Save the Pollinators Enviro Show

Greetings Earthlings. Have you noticed fewer bees, moths and butterflies this summer? Did you know the flowers you bought at the garden center might be part of the reason? Peggy MacLeod from Western Mass Pollinator Network and

-->Kelsey Whiting-Jones, Community Organizer for Western Massachusetts and Connecticut at Toxics Action Center join us to help connect the dots. [Archived interview here]Also, David Detmold calls in from the road once again on the Bike for Standing Rock! As always, we will also take you to visit this week's Fool-on-the-Hill and to confront His Malignancy The Mad King as well as a trip to The Enviro Show Echo Chamber but first it's time for..........Revenge of the Critters! This one gives new meaning to the term "moth eaten"!

This week's Fool-on-the-Hill is back for yet another stint. Yes, it's Congressman Lamar Smith, repugnican from Texas (of course!) who penned an editorial in some random rightwing rag titled:

"Don’t Believe the Hysteria Over Carbon Dioxide". The fool opens with this whopper: "The benefits of a changing climate are often ignored and under-researched. Our climate is too complex and the consequences of misguided policies too harsh to discount the positive effects of carbon enrichment." Carbon enrichment! Who knew!!

Are you ready for His Malignancy The Mad King? Fear not, Earthlings: The emperor has no clothes (Eeeuuu! Sorry.)  There. We said it. And his new....er....now former mouthpiece, Anthony Scaramucci sure had changed his wardrobe since ascending to the throne. This guy came straight out of Central Casting ready to sell you the worst used beater ever. Tony gives new meaning to the term "fake news". So long, Mooch! Another lawsuit for His Malignancy and his court of fools: this time it's the group Food and Water challenging his secret advisors plan to sell off our infrastructure. Like the bumper sticker says: "The Road to hell is Paved with Republicans". Wait, there actually is some pushback from both parties on The Mad King's proposed budget cuts for the Environmental Protection Agency. Sooooo, instead of eviscerating the EPA they're just going to torture it.

In The Enviro Show Echo Chamber we come upon a piece in New York Magazine that could impress even the classic unmovable New Yorker. So, steel your nerves for "The Uninhabitable Earth". BTW: Grist has an update on the lawsuit(s) those feisty kids at Our Children's Trust initiated. Now there's a court challenge in all 50 states! Here in the Commonwealth they've already claimed a victory. Speaking of good news, the Brits will ban gas and diesel vehicles after 2040. We can hardly wait to see that. Finally, here's our Enviro Show Blog Action Bonus. Rise your voice: Save the pollinators!

Time for some E-Valley-uation and an excellent column by Katy Eiseman in the Daily Hampshire Gazette that may still have ears burning over at Berk Gas. This is a must see for anyone concerned about Kinder Morgan/TGP's assault upon the Commonwealth and their "open season" on our communities. And regarding KM/TGP's assault on our public lands in Otis State Forest, a recent Sugar Shack Alliance action appears to have been yet another demonstration of resolve. Onward!

On to the Bus Stop Billboard also:



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Tuesday August1, 2017, Noon to 1pm. Weekly TD BANK Vigil to pressure TD to divest from Dakota Access Pipeline. 324 Main St., (near Federal St corner)

Greenfield, MA

Friday, August 11, 7pm. Screening of "An Inconvenient Sequel", Amherst Cinema, 28 Amity Street, Amherst, MA. A decade after AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH brought climate change into the heart of popular culture comes the riveting and rousing follow-up that shows just how close we are to a real energy revolution.Vice President Al Gore continues his tireless fight, traveling around the world training an army of climate champions and influencing international climate policy.Join Climate Action Now at the Amhert Cinema opening for "An Inconvenient Sequel: Truth to Power"

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August 6, 7:00 – 8:30 pm. The World We Want - Hiroshima & Nagasaki -

Never Again!  Nashawannuck Pond, Easthampton, MA. Go to: http://masspeaceaction.org/event/the-world-we-want-hiroshima-nagasaki-never-again/

Monday August 7, 10am. to 12pm. Public Hearing. Your comments badly needed. Holyoke Community College, Kittredge Center, 303 Homestead Avenue, Holyoke, MA 01404. The Massachusetts Department of Energy Resources (DOER) is proposing changes in the Massachusetts Alternative Portfolio Standards (APS). The APS would encourage and subsidize large-scale industrial cutting and burning of trees for heat. This would increase the immediate release of carbon, which would worsen climate change. It would also increase toxic air pollution, which would harm public health. Finally, it would promote intensified logging, which would degrade New England forest ecosystems and undermine their capacity to store carbon.

DOER requests that written comments be submitted as attached pdf files to emails addressed to , with the word APS COMMENTS in the subject line. Alternatively, comments can be submitted at the hearing or via mail to Samantha Meserve at the Department of Energy Resources, 100 Cambridge Street, Suite 1020, Boston, MA 02114. 

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August 11-13, All Day. Annual NOFA Conference. This summer Dr. Don Huber, a world renowned scientist in the study of how genetically engineered (GMO) foods and the herbicide glyphosate (the main ingredient in Monsanto's Roundup) are affecting our livestock and soil, will be speaking at the 43rd annual NOFA Summer Conference taking place at Hampshire College.  Go to: www.nofasummerconference.org


That's it for this week. Remember to listen to your Mother, OK?

The MA Dept. of Cut & Run Enviro Show

Greetings Earthlings. Are you ready for a Summer activity in the forest? How about Bureau of Forestry Pre-Harvest Forest Tours in Townsend State Forest and October Mountain State Forest? The Massachusetts Department of Cut and Run (DCR) would be more than happy to show you their plans to trash our public forests AND increase CO2 emissions to add to the worsening Climate Crisis. That's right citizen, it's your tax dollars at work making the Commonwealth less livable for future generations! Michael Kellett of Restore the North Woods returns to shed more light on what the DCR is doing in the woods. Also, David Detmold calls in from the Bike for Standing Rock. It's "From Plymouth Rock to Standing Rock" without all that Puritan baggage.  As usual we'll also take you by the hand and guide you to this week's Fool-on-the-Hill and to the presence of His Malignancy The Mad King, maybe to The Enviro Show Echo Chamber as well, but first it's time for......Revenge of the Critters! Wasps bothering you? Don't try this at home!

This week's Fool-on-the-Hill actually dwells on another hill way out in Utah where the State Capitol sits, but given his recent comments we can't resist the trip west. Our friends at Grist note "Republican State Rep. Mike Noel said... that “tree huggers” were to blame for a major blaze that broke out in southern Utah on June 17 and continues to burn 11 days later." This fool is laboring under the delusion that the USFS is actually peopled with tree huggers! "When we turn the Forest Service over to the bird and bunny lovers and the tree huggers and the rock lickers, we’ve turned our history over".  OK Mike, but we think you may have just turned reality over.

Speaking of messing with reality, it's time to visit His Malignancy The Mad King. Let's start with a "Jaw-Dropping List of All the Terrible Things Trump Has done to Mother Earth" as told by Mother Jones. One of those terrible things is the resuscitation of last year's failed dirty energy bill. Of course, His Malignancy supports all things dirty so he's going for it. You? Probably not. Speak out HERE! Here's one of The Mad King's things that didn't make the list but one that will also trash the planet: selling off some of our national monuments! We actually have some good news here. The LA Times headline screams:  "Federal appeals court orders the EPA to move ahead with Obama-era methane rule" (our headline would have been more like "Court Gets in Mad King's Face on Methane"). Celebrate where you can!

In The Enviro Show Echo Chamber the big news last week should have been the massive collapse of another part of Antarctica's Larsen Ice Shelf but even as most of the major news outlets reported it the tsunami of bullshit emanating from The Big White House of Lies stole the show. Too bad we can't pin collapsing ice shelves on the present occupants in that place (they're busy collapsing on other fronts). In any case, some UN climate folks say we have 3 years left before we are doomed, got it? Finally, Glen's come up with a WBUR report on ticks that could be a second Revenge of the Critters piece this week. In short, it's an epidemic. 

Our Enviro Show Quote of the Week is for His Malignancy The Mad King. We don't know if Mark Twain was a prophet but this one seems to fit....

"You take the lies out of him, and he'll shrink to the size of your hat; you take the malice out of him, and he'll disappear."

After hanging out with Michael and David we'll take you over to the Bus Stop Billboard:

Saturday, July 29, 10 AM - 2 PM. Join The Sugar Shack Alliance, for a public rally and picnic to raise collective concerns and awareness on the continued resistance to the Kinder Morgan/TCG CT Expansion Pipeline in the Otis State Forest! Meet at Lower Spectacle Pond  in Otis State Forest for musical guests and speakers from across the movement and from all corners of the northeast! That's from 10am to noon! Then, at 12:30pm, a potluck picnic lunch at 12:30pm, followed by an informal gathering of musicians improvising together at our staging area at just north of the pond at Sue Baxter's Barn, 250 Cold Spring Rd., Sandisfield, MA. Go to: http://sugarshackalliance.org/ 

Friday, August 4 at 7 - 9:30 PM. Screening of "An Inconvenient Sequel", Amherst Cinema, 28 Amity Street, Amherst, MA. A decade after AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH brought climate change into the heart of popular culture comes the riveting and rousing follow-up that shows just how close we are to a real energy revolution.Vice President Al Gore continues his tireless fight, traveling around the world training an army of climate champions and influencing international climate policy.Join Climate Action Now at the Amhert Cinema opening for "An Inconvenient Sequel: Truth to Power"

Monday August 7, 10am. to 12pm. Public Hearing. Your comments badly needed. Holyoke Community College, Kittredge Center, 303 Homestead Avenue, Holyoke, MA 01404. The Massachusetts Department of Energy Resources (DOER) is proposing changes in the Massachusetts Alternative Portfolio Standards (APS). The APS would encourage and subsidize large-scale industrial cutting and burning of trees for heat. This would increase the immediate release of carbon, which would worsen climate change. It would also increase toxic air pollution, which would harm public health. Finally, it would promote intensified logging, which would degrade New England forest ecosystems and undermine their capacity to store carbon.

DOER requests that written comments be submitted as attached pdf files to emails addressed to , with the word APS COMMENTS in the subject line. Alternatively, comments can be submitted at the hearing or via mail to Samantha Meserve at the Department of Energy Resources, 100 Cambridge Street, Suite 1020, Boston, MA 02114. 

That's all for now. Remember to listen to your Mother, OK?