who didn’t come across this in July when the documentary first premiered on Al Jazeera’s People & Power, our film Freedom from Pain is still available on AJE’s website.

The doc was reported and filmed by students, myself included, from the University of British Columbia’s School of Journalism.

We traveled to India, Uganda and the Ukraine to figure out why the so many people–as many as 80 per cent of the world’s population–goes without pain killers when they need them the most.

If you’re moved by what you see, please spread it around.

Our documentary Freedom From Pain is now available online at Al Jazeera’s People & Power.

Please take the time to check it out. If you like it, spread it around.

Also visit InternationalReporting.org to learn about other projects from the international reporting program at the University of British Columbia.

Please take the time to view our new documentary called Freedom From Pain. It airs on the Al Jazeera English program People & Power on Wednesday July 20 at 3:30 p.m. pt.

Nine journalism students, myself included, traveled to India, Ukraine, and Uganda to investigate how countries around the world treat patients suffering from extreme medical pain.

What we found was alarming: Millions of people in the world are suffering from advanced cancers, horrific wounds, and terminal illnesses with virtually no access to painkillers. But unlike so many global health problems, we found that the lack of pain treatment isn’t about money or shortage of drugs. Morphine — the gold standard in pain treatment — is not only cheap, but is also readily available. We discovered that inflexible, outdated bureaucracies and an irrational fear of narcotics are responsible for the suffering of so many people around the world. Some experts have even compared the suffering of these millions of patients to torture.

However, there is hope. We met with pioneers and doctors in the medical and human rights communities that tirelessly fight to get morphine to patients who need it most and end the needless suffering.

For more information please email me at evan@evanduggan.com.

A press release will be available on Monday, July 18.