Greetings Earthlings. We venture back up to Beacon Hill this week to delve into some more bills such as S.1880 An Act to create a forest carbon incentive program to enhance carbon storage on private timber lands. Sen. Adam Hinds joins us to explore the details on that one. Also H. 1003 An Act to Ensure Accountability and Public Rights Regarding Commercial Tree Harvesting on Commonwealth-owned Lands. Here's a deep dive into H.1003. And finally, S.2596 / H4331 An Act allowing municipalities to reasonably regulate solar siting, presented by our own Sen. Jo Comerford. Michael DeChiara a resident of Shutesbury and co-author of its most recent solar bylaw speaks to that bill. [UPDATE: Interviews HERE] As always we will also take you along to meet this week's Fool-on-the-Hill (no, that other Hill) and to see if we are either Ridin' with Biden or Backslidin', as well as a reminder to folks who remain in denial that "It's the Climate Crisis, Stupid!" and more, but first it's time for..........Revenge of the Critters! Emus back in '32 win a battle with Australian army?
This week's Fool-on-the-Hill has somehow managed to escape our ire over time but now Senator Ron Johnson (Repugnican-WI) has gone and stepped in it when he said at a town hall event last month: “Standard gargle, mouthwash, has been proven to kill the coronavirus. If you get it, you may reduce viral replication. Why not try all these things?” What other things, Ron? Inquiring minds need to know! 😏
Our favorite Swedish climate activist, Greta Thunberg said recently it is "strange" that some consider U.S. President Joe Biden a climate leader even as his administration fails to take the ambitious steps necessary to tackle the intensifying planetary crisis. We guess she means The Prez is Backslidin' when it comes to actually confronting the Climate Crisis and given his announcement last November that oil and gas companies should pay more to drill for oil and gas on public lands rather than not drill at all, she seems to be on to something. How about a cartoon recap of whatever happened to Bidin's climate policy plans? Spoiler Alert: something to do with a certain senator from West Virginia! And how about this headline from Grist: "The Biden administration said its drilling-lease spree in the Gulf was court-ordered. It wasn’t." Ouch!
Are you wondering why WPRI ran a story about New England warming more than anywhere else on Earth? Could it be that......."It's the Climate Crisis, Stupid!" We guess. "...research published in the journal “Climate” looked at temperature data from the last 120 years in New England and found the region warmed by an average of 3.29 degrees Fahrenheit. The rest of the planet saw an average rise of about 2 degrees Fahrenheit. Temperatures in Massachusetts increased even faster than the other states in New England: rising 3.55 degrees Fahrenheit." We are waiting for the study that tells us exactly why this is happening here in the Commonwealth but perhaps this explains why we can't even seem to stop cutting down forests that capture CO2 emissions? We need a surge in enlightenment not in COVID. O wait, could this be part of the problem? "A recent analysis led by several Nobel-laureate economists has put concrete numbers to the “emissions inequalities” around the world. The richest individuals, it found — the world’s “10 percent”– collectively emit nearly half of all global emissions. Meanwhile, the poorer half of the global population is responsible for just 12 percent."
Time for the Enviro Show Quote of the Week. You won't have to go too far for this one:
"Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.”
After our conversations with our guests we head over to the Bus Stop Billboard
Monday, January 24, 7-8:30pm. Climate Action Now MonthlyOnline Gathering. Campaign updates & actions, small group conversations & more. Go HERE.
Monday January 24, 7pm. CT River Dam Relicensing – New Opportunity to Speak Up. Join us for a short on-line conversation about an ACTION we can take NOW to impact the future of the Northfield Mountain Pumped Storage Project. REGISTER HERE. (Registration limited to 100 people.)
Tuesday, January 25, 7pm. A conversation with Daniel Bullen around his new book: Daniel Shays's Honorable Rebellion: An American Story. This date is the 235th anniversary of the beginning of the rebellion. Register Here
Wednesday, January 26, 9:30am. Rising to the Challenge of Climate Change - How the Peacebuilding Community Can Help Fragile Societies Manage Coming Disruptions. REGISTER HERE to attend the panel discussion
Wednesday January 26, 3pm. Stop the Eversource Pipeline Stand Out! Join our weekly stand-outs in Springfield Wednesdays at 3:00 for 45 minutes/Thursday snow date . Sumner Ave intersection with Forest Park Ave . Contact lmoconnell@gmail.com or call 610-295-3125
Wednesday, January 26, 11 am - 12pm. MA Legislative briefing: Ecologically Sound Mosquito Control (S.556/H.937). Please register at this link, bit.ly/126massquito and contact marty@nofamass.org with any questions.
Thursday Jan 27 7pm. Standing Trees film night "Understory: A Journey Into the Tongass. All of the details are here: https://actionnetwork.
Saturday January 29, 12:30pm. Stand Up for Public Forests! Burlington, VT City Hall on Church Street. This April, the U.S. Forest Service is expected to propose logging of at least 11,000 acres
in the Green Mountain National Forest - Vermont's national forest - in
an area called Telephone Gap, near the town of Chittenden. The climate
and ecological crises demand that our mature forests remain wild and
able to sequester as much carbon from the atmosphere as possible. Now is
the time to save the trees of Telephone Gap, most of which are at least
a century old. Read more here: https://www.savepublicforests.
Monday, January 31, 5-6:15pm. Speakout with elected officials, Aquaculture and Fishermen Associations, Environmental Organizations, and concerned citizens. Plymouth Town Hall Great Room, 26 Court Street, Plymouth, MA. As part of the decommissioning of the Pilgrim Nuclear Power Plant, Holtec-Pilgrim plans to dump a million gallons of radioactive water into Cape Cod Bay. We call on Holtec to be responsible and immediately remove dumping into the bay from their business plan. Currently, Holtec has the ability to dump at any time without prior approval of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. CONTACT: Diane Turco, Cape Downwinders, tturco@comcast.net or 508.776.3132
January events relating to Forests & Solar can be found HERE.
Tuesday February 8, Noon to 1pm. "Stump the Forester: Crowdsourced Tree ID" Have you ever wished you had someone knowledgeable with you when you were out in the woods trying to figure out whether the bark on that tree was red or sugar maple? This is your chance to get your most vexing tree ID questions answered ONLINE! Go HERE.
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OK, remember to listen to your Mother!
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