Blog Archive

Thursday, September 19, 2019

The Climate Strike Week Enviro Show

Greetings Earthlings. Happy Autumn Equinox! Beginning with the Boston Climate Strike on Friday September 20 and the Walkout & Rally in Solidarity with the Global Youth Climate Strike all the way to the following Friday September 27 when WMass Extinction Rebellion (XR) lets it be known The Rebellion Begins in Western Massachusetts we the people will be sounding the alarm about the climate emergency. All during that week there will be events & actions focusing on the Climate Crisis. One we trust you won't want to miss is the hearing for H.897 An Act Relative to Forest Protection 1 to 3PM in Room B-1 at the Statehouse in Boston.  H. 897 will protect all state land as parks or reserves. The bill will fight climate change by reducing carbon loss and increasing carbon sequestration. Yes, we've been talking about this on the show seemingly forever BUT now it's an actual piece of legislation on Beacon Hill. It truly needs YOUR support if we are to spare other state forests from the devastation Wendell State Forest just suffered.  Susan Theberge of Climate Action Now! and Emmalie Dropkin of WMass XR join us to review and preview all the events and more. Speaking of more, we'll also take you to meet this week's sorry Fool-on-the-Hill and to poke fun of His Malignancy The Mad King and his court of climate criminals, but first it's time for......Revenge of the Critters! South American kinkajou does El Norte: An exotic home invasion!

We have a real honest-to-goodness climate criminal this week for our Fool-on-the-Hill. Rep. Andy Biggs (Repugnican-AZ) doesn't even equivocate on the Climate Crisis like so many of his fellow Repugs. He flat-out denies it: "No, I do not believe climate change is occurring. I do not think that humans have a significant impact on climate. The federal government should stop regulating and stomping on our economy and freedoms in the name of a discredited theory." We must have missed the memo on that "discredited theory"? [insert hysterical laughter here]

We're pretty sure The Mad King has gone totally off the rails. Now he wants to control the weather and some of the real weather watchers are even caving to His Malignancy! Here's a headline from the NY Times that would make Woody Guthrie turn over in his grave "Trump to Miners, Loggers and Drillers: This Land is Your Land". Of course, privatization of public lands is classic corporado behavior but The Mad King has embraced it like some pervert might embrace your dirty shorts. One of his worst ideas to date is opening up the world's largest remaining pristine temperate rainforest,  Alaska’s Tongass National Forest to logging and mining. We imagine Satin has reserved THE worst place in Hell for this move but who wants to wait until His Malignancy gets there?? It almost makes his minion, US EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler newest proposal to amend the Clean Water Act to streamline permitting of energy projects look benign by comparison?.......Nah!

Time for another Enviro Show Quote of the Week. No need to jump into the Wayback Machine for this one:

"I'm often asked whether I believe in global warming. I now just reply with the question: Do you believe in gravity?" -- Neil deGrasse Tyson

Finally, in case you missed it, It's the Climate Crisis, Stupid! Last month Inside Climate News revealed a new study on climate change at the South Pole. It was discovered "the way the westerly winds push the surface water allows warmer water from below to reach under the ice shelves, accelerating ice loss from the West Antarctic Ice Sheet." The piece goes on to state: "The potential for a surge of sea level rise from West Antarctica is so great that scientists have even studied whether the melting could be slowed by spraying the surface with man-made snow and ice." We guess man-made climate chaos calls for......man-made snow? Meanwhile, Amazon Watch informs us: "As the Amazon's dry season draws on, uncontained fires continue to rage across vast landscapes. It is estimated that in Brazil alone, nearly 3 million hectares – 11,500 square miles, or an area nearly as large as Belgium – have burned. Another 2 million hectares of Bolivia's forests have been lost....Tens of thousands of new blazes have been deliberately set in recent weeks, despite Bolsonaro's purported ban on fires, laying bare the scale of impunity behind this brazen criminal activity with illegal deforestation at its core."

After our conversation with Emmalie ans Susan we head over to the Bus Stop Billboard:

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Friday, October 18, 6pm in the Commonwealth Honors College Event Hall (East Room), Physical Plant Sustainability, UMass Amherst is hosting a film screening of Josh Fox’s film How to Let Go of the World and Love All the Things Climate Can't Change. The event is free and open to all and we’re asking folks to bring a reusable bowl and cup for free popcorn and refreshments. Here is the event listing in the UMass Calendar: https://www.umass.edu/events/film-how-let-go-world-and-love  


Friday October 18, 11:45am. Demand Divestment. Smith College Campus Center.  Tell Smith trustees the climate crisis is here.The time to act is now!  Join us supporting Divest Smith to demand full divestment from fossil fuels from Smith College Board of Trustees. Go HERE.


Thursday, October 24, 7pm. WMass Extinction Rebellion  General Meeting in Herter Hall at UMass Amherst.  Go to: https://www.facebook.com/events/1212664375583565/  


Saturday October 26,  12 to 4 pm. (Rain Date: Sunday, October 27, 12 to 4 p.m) Reading the Forested Landscape. Join the renowned terrestrial ecologist and author Tom Wessels for a presentation on learning to read our forest landscape, followed by an interpretive walk at 1:30 p.m.  Using tree stump decay patterns, the construction of stone walls, and much more, Tom will show us how to unravel the agricultural, logging, and wind histories in our forests.  Tom’s books will be available for sale.  Come along for the presentation, walk, or both!  Please sign up for the walk at the Library as space may be limited.  Walk participants are encouraged to carpool, bring a snack, and dress for the weather.   For more information contact Cynthia Weigel, 413-256-4606


 Monday, October 28, 7 to 9pm. Climate Action Now meets in Northampton.  Northampton gatherings will take place at First Churches on 129 Main St.  (enter side door).  Go to: https://climateactionnowma.org/ 


Wednesday, October 30, 7:30 p.m. How the Climate Crisis Has Become the Single Largest Threat to Human Health in History: A Conversation Between Journalists. Dahr Jamail and Amy Ellis Nutt.  Smith College, Weinstein Auditorium, Wright Hall, College Lane, Northampton, MA.








Friday, September 06, 2019

Another Best of The Enviro Show

Greetings Earthlings. Glen's off to the woods and d.o to the shore this week to charge their batteries and have a bit of a reminder about why they are trying to save the world, the real world that is. Glen has cobbled together some of the better moments for your listening pleasure in the meantime. With that in mind, all the segments you'll see below are silent segments; you will have to supply your own annoying sound effects. All that in a moment but first it's time for..........Revenge of the Critters! How about this replay? A classic hunter becomes the hunted!


We have our Fool-on-the-Hill in the Senate this time from HuffPo: "Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) appeared to display a highly questionable understanding of climate change on Twitter, and promptly got dragged over the coals. The lawmaker on Friday was widely ridiculed for the way he responded to Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer’s (D-N.Y.) call for action on the climate crisis. Schumer had tweeted about July 2019 being “the hottest month ever, of any month, on record” and described climate change as “the greatest threat facing our planet.” Cornyn replied: “It’s summer, Chuck.”

It seems His Malignancy The Mad King will always be the go-to guy for THE worst president ever!
Here's what climate scientist Michael Mann says: "He is locking in permanent, irreversible damage to our environment through his irresponsible environmental policies, including his efforts to block progress on climate change," said Dr. Michael E. Mann, distinguished professor of atmospheric science at Penn State University and the director of the Penn State Earth System Science Center. "Once we go beyond key tipping points -- the melting of the major ice sheets -- there is no going back." We guess The Mad King isn't giving much thought to the future of his son Baron, much less any future progeny! The "Paper of Record" has just come up with 84 environmental rules rolled back by His Malignancy here. Probably by the time you read this the number will be higher. We all know, at least those who care to admit it, His Malignancy is a total fraud. Now, he's even broadcasting Fake Weather Reports!  

Once again it's time to remind cranky old Uncle George or whomever that...."It's the Climate Crisis, Stupid!" We guess we'll be seeing more headlines like this in the coming years: "Alaska, barren of sea ice, saw its hottest July in 125 years". But how about the proactive news stories? We've been grousing on this show forever about the critical need to preserve and protect existing forests in the effort to confront climate chaos, but it looks like we've overlooked peat bogs and marshlands. Watch out for that Grist piece we just hi-lighted though, it doesn't give undisturbed forests the credit they deserve for helping us address the crisis and it's focus on "building with wood" is straight out of the old-school foresters handbook. Let the Forests LIVE!

On to the Bus Stop Billboard and upcoming events for Climate Strike Week!


Friday September 20,  8:00am - 5:00pm.  Boston Climate Strike!  Stand with us on September 20th for Youth Climate Strike’s call to action to fight against the #climatecrisis. Following the lead of Swedish activist Greta Thunberg, thousands of young people and adult allies will gather in Boston this September to kick off a week of climate action! We are a group of empowered young people who are passionate about saving our environment and are pushing for new practices and systems to lessen the impact on our climate and our planet. The climate strike in Boston is one of many strikes happening around the world on September 20th, so join us in fighting against #climatechange. WMass bus sign-up: bit.ly/wmass-rsvp. 


Friday, September 20, 12 PM – 3pm. Walk Out for Climate!  On September 20th, we stand in unity with youth, adults, and rebels all over the planet. To join the Sunrise Movement in Boston, visit bit.ly/wmass-rsvp At UMass, Sunrise Movement UMass Amherst and Extinction Rebellion Western MA invite students, staff, faculty, and community members to strike and stand together for climate justice.  Further details to come! We hope you'll also join us for our declaration of rebellion on 9/27: https://bit.ly/2ZnjKp3  


Friday September 20 4 - 6:00pm.  Climate Emergency March for a Just Future-Solidarity w youth.  Sheldon Park, 269 Bridge St. Northampton, MA01060 Map  Our life support systems must be protected now! The students who strike on #fridaysFortheFuture know that this is n a climate emergency. We know that this is a climate emergency. 4 pm: gather & get organized. Sheldon Field Northampton commuter lot 4:30 step off march. Climate Emergency March & chanting to city hall. 5:00 protest rally at Northampton City Hall.






Friday, September 27, 11 AM – 2 PM. The Rebellion has landed in Western Massachusetts. Beginning with UMass, we call on the five colleges to declare a climate emergency and take immediate action. Join us 9/27 for a funeral for our futures. Wear black. Further details to come! We hope you're join us as well for a Walk Out on 9/20: https://bit.ly/2Pexaiq
OK, we are out of here and off into the woods and water. Remember to listen to yur' Mother!