Think airs Monday to Thursday from 12:00 noon to 2:00 p.m. on KERA 90.1 FM. Encore airings of Think can be heard Monday to Thursday nights on KERA FM beginning at 9:00 p.m. Podcasts and streamed video are available online at www.kera.org/think.

Monday, 4/22

Hour 1:  What was the first Earth Day like? In observance of today’s 44^th Earth Day, we’ll look back at the history of the celebration and its influence on the environmental movement with Adam Rome, who teaches environmental history at the University of Delaware. His new book is “The Genius of Earth Day: How a 1970 Teach-In Unexpectedly Made the First Green Generation” (Hill and Wang, 2013).

Hour 2:  When big news breaks where do you turn and who do you trust for accurate information? This hour we’ll discuss the ever-shorter news cycle and the current state of journalism with Jill Abramson, executive editor of The New York Times. She’ll speak on “Protecting Quality Journalism” as part of the SMU Dedman School of Law’s Louise B. Raggio Endowed Lecture Series this evening.

Tuesday, 4/23

Hour 1:  Will you ever be able to retire and is retirement even an option for most Americans anymore? We’ll explore the realities of the retirement industry this hour this hour with Martin Smith and Marcela Gaviria. Their new film “The Retirement Gamble” airs on the PBS series FRONTLINE this evening.

Hour 2:  How does a composer approach the creation of a newly commissioned work? We’ll spend this hour with Jake Heggie who’s in town for the premiere of his new “Ahab Symphony.” The UNT Symphony Orchestra, the Grand Chorus, and tenor soloist Richard Croft will perform the work tomorrow evening at the UNT Murchison Performing Arts Center.

Wednesday, 4/24

Hour 1:  Just how bleak would the world be without laughter? We’ll laugh this hour with comedienne and Saturday Night Live veteran Julia Sweeney. She writes about the funny and not-so-funny aspects of life in the new essay collection “If It’s Not One Thing, It’s Your Mother” (Simon & Schuster, 2013).

Hour 2:  What was the real hunt for Osama bin Laden like? We’ll talk this hour with Greg Barker, director of the HBO Documentary Film, “MANHUNT,” which tells the true story of the two-decade pursuit of the world’s most notorious terrorist. HBO, the World Affairs Council of Dallas/Ft Worth, and the USA Film Festival will premiere the film at tonight’s opening celebration of the 2013 USA Film Festival at Angelika Film Center in Dallas.

Thursday, 4/25

Hour 1:  Instead of helping humanity improve its collective lot, could the ubiquity of digital access actually be hurting our chances for true freedom and democracy? We’ll talk this hour with Evgeny Morozov, author of “To Save Everything, Click Here: The Folly of Technological Solutionism” (PublicAffairs, 2013).

Hour 2:  What was it like to witness Hitler’s ascent to power in Nazi Germany? We’ll talk this hour with Andrew Nagorski, a longtime writer for Newsweek who is now director of public policy at the EastWest Institute. He collects the personal stories from military officers, journalists, Olympic athletes and others in “Hitlerland: American Eyewitnesses to the Nazi Rise to Power” (Simon & Schuster, 2013) which is now out in paperback.

###