Greetings Earthlings. It's one thing to sit around a warm wood stove on a cold New England night say, when the power goes out, but quite another to base an entire energy system around destroying natural carbon capture forests. Xiaopu Sun, co-author of "A Call To Stop Burning Trees in the Name of Climate Mitigation" joins us to talk about a new article published in the Vermont Journal of Environmental Law. [UPDATE: Interview HERE] As usual, we will also bring you with us to meet this week's Fool-on-the-Hill and to The Enviro Showv Echo Chamber, as well as hearing our Quote of the Week, our newest segment Beat It Baker's Countdown Clock and more but first it's time for.........Revenge of the Critters! Croc snags drone? 😆
It's another return engagement for our Fool-on-the-Hill in just a matter of weeks. This time, in an interview on radio, Repugnican Senator Ron Johnson said those who stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6 to try to stop Congress from certifying Biden’s electoral victory: “..were people who love this country, that truly respect law enforcement, would never do anything to break the law, so I wasn’t concerned.” Whoa! If we weren't convinced Ron was lying through his teeth we'd be concerned about his mental health but since we are convinced we think he's a total fool for saying it out loud on radio.
With this show we are introducing a new, recurring segment of the Enviro Show, the Charlie Baker Good Riddance Countdown Timer,
so that we can all begin to celebrate the eventual end of Baker's reign of environmental terror and climate denial. We've covered how Charlie Biomass Baker has rolled back environmental and public health protections in his promotion of increased biomass burning, cutting down forests, especially on public lands, and accelerating the climate crisis, which we dive into in this show. We have also covered how Baker has slow-walked implementation of climate legislation, refusing to pass regulations required by the GWSA until forced to by the SJC (Kain Decision), and how he is stalling the implementation of the Next Gen Climate Roadmap bill, but pushing increased logging and biomass burning. Baker has been a disaster, and the sooner he and his cronies are gone, back to the polluting industries and lobbying firms that they came from, the better. We give you the "Beat It Baker" Countdown. Dear Charlie, you could always leave early. Please. But just to be clear, we won't miss you, not even a little bit. So Beat It!
OK, once again it's time to remind anyone who has been off-planet for the past few decades that "It's the Climate Crisis, Stupid!" And, speaking of decades, we've been talking to you, dear listeners, for almost that long about the climate dangers of methane emissions, right? Well, published
research in January by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration showed atmospheric concentrations of methane, 80 times more potent than CO2, past 1,900 parts per billion in 2021. "The spike has caused many researchers to worry that global warming is
creating a feedback mechanism that will cause ever more methane to be
released, making it even harder to rein in rising temperatures," the publication Nature noted. "Potential explanations [for the methane surge] range from
the expanding exploitation of oil and natural gas and rising emissions
from landfill to growing livestock herds and increasing activity by
microbes in wetlands." That last one is disturbing since wetlands are a key part of the critical forms of natural carbon capture we must protect & preserve. O, and since we're on wetlands are you at all ready for a one foot rise in the sea level by 2050?
We are sorry to report this week there's been more Backsidin' with Biden. Last week it was reported the Prez decided to permanently seize $7 billion of currently frozen Afghan assets even as the people of the war-torn, poverty-stricken nation we invaded and occupied suffers a broken economy, a collapsed healthcare system, and widespread starvation. He plans on redistributing the money to 9/11 victims? And this: there was an impressive banner drop from a crane near the White House recently on the fourth anniversary of the Parkland School shooting in Florida. As David Hogg, a survivor and March for Our Lives co-founder put it: "Biden has been a friend but not a leader. He's made small steps but it's not enough. The president hasn't been receptive to our demands...We expected this from [His Malignancy], but we're shocked that it's coming from Biden." Finally, about The Prez's support for Saudi-led war against Yemen where the starvation is reportedly worse than Afghanistan? A year ago he announced his administration would be ending U.S. support for "offensive operations" and was appointing a diplomatic envoy to help resolve the devastating conflict that has caused an estimated 233,000 deaths. Sorry, fail.
In The Enviro Show Echo Chamber we share Sunrise's Texas-style video a year after the Lone Star blackout. You remember, when windmills caused it? 😉 Some of you may be familiar with the The Marginalian (formerly Brain Pickings) as a weekly meditation on matters of culture and philosophy. Often the read touches on Nature. Here's one that gets into Trees.
We may as well stick with the Trees in our Quote of the Week, yes?
"Trees are as close to immortality as the rest of us ever come."
― Karen Joy Fowler
After we talk with our guest it's on to the Bus Stop Billboard:
Tuesday, March 8, 12pm. Cooking with Gas: Health Harms from Cooking with Gas. This training exposes the harmful air pollutants produced by gas stoves, their negative impacts on the human body, the exacerbated impacts on vulnerable populations, and how health professionals can help their patients reduce their risk. Join us Tuesday, March 8! For more information and for information on Continuing Medical Education Accreditation, click here.
Wednesday March 9, 7 to 8pm. Climate Change Impacts: How Will We Cope as Individuals and Communities? Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/
Saturday March 12, 12:30pm. Walk to Save Our Bays. Holtec needs to "dispose of" more than a million gallons of Pilgrim's radioactive contaminated water. On December 1, the NRC told Congressman Keating that "Holtec has informed the NRC that it plans to discharge liquid effluents sometime in the first quarter of 2022" Since then, Holtec has backtracked and said it will not discharge any radioactively contaminated during 2022, but what then? We need to remain alert because Holtec can dispose of the radioactive water without NRC approval AND the NRC reviews and discharge after the fact. Go HERE for details
Wednesday March 16, 4:30pm. ISO Action in Boston. TBA.
Thursday, March 17, 12 – 1pm. Webinar: A Conversation with Sec. Katie Theoharides. Massachusetts Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs. You'll also have the chance to ask the Secretary your questions. Spaces are limited. Register HERE.
Wednesday, March 23, 6:00 to 7:00pm. Restoring Ecosystems in a Time of Ongoing Global Change. David Moreno Mateos, Assistant Professor of Landscape Architecture, Harvard Graduate School of Design; Affiliate of the Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, Harvard UniversityAdvance Registration Required.
That's all for now folks but PLEASE remember to listen to your Mother!
