Greetings Earthlings. When you hear Audubon you probably think of birds, right? Yes, the group does a lot on birds but what about logging in forests? Silvia Solaun and Katherine Evans of New Jersey Forest Watch/Friends of Sparta Mountain return to the show to explain as we complain. As always we will also introduce you to this week's Fool-on-the-Hill and "Those whose brains were small", as well as remind everyone that "It's the Climate Crisis, Stupid!" (especially to His Malignancy The Mad King et al.) and more, but first it's time for......Revenge of the Critters! Monkeying around with the grid in Sri Lanka.
"Their Brains Were small and They Died" segment is devoted to Harold "Frackenstein" Hamm and his fellow Fossil Fools this week. This billionaire oil tycoon's fingerprints are all over The Mad King's MAGA push to crush environmental regulation and renewables. "The fossil fuel industry went on to donate $96 million directly to [His Malignancy’s] campaign; spend $80 million on political advertising...Most of the fundraisers were organized by Harold Hamm. [The President] went on to nominate fracking executive and climate denier Chris Wright to lead the Department of Energy, which oversees energy policy and research. Wright was hand-selected for the position by Harold Hamm." There seems to be a pattern here among the dinosaurs, yes?
This week's Fool-on-the-Hill is U.S. Rep. Gary Palmer (R-AL) who " introduced House Joint Resolution 18 (H.J.Res.18) to nullify the EPA’s groundbreaking improvements in 2024 to regulations that lowered the limit of lead in drinking water. The EPA National Primary Drinking Water Regulations for Lead and Copper: Improvements (LCRI) rule also directed public water systems to replace all lead and certain galvanized service lines within 10 years. Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill appropriated $15 billion over 5 years for the replacement of the lead pipes. Polling has found lead replacement rules have a 90% approval rating among all Americans." Not so much from MAGA freaks, we guess.
Since we're all over the MAGA freak show here we may as well head straight into our Mad King 2.0 segment. First off, how about the recent totally duplicitous transactional anti-American fabricated ambush of President Zelenskyy in the Oval Office?? Can you find a more embarrassing moment in U.S. history? Meanwhile, the folks at The Sierra Club note: "Elon
Musk’s DOGE team has fired thousands of rangers, educators, scientists,
and caretakers of the National Park Service, Forest Service, Fish and
Wildlife Service, and Bureau of Land Management. Unless they are reversed, these mass firings will hurt protected lands, wildlife, and visitors." We have to say however, that the National Forest Service could use a shake-up, not so much with a logging industry hack in the front office, maybe remove them from the Dept. of Agriculture so they'll stop thinking of forests as crops? Anyway, Sierra is asking you to register your displeasure HERE. Moving on to the EPA, His Malignancy bragged about Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin planning to cut 65% of his
agency's workforce, a move that came as a surprise to agency staff. "So far, the EPA terminated nearly 400 probationary employees and placed nearly 200 employees on leave who worked on environmental justice issues at the agency." Then there's this: "The Environmental Protection Agency
is reportedly calling on the Trump administration to strike down a
landmark climate finding that cleared the way for regulating
planet-warming and polluting greenhouse gas emissions." Dereliction of duty anyone? The group Take It Back notes: "Every day more experts are purged, more safeguards are
dismantled, and more power is handed over to the fossil fuel industry.
Congress must protect the EPA and stand up for climate action. If they won’t fire Musk, they must at least stop him from destroying the most important climate agency in America." Here's an Action Network link on this shitshow. Of course, as we noted in the past, as they "flood the zone" ("The Swamp" in their own words) with their own sewage they seem oblivious to the fact they live their too. 🤣
OK, though His Malignancy denies it, we will never stop repeating "It's the Climate Crisis, Stupid!" Even as he strips "away support for scientific research in the US and overseas that contains a word [he] finds particularly inconvenient: “climate.”... The US government is withdrawing grants and other support for research that even references the climate crisis, academics have said, amid [The Mad King's] blitzkrieg upon environmental regulations and clean-energy development." Yes, it's Orwellian and at the same time "The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has marked for fast-track review more than 600 permit applications for projects under [the] President's “Declaring a National Energy Emergency” executive order that would disturb critical wetlands and waterways"......with gold mining, crude oil pipelines, deepwater oil loading terminals and more. We saw it coming and here it is, but (as noted above) doesn't MAGA realize they live here and suffer along with the rest of us??
Our Critter of the Week this time around is the Beaver. These guys are the "The Best Engineers On The Planet" According to Champions for Wildlife "First, they are the largest rodent in North America.... They are mammals with continually growing front incisor teeth. And did you know 40% of all mammals are rodents? Second, beavers are one of the few animals that modify their habitat. In order to protect their families, they build their homes in the middle of ponds. But the cool part? They dam up streams to create the ponds." That's kind of an understatement. See what they did in the The administration of the Brdy protected landscape area, which had gained approval for the 30 million crown project, was dealing with red tape and seeking the respective building permits from the Vltava River Basin authorities when the dam project was completed almost overnight by a local colony of beavers." Follow the link to learn more about it.
Our Doublespeak of the Week comes from State Attorneys General carrying water for the corporados at Bayer: "On January 21, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) accepted a petition from the AGs of the 11 states, requesting that the Agency initiate rulemaking to amend existing pesticide regulations “such that any state labeling requirements inconsistent with EPA's findings and conclusions from its human health risk assessment on human health effects, such as a pesticide's likelihood to cause cancer, birth defects, or reproductive harm, constitute misbranding.” Whoa! Forget science. It's all about branding in Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Indiana, Iowa, Louisiana, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Carolina, and South Dakota.
In The Enviro Show Echo Chamber we rerun this alarming alert from Care2 Petitions: "Between 2016 and 2024, the amount of microplastics and nanoplastics found by researchers in human brains increased by about 50%. This is incredibly alarming. Nanoplastics are small enough to travel from our food, drinks, and environment into our cells, bloodstreams, and organs. Many of the ones found in this study came from the material that is used in plastic packaging, bags, and drink bottles." Apparently the alert is based on this study in Nature.
Finally we come to our Quote of the Week:
A growing number of governments and non-state actors are pledging to be carbon-free – and obviously that’s good news. The problem is that the criteria and benchmarks for these net-zero commitments have varying levels of rigor and loopholes wide enough to drive a diesel truck through. We must have zero tolerance for net-zero greenwashing.
- UN Secretary General António Manuel de Oliveira Guterres
After our conversation with our guest it's on to the Bus Stop Billboard:
Weekly on Tuesdays & Thursdays. The MA State House Stand Out is back in a new incarnation! This historic climate action lasted for 14 months and engaged hundreds of volunteers from across the climate movement. Volunteers are needed!The new version, lovingly referred to as Stand Out Two, happens at the Massachusetts State House between 10 am and 2 pm on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
This is a great way to participate in the climate movement with no risk
of arrest! Volunteers normally sign up for a 2 hour “shift." If you have questions about the Stand Out or would like to get a link to the sign-up sheet please contact organizers at fossilfuels.standout.ma@
Wednesday, February 19 through Wednesday, April 2, we'll meet from 7:00-9:00 PM ET via Zoom to delve into almost every aspect of the plastic pollution crisis and, most importantly, what we can do to help fix it. Beyond Plastic Pollution, my seven-week, very popular, virtual class taught via Zoom that's offered through Bennington College. Click here to learn more and register n
Sunday March 3, 11:30 AM - 1 PM on Zoom. Climate Action Now Western Mass Wildlands Campaign - First meeting of the Municipal Lands team. Researching pathways for municipal Wildlands, and creating a
guide for those wishing to advocate for Wildlands in their
community; Reviewing model ordinances or example Wildland intents; Identifying existing municipal Wildlands to add to the map
and to use as examples; Identifying and advocating for potential Wildlands; Supporting individuals, organizations, and communities as
they work for Wildlands in their towns and cities ; And more! Bring your ideas about what this team will do, and
how its work might be organized. Go HERE.
Monday March 3, Noon. MBTA & Climate. In September 2024, the MBTA released its Climate Assessment, taking stock of its climate commitments and work undertaken to date and articulating a vision for sustainability and resilience at the MBTA. The report identifies next steps for the Authority as it prepares the regional transit system to be sustainable and resilient in the face of escalating climate change while also playing a critical role in helping local municipalities and the Commonwealth in meeting climate goals by providing reliable low-carbon public transportation. The MBTA, like other transit authorities across the state, is also working to balance climate, safety, accessibility and other goals within significant funding constraints. Go HERE.
Tuesday, March 4 at 6:30 p.m. Virtual webinar for the second installment of our 2025 Speaker Series. Panthera's Dr. Mark Elbroch will give a presentation on the key role large carnivores, particularly wild cats, play in healthy ecosystems, and share other insights from his decades of research into mountain lion ecology. Mark and Shelby Perry, Wildlands Ecology Director at Northeast Wilderness Trust, will then discuss the most pressing obstacles to the restoration of North America's large carnivores while exploring avenues of potential conservation progress. Registration HERE.
Wednesday,March 5, 7-8 pm. Force Multiplier invites you to a free virtual Community Conversation with Tim Snyder, author, On Tyranny and On Freedom and Deana El-Mallawany of Protect Democracy Tim Snyder is a prominent scholar of the history of Central Europe, Ukraine, the Soviet Union, the Holocaust, and author or editor of twenty books. He can be read on Substack. Deana Kim El-Mallawany, Counsel and a Director at Protect Democracy. Prior to that she served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney. Go HERE.
Wednesday March 5, 8 – 9pm. Join us for "Rapid Response for Our Freedoms: Stop Project 2025", a powerful virtual event where we stand united to protect our rights, freedoms, rule of law, and democracy. Are you concerned about the direction our country is headed and the far-right agenda threatening our future? Now is the time to stand up and take action! Your voice and participation are critical in this fight. Go HERE.
March 9th & 10th in Houston, TX is Resist CERA Week. We will take action to demonstrate our opposition to the oil and gas CEOs profiting from our destruction and build power together through movement-building training, workshops, and events. There are roles and events for everyone. Go HERE.
Sunday March 9, Noon to 2pm. Northampton Resists Together! We have the next rally set! There was so much energy and so many speakers at the last event that we are doing it again. Several incredible speakers are in the works, and those confirmed include State Representative Lindsay Sabadosa and State Senator Jo Comerford! Let's all come together again and show that we are stronger, united, and each commit to taking concrete actions to resist the tyranny of this current administration. Go HERE.
Monday March 10, 6:30 Berries for Birds workshop at Second Congregational Church, Court Square, Greenfield, MA. RIT Professor Susan Smith Pagano will share research indicating that native shrubs, not invasives, truly meet migrating birds’ nutritional needs.
Tuesday March 11, 6pm. You are invited to join ESC for a collaborative art workshop with eco-artist Xavier Cortada on March 11th, 2025. This free, interactive virtual art session is part of ESC’s Collaborating for Biodiversity
project, a call to youth artists grades K-12 to submit collaboratively
created artworks featuring US wildlife and plants protected by the
Endangered Species Act.
Go HERE.
Wednesday March 12, 7:00 - 8:30 pm. Wildlands Campaign meeting. We’ll be focusing on the recently filed bills to protect state-owned land as wildlands/reserves. Michael Kellett of Restore: The North Woods and Janet Sinclair of Save Massachusetts Forests, the authors, will explain the bills and offer guidance on how to support their passage. This will be followed by a Q&A. If you haven’t already, sign up for the Climate Action Now Western Mass newsletter HERE, and the Regenerative Farming, Forests and Food System group (RF3) google group HERE, to stay in the loop on upcoming events, actions, and campaign information.
Saturday March 15, All Day. Total Shutdown! The movement, Shutdown 315, is calling for Americans to stop making purchases from major corporations, end social media use and even not come to work on March 15 as a way to "fight back" against a "broken system." Go to The Peoples Union.
Sunday March 16, 2pm. Make Polluters Pay. MA. Coming soon…save the date! #makepolluterspay
Monday, April 7, 8pm. Online rally, Break Big Biomass: A National Call to Action! If you’ve been taking action with us in recent years, you know that the biomass industry is burning trees for electricity and falsely calling it a clean energy solution. We’ve joined with organizations in the U.S. to bring you a 1.5 hour rally with powerful speakers, interactive discussion, and actions to join the fight against big biomass! Register HERE.
We are out of here for now but do remember to listen to Your Mother!
"https://www.nature.com/articles/s41591-024-03453-1
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