Rising Tide Road Show's Climate Action Tour

The Rising Tide Road Show's Climate Action Tour is coming to Western Massachusetts! Performances will be May 11th at 7 p.m. at Food for Thought Books in downtown Amherst and May 12th at noon on the front steps of the Unitarian Universalist Church between City Hall and Pulaski Park.

Rising Tide North America is traveling throughout the nation in a vegetable oil powered bus talking with communities about the impacts of climate change and what can be done to fight it. Using music, theater, and multimedia presentations, the Climate Action Tour will cover a wide range of topics including: an overview of how climate change is impacting the human and natural world; the new coal rush; debunking false solutions to climate change; international opposition to the fossil fuel industry; environmental justice; and creative actions communities can take.

Rising Tide North America is part of an international network dedicated to fighting the root causes of climate change. In the past year Rising Tide North America has organized civil disobedience against a coal power plant; a nationwide bike ride on the anniversary of Hurricane Katrina; and a grassroots counter-summit to the G8 climate talks in Mexico City. See http://risingtidenorthamerica.org for more information.

Local sponsors of the event include NOFA- Northeast Organic Farming Association, Citizens Awareness Network, Pedal People, Coop Power, The Enviro Show, The Bicycle Kitchen, Earthlands, The Montview Neighborhood Farm, Smith College Students for Social Justice and Institutional Change and Mass Bike-Pioneer Valley Chapter.

Ruthy Woodring from Pedal People, a Northampton based bicycle powered hauling service, says: "We can slow climate change but it's going to take fun hard work, like bicycling." Pedal power, real conservation, lifestyle change, direct action, all these and more will be necessary to effectively confront the climate crisis. The Rising Tide Road Show's Climate Action Tour will help make that possible. Events are family friendly and accessible.

For more information contact enviroshow@valleyfreeradio.org or go to: http://risingtidenorthamerica.org.

The May Day! May Day! Enviro Show

It’s multiple choice on the Enviro Show: choose May Day, as in REVOLUTION NOW! May Day, as in dance around the maypole with flowers in yur’ hair, maybe naked, maybe tanked on may wine? Or, MAY DAY! MAY DAY! We’re in deep doo-doo! You decide…..no….wait a minute: it’s our show, WE decide. MAY DAY! MAY DAY! Climate meltdown! Biodevastation! Stay tuned. Ben Grosscup of NOFA joins us to dissect gentech, GE Trees and this week’s Biojustice’07 events in Genetown, AND Jackie from the Pedal People hopefully phones in from the Jobs With Justice May Day gig at Elms College with an update on the Rising Tide Roadshow Climate Action Tour coming to the Valley May 11th & 12th, but first it’s time for.......

Revenge of the Critters! This one is short & sweet, going out to all my fellow truants: Zero Tolerance Policy for Squirrel Violence. A squirrel in Crestline CA jumped a teacher and terrorized elementary school children at the Valley of Enchantment School recently before escaping to a tree nearby. The squirrel was termed "vicious" by school staff. Hmmm…there must be a lesson in there somewhere, right?

Ooooooo! Glen? How much longer til’ these scary guys are out of here? Here’s some news that hopefully may help send the Bush regime packing: It’s The Union of Concerned Scientists’ A to Z Guide to Political Interference in Science. This came to our attention in our own Valley Advocate in a piece by Jacob Wheeler (yikes! So did our Revenge of the Critters piece. What’s this: Radio Free Advocate??). AND, while 113 House members are cosponsoring Rep. Henry Waxman’s Safe Climate Act, longtime New York enviro activist Lorna Saltzman (and your friends at The Enviro Show) say TOO LITTLE, TOO LATE! ALSO, good news in the Commonwealth, bad news for developers!

"Here at the End of the World" by Dave Rovics takes us to our interviews and then it's on to the Bus Stop Billboard:

Wednesday May 2, 5:30–8pm. WalMart Super Center Rally! American Legion Hall
162 Russell Street (Route 9), Hadley next to Wanczyk Nursery - big cannon in front
Wal-Mart is having an Open House! Let's make sure their "information session" is informative. Info: Aron Goldman, 549-1193, goldman@policydevelopment.org.

Friday May 4; Biojustice 2007 12 noon: Gathering on the Boston Common, featuring a Really Really Free Market and other festivities. 7 – 9:30 PM: Opening event at Old South Church (Copley Square) – "International Farmers Speak Out," with representatives of international farmers’ movements from Brazil, Bangladesh and elsewhere, music, and more.
Saturday May 5th, 10 AM – Noon: Panel discussion: "Biotechnology, Medicine and Human Rights" at Old South Church. 11 AM: Wake up the Earth parade begins (Corner of Centre St. and South Street Adjunct in Jamaica Plain). 12:30 – 5 PM: Wake up the Earth Festival in Jamaica Plain (Boylston and Lamartine Sts./Stony Brook T stop), with speakers, music, tables, kids’ games, etc.


Sunday May 6th 11 AM – 1 PM: Environmental Justice tour and puppet parade in Roxbury, with SafetyNet and other local groups. 1 – 4 PM: Community gathering in Blackstone Park (Washington and W. Newton Sts., 5 blocks east of Mass. Ave.), with festivities, and a panel of speakers on the proposed B.U. bioweapons facility planned for the neighborhood. 5 PM: Premiere screenplay reading of The Donors, a science fiction thriller set in 2030.. Community Church of Boston, Guatemala Room, 565 Boylston Street, near Copley Sq. 6 - 8 PM: Rising Tide Road Show, featuring slides on mountaintop removals for coal mining, global struggles against environmental degradation and food insecurity, social justice songs, and a confronting climate change musical! Encuentro 5, 33 Harrison Ave, 5th floor, in Chinatown.

Sat, May 5; Noon. Vermont Yankee Die In. Brattleboro, VT. Scary meltdown sirens are always tested on the first Saturday of each month at 12 Noon. a die-in protest. For the full 3-5 minute test, people commit each month to stop their activities and reflect on what it would mean if this were not a test but the real thing. A group will be meeting at 11 am at the Harmony parking lot to walk through downtown and distribute literature and talk with people about what is going to be happening.
Contact Daniel Sicken 802-387-2798 or email dhsicken@yahoo.com

Wednesday, May 9th , 6:30pm Community Solutions to Global Warming - Climate Change: From Despair to Empowerment”. 2nd Congregational Church, Greenfield. An Evening Forum with John Seed, Australian Environmentalist. Multi-media presentation & forum including footage of Al Gore and journalist, Ross Gelbspan. Discussion of unsustainable 'solutions' such as 'clean' coal and nuclear power.

The Rising Tide Road Show's Climate Action Tour is coming to Western Massachusetts! Performances will be May 11th at 7 p.m. at Food for Thought Books in downtown Amherst and May 12th at noon on the front steps of the Unitarian Universalist Church between City Hall and Pulaski Park.

That's it 'til next time when we checkout a nightmare on Elm Street...really!
Remember: listen to your Mother.

Another Climate Crisis Enviro Show

We'll be continuing the theme from last time ‘cuz there’s sooooo much to cover in terms of the human impact on the climate (we're not talking the cozy sounding "global warming", not (yawn) "climate change"; it’s the CLIMATE CRISIS!!). We’ll have a call-in from Chelsea Sexton, Executive Director of Plug In America who was featured in the film "Who killed the electric car?" and, as usual, we’ll get into the news and some serious Bush-bashing, but first it’s time for....Revenge of the Critters! Monkeys take over New Delhi!

Glen, there’s that awful theme again, what’s the count? We thought for a minute last week that we’d almost gotten rid of these guys, but alas, it was apparently just a joke. Actually, with Big Oil in the White House the joke’s on us (sigh). Ok, they may be dug-in at the White House, but they ARE, at last, taking some serious hits on enviro issues. This from the Christian Science Monitor. We’ll cap this segment with Colleen Kattau’s "Royally Oily" bluegrass tune off her "Inhabited Woman" album.

Our phone-in interview at this point with Chelsea Sexton, Executive Director of Plug In America who was in the excellent film "Who killed the electric car?", reminds us how Big Auto has so egregiously bailed on low-impact transportation. Speaking of cars, cars, cars, here’s an intriguing piece from Vermont.

By the way, our...err..friends? at Cape Wind have been in the news recently. D.O.'s brief response to the piece is enough to piss off any Interfaith Walker for a Divisive Climate! More importantly, the group Save Our Sound has an update on their site that we’ve linked to. If you have a problem with the corporate privatization of the commons in the name of climate crisis "solutions" you might want to make it heard. Check our Enviro Show action link.

This is the blog bonus points part: only you blog visitors get this special opportunity to sign on to Barb Boxer & Bernie sanders' climate crisis bill (that's because the url is too damn long!) Check it out: "Sanders/Boxer is the legislation we need to pass to truly make a difference in the fight against global warming. But I can't get this bill passed without more support from my Senate colleagues and to do that I need your help. Please join me in speaking out, standing up, and making your voice heard in the fight against global warming. Please sign on here as a citizen co-sponsor of the Sanders/Boxer global warming bill now!". ALSO, checkout RFK, Jr's latest whack at the Bush regime, "The Bush Administration:Texas Chainsaw Management".

Now it's time for....you guessed it! Bus Stop Billboard:


Saturday, April 21; Reverend Billy & the Church of Stop Shopping Gospel Chorus and Not Buying It Band in Shelburne Falls, MA email Ellen (Kaufmann@Crocker.com).

Saturday, April 21, 2007, 10 a.m. - 5 p.m. Green Fair; The Better Living Show: Franklin County Fairgrounds, Greenfield, MA. Exhibits of environmentally friendly goods and services, Energy saving and alternative fuel products, Displays and demos on energy efficiency, renewables, organic gardening, composting and more! Children's activities and local entertainment. For more information, contact Becky Kurber or call 413-774-2791.

Saturday, April 21st, from 9:30am to 12:30 pm, Northampton Bike Trail cleanup.
For more information on locations, contact: Julia at 413-587-0340.

Sunday, April 22, 2-4pm., AMHERST EARTH DAY; Amherst Common
for information please contact Emilie 548 1068 emiliehamillton@yahoo.com

Monday, April 23, 5:30PM, there will be a ride from Amherst Common,
proceeding West along Rt. 9, and ending at the park on the corner of Damon
Rd. in Northampton. The purpose of this ride is to demonstrate to the general
travelling public the legitimacy of vehicular cycling.


Tuesday,April 24th, 7pm: “Out of Balance: ExxonMobil's Impact on Climate Change” film screening Gordon Hall, Umass on University Ave. just east of the University & Mass Ave. intersection). Presented by Students for Environmental Awareness and Action. Contact: rhouse@student.umass.edu.

Tuesday, April 24, 7:30pm. the Five College premier of "CRUDE IMPACT," a powerful documentary on oil's impact on the environment, human rights, geopolitics, and the global energy equation. Hampshire College, in the East Lecture Hall of Franklin Patterson Hall.


Wednesday, April 25; 10-3pm. GCC Earth day celebration. East Building, red roof, Greenfield Community College, Greenfield, MA. Come for workshops!! Join in the Parade!! Starting at 11:15 am on campus!! email ellen (Kaufmann@Crocker.com).

Thursday,April 26; 10-4 pm. Twenty first anniversary of the Chernobyl nuclear accident. Vigil at the Wells Fountain, Linden and Main Street, Brattleboro, VT. For more info contact Hattie hattieshalom@verizon.net -978-249-6224 or 978-790-3074.


Saturday, April 28, 2007; 8:30 am too 5:30 pm. Sustainable Energy Summit - Community Action for a Clean Energy Future. Smith College Performing Arts Center, Northampton, MA. Come co-create a sustainable energy future for our region with some of the most dynamic leaders on sustainable energy in the country!
Participatory Workshop Themes:
Solutions - Sustainable Energy Options for You Today [CAPE WIND BOOSTERS ANYONE??]
Environmental Justice - Coming to Terms with how Race and Class Impact
Community Dailog - Reaching Common Ground from Differing Perspectives
Municipal and school sustainable energy options
Register by April 15 for $24 reduced fee. 50%discount for seniors and students!!
for more info http://cooppower.onlinecommunity.coop/april2807conference


Saturday, May 5th;11 AM - 12 PM @ Center St. and South Street, JP. Wake Up The Earth Parade. Part of Biojustice2007. email: outreach@biojustice2007.org. Followed by the Wake Up the Earth Festival (raindate Saturday, May 12, 2007) at the Southwest Corridor Park, adjacent to the Stonybrook T stop. Call (617) 524-6373 or email info@spontaneouscelebrations.org


Ok,ok, enough already! We'll be back to haunt our listeners next time with the MAY DAY! MAY DAY! Enviro Show. Same Bat time, same bat channel!

Parsing the Globe on Cape Wind

[D.O. takes another whack at the corporados at Cape Wind, this time parsing the second page of a piece that appeared recently in the Boston Globe. D.O.'s in brackets......we try to keep him there for his own good]



"Opponents believe that the project's 440-foot-tall wind turbines would mar the landscape, threaten Cape and Islands tourism, interfere with fishing and recreation, kill birds, and industrialize Nantucket Sound.

Massachusetts Environmental Affairs Secretary Ian Bowles addressed the last concern at a press conference yesterday, saying the waterways have always been used for industrial and commercial purposes, from whaling to fishing to recreational sailing. "The idea that this is a pristine wilderness turns a blind eye to the history of the area," Bowles said."

[Apples & oranges: the fishing industry does not impact the environment like a massive energy facility, such comparisons are disingenuous. Nantucket Sound is what passes for "pristine wilderness" in our over-developed coastlines.]

"Cape Wind president Jim Gordon has said the project would not harm tourism and would have limited impact on wildlife."

[Hyperbole: where’s the proof? Would you rather vacation on the open water or a serene beach or near the clutter and navigational threats of an industrial plant? Also, "limited impact" sounds much like "collateral damage". At present no such impact exists.]

"As part of the environmental impact review, Cape Wind offered the state $10 million in measures to mitigate the environmental impact of the project, including $780,000 for the restoration of Bird Island, an important nesting habitat in Buzzards Bay for endangered roseate terns, which opponents said would be threatened by turbine blades."

[Where does the other $9 million go? If the facility was built on land and not so dangerously close to the flyway, such payoffs would not be necessary.]

"Cape Wind projects that up to 260 birds of all species would be killed by the wind farm each year. Bowles countered that the most dire threat that birds face comes from global warming, which Cape Wind would help begin to address."

[More corporate hype: Bowles has no scientific grounds from which to make such an outlandish statement. In addition, since when is the death of 260 birds per year (some likely to be listed) acceptable?]

original news story dated 3/31/07here.

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Afterword:

Where do we get these people?? Bowles is supposed to be the Environmental Affairs Secretary, no less! He talks like a publicity hack. I can't tell the difference between him and Gordon, the full-blown corporado!! Have these guys even considered other sites, say on land that's already developed, for this project?

Those who might like to see windpower in a less sensitive location than the public commons of Nantucket Sound can either attend upcoming federal hearings or submit written testimony. Checkout the info here.