Greetings Earthlings. Deforestation for industrial solar? Nah! Sharon Weizenbaum of Smart Solar Shutesbury & Smart Solar Western Mass returns to the show with a tale of Shutesbury Massachusetts' David and Goliath struggle with WD Cowls, Inc and corporate solar regarding the clearcutting plans for vast swaths of climate friendly forests in that small hilltown. [Update HERE] As always, we will also bring you along to meet this week's Fool-on-the-Hill and those Whose Brains Were Small, as well as yet another reminder (perhaps for Cinda Jones) that "It's the Climate Crisis, Stupid!" That and more, but first it's time for......Revenge of the Critters! Their baaaack! This time the vengeful Orca pod gets into the race!
This week's Fool-on-the-Hill is the entire Repugnican caucus. Why? Back in mid-May House Repubgs were bidding for steep spending cuts in exchange for raising the debt ceiling. "First, though, they paused during their private weekly meeting on Tuesday to bid for something else: Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s used chapstick"?? Guess who won the bidding? Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) placed a winning $100,000 bid. We guess Kevin uses a lot of chap stick given how many fascist butts he has to kiss all day.
In The Enviro Show Echo Chamber we repeat the Washington Post's shocker of a headline: "Humans have used enough groundwater to shift Earth’s tilt". If you go to the study cited in the Post's piece you get another shocker: "Drift of Earth's Pole Confirms Groundwater Depletion as a Significant Contributor to Global Sea Level Rise" OK, it's tilt & drown. All aboard, everyone! Apparently this past week was some sort of Shock Theater 'cuz here's another: "Earth's Jet Streams Look as Chaotic as a Van Gogh Right Now, And That's a Big Problem - The currents of air that wrap around our planet are becoming unrecognizable to climate scientists" Click on the link if you want to see Van Gogh doing Earth. Vincent may have been a little disturbed but THIS??
After all that disturbing news, let's point out that "It's the Climate Crisis, Stupid!" and reference this news from the Magazine of The Sierra Club. Most anyone here in New England will tell you how disease carrying Ticks are a plague. Yours truly nearly went to that great recording studio in the sky a few years back due to Lyme disease and Anaplasmosis, but it never occurred to me that forest fragmentation is a major contributor to increased Tick populations. Sadly, the article fails to mention deforestation resulting from clearcutting as a large part of the problem. Were sure the folks in our own MA Sierra Club Forest Protection Team know that. Meanwhile, over in the repug led House of Reps the enemies of the planet have introduced a bill to try and prevent The Prez from declaring a much needed Climate Emergency. Their suicidal legislation (which will never see the light of day) is titled the Real Emergencies Act, which, in true far-right fashion, isn't real at all.
One might think those Repugs "Brains Were Small" and comments like this from Senator Lindsey Graham, “I don’t want to be lectured about what we need to do to destroy our economy in the name of climate change” has us wondering if the dinosaurs were too busy stuffing their big faces to be bothered looking up to see the sky was falling? "Don't Look Up"!
How about an Enviro Show Quote of the Week to take us to our interview with Sharon:
“Success is not final, failure is not fatal: It is the courage to continue that counts.”
– Winston Churchill
Now it's time for the Bus Stop Billboard:
Saturday July 22, 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Rally to Protect Forests, Water and Communities and to Stop Sand Mining in Southeastern Massachusetts. Plymouth MA: Wareham Town Hall, 54 Marion Rd, Wareham, MA. Join us for a rally and to support grassroots activists working protecting the Pine Barrens forests, rivers, wetlands, ecosystems and communities throughout Southeastern Massachusetts! Learn about the threats, why the destruction is happening on
environmentwatchsoutheasternma@gmail.com
Monday July 24, 7pm. Climate Action Now Monthly Gathering via Zoom. Speaker: Katie Talbot, Co-leader Neighbor to Neighbor, Springfield/Holyoke. Go HERE
July 24-27 The 2023 NOFA Summer Conference will be happening online, and online and in person at Worcester State University. This shift to Worcester is a change that we’re excited about, and we have a long-standing relationship with WSU as it has been the home of the NOFA/Mass Winter Conference for many years. On Friday, July 28, we kick off the in-person portion of the conference in the evening, with dinner and salsa dancing for a good cause, and then on Saturday, July 29, we’ll be in person and online all day, hosting workshops, caucus groups, a fair, and opportunities for networking and community! This year’s conference theme is “Buen Vivir: Celebrating Harmony with Nature and our Communities” Go HERE
Tuesday July 25, 8:15am. Standout at the Voke to Save the NEMT Forest. Location: 100 Hemlock Road, Wakefield, MA. Wakefield's Conservation Commission has denied the permit for the NEMT Vocational School project on the hilltop. Because the NEMT has appealed their decision, the matter now goes to the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (MassDEP) to decide whether to agree with or reverse the Conservation Commission’s decision. On Tuesday July 25, MassDEP representatives will conduct a site visit of the NEMT property where the school is proposed. NEMT school officials, their engineers and lawyers, Conservation Commission members and the ten residents who submitted to MassDEP additional evidence and a request to deny the project will attend. Go HERE.
Tuesday July 25, 8:45am -12 noon. We just learned this afternoon that Chase Bank in Northampton opened this past Tuesday. Their grand opening is this coming Tuesday, July 25, 9:00Am -12 noon. Let's gather as many people as we can at 8:45am at Chase Bank next Tuesday. Bring signs and banners. We expect to have some handouts. Anyone is welcome to picket at any time, but let's focus our efforts on turning out a crowd on Tuesday morning! We want all of Northampton to know, "DON'T BAK AT CHASE!" THEY ARE THE WORLD'S BIGGEST FUNDER OF FOSSIL FUELS AND CLIMATE CHAOS. Contact: russvj@gmail.com or 413-687-4080
Wednesday July 26 and Thursday July 27, time TBA. Hearings to Put Gas in the Past bills S.2135 and H.3237. The effort to pass this legislation is reaching a critical moment, and we need your help. Submit written testimony in favor of S.2135 and H.3237. Send your written testimony to the Senate TUE members to Lexi.Concannon@masenate.gov, and to the House TUE members to Joint Committee. Utilities&Energy@malegislature.gov by Friday, July 28th at 5:00 p.m. Find more information about the bills in our fact sheet here.
Friday July 28, 4:30 to 6pm. Standout on the Bridge to Shutdown FirstLight's Northfield Mtn. Pumped Storage. Peskeomskut (Tuners/Gill Bridge) Montague, MA. Go to http://ctriverdefenders.org
OK, we are out of here now except to remind you to........listen to your Mother!
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