The End of the Year as We Know It Enviro Show

Greetings Earthlings. As 2022 approaches it seems like a good time to reflect back on some of our past shows and see what calls for some reflection, what needs updating and ponder on what might lie ahead. We'll get into all of that as well as bringing you along to meet this week's Fool-on-the-Hill and a year's end reminder that "It's the Climate Crisis, Stupid!" and more but first it's time for.........Revenge of the Critters! 2022 is The Year of the Tiger on the Chinese calendar and a good time to remind everyone that it's not such a good idea for humans to encroach on the big cats traditional habitat. 

Yahoo News tells us about a true Fool-on-the-Hill, "The former White House doctor who raved about [The Mad King's] 'excellent' health to a skeptical public is now claiming that the disturbing new COVID-19 variant omicron is nothing but a midterm election ploy by the Democrats. Dr. Ronny Jackson, now a Republican MAGA congressman from Texas, scoffed at the variant the World Health Organization has deemed 'highly transmissible' and 'concerning.'   'Here comes the ... Midterm Election Variant!' Jackson quipped in a tweet.."  OK, we think that sounds like an old-school fool, no guns, no threats, no blatant fascistic tendencies, just plain foolishness. How refreshing and a good way to start the New Year.

We just did a search on Repugnican Rep. Ronnie's House website for the term "climate change" but no results were found. It seems he's not aware that "It's the Climate Crisis, Stupid!"  Jeez, even the National Geographic knows about climate change disasters. What kind of doctor is he anyway?? In a recent piece that venerable publication is perfectly comfortable running headlines and subheads like this: "2021's weather disasters brought home the reality of climate change - Heat waves. Floods. Megadroughts. This year’s weather showed us that climate change is here—and deadly."  Also, The New York Times recently began a new series "Postcards From a World On Fire" in which "A team of journalists....has documented one way that climate change is having an impact in each of the 193 United Nations member states....As the video editorial that is at the core of this project says: “Open your eyes: We have failed. The climate crisis is now.”  There it is. And speaking of The Paper of Record" they ran a bit of a shocker in late November titled "Saving History With Sandbags: Climate Change Threatens the Smithsonian - Beneath the National Museum of American History, floodwaters are intruding into collection rooms, a consequence of a warming planet. A fix remains years away."  Even history is threatened by climate chaos. 

In The Enviro Show Echo Chamber the London Review of Books David Wallace-Wells makes the startling observation: "In February 2020, the world began to panic about the novel coronavirus, which killed 2714 people that month. This made the news. In the same month, around 800,000 people died from the effects of air pollution. That didn’t." And this news from The Global Alliance for the Rights of Nature: "In an unprecedented case the Constitutional Court of Ecuador used the constitutional provision on the 'Rights of Nature' to safeguard Los Cedros protected forest from mining concessions. The Court voted 7 in favor and 2 abstentions. With the ruling, the Constitutional Court must develop a binding jurisprudence in which the Rights of Nature, the right to a healthy environment, the right to water, and environmental consultation must be respected."  Score one for Mother Earth. We'll be doing another show on the Rights of Nature in the coming year. Stay tuned!  Sad to report Edward O Wilson has left us. He will be missed but his work lives on! . Finally, here's a 2021 recap of pipeline resistance from Grist, the perfect Holidaze gift for your motor head friends.

Get ready for a long trip in the Wayback Machine for this Enviro Show Quote of the Week: 

"Ring out the old, ring in the new,
Ring, happy bells, across the snow:
The year is going, let him go;
Ring out the false, ring in the true."

- Alfred Lord Tennyson 

 OK, let the show begin! Here's Glen's list of faves from 2021:

1. Old News Department: His Malignancy Lost! The Climate-Denier-In-Chief is Fired! Biden at least talks about the climate crisis, and proposes significant funding to begin to address the looming disaster facing our planet.

2. Underestimating the Challenges of Avoiding a Gastly Future- https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fcosc.2020.615419/full 

3. Older White Pine Trees and Stands Accumulate Carbon for Many Decades and Maximize Cumulative Carbon- https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/ffgc.2021.620450/full 

4. Wild Carbon Supplement 1.1- link here

5. 2021 IPCC Report and "Code Red for Humanity" various media reports

6. The Failure of COP26 -Climate Disaster is Already Here- https://www.theguardian.com/environment/ng-interactive/2021/oct/14/climate-change-happening-now-stats-graphs-maps-cop26

7. The Millions of Tons of Carbon Emissions That Don't Officially Exist- https://www.newyorker.com/news/annals-of-a-warming-planet/the-millions-of-tons-of-carbon-emissions-that-dont-officially-exist

 

8. World Scientists' Warnings into Action, Local to Global- https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/00368504211056290

 

And here are links to some of d.o.'s:

*October 1, 2021 An Animal Experimentation Enviro Show

https://archive.org/details/an-animal-experimentation-enviro-show-interview-with-neuroscientist-katherine-roe

*April 30, 2021  The Dirty Zombie Biomass Enviro Show

https://archive.org/details/dirty-zombie-biomass-5-4-21-enviro-sho*February 28, 2021  Jean's Enviro Show

https://archive.org/details/the-jean-grossholtz-enviro-show

And finally, the last Bus Stop Billboard of the year:

Monday January 10, 4:00 - 5:30 pm.  EarthTalks: Michael Mann to discuss COP26 and path to net zero emissions.  World leaders and diplomats from nearly 200 countries attended the 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26) in Glasgow, Scotland, to set new targets for cutting global greenhouse gas emissions. Penn State attendee Michael E. Mann, distinguished professor of atmospheric sciences, will share his impressions about which efforts succeeded and which did not, along with his thoughts about the best path forward to net zero emissions, during a talk that will take place in 112 Walker Building and be streamed via Zoom.  

Tuesday January 11, 11:30am.  The Joint Committee on Telecommunications, Utilities, and Energy will be holding a public hearing on the below consumer protection,  environmental justice, public safety, security systems, siting, towing and late-file bills. You can view the legislation here. One of the bills, S.2596 allows municipalities to regulate the siting of non-residential solar systems for purposes of preserving forested lands, wetlands, lands in agricultural use or to ensure compatibility with municipal zoning. Testimony on bills in this hearing should be addressed to the Joint Committee on Telecommunications, Utilities and Energy Co-Chairs Senator Michael Barrett and Representative Jeffrey Roy. Individuals who wish to testify virtually may register to do so by filling out this form by 11:00 a.m. on Monday, January 10. After you register, you will receive a Teams invitation and further instructions on how to participate virtually a day or two before the hearing. Constituents planning to testify are encouraged to alert Sen. Comerford by emailing jo.comerford@masenate.gov.  

Tuesday January 11, 6:30pm. XR Non-Violent Direct Action Training. Learn how to take part in XR actions at this non-violent direct action training! This training is for people who are interested in potentially doing civil disobedience as well as people who want to play support roles for our actions. You will learn how to engage in non-violent civil disobedience. We will cover some theory behind direct actions, discuss the logistics of arrest and potential legal implications, and talk about the many different roles (beyond risking arrest) that are crucial to successful actions. You will get to talk to a few people who have gone through the arrest process and ask questions you might have. Location: Zoom, register here: https://us06web.zoom.us/.../tZMsdeqoqTMrHdW2Zvu... Run Time: 6:30 to 8:30 pm (we may end early, and are still finalizing timing). We recommend that you attend an 'Heading for Extinction' talk and an XR orientation before you attend our NVDA training. You can find these events on our calendar: https://xrmass.org/action/     

 

Friday, January 14, 12:00-2:00pm.  The Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs (EEA) is developing the Clean Energy and Climate Plan for 2025 and 2030 that will incorporate new statutory requirements and public feedback.  We invite you to a public meeting to discuss goals and policies for forest protection, management, and restoration.  The meeting will be virtual with a presentation, followed by discussion.  The presentation will be recorded and posted on www.mass.gov/2030CECP.  Webinar and call-in information will be emailed and posted on www.mass.gov/gwsa-meetings on the morning of January 12, 2022.

 

Tuesday  January 18, 7:00 pm. An evening with Terry Gibson, organizer with Neighbor to Neighbor and co-coordinator of Dwight Street Garden in Holyoke as he presents Gardening the Resistance. The corporate food system is broken in many ways. The contributions to our climate emergency through fossil fuel consumption, waste and pollution are clear at every stage of the system from farm to consumer. The other thing running through every stage is inequity, exploitation and racism. The Regenerative Farming, Forests and Food Systems (Rf3), and Racism, White Supremacy, Climate Justice working groups of Climate Action Now, Western Mass, in collaboration with Grow Food Northampton plan to shed light on the situation by continuing our Food Sovereignty Series this winter on Zoom. Go to: Climateactionnowma.org  

Tuesday, January 25, 7pm. A conversation with Daniel Bullen around his new book: Daniel Shays's Honorable Rebellion: An American Story. This date is the 235th anniversary of the beginning of the rebellion. Register Here

January events relating to  Forests & Solar can be found HERE. 

 OK, see you next year and remember to listen to your Mother!

 

Winter Solstice 2021 Enviro Show

Greetings Earthlings. Happy Solstice to you all. This year we are joined on the show by  Chris LaFond, a Pagan Animist Witch and Coordinator of Western MA Pagan Pride Day and member of the Earth Spirit Community here in the Valley and beyond. Chris will takes us deep into some of the aspects of the Solstice you may not have encountered before. Also Daniel Bullen, author of "Daniel Shays's Honorable Rebellion" returns to the show now that his years long journey has come to fruition. You will encounter the Winter Solstice and the other celestial observances of the year among the Massachusetts yeomen and their families in Dan's book, as they were closer to the seasons and the natural world than many of us are these days, as well as being a bit closer to direct action in the face of oppression by the ruling class. As always, we will also bring you along to meet this week's Fool-on-the-Hill and, with good will to all, we'll be Abidin' with Biden as he stands up for democracy, but first it's time for........Revenge of the Critters! We don't really want to be too much like the Grinch this time of year but there may be some Felines out there who have had it with all the consumerism. Watch THIS! 

This Fool-on-the-Hill might qualify as our Christmas wish for a plain old-school fool who isn't trying to trash democracy and install outright fascism into government........or not. U.S. Repugnican Representative Thomas Massie of Kentucky posted a Christmas picture of himself and what appeared to be his family, smiling and posing with an assortment of guns, just days after four teenagers were killed in a shooting at a Michigan high school. "Merry Christmas! ps. Santa, please bring ammo," U.S. Representative Thomas Massie of Kentucky wrote on Twitter. OK, so not old-school, right? Not to be outdone, the truly dangerous Fool-on-the-Hill, assault weapons fanatic Repugnican Lauren Boebert of Colorado did likewise, adding her and the kids have no spare ammo to give away for the Holidaze. So much for "Peace on Earth"!

As much as we are Abidin' with Biden for the spirit in his Democracy Summit we are also wondering why he isn't being a lot more engaged in overcoming growing fascistic anti-democratic forces among the Repugnicans here at home. “You can’t try to export and defend democracy globally when you can’t protect it domestically,” said Cliff Albright, a co-founder and executive director of the Black Voters Matter Fund, a progressive nonprofit group in Atlanta. “You can’t be the global fireman when your house is on fire.”  Bi-partisanship, with a few exceptions, is gasping for breath in the ICU and yet The Prez keeps doing the same thing over and over, hoping for some goodness from bad people. We follow the playbook of the Weimar Republic at our own risk, people! 

In the Enviro Show Echo Chamber the Scientific American may be throwing cold water on your Holidaze with a headline like this: "Humans Are Doomed to Go Extinct". Strangely, the Climate Crisis isn't even mentioned. Clever humans can do themselves in even without trashing the atmosphere. 

Whomever came up with the part of the Kyoto Protocol sector claiming dirty woody biomass was renewable needs to be reminded "It's the Climate Crisis, Stupid!" One can only wonder if they, like New Yorker writer Sarah Miller, ever paid a visit to the gigantic Drax Power Station in North Yorkshire, UK. "In essence, Drax is a gigantic woodstove. In 2019, Drax emitted more than fifteen million tons of CO₂, which is roughly equivalent to the greenhouse-gas emissions produced by three million typical passenger vehicles in one year. Of those emissions, Drax reported that 12.8 million tons were “biologically sequestered carbon” from biomass (wood). In 2020, the numbers increased: 16.5 million tons.."  BTW, much of that wood comes from forests here in the U.S., mostly from down south. That said, you can bet the lumber corporados have their eyes set on our precious northern forests next.

Time for The Enviro Show Quote of the Week and for another trip in the Wayback Machine:

“How many lessons of faith and beauty we should lose if there was no winter in our year.”                                          

              — Thomas Higginson, correspondent and literary mentor to Emily Dickinson. 

Following our interviews we move over to the Bus Stop Billboard:

 

Wednesday, December 29,  8:00 to 9:00pm. Climate Emergency Watch Party. This compelling and accessible one-hour film features several Woodwell Climate scientists addressing the critically important issues of climate feedback loops. Host a watch party with friends and family. We’ll send you a host kit (sign up by 12/20 to receive before 12/29). Share a photo of your party to be entered to win Woodwell Climate goodies.  Event URL: https://woodwellclimate.org 

Wednesday, January 5, 7:30-9:00pm.  Extinction Rebellion WMass Zoom General Meeting. Mark your calendars for our next general meeting to start planning a new year of actions! Go to: https://www.facebook.com/XRwmass/     

Thursday, January 6, 2022, 12 – 1pm.  We the People: J 6 Day of Remembrance & Action. January 6 was a violent and deadly attack against all Americans – against our country, our democracy, and our freedom as voters to choose the leaders that represent us so that we have a government of, by, and for the people. One year later, the same faction that attacked our country on January 6th is hard at work silencing our voices by restricting our freedom to vote, attacking fair voting districts, and quietly preparing future attempts to sabotage free and fair elections and with it our democracy. Coming together, we can prevent another January 6th attack and realize the promise of democracy for all of us - no matter our color, zip code, or income - so we all have an equal say in the decisions that shape our daily lives and futures. Go HERE. 

Tuesday January 11, 6:30pm. XR Non-Violent Direct Action Training.

Learn how to take part in XR actions at this non-violent direct action training! This training is for people who are interested in potentially doing civil disobedience as well as people who want to play support roles for our actions. You will learn how to engage in non-violent civil disobedience. We will cover some theory behind direct actions, discuss the logistics of arrest and potential legal implications, and talk about the many different roles (beyond risking arrest) that are crucial to successful actions. You will get to talk to a few people who have gone through the arrest process and ask questions you might have. Location: Zoom, register here: https://us06web.zoom.us/.../tZMsdeqoqTMrHdW2Zvu... Run Time: 6:30 to 8:30 pm (we may end early, and are still finalizing timing). We recommend that you attend an 'Heading for Extinction' talk and an XR orientation before you attend our NVDA training. You can find these events on our calendar: https://xrmass.org/action/

 That's all for now folks, but do remember to listen to your Mother!