The Enviro Beltane Show

It’s an ill wind that blows for the Bush regime and their friends in Big Oil these days, but there’s also some ill wind blowing in the realm of alternative energy. Eleanor Tillinghast from the group Green Berkshires joined us to talk about the problems with industrial windpower. Also we looked a bit at the Cape Wind project proposed for Nantucket Sound and the controversy within the ranks of environmentalists, present company included! Centralized energy? Windfarms as the answer to climate change? We don’t think so!

But first Gina Citoli set the stage with her blues tune, "Natural order of things", followed by Tamara, our resident witch, who joined us to clue everyone in on Beltane, the celebration that came waaaay before Easter, Passover or International Workers Day. We didn't erect a maypole in the studio....umm...hmm..not much room for that and we guessed the traditional bonfire was REALLY out of the question!

Speaking of May Day, d.o. couldn't resist sounding-off about his hometown's move toward total build-out. His commentary Leverett residents celebrate May Day by trashing the town" gave us the impression that all those raised septic mounds really do stink!

Then it was on to our regular Bush bashing (they give us so much to work with!) We checked-out King George and the court’s latest attacks on the planet and You! Of course, their neocon friends on the Hill weren't spared either: witness the House Repugnicans handing over $5 billion in tax breaks to Big Oil even as they make record profits and YOU empty out yur' piggybank to fill-up at the pump. And hey, checkout these clowns: talking fuel economy and driving around DC in their SUVs!

On the Bus Stop Billboard this week:

The Bees are here! Checkout the tour
Wednesday,May 3rd at Williams College Central Courtyard at 4:15pm in Williamstown.
Thursday, May 4th at Simmons College, Main College Building 3rd
Floor, 300 The Fenway, Boston at 6:00 pm

Sunday, May 7, 2006, 7 pm. at First Churches, Northampton, MA. Our own Harvey Wasserman on SOLARTOPIA: WHY WE CAN'T WAIT! Closing Nuclear Power Plants & Opening the Door to Renewables

Sunday, MAY 14, 2006 NOON TO 2 PM. MOTHER'S DAY FOR MOTHER EARTH
Come to the annual Mothers Day Peace & Justice March
A WORLD FOR THE CHILDREN - PEACE JUSTICE TRUE DEMOCRACY
JUST/ SUSTAINABLE ECONOMY DIVERSITY ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE
11:45 AM meet at the Bridge Street School in Northampton
12 NOON, march downtown for a speakout of prose, poems & song.

Next time around: Eleanor rejoins us to go head-to-head with Tina Clarke of Clean Water Action on the industrial windpower issue. Also a looooong set by Para Noise with a reasonable request concerning the King.

The Enviro Water Show, Part 2

It was Part 2 of our ongoing coverage of water, THE issue of the 21st century. We had a look at privatization issues around water with Jean and with Jonathan Leavitt of Mass Global Action. Also, local film-maker/videographer Liz Miller called in about her soon to be released work "Water Warriors". First off though we had a peek at what the enemies of the Earth in the Bush regime are up to recently and then we failed to move on to some of the threats industrial civilization is throwing at the ocean. Also: more ticket giveaways! We had three pairs of tickets to "Marx in Soho", a CAN fundraiser in Shelburne Falls on April 22 but the phone was busy w/the interview!

We listened to "Get out the Bushes, Get out the Theives" by Stephanie Lee before we engaged in our traditional Bush-bashing. The Bush regime declares wet land are wetlands! Also, King George and the Court of Big Oil are licking their greasey lips over new coastal oil drilling plans. Things looking dim at home? How about a new war!

we were listening up to "Veolia" by Tom Neilson from the "Only Outlaws will be Free" album which set us up for a conversation with Jean, Liz, Glen, d.o. and Jonathan Leavitt on privatization of water. That went on and on and on. Soooo many people, sooooooo many thoughts, so little time.

Then it was on to Bus Stop billboard:

>April 17 – 21, Tent State UMass, UMass Amherst Student Union Lawn

>Thursday, April 20, 2006 NRC Meeting on Vermont Yankee, 2pm Brattleboro Quality Inn,Brattleboro, VT . Let NRC know what you think about how Entergy is doing.

>Saturday, April 22, 2006, 8pm, Memorial Hall, Shelburne Falls, MA. "Marx in Soho" by Howard Zinn . Join us for a great evening with Jerry Levy, who will present this one man play written by Howard Zinn about Karl Marx and his return to earth for one day. This is a benefit for CAN!! $15/$10 students, retired or unemployed
Tickets are available at World Eye bookshop and Boswell's books.

> Sunday April 23rd, 10 – 5pm. Amherst Earth Day on the Amherst Common.
Environmental organizations offering information on the Amherst Common. Come to hear Deb Katz and others speak of the latest developments regarding our aging Vermont Yankee reactor. There will be a tribute and annual Amherst Earth Day award given to CAN, Deb and Fred at 12:40. 11 - 12 Interfaith Prayer Circle including Sacred Circle Dances with Rowan. All kinds of wonderful music from 12 - 5 including local folk singers Annie Hassett, Molly Scott, with Sarah Benson - country bluegrass - accoustic raggae - blues - alternative indie rock - folk pop. Please join us. 413 549 5503.

> Tuesday, April 25-26 Brattleboro, VT Chernobyl Action and Rally
check the website for more info as it develops. www.nukebusters.org

Hattie Nestel is initiating a three-day water only fast. She will be in
front of the Wells Fountain on Main St. in Brattleboro, which is less than 10 miles from Vermont Yankee on April 25, 26 and 27 from 10:00 A.M. until 4:00 P.M. and invites anyone to join her. Info: hattieshalom@verizon.net

This is the twentieth anniversary of the catastrophic accident at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in Northern Ukraine.

>Friday, April 28, Arbor Day, from 3 to 7 pm on Skinner Green, Mt. Holyoke College, The First Annual MHC Roots of Community Festival. The festival will bring the Five College community together with local businesses and organizations working towards sustainability. Everyone is invited to join for an afternoon of community exhibits, music and entertainment, local sustainable businesses and community organizations, outdoor games, a "Green Parade" put on by the Environmental Action Coalition, and a May Pageant. email: rootsofcommunity@gmail.com.

NEXT TIME: Back to the Pleistocene! Sweep out that cave, industrial civilization (such as it is) is headed down the tubes. Hang on!

Sea Shepherd opposes Cape Wind project

Add to the growing list of opponents to Cape Wind's proposed windmill farm on Horseshoe Shoal in Nantucket Sound the no-compromise direct action organization Sea Shepherd. Captain Paul Watson, founder and president of Sea Shepherd and once co-founder of Greenpeace International, told this reporter that "this project is a threat to seabirds and as a marine wildlife conservation organization, we represent our clients, marine wildlife and this Cape Wind project is not in their interest".

Back in December, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. came out against the project in an op-ed piece in the New York Times. Kennedy, a seasoned and highly respected environmentalist, wrote "Environmental groups have been enticed by Cape Wind, but they should be wary of lending support to energy companies that are trying to privatize the commons". In the article Kennedy went on to point out the ecological drawbacks of the project point by point in a reasonable and respectful tone. Important questions of the projects potential air and sea traffic safety have also been raised. Almost before the ink was dry on the page however, a storm of controversy arose and it has been brewing ever since.

Some backers of Cape Wind took the low road, attacking Kennedy and using some of the same corporate tactics and name-calling they themselves have been subjected to in the past. It hasn’t been very pretty. Others, like John Passacantando, Executive Director of Greenpeace USA, cast doubt on the integrity of Cape Wind opponents with statements such as "The opponents of Cape Wind would have you believe that to protect the environment, we need to oppose the wind farm", as if their efforts were contrived and their motives of concern for the environment were less than genuine.

Paul Watson says, “The position of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society on Cape Wind is that we are in full support of Bobbi Kennedy Jr.’s position. We also agree with Mike Roselle". Roselle, one of the founders of Earth First! also sided with Kennedy and took his attackers to task on his website. It makes for strange bedfellows given that Kennedy is very much a product of establishment politics, a lawyer and NRDC stalwart, while Watson and Roselle are leading voices in the radical direct action segment of the environmental movement. In addition, while most working class fisher organizations oppose Cape Wind's plan, as do many area residents, some of the members of the Alliance to Protect Nantucket Sound are millionaire yachtsmen. Perhaps even stranger is the fact that Massachusetts Republican governor Mitt Romney also opposes Cape Wind's plans, though more likely for reasons having to do with his presidential aspirations rather than any concern for Nantucket Sound and those who dwell there.

Regardless of the strange alliance of opponents, what seems lost in the ongoing argument brings us back to Kennedy's statement about privatizing the commons. While it may seem odd coming from a nominal patrician, the fact is that Cape Wind, the combined corporate entity of Energy Management Inc. and Wind Management LLP, intends to errect their industrial operation in public space, and not just any public space. Nantucket Sound, like the adjoining National Seashore where Thoreau walked the "Great Beach", is a national treasure. The question begs to be asked: would Cape Wind and its supporters propose errecting its derricks on the edge of the Grand Canyon? Maybe the Grand Tetons? Yellowstone? We think not, but proposing a windfarm or ANY industrial facility to be built in Nantucket Sound seems just as absurd when other already developed sites exist. In fact, given the growing intensity of storms in this day and age, one wonders why anyone would wish to build on the ocean at all.

Yes, climate disruption driven by a collapsing industrial civilization is a critical issue for the health and wellbieng, indeed the very survuval of the biosphere. Alternative energy facilities like windmills and solar voltaics, along with REAL energy conservation efforts, can help ease the increasing CO2 loading of Earth's atmosphere if they actually replace fossil fuel power plants (not anywhere near the needed attention is being paid to on-site power production for individual homes and businesses). But the question remains: just what are we going to sacrafice in order to stem the tide of global climate change? Will our grandchildren inherit a world of ruined land and seascapes developed for the maintainence of contemporary consumer lifestyles? Do we cast aside ecological integrity, the lives of countless other creatures and indeed unparralelled natural beauty so that we can continue shopping for the next big thing? We don't need to trash our natural biogems to "save the planet", we need to trash our unsustainable lifestyles, our deadly mindsets.

- d.o.

The Enviro Water Show, Part 1

Jean was off to Gene Town this week (that’s with a "G", formerly Bean Town but now what with all the Frankenstein genetic engineering going on...). In any case, Steve McCormick of the U.S. Geological Survey and the Conti Fish Research Lab in Turners Falls joined us to talk endocrine disrupters in the water. Yes, water, water, everywhere but not a whole lot to drink. We talked water quality on the show: in the brooks, rivers, ponds, lakes, the oceans, how about that stuff coming out of your tap? We had a look at some local water issues as well as broadening our scope onto the big picture. AND another Enviro Show First: Ticket giveaways! No, we're not going corporate rock jock on you, just helping our friends at the Citizens Awareness Network (CAN) stage a showing of "Marx in Soho" in Shelburne Falls on April 22nd.

Also, we didn't find time to ship out to the high seas for a bit and see what kind of damage humans are contemplating or already engaged in, such as oilwells off the Atlantic coast, ocean dumping, over-fishing and other assorted threats. Being here in the hills of Western Mass it's often easy to forget what's going down off the coast, but even a cursory look is liable to make you feel a bit....err...sea sick? Maybe we'll get to this on the Enviro Water Show, Part 2.

This week pasted on the Bus Stop Billboard:

Saturday, April 8th, 10 am – 5 pm. GREEN FAIR at Indoor Action, Bernardston Rd (near the Greenfield/Bernardston town lines), in conjunction with the Better Living Show. Presented by the Greenfield Business Association, Green Fields Market, and Franklin First Federal Credit Union.

April 5 to 7
HURRICANE RELIEF VISIT
Curtis Muhammad of the People’s Hurricane Relief Fund will visit
Western Mass. Local Katrina Solidarity Committee needs help with his visit,
such as with petitioning at the events he is speaking at and collecting
funds for relief. There have been a lot of promising developments in the
people’s movement for a just rebuild of New Orleans and the Gulf States.
Info: Chris Darrow, mailto:peilapush(at)yahoo.com.

April 7 to 9
REV BILLY & THE CHURCH OF STOP SHOPPING GOSPEL CHOIR
Friday: 7:30-9pm, The Church, 120 Main St, Brattleboro VT.
Saturday: 8-9pm, Hampshire College Gymnasium, Rt 116, Amherst.
Sunday: 3-4pm, All Souls Unitarian Church, 399 Main St, Greenfield.
Suggested donation $8 - no one will be turned away. Nationally-known
playwright and performance artist Bill Talen, aka Reverend Billy, and his
NYC-based Church of Stop Shopping Gospel Choir are bringing us their
anti-consumerist "Fabulous Worship!" service.

Sat, April 22, 8 PM, Memorial Hall, Bridge St, Shelburne Falls,MA
Marx in Soho is a one man play by Howard Zinn, historian and social activist.
To benefit CAN, the Citizens Awareness Network
Tickets available at: World Eye Books, Greenfield, Boswell's Books, Shelburne Falls and at the door. For info call 413.625.6177

Friday, April 28, Arbor Day, 3 to 7pm, Mt. Holyoke College Green, S. Hadley; "Roots of Community Festival: Environment, Equality, and Economy". Rain or Shine. Green Parade; music; games; maypole, you get the picture! The Enviro Show will be there with "The Question of the Day". C U there? Info: lmbrunie@mtholyoke.edu

OK folks, tune in Tuesday night, April 18 6-7pm, 103.3fm, same bat channel, same bat time!