Greetings Earthlings. So, you think the epic labor struggle that began in Madison, Wisconsin is just another union vs. management story? Think again! Corporate America and far-right Repugnican operatives who serve them are literally plotting the final takeover of a country near you! We connect the dots on the show with the help of author and activists, Brian Tokar. Brian will also be speaking Sunday afternoon, March 6, 1pm at a fundraiser for Food for Thought Books in Amherst. Our intrepid roving correspondent and in-house troubadour, Tom Neilson will be on hand as well. More on that later. Those connnected dots will run through all of your favorite segments on The Enviro Show, but first it's time for....Revenge of the Critters! Boris the badger kicks butt! O, and so do the Wisconsin Badgers!
The Enviro Show Quote of the Week comes from our own Rachel Maddow: "If the Democrats do not hold together in Wisconsin, then the place that gave us the weekend, the place that gave us unemployment benefits and worker‘s compensation and the eight-hour workday and the 40-hour workweek, and the nation‘s biggest public workers union and one of the first collective bargaining agreements for those public workers, the state that has seven towns named Union, the state that gave us all of that, the state where the Super Bowl champs are collectively owned—it‘s going to be the start of the end of all of those rights for workers that Wisconsin earned for the country. And it‘s going to be the start of the end of the Democratic Party‘s electoral chances in not just the next election but every election the rest of our life times."
You think this has nothing to do with the environment? Checkout the man behind the curtain! In The Enviro Show Echo Chamber we cut right to the chase in Madison: it's not simply about union busting, about a monstrous power grab and the destruction of the Dems by fascist corporados and their trolls, they also want to privatize state-owned power plants & utilities as well as trash water quality and wetlands while they're at it. Corporate privatization & environmental degradation, who knew! Of course, the Imperial Walker and his Wisconsin State House minions aren't thinking this stuff up on their own. Allow us to illustrate! No, these guys are up to their nostrils in a mongo pile of Koch, brothers (and sisters)! AND, the Koch brothers (big time owners of oil refineries, pipelines, gasoline supply terminals, coal companies, and the Georgia-Pacific Corp!) are up to their eyeballs in climate crisis disinformation.
OK now, the dots from Koch have spilled into our Fool on the Hill segment where we find the Man from Koch (R-Koch), Rep. Mike Pompeo (not to be confused with the doomed town, but doomy enough, thank you), introducing an amendment to sharply cut funding for an EPA program that collects data on greenhouse gas emissions. Soooo, Enviro Show listeners, do we recall who was number 10 on the UMass, Amherst Political Economy Research Institute's Toxic 100 Air Polluters? You guessed it! Koch Industries.
Now, Meet the New Boss: will that hopey changey guy in the White House come to the aid of the workers? How about the planet?? Well, you could petition Obama to oppose a House budget that guts the Environmental Protection Agency and cripples critical public programs, but leaves billions in handouts to the oil companies reporting record profits, but will he (even if you ask nice)? However, please don't interrupt him while he's dancing with the bosses in Ohio. That's the state whose governor Repugnican John Kasich plans to roll back employee pension benefits and collective bargaining rights. The governor who, you may recall, used to be managing director at Lehman Brothers? Surely you haven't forgotten Lehman Brothers! BTW, have you asked yourself if the Wisconsin story is part of a larger trend to make workers pay for an economic downturn caused by Wall St. and deregulators?
Then we have the next big bubble that will put even more of the people in dire straights and impact the biosphere as a result. Word has it that commodities will be the next playground for the banksters and their corporado buddies. Our Enviro Show Blog Bonus takes you to Public Citizen's action page.
Our favorite corporate power song with Noam Chomsky takes us to the Bus Stop Billboard:
Wednesday March 2, 11:45am-12:15pm. DEFENDING THE PUBLIC SECTOR FROM WISCONSIN TO MASSACHUSETTS Rally outside Student Union, 12:15-1pm, All-Campus Meeting in Cape Cod Lounge, UMass Amherst. Sponsored by all the UMass Amherst unions, UMass and Western Mass. SLAP (Student Labor Action Project), Western Mass. Jobs with Justice, and more. Call: (413) 627-5268
Saturday, March 5, 1:00 PM. : Intro to Animal Tracks. Introduction to Animal Tracks and Signs with Naturalist Dawn Ward. Aimed at novice trackers (adults and families with kids age 8 and over), the program will be both indoors at the Leverett Library (exploring Dawn's extensive collection of animal skulls, etc.) and outdoors, weather permitting, searching for tracks and signs. Supported by a grant from the Leverett Cultural Council. Call: (413)548-9343
Sunday, March 6, 1pm. Save Food for Thought & the Planet! A fundraiser for Food for Thought Books featuring author/activist Brian Tokar on climate justice and genetic engineering. Musician & bardic insurgent Tom Neilson. Also, Ben Grosscup & friends, poetry by some guy from The Enviro Show, entertainment & more! Sponsored by The Enviro Show! Food for Thought Books, 106 North Pleasant Street, Amherst, Call: 413-253-5432
Monday, March 7,7pm "Future of the Northampton Rail Trail Network" at the Northampton Friends Meetinghouse (43 Center Street, 2nd floor). More information can be found at http://www.fntg.net
Monday, March 7, 6:30 pm (snow date: Thu March 10). Exit 19 PAC public meeting. Bridge Street School, Northampton. Do you use the Norwottuck Rail Trail? Do you ride on Bridge St. (Route 9) to and from the trail or the Coolidge Bridge? Do you want to see improved public transit along the Northampton/Hadley/Amherst corridor? Please attend this meeting and share your thoughts. Presentations and reports from the PAC are posted here: http://www.interchange19.org/
Wednesday, March 9, 6:30pm. Greening Greenfield's next Monthly meeting. NESEA offices on Miles St, Greenfield. Call: 413-773-7004
Saturday, March 12, all day. The Toxics Action Center Annual Conference* is taking place at Bentley College in Waltham. The Biomass Accountabilty Project is sponsoring a panel discussion, giving us a chance to let others know more about how things have been going for us here in Western Mass. Please consider attending. For information and registration go to http://www.toxicsaction.org/environmental-action-2011. For car pooling, call Janet at (413)625-2886.
Monday, March 14, 7-9 pm. Talk on MA Clean Energy and Climate Plan. 114 Main Street in Greenfield. What is our state government doing to create jobs, keep money in our state,
and improve the environment? Come hear David Cash, Undersecretary for Policy in the Massachusetts Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs, talk about Governor Patrick's vision
of the future, and the nationally-ground-breaking Clean Energy and Climate Plan. For info call: (413)774-5667
And we are out of here, into the streets for the (dare we say?) revolution. See you there and remember to listen to your Mother!
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