The 18th B-day Enviro Show

Greetings Earthlings. The Enviro Show has been on the Earth for 18 years this month which means it is now old enough to die for our country but not old enough to drink to that in Massachusetts or New York? Perhaps it's just as well but what about freedom!  (no, not the freedom to tear the nation apart 😒) Mireille Beijani, Co-executive Officer at SlingshotAction joins us for the birthday celebration. [UPDATE: Interview HERE] As always we will also introduce you to this week's Fool-on-the-Hill and see if we are Abidin' with Biden, as well as a reminder to any newbee Repugs that "It's the Climate Crisis, Stupid!" but first it's time for........Revenge of the Critters! When Anteaters attack.

We are, like so many others, Abidin' with Biden for signing off on the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) especially in his efforts to get it through our divided Senate. That said, we can't help but view certain provisions (as we did last time) in the bill as Backslidin' with Biden. Most notably, and something overlooked by far too many enviros, is the act's dependence on carbon capture technology that frankly doesn't truly exist.  "Currently there are only a dozen carbon capture and storage facilities in the U.S. and a couple of direct air capture facilities removing a small amount of carbon from the air", reports Wil Burns, Professor of Research in Environmental Policy, American University School of International Service. Why are we thinking "clean coal"? Then there's the flawed side deal that got Sen. Manchin to finally sign on to a climate bill. "While no one has seen the official legislation yet, the one-page summary of the deal that was leaked guts bedrock environmental protections (e.g., National Environmental Policy Act), endangers public health, fast-tracks fossil fuels, and pushes approval for Manchin’s pet project, the Mountain Valley Pipeline. It appears that the draft legislation was drafted at least in part by the American Petroleum Institute", that from the Green Education and Legal Fund.  By the way, Back in April, The Prez signed an executive order pledging to "restore and protect our nation's forests". Now the administration is asking for YOUR input on its plan to protect them. Stay tuned.

This week's Fool-on-the-Hill is none other than House Repug Leader Kevin McCarthy who, apparently in an effort to trigger the Dems, repeated a mangled famous Reagan quote on the House floor "“Is America better off today than they were two years ago?” Even taking into consideration how damaged so many Repugnicans are these days, surely some of them must have thought back two years when the country was being devastated by COVID-19 before vaccines were developed and tens of thousands of their constituents were dying miserable deaths? Also, the turmoil of protests across the nation over The Mad King's b.s. and the killing of George Floyd, the plunge on Wall Street and the economic disaster and the loss of ten million jobs?  Of course, the answer to McCarthy's foolish question is Yes! We are much better off, you fool! 

Folks like Kevin McCarthy seem to need a constant reminder that "It's the Climate Crisis, Stupid!" We guess you won't be surprised to learn that some of the Takers are actually taking advantage of Greenland's climate ice melt as a mining opportunity where mineral deposits are being uncovered? Speaking of Takers taking advantage of sorry situations, let's talk about the MA Department of Cut & Run (DCR, formerly known as the Dept. of Conservation & Recreation). We may sound like a broken record regarding this lot, but their mishandling of our public lands here in the Commonwealth is an ongoing climate crime. Now, dear listeners, we have an opportunity to help DCR change its ways and join the civilized world. In a series of public meetings, you can join DCR to discuss the 2012 DCR Landscape Designations and Management Guidelines, and "provide feedback on the review assessment, incorporate feedback on evolving climate concerns, and discuss designations for properties acquired since 2012." That said, why only "properties acquired since 2012"?? Why not ask! The first session is Tuesday August 23, 6:30 to 8:30pm. Go HERE! In our previous segment we got into some climate related aspects of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) but why just take our word for it? If you are feeling wonky go HERE and read it for yourself! The Guardian recently did a piece on how the Climate Crisis is affecting the Arctic tundra. We knew trees were....well, on the move but not this fast.  

On the subject of "on the move", isn't it time the Gov did just that?

 

 

Let's ask Glen.

In The Enviro Show Echo Chamber we echo this week's guest, Mireille Beijani who mentioned a study done at Boston College about the health impacts of air pollution. There's a story in The Boston Globe on that and a handy interactive map you can play with if you like. Who knew pollution could be so.....entertaining? 😏    On the other hand, not much entertainment  in  learning we are now  in Extreme Drought in much of the Northeast. Please conserve water! 

OK, time for our Enviro Show 18th B-Day Quote of the Week:

"The secret of genius is to carry the spirit of the child into old age, which means never losing your enthusiasm."

                                                                         -Aldous Huxley

After hearing from our guest it's time for the Bus Stop Billboard:

Tuesday September 6, 4:30pm.    XR Boston Climate Die-in. Join us for another die-in to warn about the worst effects of the climate crisis. We are heading for extinction and need to act now. The climate is already breaking down. This summer, there has been record heat around the world. It is only a matter time before the western United States runs out of water. The recent climate legislation produced by our federal and state governments does not go far enough to mitigate the effects. High-income countries are producing 10 times the amount of emissions as the poorest countries. We don't have any time to waste: We are dying for climate action now! Location TBA - please sign up on this page to receive all the necessary details. Go HERE.   

Tuesday September 6,  6:30pm. We will be having an online discussion, with Q and A, about the DCR Landscape Designations. With introductory remarks by Representative Lindsay Sabadosa, and speakers professor and climate scientist Dr. Bill Moomaw, Michael Kellett, Executive Director of RESTORE: The North Woods, and biologist Bill Stubblefield, Ph.D. On Zoom - Hosted by Climate Action Now. Registration to be arranged soon! 

Wednesday September 7, 7pm. Join director Adam McKay (Don't Look Up, Vice, The BIg Short) and prominent climate scientist Peter Kalmus as they talk about the climate emergency and what we can do about it and help DE prepare for actions starting October 1! We'll have a round of speakers, followed by breakout rooms for participants to connect with each other and build deeper relationships around climate resistance and in times of climate emergency. Coming out of this call, we're looking for hundreds of people ready to join us in the streets in D.C. on Oct 1st.  Are you ready to join us and take action? Sign up for the call with Adam,

Saturday, September 10,  9 – 10:30am. Housatonic Heritage Walks with BEAT — A Walk Through An Old Growth Forest at Ice Glen Ravine      

Tuesday September 13, 4:30pm. Free Energy Efficiency Workshop at the Great Hall, 6 Norfolk St. Dorchester, MA 02124. Register here.   

Wednesday September, 14, 1 to 2:30pm. Electrify Everything. Join Elders for Regenerative Living (ERL) by attending Electrify Everything, a two session program to provide up-to-date information to help you reduce your fossil fuel footprint and learn how you can electrify your home, business, and personal vehicles. Go HERE. 

Saturday, September 24, 2pm.  Stop Burning Down the House at the Public Garden, Boston - Join us for a march and party at the peak of XR Boston's first Week of Rebellion. We will get into the streets to dance and party! There will be a brief march at the beginning followed by various activities including dancing, food, a People's Assembly, do-it-together art, and more. Go HERE.   

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Sunday, September 25, 12noon at TBA - Climate Justice Means Justice for All  Join members of Extinction Rebellion in a protest centering & expressing the intersectionality of the Climate Emergency. We'll rally with speakers & representatives from social, climate, racial, or economic justice movements, as well as groups of a political nature, interested in coming together to protest government inaction on the climate crisis. See link above.  

Monday, September 26, 6:30pm.  Speak Out Against Holtec!  Plymouth Town Hall. Join Save Our Bay on Monday, September 26 at the Nuclear Decommissioning Citizens Advisory Panel meeting at Plymouth Town Hall. Holtec plans to dump waste from the closed Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station into the Cape Cod Bay and we can't let them! Also join a rally before the meeting, starting at 5:00pm on the front lawn.  Go HERE.  

That's all, folks. Just remember: Listen to your Mother, OK?

 

No Silver Platter Enviro Show

Greetings Earthlings. We are thinking global/Acting local this week on the show. The old Lunt Silversmiths factory in Greenfield, industrial disposal site in Greenfield, MA, which has been redeveloped into a regional substance abuse treatment facility, is still contaminated with toxic wastes, which some folks have been trying to cover-up. On the other hand, there is a group of local concerned citizens who want the site fully cleaned up. One such person is our own Glen Ayers who, among others, joins us to hopefully find a silver lining in the dark cloud hanging over the town. Also on hand will be Susan Worgaftik and Matthew Perry who live in the Lunt neighborhood which is being threatened by the contaminated groundwater flowing from the old toxic waste disposal site. As always, we will also take you by the ear and drag you along to meet this week's Fool-on-the-Hill and to see if we are Abidin' with Biden, as well as the usual visit to the Charlie Baker Good Riddance Countdown Timer and more, but first it's time for.......Revenge of the Critters! Boaters get way too close for comfort for Whale watching.

This week's Fool-on-the-Hill managed to make a complete fool of himself way back during the J6 insurrection but it wasn't until the last Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the U.S. Capitol hearing that tens of millions of viewers coast-to-coast were treated to the sight of (guess who!) Sen. Josh Hawley (Repug-Mo.) comically running away from the mob he had fist saluted earlier in the day. Be careful what you wish for, wussy boy! (and thanks for the comic relief during those grim hearings in which fascism reared its ugly head in an attempted coup by The Mad King and his fellow terrorists).

There's been so much news lately about climate legislation and pressure on The Prez to declare a Climate Emergency it's hard to believe there's still folks out there who don't understand that "It's the Climate Crisis, Stupid!" Apparently, even old king coal, Joe Manchin even figured it out? Nah! That reversal threw the Repugs into a major hissey fit so much so they went for a revenge vote blocking aid to U.S. veterans suffering from toxic exposure, a move that will surely bite the Repugs in the ass come November. All that said, here is CPC Center's comprehensive analysis of the $369 billion in climate and energy provisions included in the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) that all the fuss is about. Given the death of Build Back Better and all the rest of it, the IRA is more than we hoped for except for this: "Unfortunately, the legislation would also require oil and gas leasing in the Gulf of Mexico and Alaska, reinstate an illegal 2021 Gulf lease sale, and lock in oil and gas lease sales as a precondition for the approval of federal renewable energy projects. The greenhouse gas emissions associated with continued fossil fuel leasing will offset some of the emissions reductions found elsewhere in the legislation." We guess that was a sweetener for Manchin et al. BUT Bernie is putting forward an amendment to strip all that from the bill. OK "hot enough for ya'?" So what's with all the heatwaves? Is it the "Omega Block" (that's scary) or "Wave number 5"?  ACTUALLY, THEY ARE ONE-IN-THE-SAME. Meanwhile, back in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts our climate bill was sent to Gov. Baker. He had added a poison pill amendment (H.5141, Section 88) that "completely undermines the intent of Sections 33-36 of the climate bill by creating a blanket exemption for any biomass power plant that began commercial operation prior to 2022", according to the Partnership for Policy Integrity. No surprise there, it's classic Dirty Biomass Baker. As of this writing the veto has been overriden and presumably will be sent back to Dirty Biomass Baker. [UPDATE: Baker actually signed the bill on August 11] And on the subject of our Commonwealth "An Act relative to forest protection" has once again proven that "Beacon Hill is where good legislation goes to die". Stay tuned for the post mortum. 

Speaking of, it's time for our Charlie Baker Good Riddance Countdown Timer!

 

 

 We guess Glen has a few choice words for the Gov.

 In The Enviro Show Echo Chamber we learn from the Center for Biological Diversity, "World Population Day on July 11 came with an announcement from the United Nations: There will be 8 billion people on the planet before the end of the year".  Sound crowded? Well yeah, but the supposed experts claim we can go for another 1 or 2 billion depending on all sorts of variables. Wishful thinking or pure science? And this (also from CFBD): "The International Union for the Conservation of Nature just declared monarch butterflies endangered, placing them on its Red List of Threatened Species. Battered by habitat destruction, climate change, pesticides and more, the iconic insects join more than 40,000 other animals and plants as potential casualties of the Earth’s sixth mass extinction event."  Time to plant more Milkweed, Enviro Show listeners.  Here is the Go-to site for Monarch protection.  Finally, Lake Wyola in Shutesbury is full at the dam and the Sawmill River in Leverett isn't flowing beyond the dam other than spillway overflow from boat wakes?  This happened many years ago during another drought. Presumably, any aquatic life in the Sawmill River is endangered by the lack of water. Dear Wyola Dam Keeper: Time to release some water into the river, OK??

OK folks, it's time to see if we are Abidin' with Biden. First off: Get Well Soon Prez and pay no attention to Repugnican ageist b.s.  That said, it would be a whole lot easier to Abide with the guy if he'd just declare that Climate Emergency and get it over with.  While he's at it how about declaring a Health Emergency in response to the gutting of Roe v.Wade?? Some of those Executive Orders he announced in Somerset, MA recently have a few real world solutions like "setting aside funds to help communities withstand heatwaves and floods, to expanding offshore wind power in the Gulf of Mexico. Then....the Biden administration rolled out heat.gov, a website with resources to help people cope with extreme heat. And, on Wednesday morning, the White House announced an effort to connect low-income households to solar power."  On the other hand, the White House sent out a Tweet "celebrating" The Prez's signing of a near useless Weapons bill from Congress. Final tally this week? Meh! 

 

Time for The Enviro Show Quote of the Week:

“Water and air, the two essential fluids on which all life depends, have become global garbage cans.”
                                                                                 ― Jacques-Yves Cousteau 

 

Which brings us to our interview about the old Lunt Silver site in Greenfield, MA 

After which it's on to the Bus Stop Billboard: 

NEW August 30  Deadline for public comments. The U.S. Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management, on behalf of the Departments of Agriculture and the Interior, are seeking public comments on the development of a definition framework for old-growth and mature forests on federally managed lands. This work will help inform how the departments respond to President Biden’s Executive Order 14072, Strengthening the Nation’s Forests, Communities and Local Economies.  

Saturday, August 20, 9:00am - 12:00pm. Last fall GG’s Planting for Pollinators group held a workshop at Just Roots (JR) and planted two new demonstration pollinator beds in the PEOPLE'S POLLINATOR GARDEN at JR, which aim to attract native pollinators to the farm.  These expanded upon an overall effort already started by JR to develop a large pollinator environment.  NOW, we are deepening our relationship with Just Roots.  Just Roots/Greenfield Community Farm: 34 Glenbrook Drive.

Saturday & Sunday August 20 & 21. Little Leaders Summer Climate Convention is for young leaders interested in getting involved in direct action. We are committed to helping guide students through the process of finding their voices and amplifying their unique perspectives. The weekend will be completely youth-led and centered around a series of interactive workshops on topics including environmental justice, creative climate action, and leadership training.   Learn more and register your Little Leader here:  

Monday August 22, 7 to 8:30pm.   Climate Action Now Monthly Gathering Details:  We currently meet on Zoom on the 4th MONDAY evening of each month from 7- 8:30. All are welcome!  CAN Newsletters provide Zoom links and details. 

Tuesday Agust 23, 6:30 to 8:30pm. The implementation of the MA Forest Futures Visioning Process recommendations has provided DCR with the opportunity to complete an analysis for all DCR State and Urban Parks and Forests and group them by key natural and ecological
characteristics (topography, geology and elevation) – an effort that supports not only the new land use management structure, but is also beneficial to other resource planning efforts. This also marks the first time the agency has reached out to stakeholders and the public to solicit input on land use management decisions at a statewide scale. Go HERE.  Also DCR is sponsoring 5 dates to collect public comments.

Wednesday August 24, 2pm.  Addressing the increasing wildfire challenges in the West requires reframing the crisis as a home-ignition problem and not a wildland fire problem. Understanding the science of home ignition--or how a home burns down--can inform effective community planning, federal and state policies, and locally-driven solutions to reduce wildfire risks to homes and neighborhoods. Join Dr. Chad Hanson of the John Muir Project & Dr. Kimiko Barrett of Headwaters Economics for a 90 minute discussion with Q&A, as they help us understand the science!  Click Here to Register: http://ow.ly/QIAF50KbNGq

Wednesday, August 24, 4 p.m. (Also Wednesday Sept. 14, 7pm.) The Mohawk Trail Woodlands Partnership (MTWP) is currently in the process of updating its 10-year Partnership Plan (2023–2033) and is seek­ing comments and feedback from residents of Northwest Massachusetts and other members of the public. If you have suggestions for ways that the Woodlands Partnership could support your town, or ideas for what you’d like to see the Partnership focus on moving forward, attend one of the two upcoming virtual Listening Sessions to have your be voice heard. To attend either session, please RSVP to: Sophie Argetsinger, MTWP Assistant sargetsinger@newenglandforestry.org  Access the full draft Partnership Plan on the MTWP website at: mohawktrailwoodlandspartnership.org/partnership-plan.html 

Saturday, August 27, 9:30am.  Standing Trees volunteers Alan Coulter and David Coppock will co-lead a hike into mature forests slated for logging in the Green Mountain National Forest's Telephone Gap Integrated Resource Project, ending at spectacular North Pond. Hikers will meet in Chittenden at 9:30am and drive a short distance to a nearby trailhead. Please RSVP by emailing Alan Coulter (alan_coulter@hotmail.com). Put "Standing Trees Hike" in the subject line, and note the total number of people in your party and their contact info in the body of your email. We will follow up with additional details for the meeting location, what to bring, etc... We hope you can join in!

Saturday August 27, 1:30 to 5:30pm. (Rain Date August 28) Home Sweet Home - A Climate Action Community Festival. Location: Hitchcock Center for the Environment. Directions.  Email: christie@ettarts.org 

Saturday August 27,

Monday August 29, 6:30 to 8:30pm.  The implementation of the MA Forest Futures Visioning Process recommendations has provided DCR with the opportunity to complete an analysis for all DCR State and Urban Parks and Forests and group them by key natural and ecological characteristics (topography, geology and elevation) – an effort that supports not only the new land use management structure, but is also beneficial to other resource planning efforts. This also marks the first time the agency has reached out to stakeholders and the public to solicit input on land use management decisions at a statewide scale. Go HERE 

Tuesday September 6, 4:30pm.    XR Boston Climate Die-in. Join us for another die-in to warn about the worst effects of the climate crisis. We are heading for extinction and need to act now. The climate is already breaking down. This summer, there has been record heat around the world. It is only a matter time before the western United States runs out of water. The recent climate legislation produced by our federal and state governments does not go far enough to mitigate the effects. High-income countries are producing 10 times the amount of emissions as the poorest countries. We don't have any time to waste: We are dying for climate action now! Location TBA - please sign up on this page to receive all the necessary details. Go HERE.

Saturday, September 10,  9 – 10:30am. Housatonic Heritage Walks with BEAT — A Walk Through An Old Growth Forest at Ice Glen Ravine 

That all folks! Be sure to listen to your Mother, OK?