The Mass Timber Enviro Show

Greetings Earthlings. Did you learn about The Great Chicago or San Francisco Fires in history class? Those disasters led the construction industries in the U.S. to move away from building large urban structures out of wood. Guess what? Some folks on the UMass, Amherst campus want to turn the clock back and do it all over again? Not everyone is on board and in these days of Climate Crisis do we really want to keep cutting down trees that capture CO2 emissions?? Micheal Kellett of Restore the North Woods returns to the show to deconstruct Mass Timber with us.We'll devote the entire hour to our interview with Micheal so the only place you'll find your favorite Enviro show segments will be right here on the blog. We'll get into all that presently but first it's time for...........Revenge of the Critters! You think coronavirus is bad? Wait until you find out about the Pangola threat.

This week's Fool-on-the-Hill is not only a complete fool but he's also dangerous! Yes, it's Kentucky senator #MoscowMitchMcTraitor who said this about the Green New Deal last year in February:

 "It's clear what we have here. It's the far-left's Santa Claus wish list dressed up to look like serious policy," McConnell said. "Bad ideas are nothing new… silly proposals come and go. But the philosophies and the ideas behind this textbook socialism are not just foolish. They're dangerous."

Next to The Mad King, #MoscowMitchMcTraitor is the actual greatest and gravest threat to our nation and the planet.

And now, on to that other greatest and gravest threat, His Malignancy The Mad King who, before declaring himself the nation's chief lawenforcement officer, recently pardoned some of the worst people on Earth. We're wondering why His Malignancy hasn't yet pardoned General Zod from his imprisonment in the Phantom Zone or The Joker from Arkham State Hospital? And this from Grist: The Mad King's "proposed budget for fiscal year 2021, a “Budget for America’s Future,” aims to slash funding for 14 different climate programs. And that’s just at the [highly compromised] Environmental Protection Agency." Meanwhile, some of His Malignancy's climate criminal enablers granted Keystone XL some of the final permits needed from  the Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Land Management, and the Army Corps of Engineers. TC Energy says it will start clearing trees and mowing grass in the pipeline’s right-of-way this March. With agencies issuing the final permits and TC Energy poised to break ground, the tribes along with the Indigenous Environmental Network are likely to ask for a new injunction, and may have a better chance of getting one. Finally, The Mad King's Environmental "Protection"Agency effort to change a rule that cuts emissions of mercury and other toxins is “an action that is entirely unnecessary, unreasonable, and universally opposed by the power generation sector”, according to the polluters themselves?

Our Enviro Show Quote of the Week comes from our favorite congressman: "“While the President and his allies do everything in their power to undermine our environmental protections as a favor to big oil lobbyists and corporate polluters, we are prioritizing conserving and protecting our delicate ecosystems like never before. I proudly voted yes on this important bill [Protecting America’s Wilderness Act (H.R. 2546)] to protect our wilderness – and our planet – for generations to come.”       - Jim McGovern

Time to remind your distracted friends and neighbors: "It's the Climate Crisis, Stupid!" Not sure if telling them the dailyaverage of CO2 levels on Feb. 10 was 416.08 parts per million thus crossing another grim doomsday threshold. Maybe something more in their face like: "Overlapping environmental crises could tip the planet into "globalsystemic collapse", more than 200 top scientists warned"?  Too extreme? How about Maybe we can fix recycling?  And this: Why the Repugnicans won't act on the Climate Crisis!

Let's head over to the Bus Stop Billboard and see what else we can do:

Thursday  March 5, 10:30am to 1pm. A meeting of the DCR Stewardship Council.  This meeting will be held at Holyoke Heritage State Park, 221 Appleton Street, Holyoke, MA. 


Thursday March 5, 5:30pm  Susan Masino: "Proforestation for People and the Planet," Everyone is welcome. Just got scheduled.  5:30 pm in McConnell 103, Smith College, Northampton, MA.  Feel free to share. Proforestation for people and the planet. Forests evolved before dinosaurs. They protect biodiversity, clean our water and air, and mitigate multiple effects of climate change. Massachusetts is blessed with incredible forests and other natural areas, and protecting natural ecosystems has never been more important. We know we also need places for respite, and new research shows that forests support our health – especially brain health. It is urgent to heed new science so we can strike a balance among responsible resource use, high quality long-term research, and proforestation – a nature based solution that protects ecosystems and maximizes benefits for people and for the planet.

Saturday, March 7, 9am. Local Environmental Action 2020 will bring hundreds of activists together to learn, connect and be inspired in Boston, Mass. Go to: http://www.localenvironmentalaction.org/

Restore our Ecosystems, Restore our Earth session at 11AM. [Good opportunity to bring up forest protection & preservation!] “One of the most devastating impacts of climate change is the destruction of our natural ecosystems. However, restoration is possible! Come to learn from activists across Massachusetts on the work they have done to rehabilitate and recover damaged ecosystems. Join us to find resources, partners, and first steps towards restoring ecosystems in your community.” 


Friday, March 13, 2 – 4:00 P.M.  Neonics Scientific Literature Review Public Hearing.
Notice is hereby given that the Pesticide Board Subcommittee, acting through the Department of Agricultural Resources...will hold a public hearing on the findings of a scientific literature review that the Pesticide Board Subcommittee will use when determining whether current uses of neonicotinoid insecticides pose unreasonable adverse effects to the environment as well as pollinators, and whether current registered uses of neonicotinoid insecticides should be altered.  Massachusetts Division of Fish & Wildlife, 1 Rabbit Hill Road, Westborough, MA  01581. For special accommodations for this event or to obtain this information in an alternative format, you may contact ADA coordinator, Donald Gomes, at 617-626-1608. 

Monday, March 16, 6-7:30pm.  Join the Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs for a series of public meetings on the Commonwealth’s planning efforts to address climate change and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Guided by the 2008 Global Warming Solutions Act, Massachusetts is currently studying how to achieve the ambitious climate goal of net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. [Whoa! Sorry, we don't have the luxury of 30 YEARS!] Springfield Technical Community College. Registration link: https://springfield2050roadmap.eventbrite.com

Tuesday March 17, 7 to 9:30pm. Third Tuesday Greenfield Word.  Ides of March readings by d.o. from The Enviro Show. Also readings by Rosie McMahan. 9 Mill Street, Greenfield, MA. Go down the hill towards the Olver Transportation center Under the Railroad bridge. At the light take a right turn and it is the first building on the right. If driving park in the street or down three buildings in the Art center parking lot.  Go to: https://www.facebook.com/events/3632904063474960/ 

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Saturday, March 28, 9am to 2pm. Traprock will mark the 40th anniversary of Women and Life on Earth: a conference on eco-feminism in the 1980's with a meeting in the Greenfield Community College Dining Commons. The Women and Life on Earth conference in March 1980 brought together 600 women from the northeastern U.S.  for a weekend on connections around women, peace and ecology. Now, at a critical time for life on earth, we gather to honor and encourage multigenerational action. This event will bring together activists and groups from Springfield, MA to Brattleboro, VT, to share goals and plans for 2020 and beyond. Please join us!  Contact:  info@wloe.org

 



-->Sunday April 5,  4-6 pm. Extinction Rebellion WMass general meeting at Smith Campus Center,  100 Elm St, Northampton, MA 01063.  Go to:  https://www.xrwesternmass.org/ 

That's it 'til next time just remember to listen to your Mother.....Got it?

Another WMass Extinction Rebellion Show

Greetings Earthling. What can you do about the Sixth Great Extinction? One thing you could do here in the Mid-Conneticut River Valley is hook-up with Extinction Rebellion Western Mass and join them "to act on behalf of the security and well-being of our children, our communities and the future of the planet itself".  Sounds like a plan, yes?  Adrie Rose, Steven Botkin, and Ella Lester join us for the entire hour to talk about the work including ________________.  We have the usual suspect's segments only here on the blog this time because this show was prerecorded awhile back so Glen can hike about the outback for a few months with his entourage and yours truly can fight the good fight without a microphone in my face. All that presently, but first it's time for..........Revenge of the Critters! Octopus escapes human prison!

This week's Fool-on-the-Hill goes plural once again and covers an entire political party that has chosen to put that sorry-ass party over principle and the very oath of office they signed promising to protect the U.S. Constitution. Yes, it is the former Republican Party (now the Repugnican Party) whose members sit in both the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate where they held an impeachment "trial" of The Mad King without calling a single witness or for any evidence. The Repugs hold the majority in the Senate so they were able to turn His Malignancy's Impeachment into a pathetic show trial and through lies and deceit turn their oaths into meaninglessness while helping to create a unitary executive, thus undermining the separation of powers first established in the United States Constitution. These fools may have destroyed the Republic with their actions.

Meanwhile, The Mad King and his Court of Climate Criminals have been busy destroying or endangering the more physical aspects of your country. Let's start with His Malignancy's favorite toady AG Barr (it's a low bar) and the Department of Injustice where a new investigation from Inside Climate News has revealed that [Barr et al] has been working with Big Oil to oppose a wave of lawsuits over claims that they lied to investors and the public about climate change, damaged fisheries, and impinged on young people’s right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness with regard to inaction on the Climate Crisis. Also,  The Mad King's reinterpretation of the Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918 won’t punish oil and gas companies whose activities kill birds unintentionally. And this: "new emails obtained by The Guardian show that messaging around forest management in 2018 was more than just a way to pin the blame on California and deny climate change. Like most other actions taken by this administration, it also helped prop up industry profits by embracing the industry’s propaganda." Surprise! When not gifting nazis with press credentials, or cutting Social Security disability benefits by $2.6 billion, His Malignancy is also "stripping federal protections from nearly half of America's wetlands and millions of miles of streams, openly broadcasting lack of faith in the science that underpins both the Clean Water Rule and the Clean Water Act that came before it." How's THAT for "making America great again"?

Guess who doesn't want to admit "It's the Climate Crisis, Stupid!'? His Malignancy bragged in the recent Sorry State of the Union Address (that's 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue actually)  "To protect the environment, days ago, I announced the United States will join the One Trillion Trees Initiative, an ambitious effort to bring together government and the private sector to plant new trees in America and around the world”. You'll notice he failed to use the "C" word, also he failed to mention his  executive order instructing the U.S. secretaries of agriculture and interior to consider harvesting " 4.4 billion board feet of timber from forest land managed by their agencies on millions of acres, and put it up for sale. The order would translate into a 31 percent increase in forest service logging since 2017." Planting a trillion trees is a good thing of course, but time is short in the Climate Crisis. We absolutely must stop all the deforestation in this warming world, OK?  Finally, a word on our friends the Bumblebees. 

On to the Bus Stop Billboard:


Monday, February 24, 2020 at 7  – 9 pm.  Climate Action Now Monthly Gathering. First Churches of Northampton, Massachusetts 129 Main St, Northampton, Massachusetts 01060.  Everyone is welcome-everyone is needed! Feel the warmth of community and the strength of collective action as we move forward together at this critical moment in history.  Go to: https://www.facebook.com/ClimateActionNowMA/ 

Wednesday February 26, 6:30 pm. Screening of "Under Pressure" The tragic gas accident that revealed the deep-seated flaws in the energy industry. Forbes Library, Northampton, MA. Go to: underpressurefilm.org 


Saturday February 29, 9am to 4pm.  Climate Resiliency: Deerfield 2030.   Residents are invited and encouraged to attend a Feb. 29 forum aimed at motivating them to take action to combat climate change. The event consists of a variety of workshops at Frontier Regional School. Residents are asked to register in advance by calling the Deerfield Select Board Office at 413-665-1400, ext. 111, or by sending an email to patk@town.deerfield.ma.us. The town needs an accurate tally for guests to properly prepare the free lunch provided. 


Saturday, March 7, 9am. Local Environmental Action 2020 will bring hundreds of activists together to learn, connect and be inspired in Boston, Mass. Go to: http://www.localenvironmentalaction.org/

Restore our Ecosystems, Restore our Earth session at 11AM. [Good opportunity to bring up forest protection & preservation!] “One of the most devastating impacts of climate change is the destruction of our natural ecosystems. However, restoration is possible! Come to learn from activists across Massachusetts on the work they have done to rehabilitate and recover damaged ecosystems. Join us to find resources, partners, and first steps towards restoring ecosystems in your community.”

We are out of here. Until next time, remember to listen your Mother!