The Greatest Good Enviro Show

Greetings Earthlings. It's Valley Free Radio's Spring Fund Drive so  we truly hope you will support the show and VFR by going HERE and showing that support. Thank you! One of the many reasons we are so focused on trees and forest issues in the show is because many of our fellow Climate Crisis activists and environmentalists are not. Over the years we've sought to have the critical issues of forest protection and preservation integrated into the climate movement and have utilized this show to help with the work. With that in mind, George Wuerthner joins us to discuss his recent piece "Greatest Good Is To Preserve Forest Carbon" in The Wildlife News. As always we will also bring you along to meet this week's Fool-on-the-Hill and to learn about the latest assaults upon you and the planet by His Malignancy The Mad King and his court of criminal crazies, as well as some news for those unaware that "It's the Climate Crisis, Stupid!" but first it's time for............Revenge of the Critters! These Aussie fishermen were apparently not "On guard!"

This week's Fool-on-the-Hill is Rep. Timothy Lee Walberg (Repugnican, MI) who stated "I believe there's been climate change since the beginning of time," Walberg reportedly said at a 2017 town hall. "Do I think man has some impact? Yeah, of course. Can man change the entire universe? No...Why do I believe that? Well, as a Christian, I believe that there is a creator in God who is much bigger than us. And I'm confident that, if there's a real problem, he can take care of it."  OK folks, case closed. No wonder he's called the Savior! (or is that His Son?)

Would you be interested to know His Malignancy The Mad King ".. is the most “anti-nature” president in U.S. history"?  Wait, didn't you already know that? In keeping with that the Sustainable Energy and Environment Coalition tells us "Oil companies drilling on public lands are getting a break from royalty fees owed to U.S. taxpayers, while wind and solar projects have to pay huge unexpected bills." Go figure...then Take Action!  And this: Our friends at the Center for Biological Diversity report The Mad King's "Nuclear Fuel Working Group" issued recommendations to expand uranium mining by lifting protections on public lands like those around the Grand Canyon. The so-called Working Group is also trying to slash environmental laws and use tax dollars to revive that tanking industry. Add His Malignancy's plans for wholesale logging on public lands and you may suspect what used to be called plunder? Now, it's just....."essential" business-as-usual! How about this from CBD: [The Mad King] "and his Interior Secretary David Bernhardt could soon turn Alaska's national preserves into trophy-hunter amusement parks. Kenai National Wildlife Refuge is rich in biodiversity, home to moose, eagles, brown and black bears, lynx, wolves and other species. But the administration envisions so much trophy hunting there, it's calling for more use of game carts for hunters to haul off their prizes." Wait, aren't they called refuges?? Speaking of refuge, at least we still have social networking to express our disgust of His Malignancy, right? Maybe not for long: The Mad King baselessly claimed Wednesday that social media platforms "totally silence conservatives' voices" and threatened to "strongly regulate, or close them down, before we can ever allow this to happen."  Big Brother lives! 

Has any habitual Faux "News" viewer heard that "It's the Climate Crisis, Stupid"?  They might be interested to learn about this new study in which it's pointed out "Across the world, forests cover almost a third of all land — and in some places, the ratio is even higher. But if climate change continues unabated, many forests will suffer. Researchers have used models to understand potential changes to the forest canopy, and you can easily see 40 to 50% of forests being destroyed in 40 years".  How about this for a headline: "Unless steps are taken to check global warming, up to 3 billion people will find themselves in areas too warm for human comfort, a new study finds." Want to drill down into the study?  Nah! 

After our conversation with George it's time for the Bus Stop Billboard:

Tuesday June 16, 7pm.  Forests and Brain Health: Emerging Research, with Dr. Susan A. Masino.  The link between forests and brain health is a public policy imperative: we face increasing costs for disorders ranging from Alzheimer’s disease to addiction, and forests offer exercise, mindfulness and stress reduction. We are still discovering new species, and forests are a former and a likely future source of new medicines. Research on cardiovascular, immune and neurological systems is expanding worldwide. Register for Zoom Meeting HERE. 

Saturday June 20, Noon. Reading by d.o. during the Authors and Artists Festival online. d.o. will be reading from his work in progress "2020 Hindsight" an epic poem on our times. Here is the link to get your free ticket, https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_DUj_BdkcTmGZld6mBHWfOQ Once you register, you will be sent an email that contains the link to join the festival. THAT is the link you use to get into the festival. It is like a ticket, it’s unique to you and cannot be shared. 

We'll add more events as they arise, meanwhile remember to Listen to Your Mother! 

Another Biomess Enviro Show

Greetings Earthlings. Most everyone agrees we are in a mess these days and in many ways it is truly a biomess. As I write this it is International Endangered Species Day and who isn't aware we are in the midst of the Sixth Great Extinction? Right here in the Mid-Connecticut River Valley the endangered Shortnose Sturgeon continues to be ignored. Another of those endangered species is the Pangolin and as we've noted in previous shows their plight may be at the source of the COVID-19 pandemic. Other biome threatened and endangered these days are the very forests around us, some of which are being chopped up and shipped off to the UK. Yes, it's the industrial Biomess we've been warning you about for.........ever! Almuth Ernsting of Biofuelwatch UK joins us for the interview and to talk about how subsidized the industry is.  As usual, we'll also take you to see this week's Fool-on-the-Hill and to witness His Malignancy The Mad King and his court of climate criminals as they continue rampaging through the halls of government and across the land like the crazed marauders they truly are, but first it's time for...........Revenge of the Critters! Glen called this one "Improper Social Distancing" which it really is.....along with just plain stupid. Which part of Don't pet the gators! don't they understand??

This week's Fool-on-the-Hill is Sen.Tom Cotton (R-ARK) who apparently has some of that cotton stuck in his ears 'cuz he seems unable to hear about the Climate Crisis. Cotton has been a critic of the Green New Deal criticizing Democrats for pushing a "radical vision for humanity." He said: "They believe that Americans driving around in trucks on farms, or commuting from the suburbs where they can have a decent home into the city to work are a fundamental threat to the world, and they have to have the power and the control of those Americans' lives to implement their radical vision for humanity."  Whoa Tom! Did you get that from Faux "News"?

His Malignancy The Mad King, with the help of his climate criminal enablers, has to date reversed 64 environmental rules and is in the process of reversing 34 more, amounting to 98 rollbacks of rules meant to protect you and other living things; that according to the New York Times Climate Team. "The bulk of the rollbacks identified by the Times have been carried out by the Environmental Protection Agency, which repealed and replaced the Obama-era emissions rules for power plants and vehicles; weakened protections for more than half the nation's wetlands; and withdrew the legal justification for restricting mercury emissions from power plants. At the same time, the Interior Department has worked to open up more land for oil and gas leasing by cutting back protected areas and limiting wildlife protections.So, His Malignancy's Repugnican Death Cult has quite a record so far, no?

Is there anyone out there who still needs to hear "It's the Climate Crisis, Stupid!"? It sounds like The Mad King of Brazil could use some informing. The destruction of the Amazon Rainforest is up 55% under his watch according to Greenpeace ; that seems like a nightmare, yes? " From January through April, deforestation in Indigenous lands increased by 59% in Brazil. Illegal loggers, miners and land-grabbers don’t work from home, and are taking advantage of the current crisis to invade Indigenous lands, threatening to expose #covid19 to Indigenous People."  Sounds like His Malignancy's Repugnican Death Cult from here, but isn't that what Bosonaro models himself after anyway? "Bolsonaro took office in January 2019 and immediately got to work on his agenda targeting the environment and Indigenous Brazilians. As international scientists have warned over the past year that "human activities are drying out the Amazon," the Brazilian president has faced global condemnation for rising deforestation and his attempts to open up the Amazon to more agribusiness and mining." Meanwhile, how do you think our own forests are doing? 

On to the Bus Stop Billboard: 

May 29, 2:30 - 3:30 pm.  Black Bear Research Webinar. Interested in learning more about black bear behavior in Massachusetts? Join us for a webinar with Kathy Zeller, a post-doctoral researcher in the Mass Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit in Amherst. She will be sharing current research on black bears in the state and what we’re learning about black bear movement and behavior. Go to: https://www.hilltownlandtrust.org/events/black-bear-research-webinar  

Wednesday, June 3,1pm. Center for Biological Diversity Stop the Wildlife Trade Call. Wildlife trade is one of the leading threats to biodiversity. It is also a major threat to public health, as it is the most probable cause of COVID-19 and several other pandemics.   Go to: https://ignite.biologicaldiversity.org/event/online-events/1519/

Tuesday, June 9, 7:00p.m.  Bioenergy and Forests.  Dr. Mary S. Booth, Founder and Director Partnership for Policy Integrity, directing PFPI’s science and advocacy work on greenhouse gases, air pollution, and forest impacts of biomass energy. Register HERE.

We'll add more events as they arise, meanwhile remember to Listen to Your Mother! 

Massacre at Muddy Brook Enviro Show

Greetings Earthlings. Surely by now Enviro Show listeners know our state of Massachusetts is all in for commercial logging on public lands in spite of the growing Climate Crisis, yes? What does that say about our alleged "Commonwealth"? We'll ask our friend and forest protector Chris Matera about this and the recent Massacre at Muddy Brook over in Hardwick.  As always, we'll take you witness this week's Fool-on-the-Hill make a complete fool of him or her self and maybe just a brief peek at the worst His Malignancy The Mad King had to offer recently but first it's time for.........Revenge of the Critters!  We've pointed this out on recent shows since COVID-19 Daze took hold but we can't not do it again, OK?  Rodents, bats and primates (and probably Pangolas) together were implicated as hosts for nearly 75% of all recent virus outbreaks among humans. Bats alone have been linked to diseases like Sars, Nipah, Marburg and Ebola. We have trashed their habitats and subjected them to endless miseries. It's revenge we brought on ourselves. Wake-up Earthlings! STOP wildlife trafficking and Stop eating critters. 

You've seen His Malignancy's Repugnican Death Cult in action by now, yes? It seems restarting the  economy is more important than ensuring Americans stay home to prevent more deaths from coronavirus. Checkout this Fool-on-the-Hill: “It is policymakers’ decision to put on our big boy and big girl pants and say it is the lesser of these two evils,” Rep. Trey Hollingsworth, a Repug who represents Indiana’s 9th district says.  “It is not zero evil, but it is the lesser of these two evils and we intend to move forward that direction.” That would be the direction of more deaths and exposure, especially among the elders, people of color and those with medical conditions, the Death Cult's fascistic goal all in the name of alleged freedom.

One thing the majority of U.S. citizens can agree on is The Mad King's utter lack of empathy (much less sympathy) for those who have succumbed to COVID-19 and their loved ones. Given that his appalling dereliction of duty, vindictiveness, dishonesty, irresponsibility, and....well, madness is it any wonder we refer to him as His Malignancy??  Once again The Mad King, when he's not sentencing wild critters to death, has thrown his lot in with nazis and assorted far-right goons referring to heavily armed Repugnican Death Cultists in Michigan as "Very good people".  Also, Senator Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut said: "In the CARES Act, Congress established a number of independent watchdogs to prevent any fraud, corruption, or mismanagement of the approximately $2 trillion in emergency relief for the American people. But even as [His Malignancy] signed this bill into law, he was already undermining these critical oversight bodies." Now, where do you supposed The Mad King wants most of that flow to go? Click on the link to just say NO.  And this: The Mad King's new press secretary isn't just another pretty face, she like her boss, seems to be his equal when it comes to bullshitting!  Do we miss Sarah Huckabee Sanders ?  Nah !

Time to remind those who may have forgotten "It's [Still] the Climate Crisis, Stupid!" You'd think the CO2 emission numbers would tank given all the sheltering in and lack of air and surface travel,yes? Not so fast, folks. The numbers have only dropped 5.5%. The utilities and many industries are still going full bore. Sooooo, what would you say if we told you the Solutions to Coronavirus and the Climate Crisis are the same?  Dr. Aaron Bernstein, a pediatrician at Boston Children’s Hospital who heads the Center for Climate, Health, and the Global Environment at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health says in fact, they are one and the same. Read the interview HERE.

On to the Bus Stop Billboard:

Friday May 15 Endangered Species Day!  This would be the perfect day for you to step up for the most ancient and endangered species in our Valley. Go to Karl Meyer's blog and scroll down to the action links at the bottom of his post and Take Action! Go to: https://www.karlmeyerwriting.com/blog/2020/03/26/connecticut-river-shortnose-sturgeon-a-spectacular-failure-to-protect/  Also go here for pre-event planning for Endangered Species Day elsewhere. 

Tuesday, May 19, 7pm. Climate Action Now & Save Massachusetts Forests present “Our Forests: To Cut, or Not to Cut?”  Dr. Bill Stubblefield’s current focus is on the role forests can play in mitigating catastrophic climate change and biodiversity collapse. Michael Kellett is Executive Director and co-founder of RESTORE: The North Woods. Go to: http://climateactionnowma.org/ 


 OK, that's it for now. Remember to stay safe and LISTEN TO YOUR MOTHER!!