Meltdown with The Enviro Show

Greetings Earthlings. On Tuesday it's day 18 of the Fukushima Daiichi nuke disaster and a day after the 32nd anniversary of the Three Mile Island nuclear meltdown. Why are we boiling water with deadly radioactive material we don't know how to dispose? This is the real March Madness, yes? Former Valley resident and nuclear activist,Harvey Wasserman calls in with updates and Citizens Awareness Network's Deb Katz returns to connect the dots to Vermont Yankee. D.O. waxes poetic with his take on Pluto Rising and we report back on the recent Vermont Yankee action in our E-Valley-uation segment. Time permitting we'll also have a peak into The Enviro Show Echo Chamber and over at the Fool-on-the-Hill, but first it's time for...Revenge of the Critters! Whale commandeers yacht, demands passage to new planet! (OK, so we lied about that last part).

"Shut 'em Down" means it's time for another E-Valley-uation: was last week's anti-nuke vigil at Vermont Yankee effective? When will the state shut it down? Post your thoughts on the blog.

This week's Fool-on-the-Hill is Congressman Ron Paul,(Repugnican,TX), who seems to feel that much of the reaction to the nuclear power crisis in Japan is "overblown". Paul stated: "Nuclear power is very dangerous, but it is also the safest form of energy we have.” Say what?? Maybe Ron worships the Invisible Hand of the Free Market. That might explain his....er..incongruity? Hey Ron! Would you like salt with that meltdown?

D.O. is all freaked out about plutonium these days. Just because it's THE most toxic substance known to the human race and may be escaping into the atmosphere from Japan, why get all worked up about it?? Anyway, he does the spoken word on it and notes on his blog that sensors inside Daiichi reactors are not working, but censors outside work just fine!

In the Enviro Show Echo Chamber we bring you a Blog Bonus: Vermont Yankee license renewal? No way! Seabrooke renewal? HA!. So, why is no one talking about how bad Fukushima could be? Also this: Beyond Nuclear asks YOU to act now, but just signing a petition is not enough. Everyone needs to get active. Remember the old saw: "Better active today than radioactive tomorrow". It looks like Physicians for Social Responsibility is active: they just called for a nationwide moratorium on "new nuclear reactors in the United States and a suspension of operations at the nuclear reactors with a similar design as those involved in the disaster in Japan". And, get this: Germany set to abandon nuclear energy. Macht den Menschen!

Here's our Enviro Show nuclear link fest featuring the sites we've been pretty much glued to these past few weeks. First is our favorite nuclear physicist's site Michio Kaku's Big Think. Next we've linked above to our friends at Beyond Nuclear. Also we often check in with The Bulletin of Atom Scientists Daily Update from Japan as well as The Radiation Network's National Radiation Map, showing radiation levels across the U.S. from non-governmental sources. Finally, if you want to know where the prevailing winds are in any given day you can go to End Times Report (yes, it's a creepy name, but hey! these are creepy times, no?).

Following our interviews with Harvey & Deb it's on to the Bus Stop Billboard:

Friday, April 1, 2011 at 7:00 pm. The Committee for the Leverett Peace Commission sponsors a Community Talk, “Fear or Consciousness: Dare We Change?” with Penny Gill, Professor of Politics, Dean of the College at Mount Holyoke at Leverett Town Hall. In her talk, Penny will address some of the obstacles we have inherited from the post-industrial capitalist structures of our world. These barriers inhibit our confidence in our ability to create the changes we all so long for - a peaceful world, a sustainable economy, and stable climate. Call: (413)367-9520

Sunday, April 3, 7:00-9:00 p.m. “An Evening with Starhawk in Celebration of the Heart and Soul of the Five Rivers Community”. Look for booksigning following the talk. Admission: sliding scale. Montague Grange, Main Street, Village of Montague, Massachusetts. For more information, contact Joshua: jjwaffles[at]juno.com or 520-358-1520

April 4, 2011, a day to stand in solidarity with working people in Wisconsin, Ohio, Indiana, and dozens of other states where well-funded, right-wing corporate politicians are trying to take away the rights Dr. King gave his life for. It’s a day to show movement. A day to be creative, but clear: We Are One! Call: (413)732-7970

Tuesday, April 5, 6:30 PM plan to attend the public hearing at Duggan Middle School, 1015 Wilbraham Road, where the state will present its draft air permit for the PRE biomass incinerator proposed for Page Boulevard in Springfield. This is the final permit the developers need before they can put a shovel in the ground. Please prepare to speak, submit written comments or just come and show support with your presence which really does matter! Call 455-3829 or 734-4948.

Friday, April 8th. PENTAGON ACTION FOR PEACE “DISARMAGEDDON”. Pentagon, Arlington, Virginia Metro entrance Arlington, VA. Local contact: (413)522-7505

Saturday, April 9, 2011, 12:00 pm "Bring the Troops Home Now!" Union Sq. to Foley Sq./ Broadway and 14th St. New York, NY. Call: 518-227-6947

Tuesday, April 12, 2011, 6-8pm. Bi-monthly meeting of the Springfield-Area Sustainable Energy Association. Topic: Organic Landcare. Hear about a how to care for your lawn and garden using anon pesticide, petro chemical fertilizer approach. Help learn how you can stop the pollution of our waterways and still have a healthy vibrant green space. Western New England College (WNEC), Sleith Hall, Rm S101, 1215 Wilbraham Rd, Springfield. Call: (413) 883-3144

OK then, next time we get back to that canceled on acount a' snow show: "Shad for a Brighter Future" with Karl Meyer. Until then remember: Listen to your Mother!

Japanese nuke disaster - a media meltdown too!

Ever since it began, the nuclear diaster at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station in northern Japan has also proved to be a media disaster. Coverage of the event has been all over the map and continues to confuse people at a time where precise information is most important. A good part of the reason for this confusion seems to come from Japan itself, where "damage repair" is not simply confined to the reactor site, but to the boardroom and official press briefings as well. It has been reported that Tokyo Electric Power Company, the operator of the complex, has a history of of falsified safety reports, fatal accidents and underestimated earthquake risk. If this is the case, why should such dishonesty change now when the company faces its biggest challenge ever? Indeed, the Japanese government itself has been accused of a cover-up. Does this remind us of something? Making matters worse, international agencies that are supposed to protect and inform us in times of a nuclear crisis apparently have a hidden agenda. In the U.S. there has always been problems with the ‘politicization’ of nuclear energy.

Given all that disinformation and media manipulation it's no surprise that U.S. reports of the nuclear disaster and its global effects are replete with mixed messages. However, that situation is made even worse by news or informational organizations that have their own corporate agendas. On one end of the spectrum are outright propaganda outfits like Faux "News" (Fox News) who even promote radiation! Less overt, but seemingly just as pro-corporate, National Public Radio (NPR) has a history of nuclear industry bias and NBC is actually owned in-part by nuclear reactor maker GE. These outlets often make use of questionable information from nuclear industry lobbying groups, passing it off as news. But such manufactured media is not limited to the United States. Public relations hacks and commentators in Australia, the UK, and elsewhere are engaged in the effort as well.

Add to all this the propensity for most all media in this day and age to suffer from a highly limited attention span. Always on the lookout for the next new thing, editors and reporters may be some of the most sensation-driven professionals among us. "If it bleeds it leads" is the infamous tagline associated mainly with the mainstream media, but that sort of voyeurism is partly derived from human nature. The media simply makes an art of it. Now, we see the multiple meltdowns in Japan, not to mention the thousands who died in the earthquake and tsunami, fall from the headlines or be pushed aside by the war in Libya. The fact of the matter is: the Fukushima meltdowns have the potential to be the WORST NUCLEAR CRISIS EVER. The media needs to stay on the case.

So, where does one go to get the actual facts? Didn't we ask that same question last year during the BP oil disaster in the Gulf? Wasn't there just as much disinformation and spin coming from government and industry? Given the dynamics of the so-called "Information Age", it is left up to us to seek out a wide range of information on our own and decide for ourselves what is relevant and factual. I guess that's the same as it ever was, only there's more of it.

The Real Ides of March Enviro Show

Greetings Earthlings. The Earth has shifted on its' axis, Japan is not where it used to be, and nukes are melting down. The New York Times reported this morning at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station "an explosion damaged the vessel containing the nuclear core at one reactor and a fire at another [possibly in the spent fuel pool] spewed large amounts of radioactive material into the air". Radioactive fallout anyone? Who is running the show in Japan anyway? When will it get here? We think that qualifies for the Ides of March, no? The sins of Old King Coal was to be the theme of this show but life got in the way. Deb Katz from the Citizen Awareness Network calls-in with the latest on nuclear meltdown, radioactive exposure, official obfuscation and, of course, cover-ups. The Fukishima Nuclear Power Plant is a General Electric (GE) Boiling Water Reactor (BWR) with a Mark 1 containment, the same type of creaky old nuke as Vermont Yankee. Did we mention that the Nuclear Recommendation...err...Regulatory Commission just granted VY another 20 year opportunity to meltdown right here in the Valley? In any case, we'll truly have a full house 'cuz: Jeff Biggers, activist and author of Reckoning at Eagle Creek also calls in from Coal Country while here in the not-so-large studio Peter Vickery joins D.O., Glen & Jean to tie-in that funky old Mt. Tom coal burner looming over the Valley. Peter has been working with Mass Sierra Club in an effort to get Mt. Tom to switch to cleaner burning natural gas. Of course gas drilling comes with its' own host of ills and in our Enviro Show perfect world we'd rather see corporados in treadmills producing power, but hey, it's not exactly the 19th century, right? If time allows we'll tumble into some of our usual segments like The Enviro Show Echo Chamber, the Quote of the Week, Fool-on-the-Hill and whatever, but first it's time for.....Revenge of the Critters! Yellow sack spiders driving people crazy!

Our Fool-on-the-Hill this week is Rep. John Shimkus, Repugnican chair of the House Subcommittee on Environment and Economy who actually believes the climate crisis exists but that there's no reason to worry, since God promised Noah after the great flood that he wouldn't deluge the world again. "I do believe in the Bible as the final word of God," he said. "And I do believe that God said the Earth would not be destroyed by a flood." Whew! That was a close one.

Our Enviro Show Quote of the Week is way on theme: "Football is a game designed to keep coal miners off the streets". - Jimmy Breslin

In The Enviro Show Echo Chamber we first go to Monday's Democracy Now! to hear from the Valley's own Harvey Wasserman. Also we checkout the biomess over in the UK where some would have you think biomass incineration as an answer to the ills of burning coal for power. And since coal is our focus here, let's hear out Bill McKibben on coal exports. Also, Chris Hedges takes the long view regarding empires and the environment. Is there hope that enviros will get it together and have the kind of mass action we've been talking about for years now? Rainforest Action Network, 350.org and others FINALLY take the plunge! And this: March on Blair Mountain! Witch side are you on? (sorry). A march to preserve Blair Mountain, abolish mountaintop removal in Appalachia, strengthen labor rights, and invest in sustainable job creation for all Appalachian communities, June 6 to 11. Some good news here: the proposed biomass incinerator for Pownal, VT just over the border has been put on hold. Finally this: a list of Koch Industry products to boycott.

"Just a Little Meltdown" by Tom Neilson takes us to our interviews. Then it's on to the Bus Stop Billboard:


Saturday, March 19th, 10:30am-12pm, Improving Access to Free Energy Efficiency Services through MassSAVE, Alliance to Develop Power, 130 Union Street, Springfield. Contact: Boone Shear at (413)739-7233

Saturday March 19 from 9 AM – 10PM. Equinox and the Making of a Sacred Landscape. At the University of the Wild’s Center, Earthlands There is a deposit for Saturday’s programs, please make reservations to assure your place and meal, at office@earthlands.org

Monday evening, March 21, at 7:00 pm, "COUTDOWN TO CLOSURE and a Green, Nuclear-Free Future" will take place on at the Centre Congregational Church, 193 Main St. in downtown Brattleboro. March 21 is exactly one year before the scheduled shutdown of the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant. All are welcome. Call: (413) 624-8858

March 22, 2011 is World Water Day. Declared by the United Nations General Assembly in 1993.

Friday, April 1, 2011 at 7:00 pm. The Committee for the Leverett Peace Commission sponsors a Community Talk, “Fear or Consciousness: Dare We Change?” with Penny Gill, Professor of Politics, Dean of the College at Mount Holyoke at Leverett Town Hall. In her talk, Penny will address some of the obstacles we have inherited from the post-industrial capitalist structures of our world. These barriers inhibit our confidence in our ability to create the changes we all so long for - a peaceful world, a sustainable economy, and stable climate. Call: (413)367-9520

April 4, 2011, a day to stand in solidarity with working people in Wisconsin, Ohio, Indiana, and dozens of other states where well-funded, right-wing corporate politicians are trying to take away the rights Dr. King gave his life for. It’s a day to show movement. A day to be creative, but clear: We Are One! Call: (413)732-7970

Tuesday, April 5, 6:30 PM plan to attend the public hearing at Duggan Middle School, 1015 Wilbraham Road, where the state will present its draft air permit for the PRE biomass incinerator proposed for Page Boulevard in Springfield. This is the final permit the developers need before they can put a shovel in the ground. Please prepare to speak, submit written comments or just come and show support with your presence which really does matter! Call 455-3829 or 734-4948.

Friday, April 8th. PENTAGON ACTION FOR PEACE “DISARMAGEDDON”. Pentagon, Arlington, Virginia Metro entrance Arlington, VA. Local contact: (413)522-7505

Next time: Amherst's proposed Gateway Project with Mary Wentworth, Until then remember: Listen to your Mother!

Beware the Corporados Enviro Show

Greetings Earthlings. So, you think the epic labor struggle that began in Madison, Wisconsin is just another union vs. management story? Think again! Corporate America and far-right Repugnican operatives who serve them are literally plotting the final takeover of a country near you! We connect the dots on the show with the help of author and activists, Brian Tokar. Brian will also be speaking Sunday afternoon, March 6, 1pm at a fundraiser for Food for Thought Books in Amherst. Our intrepid roving correspondent and in-house troubadour, Tom Neilson will be on hand as well. More on that later. Those connnected dots will run through all of your favorite segments on The Enviro Show, but first it's time for....Revenge of the Critters! Boris the badger kicks butt! O, and so do the Wisconsin Badgers!

The Enviro Show Quote of the Week comes from our own Rachel Maddow: "If the Democrats do not hold together in Wisconsin, then the place that gave us the weekend, the place that gave us unemployment benefits and worker‘s compensation and the eight-hour workday and the 40-hour workweek, and the nation‘s biggest public workers union and one of the first collective bargaining agreements for those public workers, the state that has seven towns named Union, the state that gave us all of that, the state where the Super Bowl champs are collectively owned—it‘s going to be the start of the end of all of those rights for workers that Wisconsin earned for the country. And it‘s going to be the start of the end of the Democratic Party‘s electoral chances in not just the next election but every election the rest of our life times."

You think this has nothing to do with the environment? Checkout the man behind the curtain! In The Enviro Show Echo Chamber we cut right to the chase in Madison: it's not simply about union busting, about a monstrous power grab and the destruction of the Dems by fascist corporados and their trolls, they also want to privatize state-owned power plants & utilities as well as trash water quality and wetlands while they're at it. Corporate privatization & environmental degradation, who knew! Of course, the Imperial Walker and his Wisconsin State House minions aren't thinking this stuff up on their own. Allow us to illustrate! No, these guys are up to their nostrils in a mongo pile of Koch, brothers (and sisters)! AND, the Koch brothers (big time owners of oil refineries, pipelines, gasoline supply terminals, coal companies, and the Georgia-Pacific Corp!) are up to their eyeballs in climate crisis disinformation.

OK now, the dots from Koch have spilled into our Fool on the Hill segment where we find the Man from Koch (R-Koch), Rep. Mike Pompeo (not to be confused with the doomed town, but doomy enough, thank you), introducing an amendment to sharply cut funding for an EPA program that collects data on greenhouse gas emissions. Soooo, Enviro Show listeners, do we recall who was number 10 on the UMass, Amherst Political Economy Research Institute's Toxic 100 Air Polluters? You guessed it! Koch Industries.

Now, Meet the New Boss: will that hopey changey guy in the White House come to the aid of the workers? How about the planet?? Well, you could petition Obama to oppose a House budget that guts the Environmental Protection Agency and cripples critical public programs, but leaves billions in handouts to the oil companies reporting record profits, but will he (even if you ask nice)? However, please don't interrupt him while he's dancing with the bosses in Ohio. That's the state whose governor Repugnican John Kasich plans to roll back employee pension benefits and collective bargaining rights. The governor who, you may recall, used to be managing director at Lehman Brothers? Surely you haven't forgotten Lehman Brothers! BTW, have you asked yourself if the Wisconsin story is part of a larger trend to make workers pay for an economic downturn caused by Wall St. and deregulators?

Then we have the next big bubble that will put even more of the people in dire straights and impact the biosphere as a result. Word has it that commodities will be the next playground for the banksters and their corporado buddies. Our Enviro Show Blog Bonus takes you to Public Citizen's action page.

Our favorite corporate power song with Noam Chomsky takes us to the Bus Stop Billboard:

Wednesday March 2, 11:45am-12:15pm. DEFENDING THE PUBLIC SECTOR FROM WISCONSIN TO MASSACHUSETTS Rally outside Student Union, 12:15-1pm, All-Campus Meeting in Cape Cod Lounge, UMass Amherst. Sponsored by all the UMass Amherst unions, UMass and Western Mass. SLAP (Student Labor Action Project), Western Mass. Jobs with Justice, and more. Call: (413) 627-5268

Saturday, March 5, 1:00 PM. : Intro to Animal Tracks. Introduction to Animal Tracks and Signs with Naturalist Dawn Ward. Aimed at novice trackers (adults and families with kids age 8 and over), the program will be both indoors at the Leverett Library (exploring Dawn's extensive collection of animal skulls, etc.) and outdoors, weather permitting, searching for tracks and signs. Supported by a grant from the Leverett Cultural Council. Call: (413)548-9343

Sunday, March 6, 1pm. Save Food for Thought & the Planet! A fundraiser for Food for Thought Books featuring author/activist Brian Tokar on climate justice and genetic engineering. Musician & bardic insurgent Tom Neilson. Also, Ben Grosscup & friends, poetry by some guy from The Enviro Show, entertainment & more! Sponsored by The Enviro Show! Food for Thought Books, 106 North Pleasant Street, Amherst, Call: 413-253-5432

Monday, March 7,7pm "Future of the Northampton Rail Trail Network" at the Northampton Friends Meetinghouse (43 Center Street, 2nd floor). More information can be found at http://www.fntg.net

Monday, March 7, 6:30 pm (snow date: Thu March 10). Exit 19 PAC public meeting. Bridge Street School, Northampton. Do you use the Norwottuck Rail Trail? Do you ride on Bridge St. (Route 9) to and from the trail or the Coolidge Bridge? Do you want to see improved public transit along the Northampton/Hadley/Amherst corridor? Please attend this meeting and share your thoughts. Presentations and reports from the PAC are posted here: http://www.interchange19.org/

Wednesday, March 9, 6:30pm. Greening Greenfield's next Monthly meeting. NESEA offices on Miles St, Greenfield. Call: 413-773-7004

Saturday, March 12, all day. The Toxics Action Center Annual Conference* is taking place at Bentley College in Waltham. The Biomass Accountabilty Project is sponsoring a panel discussion, giving us a chance to let others know more about how things have been going for us here in Western Mass. Please consider attending. For information and registration go to http://www.toxicsaction.org/environmental-action-2011. For car pooling, call Janet at (413)625-2886.

Monday, March 14, 7-9 pm. Talk on MA Clean Energy and Climate Plan. 114 Main Street in Greenfield. What is our state government doing to create jobs, keep money in our state,
and improve the environment? Come hear David Cash, Undersecretary for Policy in the Massachusetts Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs, talk about Governor Patrick's vision
of the future, and the nationally-ground-breaking Clean Energy and Climate Plan. For info call: (413)774-5667

And we are out of here, into the streets for the (dare we say?) revolution. See you there and remember to listen to your Mother!

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Restore the North Woods Enviro Show....really!

Greetings Earthlings. Did you miss us or didn't you even know we were missing? We've run out of snow days and lame excuses about driving in from the eastern hills in bad weather. Time for Mother to listen to us: the show must go on! We'll talk four-leggeds with Michael Kellett of Restore the North Woods just like we said we would last time (only this time we REALLY mean it!). We'll discuss their North Woods Wolf Recovery Project as well as issues regarding the Canada lynx and Atlantic Salmon. In case you've forgotten the drill, we will also visit the action packed Enviro Show Echo Chamber, our Quote of the Week, our Meet the New Boss and Fool-on-the-Hill segments, but first it's time to FINALLY air that fox story on...Revenge of the Critters!

In The Enviro Show Echo Chamber we've got a two-fer from the Center for Biological diversity. First, the effort to save Grey Wolf from us two-leggeds, then an Enviro Show Blog Bonus. It's a regular potpourri of actions you can take to help save endangered species and wild places. Also, the dreaded White-nose Syndrome continues taking out bats. Now there are reports of it reaching North Carolina and 15 other states from New Hampshire to Oklahoma, and two Canadian provinces. Despite the overwhelming threat to bats from people entering caves, federal land managers across much of the West have failed to enact closures of caves and abandoned mines. Please Take Action to help save the bats. Meanwhile, down in Kentucky coal country it's Day 5 of ongoing actions against mountain top removal. And these reruns: lame-ass Nantucket man busted for dealing in endangered whale parts. And Candy Dynamics of Indianapolis is issuing a recall of all Toxic Waste® brand Nuclear Sludge® Chew Bars,all flavors. Sorry once again kids.

This week it's Fools on the Hill again: Rep. Denny Rehberg, Repugnican from Montana who has introduced bills that would allow states to eliminate all wolves in the Northern Rockies, Great Lakes and Southwest, including the 50 Mexican wolves struggling for survival in New Mexico and Arizona. How about we sink our teeth into this action, huh? O, did we forget to mention Utah's Orin Hatch introduced a bill in the Senate to remove federal protections for all gray wolves in the U.S. also? What's that you say? Orin Hatch is a pompous ass? Really?

Our recycled Quote of the Week comes from Obama's State of the Union address in case you missed it: "I’m asking Congress to eliminate the billions in taxpayer dollars we currently give to oil companies. I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but they’re doing just fine on their own. So instead of subsidizing yesterday’s energy, let’s invest in tomorrow’s"

OK, that's the good news from Obama, on to more bad news in our Meet the New Boss segment: Over the past few weeks, the Obama administration has chosen to approve two biotech crops, Monsanto's Roundup Ready genetically modified alfalfa and Roundup Ready GMO sugar beets. To add insult to injury, the outgoing David Axelrod layed a little pun on his White House cohorts urging everyone to "plow forward" on GE alfalfa. Well, don't just sit there....DO SOMETHING!.

"Smells Like Genocide" by CMOR takes us to our interview with Michael Kellett of Restore the North Woods

Then it's on to the Bus Stop Billboard:


Wednesday, Feb. 16, 6:00-7:30 p.m., MASSPIRG Public Transportation Roundtable will be discussing transit needs in Amherst and the surrounding communities. Bangs Community Center, 70 Boltwood Walk, Amherst. For more information contact Micaela Preskill: mpreskill@masspirg.org, (617) 747-4374


Thursday, February 17, 7 - 9pm. Climate change and water resources: expectations and uncertainties in natural systems. Join Timothy Randhir, Associate Professor of Watershed Management and Water Quality at the University of Massachusetts, to learn about the relationships between climate change and the hydrologic cycle. Great Falls Discovery Center, 2 Avenue A., Turners Falls, MA 01376, Call: (413)863-3221


Thursday, February 17, 7 - 9pm. Greenfield Planning Board's last public hearing on the latest proposed big box store for French King Highway. The 20 + year struggle lives on! Greenfield High School, 141 Davis Street (off Silver St.).


Friday, February 18, 6:30pm. On Top of Old Northfield. Navigate the night. Group & solo snowshoe two-mile walk with readings & navigational tips. Northfield Mountain, 99 Millers Falls Road (Rt.63),Northfield. Registration required. Call: (800)859-2960.


Sunday, February 20, 2:00pm - 5:00pm. Film Premiere: Carbon Nation. Images Cinema, 50 Spring Street, Williamstown, MA. Fundraiser for Bennington Berkshire Concerned Citizens

Tuesday, February 22, 6 pm. Vermont State Nuclear Advisory Panel meeting. Vernon Elementary School, Vernon, VT, Contact cchang@nukebusters.org The new commissioner of Vermont's Department of Public Service is promising that future meetings of the Vermont State Nuclear Advisory Panel will be "more collegial" than in the past.

Thursday, February 24 at 7:00pm. Northampton "Coal Country" Screening. Coal Country takes us inside modern coal mining, introducing us to both coal miners and activists. Then learn about the Sierra Club's "Beyond Coal" campaign, which is striving to ensure strong EPA regulations in 2011. Media Education Foundation, 70 Masonic Street (behind the Woodstar Cafe)


Saturday, February 26, 9 a.m. - 4 p.m. (Snow date: Saturday, March 12). WINTER TRACKING EXPEDITION . Alan Emond, Little Cree Spy Excursions. Hitchcock Center for the Environment, 525 South Pleasant Street, Amherst, Pre-registration required; please call 413-256-6006.

Saturday, March 5, 1:00 PM. : Intro to Animal Tracks. Introduction to Animal Tracks and Signs with Naturalist Dawn Ward. Aimed at novice trackers (adults and families with kids age 8 and over), the program will be both indoors at the Leverett Library (exploring Dawn's extensive collection of animal skulls, etc.) and outdoors, weather permitting, searching for tracks and signs. Supported by a grant from the Leverett Cultural Council. Call: (413)548-9343

Sunday, March 6, 1pm. Save Food for Thought & the Planet! A fundraiser for Food for Thought Books featuring author/activist Brian Tokar on climate justice and genetic engineering. Musician & bardic insurgent Tom Neilson, poetry, entertainment & more! Sponsored by The Enviro Show! Food for Thought Books, 106 North Pleasant Street, Amherst, Call: 413-253-5432


Monday, March 7,7pm "Future of the Northampton Rail Trail Network" at the Northampton Friends Meetinghouse (43 Center Street, 2nd floor). More information can be found at http://www.fntg.net

Wednesday, March 9, 6:30pm. Greening Greenfield's next Monthly meeting. NESEA offices on Miles St, Greenfield. Call: 413-773-7004

Soooo, according to this year's imprisoned groundhog hype we're in for an early spring, but you may want to put in a request anyway while you are listening to your Mother, right?

The Enviro Show Fish Story? We don't think so!

Greetings Earthlings. We "Listened to our Mother" and she said: "Fa' get about it!" Another winter storm warning, another Enviro Show down the tubes EXCEPT here in cyberspace. We we're going to talk Shad with Karl Meyer from "Shad for a Brighter Future". Of course, we'll still entertain you with hair-raising tales (some are recycled...very green!) from The Enviro Show Echo Chamber, our Quote of the Week and the E-Valley-uation segments, as well as our Fool-on-the-Hill offering, but only here on the blog. Anyway, first it's time for....
Revenge of the Critters! In case you missed it: Fox shoots hunter!

In The Enviro Show Echo Chamber we toss in Green Is the New Red's take on all the hate speech coming out of Faux "News" and mean-spirited and the way phony former Gov of Alaska: If Sarah Palin were an animal rights activist, she'd already have been convicted of 'terrorism'. Hate speech? Time for an Enviro Show Rewind! Remember this: Tea Party climate change deniers funded by BP and other major polluters? Don't tell us you think there's just as much hostility coming from Left as from teabaggers and their enablers on Faux "News". In case you drank some of that Kool-aide check this out! Speaking of checking things out, someone passed on this website that gets skeptical about global warming skepticism. It's as easy as 1,2,3 to clue in your climate crisis denying neighbors. Maybe even Glen Beck?......well, maybe not. Our Enviro Show Blog Bonus concerns that awful White-nose syndrome taking out bats. Despite the overwhelming threat to bats from people entering caves, federal land managers across much of the West have failed to enact closures of caves and abandoned mines. Please Take Action to help save the bats. And this: Nantucket man busted for dealing in endangered whale parts We saved the best for last: Candy Dynamics of Indianapolis is issuing a recall of all Toxic Waste® brand Nuclear Sludge® Chew Bars,all flavors. Sorry kids.

Finally it's time to air our "Don't Move Politicians More than 50 Miles" PSA! That will take us to our E-Valley-uation segment where we recycle an Enviro Show Blog Bonus: go to Environment Massachusetts and click on "Take Action" to help protect the Quabbin watershed from clearcutting! Also this: WMECO plans a solar farm for Springfield and YOU are paying for it!

Our Quote of the Week comes from Obama's State of the Union address: "I’m asking Congress to eliminate the billions in taxpayer dollars we currently give to oil companies. I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but they’re doing just fine on their own. So instead of subsidizing yesterday’s energy, let’s invest in tomorrow’s". OK, Congress, how about it??

In our Meet the New Boss segment we find in one of the WikiLeaks that Obama's EPA was well-aware that the pesticide Clothianidin, marketed as "Poncho" by Bayer, posed some serious risks to honey bees. Remember on the Toxic 100 Enviro Show we found the Bayer Group (doesn't that sound nicer than corporation?) sitting on top of the list of worse air polluters ever? According to Change.org: "Bayer wants to keep expanding the pesticide's use. And the company's original registration was based on some seriously flawed science: they evaluated the wrong crop, with the wrong controls to assess the impact on bees. This all adds up to some serious questions about the government contributing to Colony Collapse Disorder as [the EPA] knowingly allowed Bayer to poison bees. And this is about a lot more than honey production ... native habitats, and as much as one-third of America's food supply, rely on the pollination provided by bees." And this: Obama's FDA intentionally withheld a damning report from the public that provided conclusive evidence that GMO salmon pose a serious threat to endangered Atlantic salmon if accidentally released into the wild. Never mind salmon in fresh water or in saltwater, what about when they're smoked! (that's another State of the Nation reference for all you wonks).

This week's Fool-on-the-Hill award goes out to incoming House Energy chair Rep. Fred Upton (R-Mich.) who flipped from moderate on climate crisis issues to a hard-right teabagger after getting 20 grand from Koch Industries.

After our fish story we head over to the Bus Stop Billboard:

Thursday, Feb 3, 7:00 pm. The Committee for a Leverett Peace Commission presents: Michael Klare "Resource Conflict and Resource Innovation in the Search for Peace". Leverett Town Hall. Please stay for tea after talk. For more information call: Jim Perkins 367 9520 or Barbara Tiner 548 7919 or go to: leverettpeace.blogspot.com/

Tuesday, February 8, 7:30 pm. GRASSROOTS SOLUTIONS TO "CITIZENS UNITED V. FEDERAL ELECTION COMMISSION" with John Bonifaz, Co-founder of http://freespeechforpeople.org/ Free Speech for People* and Legal Director of http://www.voteraction.org/ Voter Action*
First Congregational Church, http://maps.google.com/maps?q=906+Main+Street+Williamstown+MA+ 906 Main Street, Williamstown, MA


Wednesday, Feb. 9, 7:30 p.m. Barry Sanders, author of “The Green Zone: The Environmental Costs of Militarism” and professor emeritus of history at Pitzer College, will give a talk in Neilson Library Browsing Room, Smith College, Northampton. . The event is free and open to the public. Sanders will also give a public talk on Thursday, Feb. 10, at Greenfield Community College. Call: (413) 585-2190

Thursday, February 10 · 7:30pm - 10:30pm. Getting Biomass Right: Should We Be Generating Electricity From Trees? Williams College, Paresky Student Center Auditorium
Williamstown, MA.

Tuesday, February 15,7:00pm-9:00pm. Burning Vermont's Forests for Electricity? Marlboro College, Appletree Building. 2582 South Road. Marlboro , VT Call: (802)223- 5844

Thursday, February 17, 7 - 9pm. Climate change and water resources: expectations and uncertainties in natural systems. Join Timothy Randhir, Associate Professor of Watershed Management and Water Quality at the University of Massachusetts, to learn about the relationships between climate change and the hydrologic cycle. Great Falls Discovery Center, 2 Avenue A., Turners Falls, MA 01376, Ph 413.863.3221

Saturday, February 26, 9 a.m. - 4 p.m. (Snow date: Saturday, March 12). WINTER TRACKING EXPEDITION . Alan Emond, Little Cree Spy Excursions. Hitchcock Center for the Environment, 525 South Pleasant Street, Amherst, Pre-registration required; please call 413-256-6006.

That is all. How about some more show? No? In any case, don't forget to listen to your Mother!

Restore the North Woods Enviro Show SHUTDOWN BY MOTHER NATURE!

Greetings Earthlings. Today's ice storm is keeping us from the studio but the show goes on here in cyberspace! Read on: Tired of all those two-leggeds and their endless failings? Let's talk four-leggeds with Michael Kellett of Restore the North Woods. We'll discuss their North Woods Wolf Recovery Project as well as issues regarding the Canada lynx and Atlantic Salmon. Of course, we'll entertain you with hair-raising tales from The Enviro Show Echo Chamber, our Meet the New Boss and the E-Valley-uation segments, as well as our Fool-on-the-Hill offering, but first it's time for....Revenge of the Critters! In case you missed it: Fox shoots hunter!

In The Enviro Show Echo Chamber we toss in Green Is the New Red's take on all the hate speech coming out of Faux "News" and mean-spirited, way phony Sarah Barracuda: "If Sarah Palin were an animal rights activist, she'd already have been convicted of 'terrorism'". Hate speech? Time for an Enviro Show Rewind! Remember this: "Tea Party climate change deniers funded by BP and other major polluters"? Don't tell us you think there's just as much hostility coming from the Left as from teabaggers and their enablers on Faux "News". In case you drank some of that Kool-aide check this out! Speaking of checking things out, someone passed on this website that gets skeptical about global warming skepticism. It's as easy as 1,2,3 to clue in your climate crisis denying neighbors. Maybe even Glen Beck?......well, maybe not.

Our "Don't Move Politicians More than 50 Miles" PSA takes us to the E-Valley-uation segment where we have an Enviro Show Blog Bonus: go to Environment Massachusetts and click on "Take Action" to help protect the Quabbin watershed from clearcutting! And this: WMECO plans a solar farm for Springfield and YOU are paying for it! Also, we learn that Greening Greenfield has announced their Green Heroes for the month of January - the more than 900 households who have signed onto the 10% Challenge Campaign! We don't think the proposed Pioneer biomass incinerator folks signed on though.

In our Meet the New Boss segment we find in one of the WikiLeaks that Obama's EPA was well-aware that the pesticide Clothianidin, marketed as "Poncho" by Bayer, posed some serious risks to honey bees. Remember on the Toxic 100 Enviro Show we found the Bayer Group (doesn't that sound nicer than corporation?) sitting on top of the list of worse air polluters last year? According to Change.org: "Bayer wants to keep expanding the pesticide's use. And the company's original registration was based on some seriously flawed science: they evaluated the wrong crop, with the wrong controls to assess the impact on bees. This all adds up to some serious questions about the government contributing to Colony Collapse Disorder as [the EPA] knowingly allowed Bayer to poison bees. And this is about a lot more than honey production ... native habitats, and as much as one-third of America's food supply, rely on the pollination provided by bees." One hand taketh away/one hand giveth: the EPA did have the good sense to go thumbs down on one mountain top removal project last week (how about the rest?). And this: Obama's FDA intentionally withheld a damning report from the public that provided conclusive evidence that GMO salmon pose a serious threat to endangered Atlantic salmon if accidentally released into the wild.

This week's Fool-on-the-Hill award goes out to incoming House Energy chair Rep. Fred Upton (R-Mich.) who flipped from moderate on climate crisis issues to a hard-right teabagger after getting 20 grand from Koch Industries.

After our interview with with Michael Kellett of Restore the North Woods we checkout the Bus Stop Billboard:


Wed. January 19, 6:30-8:30pm, Bangs Community Center, 70 Boltwood Walk, Amherst ; Thurs., January 20, 6-8pm, Manhan Café, 72 Union St., Easthampton; Wed, January 26, 6: 30-8:30 pm, Studio Helix in Thorne’s Market, 150 Main Street, Northampton; Wed. February 2, 6-8pm, Greenfield Community Gardens, 57 Pray Dr., Greenfield: The Alliance to Develop Power / ADP, a leader of the Statewide Green Justice Coalition, with support from MASS ENERGY, invites all Massachusetts’ homeowners, renters and residents to community meetings with an opportunity to sign up for a free energy assessment, access weatherization funding, and free energy efficiency services through the MassSAVE program. Participants will also discuss and strategize how to help support the creation of an inclusive green economy that benefits all and creates family sustainable living wage jobs for Massachusetts’ residents. Call: 413-739-7233

Thursday, January 20, 7 – 8:30pm. Celebrate the Arctic National Wildlife refuge’s 50th anniversary. Linda Hickman, will present a program on her guided trip through Alaska, highlighting memorable and noteworthy natural and cultural resources and interesting information. Great Falls Discovery Center. 2 Avenue A., Turners Falls, Ph 413-863-3221

Friday, January 21, 7pm. "Wild View: New England Wildlife". Short hi-def films screened at the Wendell Free Library with the filmmaker, Christian Munoz-Donoso. For information call: (978)544-3559

Saturday, JANUARY 22, 10:45 - Noon, VIGIL FOR PEACE AND COMPASSION! AT THE CORNER OF MAIN AND KING STREETS. For the last 15 years the Northampton Committee has vigiled first against the murderous sanctions imposed by our government against the Iraqi people, then against war in Iraq and now against the wider wars and occupations in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan. In the last several months there has been a single counterprotestor with pro-war and anti-progressive signs who has stationed himself at the site of the vigil. Last weekend there were 3 counterdemonstrators with about a dozen signs filled with bigotry ("Arizona is Right!" "End the Killing of Unborn Babies, Not Terrorists." "Terrorists Love Peace Protestors.") They are from out of town and are members of Glenn Beck's 9/12 Project doing what they call a "standout". They are planning a "superstandout" in Northampton at one of the next few vigils. We think that it is important to stand up peacefully and nonviolently IN FORCE against the wars and for all human rights. We invite you and everyone on every one of your lists to join us this Saturday, a little bit early, with an appropriate sign (or you may use a Northampton Committee sign) on the corner of Main and King to say no to the war, violence, hate and bigotry that Glenn Beck and the 9/12 Project convey and yes to Peace and Compassion!


January 28-30. People's Music Winter Gathering 2011. Hartford, Connecticut. The People's Music Network for Songs of Freedom And Struggle, See registration page for additional information at: http://www.peoplesmusic.org

Friday, January 28, 7:15pm - Show begins at 8:00pm. "Ciclovida: Lifecycle" Q&A and discussion following the film featuring the filmmaker brothers Matt and Loren Feinstein as well as local organizations, including Grow Food Northampton, CISA, and more. There will be opportunities to learn about and connect with local groups working for a healthier and happier community and planet. Go to: www.ciclovida.org

Friday, January 28, 8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. WILD WINTER FUN. Ages 7-9 (1st to 4th grade) Join the Hitchcock Center for the Environment in Amherst for this special day off from school exploring nature in winter. We will look for tracks and signs of animals, try our hand at building shelters, play in the snow, and learn about snowflakes and the technology and adaptations of winter survival. Warm clothes required, boots, snowpants, hats and gloves! Bring snack, lunch, a water bottle, and a full change of clothes. Space is limited. Pre-registration is required; please call (413) 256-6006.

Thursday, February 10 · 7:30pm - 10:30pm. Getting Biomass Right: Should We Be Generating Electricity From Trees? Williams College, Paresky Student Center Auditorium
Williamstown, MA.

Over & out. Next time it's "Shad for a Brighter Future" with Karl Meyer. Until then remember: listen to your Mother!

Is the Tea Party's Over Now?

We here on The Enviro Show have been taking the so-called Tea Party to task not only for their anti-planet mindset, but also for their over-the-top rhetoric. Last summer one of our Bus Stop Billboard entries concerned the weekly peace vigil in Greenfield and the fact that Massachusetts teabaggers and folks from the Glen Beck 912 Project planned to "show-up in mass and surround them". As it turned out, the hostile Beckians were hopelessly outnumbered and ended up two blocks away in a pathetic little clutch. That's how we hope all teabaggers will end up after what has taken place in Tucson with the shooting of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and others by Jared Loughner, someone who apparently shares many of Glen Beck's views.

Our producer and co-host, D.O. has posted a short screed on his own blog that pretty well sums up the political crisis we are engaged in these days and the inflammatory language used by teabaggers that has led to this tragedy. We re-post it here for you and invite you to make your comments.

It's official: The inmates are in charge of the asylum

As you have no doubt heard, the U.S. House of Representatives, already a snake pit of Kafkaesque proportions, is now under the control of perhaps the most bizarre collection of sociopaths ever to set foot on Capitol Hill. Regardless of their own sketchy personal histories, from thug to torturer, to bible-banging crackpot, the new Repugnican majority in the crazy House are not only proof that the human species is highly flawed, but that they are also dangerous to our health.

Wasn't it Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) who refered to elected Democratic officials as the "enemy," and to keeping her supporters "armed and dangerous"? And wasn't it Glenn Beck who spoke on national TV of a coming "civil war" led by militias (Beck said he "believes we're on this road") and questioning whether the U.S. military would follow the President's orders to stop the violence? And wasn't it Tucson teabaggers who held a shooting event with shooting victim Rep. Gabrielle Giffords in mind? Guess who has left a trail of Glen Beck talking points in his internet wake? Jared Loughner, the guy who shot Rep. Gabrielle Giffords. I'll grant you that Loughner is a bit of a paranoid nutcase, but he is just the sort of nutcase that is enabled by the crackpots listed above and their like-minded ideologues.

My hope is that this tragic incident that took place in Tucson will be the last gasp for the likes of Glen Beck and the so-called Tea Party. I trust that Repugnicans in Congress who may still be in control of their senses will pull the reins in on their more volatile colleagues and try to restore some sanity to the crazy House. My hope is that my hope isn't just wishful thinking.

The Back-to-the-Future Enviro Show

Greetings Earthlings. Sooooo, wasn't THAT a fun year! What will 2011 bring us? More of the same? We do some reflecting and projecting with our favorite roving troubadour, Tom Neilson as well as announce our brand new Enviro Show public service effort: the "Don't Move Politicians More than 50 Miles" campaign! We delve into some of our usual segments like The Enviro Show Echo Chamber, Fool on the Hill, Meet the New Boss and such, but first it’s time for.....Revenge of the Critters! It’s a polar bear-he-go-round!

In our Fool on the Hill segment we have another two-fer: First we learn that "Republicans in the House as a whole want to get rid of the EPA." That's what newly elected Republican Representative Bill Flores said last week on Tea Party Internet Radio. Gosh, those teabaggers must be using an old script. Haven't we been here before? Then we learn the new Repugnican chair of the House Science and Technology Committee, Rep. Ralph Hall of (where else!) Texas sees the BP explosion that killed 11 men, injured dozens, and led to the despoilment of the Gulf of Mexico as a tremendous blossoming flower of energy. Whoa! Flowers! Who knew!!

Our Meet the New Boss segment finds Obama in bed with Bush on the long suffering polar bear. More same old/same old! Barry…err…Barrack’s Dept. of Interior claimed the polar bear did not qualify as “endangered” because it was not “on the brink” of extinction — a standard that is not contained in the Endangered Species Act. Then Sarah Palin’s Alaska got into the act by filing a legal notice to strike down the federal government's designation of a 120-million-acre polar bear reserve along Alaska's northern coast. Does any of this have anything to do with oil? Noooo, where would we get such an idea!

In our E-Valley-uation segment it’s the "Don't Move Politicians More than 50 Miles" campaign! Another Enviro Show first! You may have heard the PSAs about not moving firewood more than 50 miles due to infestation by invasive pests that kill trees, like the Asian Longhorned beetles, yes? But hey! It’s still OK to clearcut forests and ship them off to some far-off biomass incinerator, right? Is there some sort of double standard here? Has our political atmosphere become infested by an alien species? Yes it has, and we’ve got the answer: Don't Move Politicians More than 50 Miles from their Home! Think how much less damage they’ll do if they stay close to home! Think how much more…umm…accessible they will be! And this most excellent continuum: Shut it Down Affinity Group gets busted for the New Year!. Yes, they'll never give up 'til the Vermont Yankee nuke is laid to rest. Excellent way to start the New Year, go Shut it Downers!

In The Enviro Show Echo Chamber here's one of the worst ideas for 2011: wandering biomess robots(and you thought robots run amok was so 20th century). Good news: we find the House and the Senate passed the Shark Conservation Act. This means that shark finning is illegal in the US. AND that Congress actually CAN do its job…now and then. Also this: On Christmas Eve, Whole Foods Market recalled gingerbread houses it sold in 23 states for possible contamination with Staphylococcus aureus. Whoa! Talk about a housing crisis! Just one more reason to shop at your local co-op. Our Enviro Show Blog Bonus? Why it's the Massachusetts Clean Energy and Climate Plan for 2020! Here's a bad omen to start the New Year: Birds fall from sky in Arkansas. Finally this sad note: Judy Bonds died. Here's an excerpt from Jeff Biggers piece on Huff Po: "She was a tireless, funny, and inspiring orator, and a savvy and brilliant community organizer. She was fearless in the face of threats. As the godmother of the anti-mountaintop removal movement, she gave birth to a new generation of clean energy and human rights activists across the nation. In a year of mining disasters and climate change set backs, she challenged activists to redouble their efforts." Of course,actions down in coal country continue.

"Coal" by The Shovel takes us to our Bus Stop Billboard:

January 3 - 24. Climate Ground Zero's second Winter Action Camp! CGZ is now accepting applications for the camp, scheduled to be held in the coal fields of southern West Virginia. The camp will involve multiple intensive training tracks, such as action team, action media, legal support, and other skills relevant for this campaign and its future actions, as well as for your campaigns back home. Contact: january@climategroundzero.org or 304-854-1937

Saturday, January 8, 10:30am to 2pm. Great Falls Discovery Center, 2 Avenue A., Turners Falls. Join us the second Saturday of every month for a day of children's activities. Daily activities may include crafts, games, investigations, or outdoor adventures. Call ahead for current program details at (413) 863-3221.

Now until January 6, 9am to 5pm, Exhibit: Glimpses of the Pre-Quabbin Swift River Valley and the Quabbin Reservoir of Today. UMass Science Library, Floor 2, Lederle Lowrise.. For full hours and parking information, call 413-545-1370

Wednesdays January 12 and January 26, 7:30 pm. THE GREEN ZONE: THE ENVIRONMENTAL COSTS OF MILITARISM. Book discussion group in preparation for author Barry Sanders' February 9th Smith College Lecture. Let's discuss this extensively-documented expose on the price our earth is paying for the US wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. APJ War & Environment Committee. Bodman Lounge, Helen Hills Hills Chapel, Smith College. Contact: martygjf@comcast.net

Saturday, January 15, 7:30 pm. Spook Handy, creator of songs of peace, hope and survival, will perform at the Echo Lake in the town hall, 9 Montague Rd., Leverett, Admittance is $10-$12. For more info: 413-548-9394 or go to www.echolakecoffeehouse.org

Thursday, January 20, 7 – 8:30pm. Celebrate the Arctic National Wildlife refuge’s 50th anniversary. Linda Hickman, will present a program on her guided trip through Alaska, highlighting memorable and noteworthy natural and cultural resources and interesting information. Great Falls Discovery Center. 2 Avenue A., Turners Falls, Ph 413-863-3221

January 28-30. People's Music Winter Gathering 2011. Hartford, Connecticut. The People's Music Network for Songs of Freedom And Struggle, See registration page for additional information at: http://www.peoplesmusic.org

Good ways to start a new year, yes? Next time it's Michael Kellett from the group Restore the North Woods. Until then remember.......listen to your Mother!

The Real Winter Solstice Enviro Show

Greetings Earthlings. Happy Winter Solstice on this, the first Enviro Show to actually fall on the date of the Solstice (AND the first time in 372 years that a full lunar eclipse falls at the same time! if you missed it go here). With that in mind we fore-go much of the usual bad news and carrying on and honor the season with Earth-inspired sound.....and maybe a few inspired rants. Surprise! Too bad even progressive talk radio has overlooked the Solstice and pagans who honor it every year. Our in-house pagans are out dancing around the bonfires and making merry. Sorry, progressives, you lose, maybe next year. Here's some Solstice tunes to get us started, one of D.O.'s favorites, Paul Winter Consort with "Wolf Eyes".

OK, so that felt a lot like some snowbound vista in the wild where the wolves rule and the winds howl. Speaking of wolves, it looks like Interior Secretary, Ken Salazar is trying to remove protections so his western rancher friends can kill them at will. Please go HERE and take action to protect these majestic critters. Did we say wolves? What about wolverines?? They need YOUR HELP too! Also in need of protection are our National Forests. How about sending Obama a Holiday card with that in mind?

Moving on: years ago, Windham Hill recording studio in neighboring Vermont came out with a Winter Solstice collection that became so popular that they cut a whole collection. However, for D.O., that original album seemed to say it best. His favorite cut is "A Tale of Two Cities", by Mark Isham. Think about the Winter Solstice Sun rising or setting when you listen to that!

OK, you can't have a Winter Solstice party without fun & games, right? Help Santa! He's being attacked by Repugnicans disguised as elves!!

Enough with D.O., it's time to checkout Jean's favorite tune from a previous show. It's Pete Seeger's "Spill, Baby Spill".

This Solstice party isn't over just because neither Jean nor Glen sent in their links. Maybe they are too busy partying elsewhere? Stay tuned.......

Finally let's take shelter from the snow and checkout the Bus Stop Billboard:

Saturday, December 25, 11am - Noon. Peace on Earth! Greenfield's weekly peace vigil on the Town Common. Call (413)522-5932. While you're there, checkout the Winter Solstice display...it's next to the creche!). Also in Northampton in front of the County Courthouse (on Main Street between Gothic and King), rain or shine (or snow, or deep-freeze).

Sunday, December 26. Noon - 1pm. The Amherst peace vigil takes place on the Amherst Commons at noon on Sundays. It has been going since the early 1970's. Call: ((413)549-4515

Saturday, January 1, 11am - Noon. Resolve to work for peace! Greenfield's weekly peace vigil on the Town Common. Also, peace vigil in Northampton in front of the County Courthouse. Same time.

Saturday, January 8, 10:30am to 2pm. Great Falls Discovery Center, 2 Avenue A., Turners Falls. Join us the second Saturday of every month for a day of children's activities. Daily activities may include crafts, games, investigations, or outdoor adventures. Call ahead for current program details at (413) 863-3221.

Now until January 6, 9am to 5pm, Exhibit: Glimpses of the Pre-Quabbin Swift River Valley and the Quabbin Reservoir of Today. UMass Science Library, Floor 2, Lederle Lowrise. The exhibit features 39 nature photographs by Les Campbell, who has received many honors including four of the highest awards given by the Photographic Society of America. His photographs have appeared in National Geographic, National Audubon, and the Photographic Society of America Journal, among others. Campbell had a 45-year career working at the Quabbin reservoir and founded the Quabbin Visitor's Center and Friends of the Quabbin. For full hours and parking information, call 413-545-1370

Jeez, not much happening in this valley. Where'd everyone go? I hope they get back for the next show 'cuz it's about THE END OF THE WORLD!

Return of the Shopocalypse Enviro Show

Greetings Earthlings. Here we go again: people shopping 'til they're dropping. Sooooo many toys, so little time? Are you suffering from Returnaholism? How about putting that wasted money to good use? Rev. Billy calls-in once again to preach about the coming Shopocalypse. Then we get calls from Kristin DeBoer of Kestrel Trust and Lily Lombard of Grow Food Northampton; places where your gift donations will be money well spent. As usual, we'll also checkout our E-Valley-uation segment, The Enviro Show Echo Chamber, our Enviro Show Quote of the Week,and the shortest Meet the New Boss segment ever, but first it's time for...Revenge of the Critters! Reindeer attack....again and again!

In The Enviro Show Echo Chamber it's time to revisit Frosty The Snowman Melted By Global Warming; it's sad but true. Also, some good things come in threes at the New York Times to counteract that Frosty meltdown: 1) Obama administration rescindeds its decision to expand offshore oil exploration into the eastern Gulf of Mexico and along the Atlantic Coast; 2) Solar installation spreein progress, and 3) Midwest emerges as center for clean power. Who says we're all gloom & doom! Our Enviro Show Blog Bonus asks YOU to take action to protect Bluefin Tuna.

Our Meet the New Boss segment is short but not so sweet. This on Obama from the New York Times: "Privately, Mr. Obama has described himself, at times, as essentially a Blue Dog Democrat". Surprise!

In our E-Valley-uation segment the good news is that State energy and environment secretary Ian Bowles will leave the Patrick administration at the end of the month and "pursue private sector opportunities". Hey, maybe we scared him on our last show! The not-so-good news is that former Westfield mayor, Rick Sullivan is taking Bowles place. The last time we saw Sullivan he was solidly on the fence on the Biomess. Also this: Peter Vickery kicks off a new Mt. Tom campaign. He's talking conversion to natural gas instead of all that coal from blown-off mountain tops down south.

The Enviro Show Quote of the Week is a variation on a theme: "Earth provides enough to satisfy every man's need, but not every man's greed". ~Mohandas K. Gandhi

The choir sings of the "Shopocalypse", segwaying nicely to our call with Rev. Billy and our other guests.

Then it's on to the Bus Stop Billboard:

December, all month; A two person exhibit of the photographs of Lynn Grabowski and the oil paintings of Gillian Haven at the Burnett Gallery in Amherst. Titled As We See It, the exhibit presents the vision of each artist observing her surroundings.Lynn Grabowski’s Amherst Beaver Project, studies a colony of beavers residing along the Norwottuck Rail Trail. Call (413)538-5695

Wednesday, December 8, 7:00-8:30pm. Second Decommissioning Forum on VT Yankee. Greenfield Community College, Downtown Building, Main Street, Greenfield, MA Refreshments will be served. For more information, contact Deb Katz 413-339-5781

Friday Dec. 10, 7pm. "Bhopali" showing corporate malice and denial of human rights of people --at the Media Education Foundation community room, 60 Masonic Street, Northampton (entrance behind Woodstar Cafe). Event cosponsored by the Northampton Human Rights Commission & Northampton Committee to Stop War in Afghanistan and Iraq as part of a regular Friday Night film series.

Friday Dec. 10th and Saturday the 11th at 7:30 p.m. & Sunday, Dec. 12th at 2 p.m. "Welcome Yule: A Midwinter Celebration"; Shea Theater, Avenue A, Turners Falls, Music, dance, songs and stories celebrating the return of the light. Reserve tickets at (413) 863-2281 or purchase in advance at Jones Library in Amherst, Broadside Books in Northampton, the World Eye Bookstore in Greenfield, For information, call 413-665-3206 or check www.WelcomeYule.org

Saturday, December 11, 1 - 2pm. "Finding you way in the woods". Have you ever found yourself lost in the woods? Join us for an hour long exploration of compasses as well as the basics of the sport of orienteering. Great Falls Discovery Center. 2 Avenue A, Turners Falls. Call 413-863-3221

Monday, December 13, 6:30 – 8:30p.m. (Snow Date: Thursday, December 16). DCR Forest Futures Implementation [or who gets clearcut!]- Public Workshops. Greenfield Community College, Downtown Center, 270- Main St, Greenfield. There will also be an opportunity to provide written comments. For more information on these workshops or the landscape
designation process, please feel free to contact Jessica Rowcroft at either jessica.rowcroft@state.ma.us or at 617-626-1380.

Attention shoppers! Time to stay home and enjoy the holidays or take a walk in the woods. Next time it's our Winter Solstice Music Show. Stay tuned and remember: listen to your Mother!

The Green Vote Enviro Show

Greetings Earthlings. With the 2010 Elections behind us and a House full of cretins in front of us we welcome Green-Rainbow Party Candidate for Massachusetts State Auditor, Nat Fortune to the show. We'll check-in with Nat about the Party's annual convention at Clark University in Worcester last week and his excellent run for office that put the Green-Rainbow Party on the map for the future. As always we visit The Enviro Show Echo Chamber and our E-Valley-uation and Fool on the Hill segments. We'll also give you our Enviro Show Quote of the Week and if time allows we'll Meet the New Boss once again, but first it's time for....
Revenge of the Critters! Elephants bust out! It's not just the GOP taking out poor farmers.

In our Fool on the Hill segment we find Senator Debbie Stabenow, Michigan Democrat, has concerns that greenhouse gas permitting requirements would dissuade the use of biomass to generate power. Not too worry, Deb, your concerns were addressed by the EPA's, Lisa Jackson who has stated the U.S. EPA will "exercise whatever discretion the Clean Air Act affords" to shield biomass users from the agency's climate rules. Sorry Lisa & Debbie, it's the climate that rules! Of course, there's more than one Fool on THAT Hill: Repugnican Eric Cantor (R-VA), the likely House Majority Leader, calls for House committees to review proposed and existing regulations and issue reports, presumably recommending alteration or repeal of regulations the committees dislike. The document derides regulation, commenting on its cost to businesses without mentioning its benefits to society as a whole. Surprise!

On the same issue some Obamaistas take a hit from the folks at EnergyJustice.Net who "voiced sharp disagreement with Secretary Vilsack’s support for burning America’s forests for electricity, expressed in a USDA Press Release November 10." We're thinkin' those forests might come in handy sequestering carbon, no? Speaking of trees, THIS JUST IN: Wi-Fi Radiation Is Killing Trees. Quick, text your friends!

Speaking of the Biomess, here in our E-Valley-uation segment we introduce you to a new website for the Bennington-Berkshire Citizens Coalition organizing around yet another proposed biomass incinerator (OK, so it's not exactly our valley, but we ARE downwind, right?). This proposed project will also produce those cute little biomess pellets, the ones that used to be trees, right? Trees that sequestered carbon, right? Like the site says: "The wood needed for the Pownal plant will be close to about 600,000 green tons per year, more than the entire annual timber harvest on private and public lands in Massachusetts." What? You think this stuff grows on trees?? And this Enviro Show Blog Bonus: Greenpeace has all the toys! The GP blimp hovers over Vermont Yankee. Also this: the Biomess takes hits in both Greenfield and Springfield!

Our Enviro Show Quote of the Week puts us back into the Wayback Machine in keeping with tonight's theme, where Massachusetts' own John Quincy Adams reminds us: "“Always vote for principle, though you may vote alone, and you may cherish the sweetest reflection that your vote is never lost.”

In The Enviro Show Echo Chamber we replay Public Citizen's alert: "Time is running out for the National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and Offshore Drilling. The Commission has less than two months to complete its report examining the causes of the Deepwater Horizon disaster and recommending steps to guard against future oil spills. The Commissioners are still waiting for the Senate, to give it subpoena power – a necessary tool to get at the core of the oil spill tragedy. Tell the Senate to stop being lame: Give the oil spill commission the authority to do its job! Also, the New York Times tells us even as we scale back on coal burning mining and exports increase. Finally this: Climate scientists prepare to fight back against climate crisis deniers. Watch out teabaggers, they have all the secret weapons!

After our interview with Nat Fortune it's on to The Bus Stop Billboard:

Thursday, November 25, Tar Sands Conference, University of Alberta, Canada. "Everyone's Downstream" is an annual conference that brings together community members, activists and others fighting the global infrastructure of the tar sands gigaproject. Go to: http://www.everyonesdownstream.org/

Friday, Nov. 26, is International Buy Nothing Day.

Wednesday, December 1, 7pm. the award-winning film, "Scarred Lands/Wounded Lives: The Environmental Footprint of War" The film will be aired in 106 Seelye Hall, Smith College, Northampton.

Wednesday, December 8, 7:00-8:30pm. Second Decommissioning Forum on VT Yankee. Greenfield Community College, Downtown Building, Main Street, Greenfield, MA Refreshments will be served. For more information, contact Deb Katz 413-339-5781

Monday, December 13, 6:30 – 8:30p.m. (Snow Date: Thursday, December 16). DCR Forest Futures Implementation [or who gets clearcut!] Public Workshops. Greenfield Community College, Downtown Center, 270- Main St, Greenfield. There will also be an opportunity to provide written comments. For more information on these workshops or the landscape designation process, please feel free to contact Jessica Rowcroft at 617-626-1380.

Thursday, December 16, 12:30-2pm, WMass Green Economy Working Group. Brown Bag Lunch at Noon, Pioneer Valley AFL-CIO Hall, 640 Page Boulevard, Springfield (732-7970).

OK, so don't forget to vote.....umm...sorry, we already did that. Next time Rev. Billy calls in about the coming Shopocalypse. Until then, remember, listen to your Mother!

The Toxic 100 Enviro Show

Greetings Earthlings. Tired of the toxic atmosphere these days? Michael Ash and Jim Boyce of our own UMass Political Economy Research Institute clue us in on the Toxic 100 Air Polluters in the nation. Speaking of breathing room, Massachusetts has significantly reduced mercury emissions from power plants and incinerators. We'll check that out in the Enviro Show Echo Chamber and see what's happening locally in our E-Valley-uation segment. As always, we give you the Quote of the Week and maybe have another look at The Fool on the Hill, but first it's time for....Revenge of the Critters! "New Zealand has these big green parrots called keas, which like to eat windshield wipers. Why do you suppose they hate cars so much??

The Enviro Show Quote of the week is a special post-election choice from none other than Ronnie Raygun: "Approximately 80% of our air pollution stems from hydrocarbons released by vegetation, so let's not go overboard in setting and enforcing tough emission standards from man-made sources."

In The Enviro Show Echo Chamber we find the outfit that tops the PERI list of Toxic 100 Polluters, Bayer, has just hooked up with Pew's Center on Global Climate Change. Phew! What's that smell?? Meanwhile, over the border in Canada, people are organizing over toxic releases in Chemical Valley (well, yeah!). Also, we go over the good news about less mercury pollution here in the Commonwealth and the bad news about Governor Patrick's $91 Million Barge to Nowhere! That's no Love Boat! And, more good news: deciduous plants absorb about a third more of a common class of air-polluting chemicals than previously thought. Quick, go plant a tree! Finally, it seems the corporados are busy hi-jacking the UN's COP-10 Biodiversity conference in Japan.

In our E-Valley-uation segment there's a blue light special: Attention shoppers: Broken down old Nuke For Sale!

On the Fool on the Hill segment we go plural once again: There are no newly elected Republican freshmen, in the House or Senate, who admit the science of climate change is real. What a surprise. Must be all the tea they are smok....err...drinking.

Finally, it's time to checkout the Bus Stop Billboard:


Wednesday, Nov 10, 7 to 9pm. Do you want to find out more about the Transition Town movement and explore transition with others in Greenfield? If yes, come to a free evening of film & discussion the Second Congregational Church on the Greenfield Town Common. Refreshments will be served. For more information contact Greening Greenfield Energy Committee at 413-773-7004 or 413-773-0228

Sunday, Nov. 14, at 7:30 p.m. "This Land is Our Land", a timely new documentary about the global movement to reclaim the democratic tradition of “the commons” from commercial interests and free market extremists, will screen locally at Amherst Cinema on , at an event to benefit the Food Bank of Western Massachusetts. For further information contact Sut Jhally, Media Education Foundation: (413) 584-8500 ext. 2301 email: sutj@comm.umass.edu

Tuesday, November 16, 6:30 - 8:30. Workshop on which DCR Public Forest will be open to commercial logging and which will be protected. Save the Trees! Noth Middle School, 350 Southampton Road, Westfield. For info call: 413-341-3878. Also see: http://www.mass.gov/dcr/news/2010/pr10-10-28.pdf

Tuesday, November 16, 6:30-8:30pm. Do you want to find out how to cut your heating costs? Go to GCTV, 393 Main Street, Greenfield, MA. Refreshments will be served. To find out more contact the Greening Greenfield Energy Committee at 774-5667.

Thursday, November 18, 3:30pm. Next meeting of Nuclear Free Future at the new AFSC office, 2 Conz Street, Suite 2B, Northampton. Call: 413-584-8975

Thursday, November 18, 7 - 8:30pm. Turkey Anyone? Have you ever wondered about wild turkeys? Just how did they get associated with Thanksgiving? Come learn from expert Joe Judd. Great Falls Discovery Center, Avenue A, Turners Falls. Call: 413-863-3221

November 19 - 21. Pricing Carbon Conference. A national conference co-hosted by and held at Wesleyan University in central Connecticut, to explore educational, organizing and political strategies to directly price carbon emissions and to build the essential cornerstone of effective climate policy: policies that transparently and equitably put a price on carbon pollution. Please inquire about scholarships offered to students
and climate activists with Tom Stokes, (413) 243-5665. Go to: http://pricingcarbon.org/

Thursday, November 25, Tar Sands Conference, University of Alberta, Canada. "Everyone's Downstream" is an annual conference that brings together community members, activists and others fighting the global infrastructure of the tar sands gigaproject. Go to: http://www.everyonesdownstream.org/

Wednesday, December 1, 7pm. the award-winning film, "Scarred Lands/Wounded Lives: The Environmental Footprint of War" The film will be aired in 106 Seelye Hall, Smith College, Northampton.

Wednesday, December 8, 7:00-8:30pm. Second Decommissioning Forum on VT Yankee. Greenfield Community College, Downtown Building, Main Street, Greenfield, MA Refreshments will be served. For more information, contact Deb Katz 413-339-5781

Monday, December 13, 6:30 – 8:30p.m. (Snow Date: Thursday, December 16). DCR Forest Futures Implementation [or who gets clearcut!]- Public Workshops. Greenfield Community College, Downtown Center, 270- Main St, Greenfield. There will also be an opportunity to provide written comments. For more information on these workshops or the landscape
designation process, please feel free to contact Jessica Rowcroft at either
jessica.rowcroft@state.ma.us or at 617-626-1380.

That's it. Next time Nat Fortune joins us for a post-election wrap. Until then remember, listen to your Mother!