Composting the Corporados Enviro Show, Part II

Greetings Earthlings. Are corporations people? We don't think so! Are they busy at work destroying the planet? Well.....yah! Gail Darrell of the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund calls in to discuss local home rule and the end of Corporate America (to which we say: YES!). As always, we'll also checkout our Fool-on-the-Hill, The Enviro Show Echo Chamber, our Quote of the Week, and the E-Vally-uation segment, but first it's time for....Revenge of the Critters! This one from our favorite hydrologist: cowboys choose the wrong bear!

In The Enviro Show Echo Chamber we have this excellent piece on the Wall Street Occupation where the banksters & corporados get exposed to the light. For daily updates on the Occupation go here. Then, some "Sustainable Forestry Initiative" greenwashing corporados getting an earfull from Green Mountain State tree-huggers. Also, could this Scottish nuke that will never, ever be cleaned up just as easily happen up the river at Vermont Yankee? Better hope not! And, another Enviro Show Blog Bonus: this Rainforest Action Network graphic just might keep you from shopping at all!

Speaking of vile corporados, this week's Fool-on-the-Hill is Rep. Eric Cantor (again!) who is leading the charge to put corporate polluters ahead of public health & the planet......SURPRISE! Here's an action link for a League of Conservation Voters effort to counter Cantor.........counter Cantor.....we like that! O, and some droppings from the bottom of his fellow Repugnicans' cage: a House vote to fund FEMA assistance for those recent disasters? Not without cutting green jobs! Where do we get these people??

Our Enviro Show Quote of the Week comes to you from our second favorite president, Thomas Jefferson and is in complete keeping with our theme here:

"I hope we shall crush in its birth the aristocracy of our monied corporations which dare already to challenge our government to a trial by strength, and bid defiance to the laws of our country."

In our E-Valley-uation segment anti-biomass incineration/pro-clean energy activists took it to Beacon Hill last week for a demo under the dome. Yo Gov, got the message? For a more in-depth report on the issue go here. And this coming Saturday, October 1 is the Irene edition of the annual Source to Sea Connecticut River watershed-wide cleanup! Sign-up for the river, OK? Finally, on the theme of signing-up, how about kicking in for Valley Free Radio during our E Pledge Drive? You'd be supporting our work here on the show and hopefully cutting down on Autumn Pledge Drive interruptions to your favorite programming. We are passing the virtual hat on to you here.

Once again we air "The American Dream" by George Carlin (we can't get enough of this, sorry......wait! We're not sorry at all! Listen up, will you!!). Then it's on to our interview with Gail Darrell of the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund.

Then we visit the Bus Stop Billboard:

Wednesday September 28, 12:30-2pm, GREENWORK: THE WESTERN MASS GREEN ECONOMY WORKING GROUP Brown Bag Lunch at Noon, Pioneer Valley AFL-CIO Hall, 640 Page Boulevard, Springfield. Call: (413)732-7970.

Wednesday, Sept. 28, 1 to 3:30 p.m. HEALTHY ENVIRONMENT/HEALTHY AGING. What do clean air, water, and soil have to do with aging? Why should be concerned about our environment as we get older? What does the recent tornado clean-up have to do with our health? A community discussion. Springfield Hobby Club, 309 Chestnut St. (off Franklin St., behind YMCA). Contact: Mass. Senior Action, 543-2334

Wednesday, September 28, 6:30pm. Meeting at the Holyoke Public Library about a coordinated effort to start moving the gears faster towards retirement and redevelopment of the Mt. Tom coal plant.Please feel free to invite any die-hard coal activists in the area who have time on their hands. Contact: Claire B. W. Miller Community Organizer, Toxics Action Center at 617.747.4408/Cell 781.775.1429. Email:
claire@toxicsaction.org

Thursday, September 29, 4:00pm to 5:30pm. Internationally acclaimed author, anti-hunger activist and food policy reformer Francis Moore Lappé, best known for her 1970s book, “Diet for a Small Planet,” will be the keynote speaker at the Franklin Permaculture Garden at UMass Amherst. Students and administrators will dedicate the campus’s permaculture garden and celebrate the UMass Amherst Permaculture Initiative’s first harvest. Contact: (978)314-1176 or email: rharb@mail.aux.umass.edu

Friday September 30, 2pm. TAKE BACK OUR CITIES! HISTORIC MARCH & RALLY. Boston Common Band Stand. 11am: Bus from Springfield Plaza, 1225 Liberty St. Big banks are destroying our communities! Big businesses are killing our jobs and our environment! Reserve your seat on the bus, call 413-342-1804 or 347-385-8049.

Friday, September 30, 7pm. Screening of "Gashole". Corporate interests work behind the scenes to keep America dependent on oil. 7:00 p.m., Frances Crowe Community Room, 60 Masonic Street in Northampton. Enter via Woodstar Cafe, at the front of the building. The venue is accessible. Contact: info@northamptoncommittee.org

Sat, Oct 1,7 pm. "Windfall" A film documenting the experiences of Meredith, NY residents as industrial wind turbines are debated as an option to help counter economic challenges. Cost: $5 Memorial Hall, 51 Bridge Street, Shelburne Falls, MA,
(413) 625-3052

Sunday, October 2, 10am to 2:30pm. 26th Anniversary of the New England Peace Pagoda. Keynote speaker: Dr. Vincent Harding, speech writer for Martin Luther King, including King's famous anti-Vietnam War speech, "A Time to Break Silence". 100 Cave Hill Road, Leverett, MA. Call: (413)367- 2202

October 2, Jones Library, Amherst 2-4 PM; October 3, Art Space, Greenfield, 7-9 PM; October 4, Jones Library, Amherst, 7-9 PM. Auditions for RADIUM GIRLS, a play that takes an unflinching look at the peculiarly American obsession with health, wealth, and the commercialization of science as one lone woman battles a corporation, her own family, and friends to seek justice in the story of a landmark case in occupational safety and the environment. Large cast, multiple roles. Men and women, 17-70. Actresses 17-30 a necessity. Details: Robert Freedman, director, 413-586-6095, rpaulfre@gis.net.

Thursday, Oct. 6 - We call on people of conscience and courage—all who seek peace, economic justice, human rights and a healthy environment to join together in Washington, D.C., beginning on Oct. 6, 2011, in nonviolent resistance similar to the Arab Spring and the Midwest awakening. A concert, rally and protest will kick off a powerful and sustained nonviolent resistance to the corporate criminals that dominate our government. "Stop the Machine! • Create a New World!" is a clarion call for all who are deeply concerned with injustice, militarism and environmental destruction to join in ending concentrated corporate power and taking direct control of a real participatory democracy. Some people from the Valley are planning to go by the Megabus which leaves from the Ingleside Mall in Holyoke at 11:00 AM on Wednesday, getting in DC at 10:00 PM. Contact cjmoos@crocker.com for further info. Also go to: http://october2011.org.

Wednesday, October 26, 7-9 p.m. STUDYING MOUNTAIN LIONS WITH MARK ELBROCH . Sliding scale fee. Location to be determined. Pre-registration at Hitchcock Center for the Environment required; please call 413-256-6006.

Sunday, November 6, 2-4 p.m. DEEP-ENERGY-RETROFITTING YOUR HOME with Bick Corsa, Energy Efficient Builder (35 years' experience in residential renovation & construction with a focus on energy efficiency & passive solar design). Free. Pre-registration required at Hitchcock Center for the Environment; please call 413-256-6006.

We go out with "Corporations are People, Too" by Dave Rovics who always listens to his Mother. And you?

The Shut it Down NOW! Enviro Show

Greetings Earthlings. Continuing our monitoring of that radioactive ticking time bomb just over the border in Vermont we welcome Deb Katz of the Citizens Awareness Network back on the show to talk about all the recent events up there as well as the resurgence of the Clamshell Alliance and other protest activities. Like always we entertain you with our Fool-on-the-Hill and have you Meet the New Boss, as well as a trip to the E-Valley-uation segment and more, but first it's time for....Revenge of the Critters! Fox in the UK is feeling at home!

This week's Fool-on-the-Hill goes easily to Repugnican Rep. Eric Cantor who called for no funding for recent disaster relief unless funds are cut for.....are you ready?....first responders! Sounds like this guy is smokin' waayyyy too much tea! For what it's worth you can add your name to a petition for this fool.

Time to Meet the New Boss (have you noticed some similarity to the old boss lately?). Take a deep breath now: Obama caves on better air quality. And here's another take on this move by the Prez written by Massachusetts anti-corporado crusader, Jeff Clements. And yet another! You can take him to the woodshed here.

In the E-Valley-uation segment six of the usual Massachusetts suspects were arrested on August 30th after citing Vermont Yankee for polluting. No word on Entergy's response to the citation, but kudos to MA State Senator Stan Rosenberg for requesting that the MA Emergency Management Agency fill the position for its Nuclear Safety Engineer that's been vacant for.....are you ready? two years! And this Enviro Show Blog Bonus: GCC gets down and goes geothermal! Also, the Gov needs to hear from YOU one more time to stop the Biomonster. Watch this video! Finally, what's with the AFL-CIO hooking up with the so-called Environmental League of Massachusetts (ELM) for the worthy idea of a labor/enviro alliance? ELM is not just elitist and corporate friendly, they also recommend you see "a tremendously useful PowerPoint presentation by Frank Luntz's nationally-respected polling firm". Frank Luntz?? Just for the record, our friends at Mass Forest Watch note that in 2009, ELM supported a 400% increase in logging, 76% of it even aged, clearcut type logging, on Massachusetts State Parks and Forests. Did someone say "environmentalists"?

And, in our Enviro Show Echo Chamber we learn that the Japanese nuke industry dropped about 168 atomic bombs on their own country (OK, so the equivalent of 168 A-bombs). And this on the biomess from The Boston Phoenix: The Gov's Green Blues. You can send your protestations here: and here: . Also, from our friends at Climate Connections: Hurricane Irene worse cuz' of climate change. Did we say climate? How about this final wrap on "part one" of the Tar Sands Pipeline protest at the White House. If you want to take part in Part Two go here. Tar sands? How about dirty coal? Isn't it time we put put Massey Coal out of business? Go here to do it!

After our interview with Deb we swing over to a well-stocked Bus Stop Billboard:


Tuesday September 20, 11am-12:30pm, NATIONAL DAY OF ACTION: DON’T X OUT PUBLIC TRANSIT. Meet on the corner of Liberty St. and Main St. on the side of the Springfield Republican, across from the bus terminal (which is 1776 Main St), Springfield. Rally for increased – not decreased – investment in public transportation. Please visit www.supporttransit.org. Info: Richard Gardner, (413) 732-8041,
rgardner@atulocal448.com.

Tuesday, September 20, 7pm. Dr. Kinari Webb is speaking at the Northampton Friends Meeting about working with rainforest communities in Indonesia to save the environment and human health. She does this by providing quality medical care. She helps loggers become organic farmers. Go to: www.healthinharmony.org

Saturday, September 24. It's the Moving Planet Big Freeze and Fossil Fuel Funeral in Northampton. 11:30 Spread out around town. 12:00 noon - Strike a pose and freeze for five minutes! Be creative! Do not block people or traffic. Northampton sidewalks have a band of pink brick which is fine to use. FOSSIL FUEL FUNERAL - Wear a costume, improvise, dress in black, bring an umbrella, dance, sing, skateboard, bike! 12:05 Join the parade which starts on Main Street adjacent to Pulaski Park. We will march down Main Street, take a right on Pleasant St, right on Armory St., and congregate behind Thorne's Market where the Tuesday Farmer's Market is. Contact Director Jill Turner. jillturnerbigfreeze@gmail. com or 413 306 4813

Saturday, September 24, 10am Bikers will assemble at Mt Tom Power Plant on Rte 5 in Holyoke at 10 a.m. and move "en masse" up Rte 5, across the bridge, along Rte 9 in Hadley to the center of Amherst. Another group of walkers, skateboarders, dancers, stroller-pushers etc will assemble (10 a.m.) at the proposed solar array location at the old Amherst landfill on Rte 9 and head toward the center of Amherst. The two groups will converge for a rally calling for a move from dirty to clean energy. Contact: morrisfri@aol.com

Saturday, September 24,3-6PM. Run by trainers affiliated with The Public Interest Network, the Activist Workshops will cover the best techniques for citizens to take action. They will cover how to plan a campaign and develop your campaign’s goals, strategies and tactics - and how to recruit volunteers and get people plugged into the thing you are passionate about. It’s a chance to learn, share ideas and connect with other environmentally active citizens as well as activists from other causes. Click the link below for more details and to RSVP:
https://secure3.convio.net/engage/site/Donation2?idb=385250126&df_id=6221&6221.donation=form1
If you have any questions, email Jessie Miller atjmiller@publicinterestnetwork.org or call her at (978)621-7367.

Sunday, Sept. 25, 1-5pm. Chill-Out the Climate Rally! 1pm: Gather at Bridge Street School park next to Route 9 in Northampton, 1/2 mile east of downtown. Come by bike, skateboard, skates, feet, bus, car, carpool.Parking on side streets nearby. 2pm: Cross the bridge to a safe climate/clean energy future. March one mile east on Rt. 9 sidewalk to Coolidge Bridge. Cross over using walkway on north side. With hundreds on bridge walkway, 20 people in the middle hold big block letter signs saying: CHILL THE CLIMATE! 350.org. Photo will be taken for local media, and for 350.org to share online worldwide. Parade then connects with Bike Path/Rail Trail in Hadley, goes back across river, and back to Bridge St. School. 3:30-5pm: Rally. Contact: 413-625-6374 Johnpberk@gmail.com

Wednesday, September 28, 11am. Green Economy Principles meeting at the Central Labor Council Hall, 640 Page Blvd, Springfield. This meeting will be followed by the return of our regular public “roundtable” discussions, brown bag lunch at noon, roundtable 12:30-2pm.

Friday September 30, 2pm. TAKE BACK OUR CITIES! HISTORIC MARCH & RALLY. Boston Common Band Stand. 11am: Bus from Springfield Plaza, 1225 Liberty St. Big banks are destroying our communities! Big businesses are killing our jobs and our environment! Springfield No One Leaves will mobilize a brigade of buses from Western Mass. to join with thousands from the national organization Right to the City (RTTC). We need you to come and join us. Reserve your seat on the bus by email: nooneleavesspringfield@gmail.com or call 413-342-1804 or 347-385-8049. Info: 413-342-1804, nooneleavessspringfield@gmail.com, www.springfieldnooneleaves.org.

October 2, Jones Library, Amherst 2-4 PM; October 3, Art Space, Greenfield, 7-9 PM; October 4, Jones Library, Amherst, 7-9 PM. Auditions for RADIUM GIRLS, a play that takes an unflinching look at the peculiarly American obsession with health, wealth, and the commercialization of science as one lone woman battles a corporation, her own family, and friends to seek justice in the story of a landmark case in occupational safety and the environment. Large cast, multiple roles. Men and women, 17-70. Actresses 17-30 a necessity. Details: Robert Freedman, director, 413-586-6095, rpaulfre@gis.net.

Thursday, Oct. 6 - We call on people of conscience and courage—all who seek peace, economic justice, human rights and a healthy environment to join together in Washington, D.C., beginning on Oct. 6, 2011, in nonviolent resistance similar to the Arab Spring and the Midwest awakening. A concert, rally and protest will kick off a powerful and sustained nonviolent resistance to the corporate criminals that dominate our government. "Stop the Machine! • Create a New World!" is a clarion call for all who are deeply concerned with injustice, militarism and environmental destruction to join in ending concentrated corporate power and taking direct control of a real participatory democracy. Go to: http://october2011.org. Regional contact: peterawhite@excite.com

Whoa! Lots going on, yes? That's it for us but remember: listen to your Mother!