Blog Archive

Friday, November 20, 2009

Checkout This Bod Enviro Show


Greetings Earthlings. It's time once again to checkout our toxic bodies on The Enviro Show, this time with Nena Baker, author of "The Body Toxic". Toxic rubber duckies for the kids! ARRGGHHHH! As usual, we'll also checkout The Enviro Show Quote of the Week, The Enviro ShowEcho Chamber, our "Meet the New Boss" segment and then some. but first it's time for....Revenge of the Critters! A seasonal special: Turkey takes its toll!



In The Enviro Show Echo Chamber folks are sleeping around in the climate crisis! And this: 50% of U.S. warming due to land use changes. Speaking of global warming, check this old ad for Humble Oil (now Exxon/Mobil) pulled out on Grist. Finally, we checkout a recent frontpage New York Times piece on the myth of carbon offsets for air travel. Come Fly with Me? No thanks, Frank!!



Time to Meet the New Boss! Shall we take the high road with Bill McKibben, or the full monty with veteran journalist Robert Scheer?




For our Enviro Show Quote of the Week we go for the wayback machine again for a word from Thomas Carlyle:

"Not what you possess but what you do with what you have, determines your true worth."



A few short notes in our E-Valley-uation segment: WMass goes East for N30!. Also, a brief report on resistance to the proposed biomass plant for Springfield. And, Rev. Billy, The Stop Shopping Gospel Choir and The Not Buying It Band! remind us to "Stop Shopping" for corporate crap on Black Friday.....especially!


After our interview with Nena Baker, author of "The Body Toxic" we head over to the Bus Stop Billboard:

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Tuesday, November 24, 2009 at 7:30 p.m. Greenfield Conservation Commission will hold a Public Hearing at the Greenfield Police Station Meeting Room located at 321 High St. to review a Notice of Intent submitted by Pioneer Renewable Energy, LLC, for property located with the public Rights of Way at the intersection of French King Highway (Route 2A), Route 2, Adams Road, Greenfield.

Thursday, November 26, 12 Noon - 40th Annual Day of Mourning. Cole’s Hill (the hill above Plymouth Rock) Plymouth, MA. For More Information Contact: United American Indians of New England/LPSG 617-522-6626 info@uaine.org www.uaine.org Pot-luck Social to Follow

Friday, November 27, All Day! Buy Nothing Day.

Friday, November 27, 7pm. Screening of “A Killer Bargain” investigates the toxic conditions for impoverished workers in Indian sweatshops manufacturing textiles for customers in the developed world. Media Education Foundation (behind the Woodstar Cafe on Masonic St., Northampton). Northampton Committee to Stop War.

Saturday, November 28, 1-2pm. Wildlife Tracking. Learn the basics of how to identify what animals left those tracks behind. You will learn how to identify track features and track patterns. You will also be able to test your knowledge at identifying select wildlife tracks. This program is designed for individuals new to wildlife tracking. Great Falls Discovery Center, Avenue A, Turners Falls. Call: 413-863-3221

Monday, November 30. N30 is the 10th anniversary of the WTO shutdown in Seattle and is exactly one week before the climate talks in corporatehaven..err..we mean Coppenhagen. Actions in Boston! See: http://massclimatejustice.org/. Or call: 413-522-7505

Tuesday, December 1, 11am. Environment Committee hearing will be held in Hearing Room A-2. State House, Boston. Bills of interest: *H 759*, sponsored by Rep. Kocot, relative to wood burning electricity producing biomass combustion facilities and their potential impact upon the air, water and population of the Commonwealth; *H 778*, sponsored by Rep. Kulik, for legislation to regulate commercial water storage and bottling.

Wednesday, Dec. 2, 7 pm, The air permitting hearing for the Springfield Pioneer Renewable Energy Construction and Demolition Debris Incinerator at the Kennedy Middle School, 1385 Berkshire Ave., Springfield. Call (413) 455-3829.



That's about it for the likes of us. Have a truly thankful holiday and remember to.....LISTEN TO YOUR MOTHER!

Thursday, November 05, 2009

The Crap & Trade Carbon Copy Enviro Show






Greetings Earthlings. Once again, it's time to checkout our CO2 emissions. We're told they're getting a bit out of hand. The average U.S. citizen is responsible for 19.8 tonnes per person per annum. Michael Despines, Climate Resilience Campaign Coordinator at Friends of the Earth joins us to talk about the climate bill in congress and other such mind-numbing matters. In the Enviro Show Echo Chamber we scope out the upcoming N30 actions, among other things. There's the Quote of the Week to deal with as well as our E-Valley-uation segment, but first it's time for...Revenge of the Critters! Another listener submission folks, but you'll need to access to cyberspace for this one. Talk about being the butt of all elephant jokes!



The Enviro Show Quote of the Week is a rerun of Al Gore's call to action on the climate crisis: "I can't understand why there aren't rings of young people blocking bulldozers and preventing them from constructing coal-fired power plants." Well actually, Al.....there are! Where are you??



That's a fitting segway into our Enviro Show E-Valley-uation segment and The Enviro Show, LLC's proposal to blow the top off Mt. Tom! and dump it in the reservoir. Sadly, when we sent out our press release for that highly beneficial example of economic development for the Mt. Tom Reservation no one belived us! What's THAT about?? Speaking of mountaintop removal, if you go here you can take action to help stop it (maybe by...umm..2011??).



Tom Neilson's Mountain-top Removal song takes us to The Enviro Show Echo Chamber where we bring you back to the 350 Reasons Carbon Trading Won't Work. Checkout our new interactive pages here. We had 100 people, from 6 continents and 13 countries working on the project. Back to the drawing board Senators Kerry & Boxer! Also, it appears that Ben Wright has Been Wrong about First Nations spiritual practices. The spokes for Environment Massachusetts seems to believe Native people don't speak for themselves and that Wampanoag spiritual practices are ...."pure farce"? Checkout our response here. And, the EPA agrees to cut toxic emissions at power plants.....eventually. Finally, Climate change: The carbon trading debacle.



Global Warming Remix by Avril Lavigne rocks us into our interview with Michael Despines. Then it's on to the Bus Stop Billboard:

Sunday, November 15, 11am. Biomass Yes/Biomass NO! Speakers at the Bernardston Untitarian Church across from the Sunoco Station on the corner of Rte 10 & Depot Streets.


Wednesday, Nov. 18: 6 - 7:30: Springfield Public Health Council meeting, Pine Point Citizens Council, 335 Berkshire Ave. Springfield. Proposed Palmer Renewable Energy biomess plant. Contact: plpare@comcast.net

Wednesday, November 18, 7-9 p.m. Forests of Wonder. Join Bob Leverett, co-founder and Executive Director of the Eastern Native Tree Society, as he takes us on a virtual tour of his favorite woodland haunts. Hitchcock Center for the Environment, Amherst. Pre-registration is required; please call (413) 256-6006.

Thursday, November 19, 7 - 8:30pm. The Nature of New England. Great Falls Discovery Center, 2 Avenue A, Turners Falls. A strong emphasis in the program is on the perceptions people have in favor of some groups of animals (like birds) at the expense of other equally interesting ones (like snakes). How various groups survive the winter season is also spotlighted. Call: 413.863.3221

Thursday, November 19, 7:30pm. Ramona Peters, "Columbus & Thanksgiving - A Native Perspective". Leverett Town Hall.

Saturday, November 21, 1 - 2pm. Wild About Turkeys. Why were turkeys reintroduced into the area? What roles do they play in the ecological system as well as being Thanksgiving dinner? Come join Tasha Daniels, at the Great Falls Discovery Center. Call: 413.863.3221

Friday, November 27, All Day! Buy Nothing Day.

Monday, November 30. N30 is the 10th anniversary of the WTO shutdown in Seattle and is exactly one week before the climate talks in corporatehaven..err..we mean Coppenhagen. Stay tuned for an action in Boston.

Wednesday, Dec. 2, 7 pm, The air permitting hearing for the Springfield Pioneer Renewable Energy Construction and Demolition Debris Incinerator at the Kennedy Middle School, 1385 Berkshire Ave., Springfield.





Enough! Next time it's Nena Baker on the Body Toxic (no, it's not some garage band....yet). Until then remember to listen to your Mother......ok?

Tuesday, November 03, 2009

Environment Massachusetts treading troubled water


Ben Wright of Environment Massachusetts (the home of MASSPIRG's environmental work) sent out an alert on November 3, 2009 to the groups mailing list titled "The cynical ploy to take down Cape Wind". Wright puts the onus of the "ploy" on the anti-Cape Wind group, The Alliance to Protect Nantucket Sound, but it is Wampanoag spokespeople in both Mashpee and Aquinnah who are making the statement that Horseshoe Shoals is sacred. The Alliance is merely repeating what the native people are saying. That being the case, is Ben Wright going to state that First Nations' claim of Horseshoe Shoals being sacred "is pure farce"?

Wright goes on to say: "Furthermore, the Native American tribe that is working with the Alliance to block Cape Wind recently proposed their own off-shore wind project just hundreds of yards from a real national historic site off of the Gay Head cliffs on Martha's Vineyard." That may be so, but that site is not being identified as sacred, nor would it interfere with their "Eastern Door", the unobstructed view of sunrise so integral to Wampanoag spiritual practices.

Perhaps Ben Wright is not familiar with Native spiritual practices, perhaps he doesn't care. Whatever the case, respecting First Nations and their belief systems, especially given the long history of genocide and repression of them by non-natives, is right up there with other aspects of overcoming racism.

We all want safe, renewable energy, but not at any cost. Ben Wright and Cape Wind proponents need to temper their zeal and get real.

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See: http://www.boston.com/news/science/articles/2009/10/26/2_tribes_object_to_cape_wind_turbines/