Another Dam Enviro Show

Greetings Earthlings. With all the popular resistance against fossil fuels, dirty wood biomass and the destruction of our public forests in the Commonwealth, the troubling issue of Megadams up north and their literal connection to our electrical power in the Northeast is often overlooked. Our friend Meg Sheehan of the North American Megadams Resistance Alliance (NAMRA) stands in solidarity with groups opposing megadams and joins us along with Sandi Howard from Say NO to NECEC for the full hour on this show. Here on the blog we'll continue to bring you along for a look at this week's Fool-on-the-Hill, His Most Impeachable Mad King and his Court, as well as give your less enlightened kin the reminder "It's the Climate Crisis, Stupid!" but first it's time for...........Revenge of the Critters! Walrus Sinks Russian Navy Boat. We guess this is war.

Not every Fool-on-the-Hill actually works there, right? Some fools are just visitors like The Mad King's White House counsel in His Impeachment trial, Pat Cipollone. You'd have to go a ways to find a more foolish remark than Cipollone's recent whopper in which he apparently stated with a straight face that: “President Trump is a man of his word”. Actually.........nah!

We have some sorry-ass Breaking News! It seems Beacon Hill, ("The place where legislation goes to die") in its eternal wisdom, will not be reporting out H.897 An Act Relative to Forest Protection. Sadly, Bill McKibben's 11th hour plea in support of the bill was too little/too late. That said, you still can join the call for a moratorium on logging PUBLIC land in the Commonwealth HERE .  There is, however, some good news: The other bill McKibben referenced, H.853 An Act to assure the attainment of greenhouse gas emissions goals in the alternative portfolio standard, or the Biomass Bill, will be reported out. 

On to His Malignancy The Mad King himself! Let's see what nefarious deeds he's up to lately. Most recently while in Davos prowling around with actual billionaires (instead of at his own Impeachment Trial) he publicly revealed cuts to earned Medicare and Social Security benefits will be on the table as soon as the end of this year, according to Richard Fiesta, executive director of the Alliance for Retired Americans. Not content with just throwing granny under the bus, His Malignancy's Court of Corruption today (Thursday, January 23, 2020) "will finalize a rule to strip away environmental protections for streams, wetlands and other water bodies" in the U.S.  Meanwhile, over at his Department of Injustice "New emails show the... Department is helping Big Oil fight climate lawsuits"! Also this: "The White House announced....that it plans to veto the PFAS Action Act of 2019, which aims to keep harmful forever chemicals out of groundwater", Newsweek reported. Also, "The [Mad King's] U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission is moving forward with a proposed rulemaking to eliminate its requirements for offsite emergency preparedness around a new generation of Small Modular Reactors and other contemplated non-light water reactors. The NRC staff acknowledges that the rule change could also apply to aging, large conventional light water reactors in the US, the brunt of which have had their licenses extendedby decades." We're pretty sure there's more new assaults planned by His Malignancy out there but maybe this is enough for this week.....or just maybe we'll be rid of him?

Time to remind anyone who isn't paying attention that....."It's the Climate crisis, Stupid!" As we move beyond "The Hottest Decade on Record" to who knows what all Greta Thunberg reminds those with the most among us: "Our house is still on fire. Your inaction is fueling the flames by the hour. And we are telling you to act as if you loved your children above all else." Meanwhile our friends at Grist point out: "The American Petroleum Institute, Big Oil’s biggest lobbying group, is rolling out a new ad campaign focused on “energy progress” and heralding its efforts to address the need for cleaner energy. “Natural gas and oil,” says a new ad, reversing the usual order of things, “This is energy progress.” Really? OK, we guess if The Mad King is now "a man of his word" then so must the climate criminals be? [insert hysterical laughter here] Actually, like Orwell noted: “During times of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act.” 

On to the Bus Stop Billboard:

Thursday, February 13, 10:00am-12:00pm. All Out! for a DCR Forest Action Plan Meeting. Great Falls Discovery Center, Turners Falls, MA. Prepare to make the case for REAL forest protection and preservation! " Forest Action Plans represent a comprehensive assessment of the state's forest resources across public and private land, guide the work of forestry professionals, and inform conservation and land use plans. Join the Department of Conservation and Recreation to provide feedback and discuss the draft of the 2020 Forest Action Plan." 

Thursday February 13, 5pm. Indigenous Women on the Front Lines of Environmental Activism: The Battle for Environmental Justice in the Amazon. Conference Center Paradise Room, Smith College, Northampton, MA. Call 413-585-2407.

Saturday February 15, 6:30 to 8pm. The Cougar Returns to the East.  There is no question about it. Cougars are not only being seen in eastern North America, some are attempting to recolonize their former habitats.  Where once it was flatly dismissed as an impossibility in the so-called “developed” east, scientists have now documented cougar dispersals and even occupancy in a growing list of eastern states and provinces. Join us for a magnificently illustrated introduction to cougar biology and ecology in the broad diversity of habitats. Berkshire Community College 1350 West St. Pittsfield, MA. Phone: (413) 230-7321 

That's all, folks! Remember, when you're out there....Listen to your Mother!

The Wendell State Forest Alliance Enviro Show

Greetings Earthlings. We aired an Enviro Show Special on Tuesday January 14, 6 to 7pm. on Valley Free Radio which will also air on VFR Thursdays at 2pm and again at both times the following week. Our guests were members of the Wendell State Forest Alliance (we are members as well) and the hour long interview, broken into two parts are here and here. 

As usual we'll also take you to witness this week's Fool-on-the-Hill and His Malignancy The Mad King and his court of climate criminals. Also, another reminder that "It's the Climate Crisis, Stupid!" but first it's time for..........Revenge of the Critters! Puppy shoots woman (in which we make an exception just this once for dog as critter)

This week's Fool-on-the-Hill is Georgia repugnican Rep. Rick Allen who simply answered "No" to the 2014 debate question, "Do you believe manmade greenhouse gas emissions are a major source of climate change?" Earning his a League of Conservation Voters score of  0% 

This past week we watched in horror as His Malignancy The Mad King made war on the nation of Iran even as his ongoing War of Science  continues unabated. Thankfully, The Mad King hasn't yet assassinated any leading climate scientists (to our knowledge) but his War on Nature has eliminated untold numbers of species and opened up the gates of Hell for seemingly endless exploitation. Some recent examples include ending punishment for avian deaths due to industrial plunder; removing the federal database that tracks pollution; ongoing effort to trash the National Environmental Protection Act; and simply doing everything possible to trash the planet with the help of his fellow Enemies of the Planet, both Dems and Repugs alike. Sorry, no good news to report other than His Malignancy's impeachment still hanging over his monstrous head, one that now has a bounty on it?

OK, how did the 2010s go in terms of climate chaos? We thought anyone who missed the memo "It's the Climate Crisis, Stupid!" might want to know so Grist has the charts HERE. 
Recall our past conversations about feedback loops and climate chaos? The massive fires in Australia are creating their own bad weather.  Finally, Victoria Falls dries up in Africa's "worst drought in a century". 

Now, on to the Bus Stop Billboard: 

Saturday January 25,  11AM  Demonstration and Street Theater -on the steps of Holyoke City Hall 

Join Rebels and other activists to demand ISO (manger of New England's electric grid) stop subsidizing fossil fuels! More details to come - in the meantime, consider signing this petition about ISO's practices created by MA Attorney General Maura Healey

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, 6:30 to 7:30pm. Mighty Earth’s “Stop, Don’t Chop” Campaign Kick Off Meeting at the Bangs Community Center, South Meeting Room, 70 Boltwood Walk, Amherst, MA. As you read this, your neighborhood Stop & Shop is selling the least sustainable meat available. Cargill, Stop & Shop’s meat supplier, is playing a large part in the deforestation of the Amazon, is polluting our waterways here in the US, and is contributing high levels of greenhouse gas emissions. To add insult to injury, Cargill committed to eliminate its deforestation practices by 2020, but hasn’t taken any significant steps to do so. It’s time for Stop & Shop to stop selling meat produced by Cargill and pressure Cargill to clean up its act. o learn more about how you can get involved before the meeting, please contact Hayley Berliner at hayley@greencorps.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.

Wednesday, February 5, 7pm. Trees and Their Role in the Lives of Native Bees. First Congregational Church, 43 Silver St, Greenfield. Joan Milam has researched the conservation of native bees, biodiversity, and taxonomy for many years. She works in collaboration with Federal and State agencies, and NGO’s to provide inventories and baseline data for monitoring native bees in managed habitats.FULL DESCRIPTION HERE . 

Thursday, February 13, 10:00am-12:00pm. All Out! for a DCR Forest Action Plan Meeting. Great Falls Discovery Center, Turners Falls, MA. Prepare to make the case for REAL forest protection and preservation! " Forest Action Plans represent a comprehensive assessment of the state's forest resources across public and private land, guide the work of forestry professionals, and inform conservation and land use plans. Join the Department of Conservation and Recreation to provide feedback and discuss the draft of the 2020 Forest Action Plan."  


Thursday February 13,  5pm. Indigenous Women on the Front Lines of Environmental Activism: The Battle for Environmental Justice in the Amazon. Conference Center Paradise Room, Smith College, Northampton, MA. Call 413-585-2407. 

Saturday February 15,  6:30 to 8pm. The Cougar Returns to the East.  There is no question about it. Cougars are not only being seen in eastern North America, some are attempting to recolonize their former habitats.  Where once it was flatly dismissed as an impossibility in the so-called “developed” east, scientists have now documented cougar dispersals and even occupancy in a growing list of eastern states and provinces. Join us for a magnificently illustrated introduction to cougar biology and ecology in the broad diversity of habitats. Berkshire Community College 1350 West St.
Pittsfield, MA. Phone: (413) 230-7321

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