The November 29 Enviro Show

Recovering from fighting the glut of Black Friday, entertaining the joy of Buy Nothing Day, and all that post-Thanksgiving media buzz, we're hoping to see the RETURN OF JEAN on the next show. If her injury keeps her home from the show we'll track her down by phone and demand some ear-time on-air. Get well pronto, Jean, we can't hold off all these Earth-trashing corporados by ourselves.

For our E-Valley-uation segment we'll be joined by some of The Pedal People, Northampton's favorite two-wheeling worker bees who'll be telling us about the joys of biking as opposed to the monotony and mayhem of motoring. These folks get the Climate Disruption Disrupters award of excellence, and with the December 3rd International Day of Action to Stop Global Warming nearly upon us, we need all the positive responses we can generate. With that in mind, we'll have a SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT on Tuesday's show about something YOU can do to further the struggle against climate disruption right here in the Valley.

After some entertaining bicycle tunes, we'll turn to Doug Renick of Mass Global Action for a bit of catch-up on the "Act to Preserve Public Water and Sewer Systems" (HB1333) in Massachusetts. Enviro Show listeners know how fond we are of corporados who try privatizing every element in sight. Water is, of course, YOUR birthright, it's PART OF THE COMMONWEALTH, HELLO?? but you'd never know it by watching the corporations at work. While we're not to crazy about the old 20th century idea of using potable water to transport human waste products around, we'll be damned if we'll let a bunch of vile corporados take over the operation. Doug will bring us up to...err..snuff? on the attempt to privatize Holyoke's sewer system as well as other water issues. In the near future we hope to devote an entire show to water.

Then it's on to the Bulletin Board (should we call it the Bus Stop Billboard in honor of that old Valley tradition?). We have, first and foremost, that SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT we'll be sure to remind you about over-and-over-and-over again, as well as "An Update on Global Warming with UMass Prof Raymond Bradley", December 4, 7pm at First Churches in Noho. You may recall his name from our interview with Chris Mooney on our last show. Bradley's pioneering work on climate change was challenged in Congress by that far-right nutcase, Rep. Joe Barton. Also on the...um..Bus Stop?
"What Powers Your Car? A Panel Discussion on Vegetable Oil Fuel in the Valley". So, if it feels too cold for biking, jump into your greese car and turn on the radio to 103.3fm! That would be Tuesday at 6pm.....right?

Taking it to Wal-Mart

On Saturday about 200 area residents took their struggle against the proposed new super Wal-Mart store in Hadley to Wal-Mart’s door. A rally and informational picket took place at the existing Wal-Mart on Rt.9. As you can see, some unsavory characters were among the crowd (there's something familiar about this particular dirt-worshipper and his message, isn't there?)

The proposed construction of a new Wal-Mart Super store on agricultural and wetlands east and southeast of the Hampshire Mall next door to Target brings new meaning to the term "really stupid". As Aron Goldman, Executive Director of StopSprawlMart noted on our Halloween special a few weeks ago, the new mega-store presents a host of negative impacts associated with sprawl including environmental quality;
local economic health; impact on vibrant downtowns; impacts on traffic, scenic beauty, open space, and agriculture; and harm to overall quality of life. Goldman's concerns are echoed by Hadley Neighbors for Sensible development (though we've yet to see much in the way of sensible development in these parts) whose website claims listed species and their habitat will be drastically effected by the proposed expansion. We'll be looking into that on furure shows.

Meanwhile, back at the demo, Al Norman of Sprawl Busters (who always gets the credit for driving Wal-Mart out of Greenfield nearly single-handedly though we all know Earth First! had a hand in it as well) spoke about the real costs of cheap goods on foreign workers and Wal-Mart’s own employees. Of course, Teamsters also addressed such labor issues and spoke about their problems trying to organize Wal-Mart workers who are payed so poorly that they have to resort to public assistance in order to survive. In addition, issues of women's health and choice were addressed. Wal-Mart pharmacies have refused women access to birth control measures such as the so-called morning after pill.

BTW, upcoming municipal events in Hadley will present additional opportunities for people to voice their concerns about the new Wal-Mart. But you don't have to live in Hadley to be concerned about the new mega-store. Looking at a site plan for the proposed development, it seems obvious that the expansive plan will impact everyone, human and non-human alike in the area with increased traffic, environmental degradation, and added blight to the agricultural landscape. Everyday, new voices are coming out against Wal-Mart. If we can get some endangered turtles or frogs on the show we'll add theirs too. Of course, if you've been listening to The Enviro Show you've heard all this but we're writing it down here to avoid going to work at a real job this morning.

The Enviro Show for November 15

We'll open with the Repugnican war on science: journalist Chris Mooney, author of "The Republican War on Science", will be speaking at Food for Thought Books in Amherst at the same time we’re on the air. Through the magic of technology we’ll air a brief interview with Chris, thus giving you the false impression that he is two places at once! Yes, we do magic on The Enviro Show too!

Then it's on to our "E-Valley-uation" segment: Glen brings us up to snuff on the town of Montague’s proposals to take a dump on the Montague Plain. Yes, that's right, THE Montague Plain wildlife sanctuary and corridor, but hey! those critters can always circumvent a new dump full of Goddess knows what, right? They could use public transportation for a change like the rest of us!

Then it's time for the Bulletin Board, featuring a notice about taking it to WalMart’s door; watching it on film (for the armchair enviros out there); the Global Warming Day of Action, December 3; NRC’s Advocacy...er...Advisory Committee on Reactor Safety hearing in Bratt, November 15 & 16

Then on to an interview with Nina Keller & Sally Shaw, who recently took part in a civil disobedience action about Vermont Yankee. Radiation knows no borders, folks and you, dear listener are about 30 miles or so, as the radioactive cloud flies, from that leaky old nuke. You have every reason to be worried. Musical accompaniment will be provided by our own Tom Neilson's anti-nuke tunes. BTW, Tom will on our Holiday Glow Show live next month, so warm up that evacuation plan and tune-in.

More bad news: Jean broke her wrist.....again! GET WELL SOON JEAN, we can't very well save the planet without you 'ya know.

Ripping up Asphalt and Planting Gardens

Thought we should share this one w/you. Derrick rocks most of the time and w/this one he REALLY ROCKS!
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Ripping up Asphalt and Planting Gardens

By Derrick Jensen
Oct. 21, 2005

I don't see declining oil extraction as a problem. I see it as a
wonderful and necessary thing I wish would have happened a long time
ago.

This culture is killing the planet. It must be stopped. We evidently do
not have the courage to stop it ourselves. The natural world will stop
it for us. I think suburbs have no future. Nor do cities. They are
inherently unsustainable.

They can be made less unsustainable than they are, but all cities
require the importation of resources, and if you require the
importation of resources your way of living can never be sustainable,
because requiring the importation of resources means you've denuded the
landscape of that particular resource.

There has never been a sustainable city anywhere on the planet.
Sustainable villages, yes. Sustainable camps, yes. But not cities.

Civilization is going to crash, whether or not we help bring this
about. If you don’t agree with this, we probably have nothing to say to
each other (how ‘bout them Cubbies!).

We probably also agree that this crash will be messy. We agree further
that since industrial civilization is systematically dismantling the
ecological infrastructure of the planet, the sooner civilization comes
down (whether or not we help it crash) the more life will remain
afterwards to support both humans and nonhumans.

If you agree with all this, and if you don’t want to dirty your
spirituality and conscience with the physical work of helping to bring
down civilization, and if your primary concern really is for the
well-being of those (humans) who will be alive during and immediately
after the crash, then, given, and I repeat this point to emphasize it,
that civilization is going to come down anyway, you need to start
preparing people for the crash, ripping up asphalt in vacant parking
lots to convert them to neighborhood gardens, teaching people how to
identify local edible plants, even in the city (especially in the city)
so these people won’t starve when the proverbial shit hits the fan and
they can no longer head off to Albertson’s for groceries. Set up
committees to eliminate or if appropriate channel the (additional)
violence that might break out.

We need it all. We need people to take out dams, and we need people to
knock out electrical infrastructures. We need people to protest and to
chain themselves to trees. We also need people working to ensure that
as many people as possible are equipped to deal with the fall-out when
the collapse comes. We need people working to teach others what wild
plants to eat, what plants are natural antibiotics. We need people
teaching others how to purify water, how to build shelters.

All of this can look like supporting traditional, local knowledge, it
can look like starting roof-top gardens, it can look like planting
local varieties of medicinal herbs, and it can look like teaching
people how to sing. The truth is that although I do not believe that
designing groovy eco-villages will help bring down civilization, when
the crash comes, I’m sure to be first in line knocking on their doors
asking for food.

People taking out dams do not have a responsibility to ensure that
people in homes previously powered by hydro know how to cook over a
fire. They do however have a responsibility to support the people doing
that work.

Similarly, those people growing medicinal plants (in preparation for
the end of civilization) do not have a responsibility to take out dams.
They do however have a responsiblity at the very least to not condemn
those people who have chosen that work. In fact they have a
responsibility to support them. They especially have a responsibilty to
not report them to the cops.

It’s the same old story: the good thing about everything being so
fucked up is that no matter where you look, there is great work to be
done. Do what you love. Do what you can. Do what best serves your
landbase. We need it all.

This doesn’t mean that everyone taking out dams and everyone working to
cultivate medicinal plants are working toward the same goals. It does
mean that if they are, each should see the importance of the other’s
work.

Further, resistance needs to be global. Acts of resistance are more
effective when they’re large-scale and coordinated. The infrastructure
is monolithic and centralized, so common tools and techniques can be
used to dismantle it in many different places, simultaneously if
possible.

By contrast, the work of renewal must be local. To be truly effective
(and to avoid reproducing the industrial infrastructure) acts of
survival and livelihood need to grow from particular landbases where
they will thrive. People need to enter into conversation with each
piece of earth and all its (human and nonhuman) inhabitants.

This doesn’t mean of course that we can’t share ideas, or that one
water purificaton technique won’t be useful in many different
locations. It does mean that people in those places need to decide for
themselves what will work. Most important of all, the water in each
place needs to be asked and allowed to decide for itself.

The work we face includes both destruction and creation. I'm thinking,
for example, about a cell phone tower behind the local Safeway. Cell
phone towers kill between five and fifty million migratory songbirds
per year just in the United States. The cell phone tower needs to come
down. It is contiguous on two sides with abandoned parking lots. Those
lots need to come up. Gardens can bloom in their place. We can even do
our work side by side.

~

Derrick Jensen is an activist, author, small farmer, bee-keeper,
teacher, and philosopher whose speaking engagements in recent years
have packed university auditoriums, conferences and bookstores
nationwide. He has authored or co-authored a number of books that
examine western civilization, including The Culture of Make Believe, a
finalist for the 2003 J. Anthony Lukas Book Prize, A Language Older
than Words, and Walking on Water: Reading, Writing and Revolution.
Visit his website: http://www.derrickjensen.org