The Mass Timber Enviro Show

Greetings Earthlings. Did you learn about The Great Chicago or San Francisco Fires in history class? Those disasters led the construction industries in the U.S. to move away from building large urban structures out of wood. Guess what? Some folks on the UMass, Amherst campus want to turn the clock back and do it all over again? Not everyone is on board and in these days of Climate Crisis do we really want to keep cutting down trees that capture CO2 emissions?? Micheal Kellett of Restore the North Woods returns to the show to deconstruct Mass Timber with us.We'll devote the entire hour to our interview with Micheal so the only place you'll find your favorite Enviro show segments will be right here on the blog. We'll get into all that presently but first it's time for...........Revenge of the Critters! You think coronavirus is bad? Wait until you find out about the Pangola threat.

This week's Fool-on-the-Hill is not only a complete fool but he's also dangerous! Yes, it's Kentucky senator #MoscowMitchMcTraitor who said this about the Green New Deal last year in February:

 "It's clear what we have here. It's the far-left's Santa Claus wish list dressed up to look like serious policy," McConnell said. "Bad ideas are nothing new… silly proposals come and go. But the philosophies and the ideas behind this textbook socialism are not just foolish. They're dangerous."

Next to The Mad King, #MoscowMitchMcTraitor is the actual greatest and gravest threat to our nation and the planet.

And now, on to that other greatest and gravest threat, His Malignancy The Mad King who, before declaring himself the nation's chief lawenforcement officer, recently pardoned some of the worst people on Earth. We're wondering why His Malignancy hasn't yet pardoned General Zod from his imprisonment in the Phantom Zone or The Joker from Arkham State Hospital? And this from Grist: The Mad King's "proposed budget for fiscal year 2021, a “Budget for America’s Future,” aims to slash funding for 14 different climate programs. And that’s just at the [highly compromised] Environmental Protection Agency." Meanwhile, some of His Malignancy's climate criminal enablers granted Keystone XL some of the final permits needed from  the Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Land Management, and the Army Corps of Engineers. TC Energy says it will start clearing trees and mowing grass in the pipeline’s right-of-way this March. With agencies issuing the final permits and TC Energy poised to break ground, the tribes along with the Indigenous Environmental Network are likely to ask for a new injunction, and may have a better chance of getting one. Finally, The Mad King's Environmental "Protection"Agency effort to change a rule that cuts emissions of mercury and other toxins is “an action that is entirely unnecessary, unreasonable, and universally opposed by the power generation sector”, according to the polluters themselves?

Our Enviro Show Quote of the Week comes from our favorite congressman: "“While the President and his allies do everything in their power to undermine our environmental protections as a favor to big oil lobbyists and corporate polluters, we are prioritizing conserving and protecting our delicate ecosystems like never before. I proudly voted yes on this important bill [Protecting America’s Wilderness Act (H.R. 2546)] to protect our wilderness – and our planet – for generations to come.”       - Jim McGovern

Time to remind your distracted friends and neighbors: "It's the Climate Crisis, Stupid!" Not sure if telling them the dailyaverage of CO2 levels on Feb. 10 was 416.08 parts per million thus crossing another grim doomsday threshold. Maybe something more in their face like: "Overlapping environmental crises could tip the planet into "globalsystemic collapse", more than 200 top scientists warned"?  Too extreme? How about Maybe we can fix recycling?  And this: Why the Repugnicans won't act on the Climate Crisis!

Let's head over to the Bus Stop Billboard and see what else we can do:

Wednesday February 26, 6:30 pm. Screening of "Under Pressure" The tragic gas accident that revealed the deep-seated flaws in the energy industry. Forbes Library, Northampton, MA. Go to: underpressurefilm.org 

Friday, February 28, 10am. Closing arguments will be heard and Judge David S. Ross will enter his decision in the 2/4/20 hearing of those arrested at the Wendell State Forest in August and September 2019. The Defendants, members of the Wendell State Forest Alliance have been charged with trespassing and are arguing a Necessity Defense. “We are hopeful that Judge Ross will find for the forests and their protectors. We are in a Climate Crisis and we have been doing everything possible to protect our state owned forests’ biodiversity and carbon storing and sequestering capacities. We had exhausted all other options,” said Defendant Erik Burcroff of Plainfield.  The hearing will take place at the Orange District Court, 1 Court Square, Orange at 10 am. A press conference will follow Judge Ross’s decision. 

Saturday February 29, 9am to 4pm.  Climate Resiliency: Deerfield 2030.   Residents are invited and encouraged to attend a Feb. 29 forum aimed at motivating them to take action to combat climate change. The event consists of a variety of workshops at Frontier Regional School. Residents are asked to register in advance by calling the Deerfield Select Board Office at 413-665-1400, ext. 111, or by sending an email to patk@town.deerfield.ma.us. The town needs an accurate tally for guests to properly prepare the free lunch provided.

Saturday, March 7, 9am. Local Environmental Action 2020 will bring hundreds of activists together to learn, connect and be inspired in Boston, Mass. Go to: http://www.localenvironmentalaction.org/

Restore our Ecosystems, Restore our Earth session at 11AM. [Good opportunity to bring up forest protection & preservation!] “One of the most devastating impacts of climate change is the destruction of our natural ecosystems. However, restoration is possible! Come to learn from activists across Massachusetts on the work they have done to rehabilitate and recover damaged ecosystems. Join us to find resources, partners, and first steps towards restoring ecosystems in your community.” 


Friday, March 13, 2 – 4:00 P.M.  Neonics Scientific Literature Review Public Hearing.
Notice is hereby given that the Pesticide Board Subcommittee, acting through the Department of Agricultural Resources...will hold a public hearing on the findings of a scientific literature review that the Pesticide Board Subcommittee will use when determining whether current uses of neonicotinoid insecticides pose unreasonable adverse effects to the environment as well as pollinators, and whether current registered uses of neonicotinoid insecticides should be altered.  Massachusetts Division of Fish & Wildlife, 1 Rabbit Hill Road, Westborough, MA  01581. For special accommodations for this event or to obtain this information in an alternative format, you may contact ADA coordinator, Donald Gomes, at 617-626-1608. 

Monday, March 16, 6-7:30pm.  Join the Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs for a series of public meetings on the Commonwealth’s planning efforts to address climate change and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Guided by the 2008 Global Warming Solutions Act, Massachusetts is currently studying how to achieve the ambitious climate goal of net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. [Whoa! Sorry, we don't have the luxury of 30 YEARS!] Springfield Technical Community College. Registration link: https://springfield2050roadmap.eventbrite.com

Tuesday March 17, 7 to 9:30pm. Third Tuesday Greenfield Word.  Ides of March readings by d.o. from The Enviro Show. Also readings by Rosie McMahan. 9 Mill Street, Greenfield, MA. Go down the hill towards the Olver Transportation center Under the Railroad bridge. At the light take a right turn and it is the first building on the right. If driving park in the street or down three buildings in the Art center parking lot.

That's it 'til next time just remember to listen to your Mother.....Got it?

Another WMass Extinction Rebellion Show

Greetings Earthling. What can you do about the Sixth Great Extinction? One thing you could do here in the Mid-Conneticut River Valley is hook-up with Extinction Rebellion Western Mass and join them "to act on behalf of the security and well-being of our children, our communities and the future of the planet itself".  Sounds like a plan, yes?  Adrie Rose, Steven Botkin, and Ella Lester join us for the entire hour to talk about the work including ________________.  We have the usual suspect's segments only here on the blog this time because this show was prerecorded awhile back so Glen can hike about the outback for a few months with his entourage and yours truly can fight the good fight without a microphone in my face. All that presently, but first it's time for..........Revenge of the Critters! Octopus escapes human prison!

This week's Fool-on-the-Hill goes plural once again and covers an entire political party that has chosen to put that sorry-ass party over principle and the very oath of office they signed promising to protect the U.S. Constitution. Yes, it is the former Republican Party (now the Repugnican Party) whose members sit in both the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate where they held an impeachment "trial" of The Mad King without calling a single witness or for any evidence. The Repugs hold the majority in the Senate so they were able to turn His Malignancy's Impeachment into a pathetic show trial and through lies and deceit turn their oaths into meaninglessness while helping to create a unitary executive, thus undermining the separation of powers first established in the United States Constitution. These fools may have destroyed the Republic with their actions.

Meanwhile, The Mad King and his Court of Climate Criminals have been busy destroying or endangering the more physical aspects of your country. Let's start with His Malignancy's favorite toady AG Barr (it's a low bar) and the Department of Injustice where a new investigation from Inside Climate News has revealed that [Barr et al] has been working with Big Oil to oppose a wave of lawsuits over claims that they lied to investors and the public about climate change, damaged fisheries, and impinged on young people’s right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness with regard to inaction on the Climate Crisis. Also,  The Mad King's reinterpretation of the Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918 won’t punish oil and gas companies whose activities kill birds unintentionally. And this: "new emails obtained by The Guardian show that messaging around forest management in 2018 was more than just a way to pin the blame on California and deny climate change. Like most other actions taken by this administration, it also helped prop up industry profits by embracing the industry’s propaganda." Surprise! When not gifting nazis with press credentials, or cutting Social Security disability benefits by $2.6 billion, His Malignancy is also "stripping federal protections from nearly half of America's wetlands and millions of miles of streams, openly broadcasting lack of faith in the science that underpins both the Clean Water Rule and the Clean Water Act that came before it." How's THAT for "making America great again"?

Guess who doesn't want to admit "It's the Climate Crisis, Stupid!'? His Malignancy bragged in the recent Sorry State of the Union Address (that's 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue actually)  "To protect the environment, days ago, I announced the United States will join the One Trillion Trees Initiative, an ambitious effort to bring together government and the private sector to plant new trees in America and around the world”. You'll notice he failed to use the "C" word, also he failed to mention his  executive order instructing the U.S. secretaries of agriculture and interior to consider harvesting " 4.4 billion board feet of timber from forest land managed by their agencies on millions of acres, and put it up for sale. The order would translate into a 31 percent increase in forest service logging since 2017." Planting a trillion trees is a good thing of course, but time is short in the Climate Crisis. We absolutely must stop all the deforestation in this warming world, OK?  Finally, a word on our friends the Bumblebees. 

On to the Bus Stop Billboard:


Monday, February 24, 2020 at 7  – 9 pm.  Climate Action Now Monthly Gathering. First Churches of Northampton, Massachusetts 129 Main St, Northampton, Massachusetts 01060.  Everyone is welcome-everyone is needed! Feel the warmth of community and the strength of collective action as we move forward together at this critical moment in history.  Go to: https://www.facebook.com/ClimateActionNowMA/ 

Wednesday February 26, 6:30 pm. Screening of "Under Pressure" The tragic gas accident that revealed the deep-seated flaws in the energy industry. Forbes Library, Northampton, MA. Go to: underpressurefilm.org 


Saturday February 29, 9am to 4pm.  Climate Resiliency: Deerfield 2030.   Residents are invited and encouraged to attend a Feb. 29 forum aimed at motivating them to take action to combat climate change. The event consists of a variety of workshops at Frontier Regional School. Residents are asked to register in advance by calling the Deerfield Select Board Office at 413-665-1400, ext. 111, or by sending an email to patk@town.deerfield.ma.us. The town needs an accurate tally for guests to properly prepare the free lunch provided. 


Saturday, March 7, 9am. Local Environmental Action 2020 will bring hundreds of activists together to learn, connect and be inspired in Boston, Mass. Go to: http://www.localenvironmentalaction.org/

Restore our Ecosystems, Restore our Earth session at 11AM. [Good opportunity to bring up forest protection & preservation!] “One of the most devastating impacts of climate change is the destruction of our natural ecosystems. However, restoration is possible! Come to learn from activists across Massachusetts on the work they have done to rehabilitate and recover damaged ecosystems. Join us to find resources, partners, and first steps towards restoring ecosystems in your community.”

We are out of here. Until next time, remember to listen your Mother!

Another Dam Enviro Show

Greetings Earthlings. With all the popular resistance against fossil fuels, dirty wood biomass and the destruction of our public forests in the Commonwealth, the troubling issue of Megadams up north and their literal connection to our electrical power in the Northeast is often overlooked. Our friend Meg Sheehan of the North American Megadams Resistance Alliance (NAMRA) stands in solidarity with groups opposing megadams and joins us along with Sandi Howard from Say NO to NECEC for the full hour on this show. Here on the blog we'll continue to bring you along for a look at this week's Fool-on-the-Hill, His Most Impeachable Mad King and his Court, as well as give your less enlightened kin the reminder "It's the Climate Crisis, Stupid!" but first it's time for...........Revenge of the Critters! Walrus Sinks Russian Navy Boat. We guess this is war.

Not every Fool-on-the-Hill actually works there, right? Some fools are just visitors like The Mad King's White House counsel in His Impeachment trial, Pat Cipollone. You'd have to go a ways to find a more foolish remark than Cipollone's recent whopper in which he apparently stated with a straight face that: “President Trump is a man of his word”. Actually.........nah!

We have some sorry-ass Breaking News! It seems Beacon Hill, ("The place where legislation goes to die") in its eternal wisdom, will not be reporting out H.897 An Act Relative to Forest Protection. Sadly, Bill McKibben's 11th hour plea in support of the bill was too little/too late. That said, you still can join the call for a moratorium on logging PUBLIC land in the Commonwealth HERE .  There is, however, some good news: The other bill McKibben referenced, H.853 An Act to assure the attainment of greenhouse gas emissions goals in the alternative portfolio standard, or the Biomass Bill, will be reported out. 

On to His Malignancy The Mad King himself! Let's see what nefarious deeds he's up to lately. Most recently while in Davos prowling around with actual billionaires (instead of at his own Impeachment Trial) he publicly revealed cuts to earned Medicare and Social Security benefits will be on the table as soon as the end of this year, according to Richard Fiesta, executive director of the Alliance for Retired Americans. Not content with just throwing granny under the bus, His Malignancy's Court of Corruption today (Thursday, January 23, 2020) "will finalize a rule to strip away environmental protections for streams, wetlands and other water bodies" in the U.S.  Meanwhile, over at his Department of Injustice "New emails show the... Department is helping Big Oil fight climate lawsuits"! Also this: "The White House announced....that it plans to veto the PFAS Action Act of 2019, which aims to keep harmful forever chemicals out of groundwater", Newsweek reported. Also, "The [Mad King's] U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission is moving forward with a proposed rulemaking to eliminate its requirements for offsite emergency preparedness around a new generation of Small Modular Reactors and other contemplated non-light water reactors. The NRC staff acknowledges that the rule change could also apply to aging, large conventional light water reactors in the US, the brunt of which have had their licenses extendedby decades." We're pretty sure there's more new assaults planned by His Malignancy out there but maybe this is enough for this week.....or just maybe we'll be rid of him?

Time to remind anyone who isn't paying attention that....."It's the Climate crisis, Stupid!" As we move beyond "The Hottest Decade on Record" to who knows what all Greta Thunberg reminds those with the most among us: "Our house is still on fire. Your inaction is fueling the flames by the hour. And we are telling you to act as if you loved your children above all else." Meanwhile our friends at Grist point out: "The American Petroleum Institute, Big Oil’s biggest lobbying group, is rolling out a new ad campaign focused on “energy progress” and heralding its efforts to address the need for cleaner energy. “Natural gas and oil,” says a new ad, reversing the usual order of things, “This is energy progress.” Really? OK, we guess if The Mad King is now "a man of his word" then so must the climate criminals be? [insert hysterical laughter here] Actually, like Orwell noted: “During times of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act.” 

On to the Bus Stop Billboard:

Thursday, February 13, 10:00am-12:00pm. All Out! for a DCR Forest Action Plan Meeting. Great Falls Discovery Center, Turners Falls, MA. Prepare to make the case for REAL forest protection and preservation! " Forest Action Plans represent a comprehensive assessment of the state's forest resources across public and private land, guide the work of forestry professionals, and inform conservation and land use plans. Join the Department of Conservation and Recreation to provide feedback and discuss the draft of the 2020 Forest Action Plan." 

Thursday February 13, 5pm. Indigenous Women on the Front Lines of Environmental Activism: The Battle for Environmental Justice in the Amazon. Conference Center Paradise Room, Smith College, Northampton, MA. Call 413-585-2407.

Saturday February 15, 6:30 to 8pm. The Cougar Returns to the East.  There is no question about it. Cougars are not only being seen in eastern North America, some are attempting to recolonize their former habitats.  Where once it was flatly dismissed as an impossibility in the so-called “developed” east, scientists have now documented cougar dispersals and even occupancy in a growing list of eastern states and provinces. Join us for a magnificently illustrated introduction to cougar biology and ecology in the broad diversity of habitats. Berkshire Community College 1350 West St. Pittsfield, MA. Phone: (413) 230-7321 

That's all, folks! Remember, when you're out there....Listen to your Mother!

The Wendell State Forest Alliance Enviro Show

Greetings Earthlings. We aired an Enviro Show Special on Tuesday January 14, 6 to 7pm. on Valley Free Radio which will also air on VFR Thursdays at 2pm and again at both times the following week. Our guests were members of the Wendell State Forest Alliance (we are members as well) and the hour long interview, broken into two parts are here and here. 

As usual we'll also take you to witness this week's Fool-on-the-Hill and His Malignancy The Mad King and his court of climate criminals. Also, another reminder that "It's the Climate Crisis, Stupid!" but first it's time for..........Revenge of the Critters! Puppy shoots woman (in which we make an exception just this once for dog as critter)

This week's Fool-on-the-Hill is Georgia repugnican Rep. Rick Allen who simply answered "No" to the 2014 debate question, "Do you believe manmade greenhouse gas emissions are a major source of climate change?" Earning his a League of Conservation Voters score of  0% 

This past week we watched in horror as His Malignancy The Mad King made war on the nation of Iran even as his ongoing War of Science  continues unabated. Thankfully, The Mad King hasn't yet assassinated any leading climate scientists (to our knowledge) but his War on Nature has eliminated untold numbers of species and opened up the gates of Hell for seemingly endless exploitation. Some recent examples include ending punishment for avian deaths due to industrial plunder; removing the federal database that tracks pollution; ongoing effort to trash the National Environmental Protection Act; and simply doing everything possible to trash the planet with the help of his fellow Enemies of the Planet, both Dems and Repugs alike. Sorry, no good news to report other than His Malignancy's impeachment still hanging over his monstrous head, one that now has a bounty on it?

OK, how did the 2010s go in terms of climate chaos? We thought anyone who missed the memo "It's the Climate Crisis, Stupid!" might want to know so Grist has the charts HERE. 
Recall our past conversations about feedback loops and climate chaos? The massive fires in Australia are creating their own bad weather.  Finally, Victoria Falls dries up in Africa's "worst drought in a century". 

Now, on to the Bus Stop Billboard: 

Saturday January 25,  11AM  Demonstration and Street Theater -on the steps of Holyoke City Hall 

Join Rebels and other activists to demand ISO (manger of New England's electric grid) stop subsidizing fossil fuels! More details to come - in the meantime, consider signing this petition about ISO's practices created by MA Attorney General Maura Healey

Monday January 27, 7 to 9pm. Climate Action Now Monthly Gathering. All Welcome! The Unitarian Universalist Society of Amherst, 121 North Pleasant Street, Amherst, MA. Go to: http://climateactionnowma.org/ 

Tuesday January 28, 6:30 to 7:30pm. Mighty Earth’s “Stop, Don’t Chop” Campaign Kick Off Meeting at the Bangs Community Center, South Meeting Room, 70 Boltwood Walk, Amherst, MA. As you read this, your neighborhood Stop & Shop is selling the least sustainable meat available. Cargill, Stop & Shop’s meat supplier, is playing a large part in the deforestation of the Amazon, is polluting our waterways here in the US, and is contributing high levels of greenhouse gas emissions. To add insult to injury, Cargill committed to eliminate its deforestation practices by 2020, but hasn’t taken any significant steps to do so. It’s time for Stop & Shop to stop selling meat produced by Cargill and pressure Cargill to clean up its act. o learn more about how you can get involved before the meeting, please contact Hayley Berliner at hayley@greencorps.org. 

Tuesday January 28, William Moomaw, Emeritus Professor of International Environmental Policy at the Fletcher School – Tufts University, will give a talk titled, “Battling Climate Change One Forest at a Time.” Moomaw will discuss how, over the past 100 years, forests have been actively managed for the production of wood and paper, and more recently for industrial scale wood fuel for heat and electricity. As a result, our forests are purposely kept in a relatively young stage and harvested well before the trees have reached maturity and a large stock of stored carbon and the forest has achieved its full ecological potential. Forests of the world have the potential to store twice what they now store, but this will require a change in management practices. Moomaw will explain how having a higher percentage of older forests will also slow and potentially reverse the decline in both the total population of species and their diversity. The presentation will take place in room 218 of Murdock Hall on the MCLA campus. They are free and open to the public.

For more information, contact Elena Traister at (413) 662-5303.

Wednesday, February 5, 7pm. Trees and Their Role in the Lives of Native Bees. First Congregational Church, 43 Silver St, Greenfield. Joan Milam has researched the conservation of native bees, biodiversity, and taxonomy for many years. She works in collaboration with Federal and State agencies, and NGO’s to provide inventories and baseline data for monitoring native bees in managed habitats.FULL DESCRIPTION HERE . 

Thursday, February 13, 10:00am-12:00pm. All Out! for a DCR Forest Action Plan Meeting. Great Falls Discovery Center, Turners Falls, MA. Prepare to make the case for REAL forest protection and preservation! " Forest Action Plans represent a comprehensive assessment of the state's forest resources across public and private land, guide the work of forestry professionals, and inform conservation and land use plans. Join the Department of Conservation and Recreation to provide feedback and discuss the draft of the 2020 Forest Action Plan."  


Thursday February 13,  5pm. Indigenous Women on the Front Lines of Environmental Activism: The Battle for Environmental Justice in the Amazon. Conference Center Paradise Room, Smith College, Northampton, MA. Call 413-585-2407. 

Saturday February 15,  6:30 to 8pm. The Cougar Returns to the East.  There is no question about it. Cougars are not only being seen in eastern North America, some are attempting to recolonize their former habitats.  Where once it was flatly dismissed as an impossibility in the so-called “developed” east, scientists have now documented cougar dispersals and even occupancy in a growing list of eastern states and provinces. Join us for a magnificently illustrated introduction to cougar biology and ecology in the broad diversity of habitats. Berkshire Community College 1350 West St.
Pittsfield, MA. Phone: (413) 230-7321

That's all folks. Remember to listen to your Mother, OK?

A Crappy New New Year Enviro Show!

Greetings Earthlings on the eve of another New Year. We'll have plenty of 2020 Hindsight © to go around and Kyla Bennett of Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility joins us to give you some indication of what may make the next 365 days a Crappy New Year! As in past years, we'll still take you to meet our Fool-on-the-Hill and, as in these past months, to throw barbs at His Malignancy The Mad King, as well as an end of the year Enviro Show Quote of the Year, but first it' time for...........Revenge of the Critters! A Roo with a bad attitude terrorizes town Down Under.

This final week of 2019 has us recalling one of Congresses biggest fools and not just because he carries The Mad King's water or spouts Putin's party line during the impeachment hearings. No, Rep. Devin Nunes, Repugnican of California wrote: "I mean no offense to the global warming prophets of doom, but I welcome more offshore energy exploration and want to see it move ahead quickly," in his blog in 2017. Fool on! 

We have Breaking News! Our friend and sometimes Enviro Show guest, Michael Kellett has penned an excellent op-ed in The Greenfield Recorder titled "My Turn: Forest Protection Bill H.897: Setting the record straight" which cleanly debunks the junk science coming from both the Warwick & Wendell Selectboards who apparently missed the memo on the Climate Crisis while buying into DCR's bogus approach to so-called "forest management". 

On to His Malignancy The Mad King! Let's begin with this headline which fits nicely with this show's focus: "Trump EPA Sued for Putting Millions of Lives at Risk With Rollback of Chemical Safety Rules". Read all about it HERE. Now, in keeping with the moment, how about a look into His Malignancy's record on the Climate Crisis over the past year? Not to mention other rollbacks  you may have missed. And, The Mad King's approach to managing our public forests is no better. More than 400,000 people and dozens of local tribal, government, business, and national recreation groups have flooded His Malignancy's U.S. Forest Service with comments opposing its plan to undo safeguards that prevent clearcutting of old-growth trees and road building in Alaska’s Tongass National Forest. The comment period has ended. Now it's time to......send in the lawyers! Also, reversing a past victory in federal court for wild plains bison, The Mad King's U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service will not be affording any Endangered Species Act  protections to the two genetically distinct bison herds living in and around Yellowstone National Park. That would be the very same agency that is now threatening one of the largest Barn Swallow nesting sites in the state, right here in Hadley, MA. We wish Roy Cohen would return from the dead and haunt His Malignancy with the special Holidaze message "It's the Climate Crisis, Stupid!" but no such miracle seems available so "The 2020 Election must be  a time of reckoning on climate change"

Time for The Enviro Show Quote of the Year:

"Nature is not, of course, always benign and beautiful. It can be frightening and terrifying also. Not too many generations ago, raw nature and wilderness tended to inspire fear and dread in "civilized" people.They represented Otherness and the Unknown. That which is "wild" is also "bewildering".

Today, wilderness is usually considered to be something good and in need of preservation. The beauty and awesomeness of it dominate our attention.

We are attracted by wilderness, the Otherness of it, the sense it is something inevitably outside of us. Always beyond us, it is what is ultimately real.

We cannot adequately appreciate this aspect of nature if we approach it with any taint of human pretense. It will elude us if we allow artifacts like clothing to intervene between ourselves and this Other. To apprehend it, we cannot be naked enough.

In Wildness is the preservation of the world."

                                                                                     -  Henry David Thoreau

After our conversation with Kyla we move on to our Bus Stop Billboard:


Monday January 27, 7 to 9pm. Climate Action Now Monthly Gathering. All Welcome! The Unitarian Universalist Society of Amherst, 121 North Pleasant Street, Amherst, MA. Go to: http://climateactionnowma.org/ 

Tuesday January 28, William Moomaw, Emeritus Professor of International Environmental Policy at the Fletcher School – Tufts University, will give a talk titled, “Battling Climate Change One Forest at a Time.” Moomaw will discuss how, over the past 100 years, forests have been actively managed for the production of wood and paper, and more recently for industrial scale wood fuel for heat and electricity. As a result, our forests are purposely kept in a relatively young stage and harvested well before the trees have reached maturity and a large stock of stored carbon and the forest has achieved its full ecological potential. Forests of the world have the potential to store twice what they now store, but this will require a change in management practices. Moomaw will explain how having a higher percentage of older forests will also slow and potentially reverse the decline in both the total population of species and their diversity. The presentation will take place in room 218 of Murdock Hall on the MCLA campus. They are free and open to the public.

For more information, contact Elena Traister at (413) 662-5303.

Goodbye Enviro Show fans, we'll be back next year. Meanwhile, remember to listen to your Mother! 

Another Winter Solstice Enviro Show

Greetings Earthlings and a Happy Winter Solstice as of Saturday December 21st when the Return of the Light hopefully brings powerful energy for regeneration, renewal and self-reflection. We'll hear from The Good Green Witch on that as well as from Colby Cunningham of Mass Divest updating us on the divestment movement here in the Commonwealth.  As always, we will bring you along for a visit with our Fool-on-the-Hill and to
checkout His Malignancy The Mad King's latest assaults on good governance and general decency, as well as a reminder that It's the Climate Crisis, Stupid!. but first it's time for..........Revenge of the Critters! Another victim of those feral Hogs in Texas (and another reason to have a garage with an automatic door opener if you must live there).

Sen. Tom Cotton, Repugnican from Arkansas [ insert groan here] certainly qualifies for a turn on this week's Fool-on-the-Hill. Here's what this fool said about the Green New Deal: ""[I]t's pretty remarkable that when these Democrats put out the Green New Deal last week that you had many Democrats running for president leap onto a proposal that was going to confiscate every privately owned vehicle in America within a decade and ban air travel so we could all drive or ride around on high speed light rail, supposedly powered by unicorn tears," Cotton said. Are you surprised this fool believes in unicorns? Nah!

His Malignancy has seemingly been fixated on toilets and bathrooms lately, maybe because the only throne The Mad King will ever know is located there? Meanwhile Dems in Congress are focused on impeaching him while Repugnicans seem hell-bent on....umm...carrying his water?? Here's a related headline for you from EcoWatch:  "With Nation Transfixed by Impeachment, Trump Admin Quietly Serves Offshore Drilling Companies a 'Sweetheart Giveaway'" As you may know, the National Climate Assessment endorsed by NASA, NOAA, the Department of Defense, and 10 other federal scientific agencies, contradicts every position taken on the issue by His Malignancy. We guess that's why this year's Assessment was released to the public on Black Friday? And speaking of the Thanksgiving holiday that just passed, guess what The Mad King did? The White House announced a move that would "strip nutrition assistance from an estimated 750,000 low-income people by mid-2020". Happy Thanksgiving....Mr. Scrooge!! 

Here's our timely Quote of the Week: 

"The Christians stole the winter solstice from the pagans, and capitalism stole it from the Christians."

                                                                                                 - George Monbiot

Apparently some land trusts [Correction: Kestral Land Trust did not sign the letter Glen referenced] and a few "green" groups in the Commonwealth are unaware "It's the Climate Crisis, Stupid" 'cuz they've come out against H.897 An Act Relative to Forest Protection. Not so, our friends at the Center for Biological Diversity who know a thing or two about species protection and the Climate Crisis. You can join CBD's call for support HERE.  And this: a campaign ad from Colorado that pretty much says it all. 

On to the Bus Stop Billboard:

Wednesday, January 1, 1 to 3pm. First day Hike. Enjoy a leisurely three-mile stroll down the Canalside Rail Trail and get the New Year started off on a Great Falls note. This family friendly hike follows a gentle route and provides an opportunity to discover the abundant natural, historical, and cultural features that make the Center and rail trail such an amazing State Park! Be prepared for cold weather: dress in layers and wear winter boots. Dogs are welcome on leash. Afterward, enjoy a cup of hot chocolate in the Discovery Center’s Great Hall, Avenue A, Turners Falls, MA. Meet at 1 p.m. in Great Hall. Hike begins at 1:15 p.m.


Wednesday, January 4, 2:00 – 3:30pm. Technical presentation by biomedical engineering doctorate and local professor on science and health risks of cell phones meant for local doctors and academics or teachers with a scientific background. Reservations available through Last Tree Laws or EventBrite. If weather cancels: Tuesday, January 7th, late afternoon. Holyoke Public Library, 250 Chestnut Street, Holyoke, MA 01040  

 That's it for now folks. We'll update the billboard as more events appear. Until then remember to....what? LISTEN TO YOUR MOTHER OF COURSE!