A Crappy New New Year Enviro Show!

Greetings Earthlings on the eve of another New Year. We'll have plenty of 2020 Hindsight © to go around and Kyla Bennett of Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility joins us to give you some indication of what may make the next 365 days a Crappy New Year! As in past years, we'll still take you to meet our Fool-on-the-Hill and, as in these past months, to throw barbs at His Malignancy The Mad King, as well as an end of the year Enviro Show Quote of the Year, but first it' time for...........Revenge of the Critters! A Roo with a bad attitude terrorizes town Down Under.

This final week of 2019 has us recalling one of Congresses biggest fools and not just because he carries The Mad King's water or spouts Putin's party line during the impeachment hearings. No, Rep. Devin Nunes, Repugnican of California wrote: "I mean no offense to the global warming prophets of doom, but I welcome more offshore energy exploration and want to see it move ahead quickly," in his blog in 2017. Fool on! 

We have Breaking News! Our friend and sometimes Enviro Show guest, Michael Kellett has penned an excellent op-ed in The Greenfield Recorder titled "My Turn: Forest Protection Bill H.897: Setting the record straight" which cleanly debunks the junk science coming from both the Warwick & Wendell Selectboards who apparently missed the memo on the Climate Crisis while buying into DCR's bogus approach to so-called "forest management". 

On to His Malignancy The Mad King! Let's begin with this headline which fits nicely with this show's focus: "Trump EPA Sued for Putting Millions of Lives at Risk With Rollback of Chemical Safety Rules". Read all about it HERE. Now, in keeping with the moment, how about a look into His Malignancy's record on the Climate Crisis over the past year? Not to mention other rollbacks  you may have missed. And, The Mad King's approach to managing our public forests is no better. More than 400,000 people and dozens of local tribal, government, business, and national recreation groups have flooded His Malignancy's U.S. Forest Service with comments opposing its plan to undo safeguards that prevent clearcutting of old-growth trees and road building in Alaska’s Tongass National Forest. The comment period has ended. Now it's time to......send in the lawyers! Also, reversing a past victory in federal court for wild plains bison, The Mad King's U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service will not be affording any Endangered Species Act  protections to the two genetically distinct bison herds living in and around Yellowstone National Park. That would be the very same agency that is now threatening one of the largest Barn Swallow nesting sites in the state, right here in Hadley, MA. We wish Roy Cohen would return from the dead and haunt His Malignancy with the special Holidaze message "It's the Climate Crisis, Stupid!" but no such miracle seems available so "The 2020 Election must be  a time of reckoning on climate change"

Time for The Enviro Show Quote of the Year:

"Nature is not, of course, always benign and beautiful. It can be frightening and terrifying also. Not too many generations ago, raw nature and wilderness tended to inspire fear and dread in "civilized" people.They represented Otherness and the Unknown. That which is "wild" is also "bewildering".

Today, wilderness is usually considered to be something good and in need of preservation. The beauty and awesomeness of it dominate our attention.

We are attracted by wilderness, the Otherness of it, the sense it is something inevitably outside of us. Always beyond us, it is what is ultimately real.

We cannot adequately appreciate this aspect of nature if we approach it with any taint of human pretense. It will elude us if we allow artifacts like clothing to intervene between ourselves and this Other. To apprehend it, we cannot be naked enough.

In Wildness is the preservation of the world."

                                                                                     -  Henry David Thoreau

After our conversation with Kyla we move on to our Bus Stop Billboard:


Monday January 27, 7 to 9pm. Climate Action Now Monthly Gathering. All Welcome! The Unitarian Universalist Society of Amherst, 121 North Pleasant Street, Amherst, MA. Go to: http://climateactionnowma.org/ 

Tuesday January 28, William Moomaw, Emeritus Professor of International Environmental Policy at the Fletcher School – Tufts University, will give a talk titled, “Battling Climate Change One Forest at a Time.” Moomaw will discuss how, over the past 100 years, forests have been actively managed for the production of wood and paper, and more recently for industrial scale wood fuel for heat and electricity. As a result, our forests are purposely kept in a relatively young stage and harvested well before the trees have reached maturity and a large stock of stored carbon and the forest has achieved its full ecological potential. Forests of the world have the potential to store twice what they now store, but this will require a change in management practices. Moomaw will explain how having a higher percentage of older forests will also slow and potentially reverse the decline in both the total population of species and their diversity. The presentation will take place in room 218 of Murdock Hall on the MCLA campus. They are free and open to the public.

For more information, contact Elena Traister at (413) 662-5303.

Goodbye Enviro Show fans, we'll be back next year. Meanwhile, remember to listen to your Mother! 

Another Winter Solstice Enviro Show

Greetings Earthlings and a Happy Winter Solstice as of Saturday December 21st when the Return of the Light hopefully brings powerful energy for regeneration, renewal and self-reflection. We'll hear from The Good Green Witch on that as well as from Colby Cunningham of Mass Divest updating us on the divestment movement here in the Commonwealth.  As always, we will bring you along for a visit with our Fool-on-the-Hill and to
checkout His Malignancy The Mad King's latest assaults on good governance and general decency, as well as a reminder that It's the Climate Crisis, Stupid!. but first it's time for..........Revenge of the Critters! Another victim of those feral Hogs in Texas (and another reason to have a garage with an automatic door opener if you must live there).

Sen. Tom Cotton, Repugnican from Arkansas [ insert groan here] certainly qualifies for a turn on this week's Fool-on-the-Hill. Here's what this fool said about the Green New Deal: ""[I]t's pretty remarkable that when these Democrats put out the Green New Deal last week that you had many Democrats running for president leap onto a proposal that was going to confiscate every privately owned vehicle in America within a decade and ban air travel so we could all drive or ride around on high speed light rail, supposedly powered by unicorn tears," Cotton said. Are you surprised this fool believes in unicorns? Nah!

His Malignancy has seemingly been fixated on toilets and bathrooms lately, maybe because the only throne The Mad King will ever know is located there? Meanwhile Dems in Congress are focused on impeaching him while Repugnicans seem hell-bent on....umm...carrying his water?? Here's a related headline for you from EcoWatch:  "With Nation Transfixed by Impeachment, Trump Admin Quietly Serves Offshore Drilling Companies a 'Sweetheart Giveaway'" As you may know, the National Climate Assessment endorsed by NASA, NOAA, the Department of Defense, and 10 other federal scientific agencies, contradicts every position taken on the issue by His Malignancy. We guess that's why this year's Assessment was released to the public on Black Friday? And speaking of the Thanksgiving holiday that just passed, guess what The Mad King did? The White House announced a move that would "strip nutrition assistance from an estimated 750,000 low-income people by mid-2020". Happy Thanksgiving....Mr. Scrooge!! 

Here's our timely Quote of the Week: 

"The Christians stole the winter solstice from the pagans, and capitalism stole it from the Christians."

                                                                                                 - George Monbiot

Apparently some land trusts [Correction: Kestral Land Trust did not sign the letter Glen referenced] and a few "green" groups in the Commonwealth are unaware "It's the Climate Crisis, Stupid" 'cuz they've come out against H.897 An Act Relative to Forest Protection. Not so, our friends at the Center for Biological Diversity who know a thing or two about species protection and the Climate Crisis. You can join CBD's call for support HERE.  And this: a campaign ad from Colorado that pretty much says it all. 

On to the Bus Stop Billboard:

Wednesday, January 1, 1 to 3pm. First day Hike. Enjoy a leisurely three-mile stroll down the Canalside Rail Trail and get the New Year started off on a Great Falls note. This family friendly hike follows a gentle route and provides an opportunity to discover the abundant natural, historical, and cultural features that make the Center and rail trail such an amazing State Park! Be prepared for cold weather: dress in layers and wear winter boots. Dogs are welcome on leash. Afterward, enjoy a cup of hot chocolate in the Discovery Center’s Great Hall, Avenue A, Turners Falls, MA. Meet at 1 p.m. in Great Hall. Hike begins at 1:15 p.m.


Wednesday, January 4, 2:00 – 3:30pm. Technical presentation by biomedical engineering doctorate and local professor on science and health risks of cell phones meant for local doctors and academics or teachers with a scientific background. Reservations available through Last Tree Laws or EventBrite. If weather cancels: Tuesday, January 7th, late afternoon. Holyoke Public Library, 250 Chestnut Street, Holyoke, MA 01040  

 That's it for now folks. We'll update the billboard as more events appear. Until then remember to....what? LISTEN TO YOUR MOTHER OF COURSE!

The Dark Waters Enviro Show

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Greetings Earthlings. Once rivers caught on fire or were so toxic no one went near them here in the U.S.  Do you think those days are over? Shaina Kasper from Toxics Action joins us to answer that question and to delve into the growing concern over PFAS  (sometimes called "forever chemicals") not just in our rivers but......well, everywhere!  As always we'll also drag you along to meet this week's Fool-on-the-Hill and to gawk at The Mad King and his henchmen, as well as remind those who haven't been paying attention that It's the Climate Crisis, Stupid! But first it's time for......Revenge of the Critters! Turkeys without manners? During Thanksgiving?? 

This week's Fool-on-the-Hill is Alaska Repugnican Senator Dan Sullivan who In July 2018, acknowledged some effects of climate change in Alaska, including erosion and acidification of the water seen in fisheries, but also said there were increased "opportunities in the Arctic." We guess he means "Drill baby, drill!" so that we can have even more of the above mentioned and more? 

His Malignancy The Mad King (also a climate crisis denier though he didn't use to be) was exposed last summer in Rolling Stone where this eye-opening comment was published: “With Trump, we’ve had a corporate takeover of government with no parallel in American history,” [said] Robert Weissman, president of Public Citizen. And, the conclusion was: "At a time when the climate crisis threatens the future of humanity, Trump and his corporate backers have taken the country in the opposite direction. Meanwhile His Malignancy is called a fanatic at the opening of the COP 25 climate talks by Spain's socialist leader. 'This administration’s agenda was set well before Trump was elected,' says [Michael]Brune of the Sierra Club. 'Just about any safeguard to protect the country’s air, water and climate is up for sale'."  OK, it's been reported two thirds of real Republicans now are concerned about the climate, so why are their reps in congress still clinging to His Malignancy's sinking ship??  Impeach the bastard already! Make your holidays happier.   It's hard to find good news these days, so here on The Enviro Show we always fall back on schadenfreude to make our day more bearable; you know, stories like "White House Staffers Say Impeachment is Driving [Him] Crazy" to which we say.....it's not a long drive!

In case you just got back from decades of being away, It's the Climate Crisis, Stupid! and “The summary findings are bleak.”  So said the annual assessment produced by the United Nations Environment Program formally known as the Emissions Gap Report. "Countries have failed to halt the rise of greenhouse gas emissions despite repeated warnings from scientists, with China and the United States, the two biggest polluters, further increasing their emissions last year." Great work, big guys. If your Uncle George or Aunt Harriet is Catholic and happens also to be a climate denier you might want to mention what The Poe has in mind! Do they want to go to Hell or to Heaven?  Cement production has a mighty large carbon footprint but how about cement  literally sucks carbon from the air? Grist tells us: "Today, most cement powders are hardened, or “cured,” by adding water, but several companies, most notably New Jersey-based Solidia, are creating cements that need to absorb CO2 in order to harden. Solidia claims that every metric ton of cement it makes can absorb 240 kilograms of the climate-warming gases. And because the CO2 is being packed into artificial rock, the storage is effectively permanent."  Sure beats turning our forests into cross-laminated timber.

Our Enviro Show Quote of the Weekis about this week's featured topic:

"Recent studies have shown that PFAS can mimic human hormones including thyroid, estrogen and testosterone, resulting in low function. One study looking at young men exposed to high levels of PFAS over long periods of time found lower testosterone activity resulting in smaller genitalia and lower sperm counts."   - The Ecologycenter

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

The River of Tears Enviro Show

Greetings Earthlings. Depending on how you view it, there's been a lot of bad news lately but enough good news to keep most of us from throwing ourselves in the river. That said, the Abenaki Nation refer to November's full Moon as mzatanos, or freezing river maker moon so you'd be....um...hard pressed? jumping into it. Our friend Karl Meyer calls in with more bad news for the endangered Shortnose Sturgeon struggling to survive in the Connecticut River's dead reach below the Turners Falls dam. Not long ago the dam and pump storage operator, First Light’s actions directly interfered and imperiled this listed Sturgeon's spawning, even when they had been apprised of the fishes presence in the river. Did we mention 85% percent of sturgeon, a species as old as the dinosaurs, are at risk of extinction, making them the most threatened group of animals right here in the "Happy Valley"?  We'll get to that with Karl and way more like this week's Fool-on-the-Hill and The Mad King but first it's time for..........Revenge of the Critters! Another surprise for a hunter who should have known better!

This week's Fool-on-the-Hill was running on all cylinders going off the rails live coast-to-coast at the first impeachment hearing for The Mad King; sadly he forgot his fool's cap along with his jacket. Yes, it's Jim Jordan (Repugnican-OH). Let's let conservative political strategist Rick Wilson take it from here regarding Jordan's performance: "Jordan, as always, was without a jacket, an appropriately knotted necktie, or a clue. His gotchas didn’t get anything, his predicates were as thin as his combover, and his belief that he’d save the day by talking louder and faster was a flop. He was rattling off “questions” so fast that he sounded like an auctioneer who had discovered the joy of cocaine. The fact that other members of the committee kept throwing their remaining question time to Jordan was a sign not of confidence in him, but of their own desires to punch their questions out and resume hiding.” Of course, if you happen to be accustomed to fratboy antics, Jordan was in character. Self-parody lives!

His Malignancy The Mad King is tanking before our very eyes and ears (if you can stand watching or listening to it).  While getting truly sick and tired of having his smarmy poser face appear on our Facebook news feed, we grin and bear it when the news is bad for him and his crony enablers. We are in complete agreement with Amy Goodman and her partner when they write: The Mad King's "denial of the climate crisis is unconscionable and should be added to the articles of impeachment against him".  Sadly, it's not always schadenfreude time around here. In fact, usually the bad news concerns his attacks on the beleaguered planet, like when His Malignancy's "administration is preparing to significantly limit the scientific and medical research that the government can use to determine public health regulations".

Have you informed your stubborn Uncle George with the Made in China MAGA hat that It's the Climate Crisis , Stupid! Maybe tell him "A new report by 11,258 scientists in 153 countries from a broad range of disciplines warns that the planet “clearly and unequivocally faces a climate emergency”?  He'll probably tell you it's "fake news" but you should send him the link anyway, or maybe send him a one-way ticket to New Delhi so he can get a dose of climate dystopia?  Finally, have you seen THIS?

Our Enviro Show Quote of the Week is here:

"A river or stream is a cycle of energy from sun to plants to insects to fish. It is a continuum broken only by humans."               -  Aldo Leopold

After our conversation with Karl we head over to the Bus Stop Billboard:


December 3 at about 10:30AM in the Orange District Court, 1 Court Square, Orange, MA ten Forest Protectors will be heard on charges of trespassing following their arrests for civil disobedience in the Wendell State Forest in August of this year. The defendants are members of the Wendell State Forest Alliance and were attempting to stop the commercial logging of 100 year old oak trees in the state forest. The Climate Emergency mandates that trees be allowed to mature as carbon sequesters rather than be cut for private industrial benefit. The Defendants were originally charged criminally. These charges were subsequently converted to civil offenses by the state. The Defendants will present a Necessity Defense. Ten Defendants will be heard on criminal charges, which were not converted, on a date yet to be set by the court. In total 32 arrests by 17 Defendants took place during the 7 weeks of logging in the Wendell State Forest. 


Friday December 6, 5 to 7pm., Springfield Climate Strike! We strike. In Springfield, at City Hall, we will hold a rally, followed by a march and an action at the office of congressman Richard Neal. We demand that he endorse the Green New Deal and sign the No Fossil Fuel Money Pledge, the only federal representative in Massachusetts who hasn't done so. We are #GenGND!. Sign up for more information at bit.ly/ClimateStrikeWMass.


Friday, Dec 6, 10:30am. We strike from school and work and continue the fight for climate justice. Join us to stand for a Massachusetts Green New Deal and an end to the climate emergency! For up to date information, check out @climatestrikeMA on Instagram and Twitter. See here for resources (flyers, toolkits, and more). Contact @ClimateStrikeMA or bostonclimatestrike@gmail.com with any questions! RSVP here! See Facebook for more details. Fri, Dec 6, 10:30 am, Copley Sq, Boston.


Saturday, December 7, 10:15 a.m. – 12:15 p.m. Racial Justice Rising and Greening Greenfield present Lighting the Way: Climate Change Theatre ActionDoors open at 9:45. First Congregational Church, 43 Silver Street, Greenfield. Free and open to the public. For free childcare, send number and ages of children to email@racialjusticerising.org

Tuesday, December 10, 6:30-8:30pm. Screening and discussion of "The Human Element". Leverett Library, Montague Road, Leverett, MA. With rare compassion and heart, THE HUMAN ELEMENT follows environmental photographer James Balog on his quest to highlight Americans on the front lines of climate change, inspiring us to re-evaluate our relationship with the natural world.  For more information contact Peggy Wolff, Leverett Climate Action Group peggylwolff@gmail.com

We're done here for now. Please remember to listen to your Mother, OK? 

 

The Enviro Show SOS

Greetings Earthlings. It's SOS time on the show. Take 'yur pick: Save Our Station or Save Our Swallows, how about both? Yes, it's Valley Free Radio's Fall Fund Drive beginning Sunday at WXOJ and Save our Swallows with Mara Silver returning to the show once again Tuesday, 6 to 7pm. and Thursday at 2pm. Save Our Swallows is having a "Stand for the Swallows" protest event to show your support for saving the unique, thriving Barn Swallow colony on Saturday Nov 16, 10 to noon, at the intersection of Rt 9 & 116 in Hadley. Also on the show we'll take you to see this week's Fool-on-the-Hill and to watch His Malignancy The Mad King sinking along with His ship of fools, as well as a reminder (as if you needed it) that It's the Climate Crisis, Stupid! But first it's time for..........Revenge of the Critters! Since certain Russian parties don't mind meddling in our affairs here in the States we take some interest in one of their bears meddling with  humans who believe they can train them.

This week's Fool-on-the-Hill is Rep. Gary Palmer Repugnican from Alabama’s Sixth District.  Palmer, in a statement announcing his appointment to the House Climate Crisis Committee, said he wants the committee to “focus on sensible solutions” but did not acknowledge a crisis and placed “climate change” in quotation marks. That’s not a surprise to some local environmental activists. Palmer was described as a “known climate denier” by the Sierra Club.

His Malignancy The Mad King took a lot of heat from the crowd at the 5th World Series game recently with booing and chants of "Lock him up!" Some of his enablers are whining about the sports fans' "incivility" conveniently forgetting about His Malignancy's near daily uncivil remarks and actions, not to mention high crimes and misdemeanors. None of this should surprise anyone who has witnessed the Repugnicans ongoing fall from grace over the past few decades. They were trained on campus as Young Repugnicans on how to be so......repugnant.  Speaking of which, The Mad King formally begins bailing from the Paris climate deal  this week. Karen Orenstein, Friends of the Earth's deputy director of economic policy noted: "When the U.S. has more sane leadership and rejoins the international community, the Paris agreement needs to be substantially more equitable and ambitious." Sane leadership, what a concept! And this: The Mad King's dark prince heading the Environmental "Protection" Agency (EPA), former coal lobbyist Andrew Wheeler had a surprise last week. Wheeler, who worked as a senior aide to Republican Sen. James Inhofe, one of the world's worst climate criminals, is presently engaged in gutting the very agency he heads. But surprise, a group of air pollution and public health experts reconvened to review the latest science and offer public recommendations for new air quality regulations, one year after they were fired by Wheeler! Finally, the EPA is now rolling back rules controlling toxic ash from coal plants. Surprise!

We guess you know It's the Climate Crisis, Stupid, yes? Speaking of an SOS. The present other worldly wildfires engulfing California are another climate related SOS, but did you ever think about who suffers the most during such disasters? Wait, what about the critters?? How about whether large swaths of the state becoming uninhabitable? And Common Dreams reports: "Leah Stokes, assistant professor of political science at the University of California, Santa Barbara, criticized the corporate media for ignoring the role of the climate crisis in the fires and explained that the scientific research about what's happening in California is crystal clear." No such lack of dot connecting here on The Enviro Show!

After you make your pledge to Valley Free Radio and we hear from Mara it's on to the Bus Stop Billboard:

Saturday, November 16, 10 AM – 12pm. Stand for the Swallows Protest Event. The habitat of the largest known Barn Swallow colony in Massachusetts is in danger of destruction by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service. This colony nests in an abandoned stable at Fort River Refuge in Hadley. Join us for a Stand for the Swallows protest event to show your support for saving this unique, thriving Barn Swallow colony. Stay for 10 minutes or the entire 2 hours. Bring a sign or hold one of ours. Go to: https://www.facebook.com/events/485988478677552/ 

Sunday, November 17,  1pm. the Wendell State Forest Alliance celebrates  National Take a Hike Day by inviting hikers and mountain bikers to Wendell State Forest to hear a brief talk on the Wendell Ghost Forest and to go for a hike or bike lead by Alliance members. National Take a Hike Day in the United States is an annual event .  An orientation meet-up will begin shortly after 1pm. where maps and information will be shared.  For more information email: savebrookrdforest@gmail.com 

Monday, November 18, 1-3pm  Public Meetings for Stakeholder Input on Greenhouse Gas Regulations at MassDEP’s Central Regional Office, 8 New Bond Street, Worcester, MA. If you would like to be added to the stakeholder list to receive additional information about this topic, including stakeholder meeting announcements and instructions for providing input, please email climate.strategies@mass.gov 


Tuesday, November 19, 10:30am.  The Commonwealth of Massachusetts Flag and Seal Bill (House Bill H2776 / Senate Bill S1877) will be presented at a hearing at the MA State House after a rally and press conference on the Boston Common. Go to: http://maindigenousagenda.org/state-flag-and-seal/  


Monday November 25, 7 to 9pm. Monthly Climate Action Now! Gathering. Unitarian Meetinghouse on N. Pleasant St (downtown), Amherst, MA. Go to: https://climateactionnowma.org/calendar/ 

 We're done here, but have you helped support the station that supports us? Also, remember to what? Listen to your Mother!

The Single Largest Threat Enviro Show

Greetings Earthlings. We guess it's obvious by now the Climate Crisis is the single largest threat in human history but it's also a threat to most other beings as well. Dahr Jamail [was unable to call due to a family emergency] but his upcoming event with journalist Amy Ellis Nutt at Smith College is on Wednesday October 30th. As usual we will also bring you along for a visit with this week's fool-on-the-hill and to witness The Mad King and his enablers at their worst (not hard!), as well as our Enviro Show Quote of the Week, but first it's time for...........Revenge of the Critters! Renegade Deer makes a stylish entry into a salon.

This Week's Fool-on-the-Hill is Colorado Congressman Doug Lamborn who wrote, “The $93 trillion Green New Deal pushed by House Democrats would devastate our economy and eliminate millions of family-supporting jobs.” In a statement to Complete Colorado Lamborn said, “The Green New Deal, which should be called a nightmare, will cost families in Colorado over $65,000 per year and offers only negligible benefits.  This proposal calls for the elimination of planes, gasoline-powered cars, and affordable electricity....It is nothing more than a socialist scheme,” Lamborn continued. We guess by "family-supporting jobs" he means fracking, coal & uranium mining in Colorado? No mention of the effects of climate chaos on those families?

His Malignancy The Mad King and his climate criminal enablers continue their collective assault on the planet and all things sane. They are another step closer to opening up the "world’s largest intact temperate rainforest to logging and other potential extractive development", the Tongass National Forest in Alaska. HuffPo notes: "Slashing protections for more than half of the 17 million-acre Tongass National Forest would likely not only negatively impact the ecosystem and the wildlife found there, but further hamper the global fight against climate change. The forest has millions of old-growth trees and sequesters approximately 8 percent of the total carbon stored in forests in the Lower 48 states, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture." And this: A draft plan, announced by the EPA hatchet man, Andrew Wheeler concerning new regulations on lead and copper in drinking water, cancels out "the immediate replacement of six million lead pipes that connect homes to main water pipes. The proposed new rule would also more than double the amount of time allotted to replace lead pipes in water systems that contain high levels of lead", according to the New York Times.  That, on top of a proposal to remove virtually all regulation of methane gas! Also, in keeping with the symbolic Reagan-era dumb-ass act of removing solar panels from the White House, His Malignancy has the bikeshare station removed. In case you object to that, his lackeys in the National Park Service also rescinded the "Water Bottle Ban" that allowed parks to prohibit the sale of disposable plastic water bottles. Is it any wonder a study from New York University determined the United States has reached “a crisis point” in its relationship with science and politics?  

Our Enviro Show Quote of the Week is spot on with regard the single largest threat even though it was said in regard to nuclear holocaust:  

“The world will not be destroyed by those who do evil, but by those who watch them without doing anything.” — Albert Einstein

After our conversation with Dahr we head over to the Bus Stop Billboard:

Monday, November 4, 6pm. Transportation Climate Initiative Community Workshops.  Holyoke Community College, Kittredge Center, 303 Homestead Avenue, Holyoke.  Register for the Western Massachusetts Workshop HERE 


Saturday, November 9, 8:30am. to 3:00pm. Protest Destruction of State Forests at the Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR) Stewardship Council Meeting. DCR's November meeting with volunteers from across the Commonwealth will spend the day "sharing their successes and challenges as stewards of our beaches, forests". John Augustus Hall, Wachusett Reservoir, 180 Beaman Street, West Boylston, MA 01505

November 12, 1:00pm. Upcoming Public Hearing on multiple pesticide bills. Massachusetts State House, Room A-2, 24 Beacon St., Boston, Mass. Calling all proponents of a more organic Massachusetts! At a time of insect population collapse, declining bird populations and rising rates of pesticide-related chronic illness, we know that we must address the pervasive use of systemic and toxic pesticides in our school yards, our farm fields and our communities. November 12th 2019 could be a big day for the movement to reduce pesticide use in Massachusetts. Will you help make it so? (click the bill numbers to see the full text or click here to see our summaries) Please get in touch if you are interested in testifying: marty@nofamass.org 

Tuesday, November 12, 5 PM – 8 pm. Tell Gov Baker - We need Zero Waste - Public Hearing. 1187 Parker St, Springfield, MA 01129-1031. Our state prides itself on being ahead of the curve, but we have so much further to go away from incinerating trash and leaking landfills polluting our air, land, water- and children! Join us at this important public hearing about the Baker administration's new plan! Go to: https://www.facebook.com/events/503717823693171/ 


Monday, November 18, 1-3pm  Public Meetings for Stakeholder Input on Greenhouse Gas Regulations at MassDEP’s Central Regional Office, 8 New Bond Street, Worcester, MA. If you would like to be added to the stakeholder list to receive additional information about this topic, including stakeholder meeting announcements and instructions for providing input, please email climate.strategies@mass.gov 

 

OK Enviro Show fans,  Halloween is just around the corner so be sure to listen to your Mother 'cuz there be monsters out there! 

The Climate Strike Week Enviro Show

Greetings Earthlings. Happy Autumn Equinox! Beginning with the Boston Climate Strike on Friday September 20 and the Walkout & Rally in Solidarity with the Global Youth Climate Strike all the way to the following Friday September 27 when WMass Extinction Rebellion (XR) lets it be known The Rebellion Begins in Western Massachusetts we the people will be sounding the alarm about the climate emergency. All during that week there will be events & actions focusing on the Climate Crisis. One we trust you won't want to miss is the hearing for H.897 An Act Relative to Forest Protection 1 to 3PM in Room B-1 at the Statehouse in Boston.  H. 897 will protect all state land as parks or reserves. The bill will fight climate change by reducing carbon loss and increasing carbon sequestration. Yes, we've been talking about this on the show seemingly forever BUT now it's an actual piece of legislation on Beacon Hill. It truly needs YOUR support if we are to spare other state forests from the devastation Wendell State Forest just suffered.  Susan Theberge of Climate Action Now! and Emmalie Dropkin of WMass XR join us to review and preview all the events and more. Speaking of more, we'll also take you to meet this week's sorry Fool-on-the-Hill and to poke fun of His Malignancy The Mad King and his court of climate criminals, but first it's time for......Revenge of the Critters! South American kinkajou does El Norte: An exotic home invasion!

We have a real honest-to-goodness climate criminal this week for our Fool-on-the-Hill. Rep. Andy Biggs (Repugnican-AZ) doesn't even equivocate on the Climate Crisis like so many of his fellow Repugs. He flat-out denies it: "No, I do not believe climate change is occurring. I do not think that humans have a significant impact on climate. The federal government should stop regulating and stomping on our economy and freedoms in the name of a discredited theory." We must have missed the memo on that "discredited theory"? [insert hysterical laughter here]

We're pretty sure The Mad King has gone totally off the rails. Now he wants to control the weather and some of the real weather watchers are even caving to His Malignancy! Here's a headline from the NY Times that would make Woody Guthrie turn over in his grave "Trump to Miners, Loggers and Drillers: This Land is Your Land". Of course, privatization of public lands is classic corporado behavior but The Mad King has embraced it like some pervert might embrace your dirty shorts. One of his worst ideas to date is opening up the world's largest remaining pristine temperate rainforest,  Alaska’s Tongass National Forest to logging and mining. We imagine Satin has reserved THE worst place in Hell for this move but who wants to wait until His Malignancy gets there?? It almost makes his minion, US EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler newest proposal to amend the Clean Water Act to streamline permitting of energy projects look benign by comparison?.......Nah!

Time for another Enviro Show Quote of the Week. No need to jump into the Wayback Machine for this one:

"I'm often asked whether I believe in global warming. I now just reply with the question: Do you believe in gravity?" -- Neil deGrasse Tyson

Finally, in case you missed it, It's the Climate Crisis, Stupid! Last month Inside Climate News revealed a new study on climate change at the South Pole. It was discovered "the way the westerly winds push the surface water allows warmer water from below to reach under the ice shelves, accelerating ice loss from the West Antarctic Ice Sheet." The piece goes on to state: "The potential for a surge of sea level rise from West Antarctica is so great that scientists have even studied whether the melting could be slowed by spraying the surface with man-made snow and ice." We guess man-made climate chaos calls for......man-made snow? Meanwhile, Amazon Watch informs us: "As the Amazon's dry season draws on, uncontained fires continue to rage across vast landscapes. It is estimated that in Brazil alone, nearly 3 million hectares – 11,500 square miles, or an area nearly as large as Belgium – have burned. Another 2 million hectares of Bolivia's forests have been lost....Tens of thousands of new blazes have been deliberately set in recent weeks, despite Bolsonaro's purported ban on fires, laying bare the scale of impunity behind this brazen criminal activity with illegal deforestation at its core."

After our conversation with Emmalie ans Susan we head over to the Bus Stop Billboard:

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Friday, October 18^, 6pm in the Commonwealth Honors College Event Hall (East Room), Physical Plant Sustainability, UMass Amherst is hosting a film screening of Josh Fox’s film How to Let Go of the World and Love All the Things Climate Can't Change. The event is free and open to all and we’re asking folks to bring a reusable bowl and cup for free popcorn and refreshments. Here is the event listing in the UMass Calendar: https://www.umass.edu/events/film-how-let-go-world-and-love  


Friday October 18, 11:45am. Demand Divestment. Smith College Campus Center.  Tell Smith trustees the climate crisis is here.The time to act is now!  Join us supporting Divest Smith to demand full divestment from fossil fuels from Smith College Board of Trustees. Go HERE.


Thursday, October 24, 7pm. WMass Extinction Rebellion  General Meeting in Herter Hall at UMass Amherst.  Go to: https://www.facebook.com/events/1212664375583565/  


Saturday October 26,  12 to 4 pm. (Rain Date: Sunday, October 27, 12 to 4 p.m) Reading the Forested Landscape. Join the renowned terrestrial ecologist and author Tom Wessels for a presentation on learning to read our forest landscape, followed by an interpretive walk at 1:30 p.m.  Using tree stump decay patterns, the construction of stone walls, and much more, Tom will show us how to unravel the agricultural, logging, and wind histories in our forests.  Tom’s books will be available for sale.  Come along for the presentation, walk, or both!  Please sign up for the walk at the Library as space may be limited.  Walk participants are encouraged to carpool, bring a snack, and dress for the weather.   For more information contact Cynthia Weigel, 413-256-4606


 Monday, October 28, 7 to 9pm. Climate Action Now meets in Northampton.  Northampton gatherings will take place at First Churches on 129 Main St.  (enter side door).  Go to: https://climateactionnowma.org/ 

Wednesday, October 30, 7:30 p.m. How the Climate Crisis Has Become the Single Largest Threat to Human Health in History: A Conversation Between Journalists. Dahr Jamail and Amy Ellis Nutt.  Smith College, Weinstein Auditorium, Wright Hall, College Lane, Northampton, MA.

OK, it ain't over 'til it's over. Remember what we always say? Yes, listen to your Mother!