That Wild Enviro Show

 

Greetings Earthlings. Are you concerned things are getting a bit too tame these days? OK, define yur’ terms: tame as in less of the Wild around us, got it? Tom Butler returns to the show to talk about “Protecting the Wild – Parks and Wilderness, the Foundation for Conservation”. Also, we delve into the recent FERC Attack on Western Mass in our E-Valley-uation segment and take you to meet The-Fool-on-the-Hill and maybe to Meet the New Boss, but first it’s time for………Revenge of the Critters! Sharks protest Global Warming?

We Meet the New Boss as he “inches closer to disaster” in approving Shell’s oil drilling folly in the Chukchi Sea. We’ve gotta wonder what the New Boss is thinking given his alleged concern about the Climate Crisis. Obama’s legacy can be measured in inches too: it’s inches from tanking. O, and not to forget, Obama’s Environmental “Protection Agency” (EPA) recently recently stated that power plants across the United States can burn trees, tires, trash, plastic, and call it clean energy. You might want to talk to them about that here.

This week’s Fool-on-the-Hill is Rep. Jeff Duncan (Repugnican-SC) who argued on the Hill recently that fossil fuels have made life better for mankind — and that the social costs associated with global warming have been shown to benefit humans rather than harm them.  Good to know,…..right? “Fossil fuels have dramatically improved the lives of human beings,” Duncan said. “Man does better when it’s warmer. It got colder, we had the Bubonic plague. [Fossil fuels] ought to be the standard.” Well, OK Jeff, it actually IS the standard. Haven’t you noticed how that’s going?

In our E-Valley-uation segment we do a re-do of the FERC Scoping session in Greenfield on Wednesday and point you toward the Environmental Defense Fund’s study on all the methane leaks in fracked gas infrastructure d.o. referenced in his….what? short pithy testimony? 80 BILLION cubic feet wafting up into the atmosphere, and that’s NOT counting pipeline leaks and explosions!! Now it’s on to the next venues: Tuesday, August 4, 7p.m. MA Energy Facilities Siting Board hearings on the proposed KM/NED fracked gas pipeline at the Taconic High School Auditorium, 96 Valentine Road, Pittsfield, MA and Wednesday, August 5, 7p.m. at the Greenfield Community College, 1 College Drive (Dining Commons) Greenfield, MA. Bring those signs & banners and your friends and neighbors!

We have…Breaking News! We have some good breaking news for you: Franklin County Residents Sue Corporate America in an Attempt to Stop Kinder Morgan Pipe Dream! Also, some folks think yesterday’s release of the Obama Administration’s clean power plan is good news but Grist points out: “..the new rule hasn’t closed a loophole for natural gas. The rule considers only carbon emitted directly from power plants, but doesn’t factor in methane leakage in the production and transportation of natural gas. That could encourage utilities to switch from coal to gas instead of to renewables, even though gas might not be better for the climate over its whole life cycle. The administration addressed this concern to some extent with incentives in the final version to switch specifically to renewables. There are other green concerns about the rule’s details. For example, it allows nuclear energy to count as clean..” Others complain the plan is playing with numbers and, of course, emissions trading is in there along with biomass (albeit qualified).

Our Enviro Show Quote of the Week is another gem from the Pope:

“Is it realistic to hope that those who are obsessed with maximizing profits will stop to reflect on the environmental damage which they will leave behind for future generations? Where profits alone count, there can be no thinking about the rhythms of nature, its phases of decay and regeneration, or the complexity of ecosystems which may be gravely upset by human intervention.”

In the Enviro Show Echo Chamber we have this from Politico: The Holes in Clinton’s Climate Plan. “Does Hillary Clinton support or oppose the Keystone XL oil pipeline? Or Arctic offshore drilling? Or tougher restrictions on fracking? Or the oil industry’s push to lift the 1970s ban on exporting U.S. crude oil? Clinton avoided all those questions [recently].”  Meanwhile, on the other side of the aisle the Repugs attacks on endangered species are up 600%. Way to go, enemies of the planet! Some potential good news for the bats here.  Scientists may have found an antidote for that horrendous White-Nose syndrome. Stay tuned!  Finally, there’s something you can do to help prevent future outrages like the bogus trophy hunt of Cecil the Lion. Go here.

After our conversation with Tom we take you over to the Bus Stop Billboard:

Tuesday, August 4, 7p.m. MA Energy Facilities Siting Board hearings on the proposed KM/NED fracked gas pipeline at the Taconic High School Auditorium 96 Valentine Road Pittsfield, MA. Go to: www.nofrackedgasinmass.org/events/

Wednesday, August 5, 6:30p.m. MA Energy Facilities Siting Board hearings on the proposed KM/NED fracked gas pipeline at the Greenfield Community College, 1 College Drive (Dining Commons) Greenfield, MA. We can use our rally and this hearing to tell Governor Baker that Western Mass says no to the pipeline! Bring signs, songs & friends. Pass it on.

Thursday, August 6, 7pm. Valley Free Radio 10th Anniversary Celebration! We’ll have live music from Eva Cappelli and Friends of VFR, free food, a cash bar, door prizes, and a raffle. Plus, you’ll have the chance to meet your favorite VFR DJs and mingle with the folks who started the station. Thirteenth Floor Music Lounge Upstairs at JJ’s Tavern, 99 Main St. Florence, MA. All ages. Suggested donation $10 in advance, $20 at the door. E-mail rachel@valleyfreeradio.org to register without making a donation.

Saturday August 8, 9:30-10:30am. Annual Citizens Awareness Network meeting.  CAN annual meeting with an update from Deb Katz on the decommissioning of Vermont Yankee, Chris WIlliams on Entergy Independent Vermont, Claire Chang solar actions and Amy Shollenberger on Montpelier: A Year in Review. Second Congregational Church, 16 Court Square, Greenfield, MA. AND: 11am. East Meets West: Making Massachusetts Nuclear Free. GCTV, 393 Main St, Greenfield, MA. CAN is organizing this forum to unite forces in Massachusetts to shutter the Pilgrim reactor and replace its power with sustainable energy solutions.

Sunday, August 9, 1 to 2pm. Community Peace Gathering 70^th Anniversary of the Bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. First Congregational Church in Amherst, 165 Main Street. Songs, perspectives on peace and Prayers for Peace. Sponsors: Peacebuilders of First Church and Grace Church Peace Fellowship. Contact Katie Tolles at 259-1357 or tolleskatie @gmail.com for more info.

Monday, August 10 , 6-8pm. The First Pipeline Procession. Children of the Wild and PLAN-NE (Pipeline Awareness Network for the Northeast) invite you to take part in a journey through the Wastelands of our own grief, darkness, and despair into the Wilds of imagination, hope, and sufficiency that lie within. United in story and song, audience and performers will hike from a designated location to a site directly in the proposed market path of the Kinder Morgan NED Pipeline to experience a shared world of ecological and poetic understanding. Bring hiking boots. Rain or shine. Suggested donation $10-20. No one turned away for lack of funds. West Cummington Congregational Church, 27 West Main Street, West Cummington, MA.

Monday, August 17, 6-8pm. Second Pipeline Procession, 421 Beldingville Road. Ashfield, MA. Go to: www.childrenofthewild.org

Saturday, August 29, 6-8pm. Third Pipeline Procession. Woolman Hill Retreat Center, 107 Keets Road, Deerfield, MA. With an Introduction to Nonviolent Direct Action 3-5pm. and Potluck Dinner 5-6pm. Go to: www.childrenofthewild.org

Saturday, September 5 , 5-7pm. Fourth Pipeline Procession. Montague Plains, Montague, MA. We’ll be there! Details forthcoming. Go to: www.childrenofthewild.org

Tuesday, September 8. Beyond Extreme Energy (BXE) has decided to organize a long-term, water-only “No New Permits Fast” this September in front of FERC, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. We are undertaking this action in support of the call in Pope Francis’s encyclical, “Laudato Si,” for action on the climate crisis. September 8, the day after Labor Day, and go until the end of September, until after Pope Francis has ended his six-day trip to the United States. Go to: beyondextremeenergy.org/details-of-the-fast/

Sunday, September 13, 5-7pm. Fifth Pipeline Procession. Richardson Conservation area, Northfield, MA. Details forthcoming. Go to: www.childrenofthewild.org

Sunday, September 20, 5-7pm. Sixth Pipeline Procession. Pulpit Falls, Winchester, NH. Details forthcoming.  Go to: www.childrenofthewild.org

 

Thursday, Sept. 24, 9:20am the Pope will address a joint session of Congress in Washington. After the address, we will gather at the Lincoln Memorial for a Rally for the Climate and a Just Economy. We’ll rally for our one Earth, one humanity, one living biosphere, and to recognize that all are experiencing one crisis. In addition to exciting performers and inspiring speakers from a variety of perspectives – climate justice, faith, science, labor and economic justice – we’ll celebrate the power of a people awake to the danger and the opportunity of this moment. Go to: moralactiononclimate.org

 

That’s all, folks! Remember to….what? LISTEN TO YOUR MOTHER!

 

Yet Another Summer Solstice Enviro Show!

Greetings Earthlings. Can you believe we’ve been at this for ten years already? Now, another Summer Solstice is upon us and our most favorite witch joins us to mark the occasion (June 21, 2015). The Good Green Witch  will give us the goods on the Solstice and we’ll light the bonfire on the air! As always, we’ll stroll on over to see The Fool-on-the-Hill and to Meet the New Boss, as well as a trip to The Enviro Show Echo Chamber, but first it’s time for………Revenge of the Critters! June is the month for fireflies but don’t try eating them!

We have a two-fer for our Fool-on-the-hill this time. A bill filed by Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) and Rep. Ron DeSantis (R-Fla.) would eliminate the gas tax used to pay for federal transportation projects. The Hill reports,  “The concept, commonly referred to by transportation observers as “devolution,” is popular with staunch conservatives who argue that development of road and transit infrastructure should be left up to states.” (Who would likely privatize YOUR crumbling roads while they take the chopper to their next taxpayer funded vacation!)

The New Boss took a big hit from his fellow Dems on Friday. His fixation on getting that disastrous TPP trade agreement (you know, SHAFTA?) on his resume blew up in his face when the votes went against him in the U.S. House or Reprehensibles. Sorry, Barry. Maybe it wasn’t such a good idea after all? On the other hand Obama’s approval for oil drilling in the storm-tossed Arctic is going swimmingly as kayactivists were unable to block Shell’s behemoth floating rig as it left Seattle harbor on its journey to trash the planet. We have an ironic twist on that. Tune in.

We’re melding The Enviro Show Echo Chamber with our E-Valley-uation segment with the GCTV video of last Thursday’s Department of “Public” Utilities/Berk Gas hearing in Greenfield. If you weren’t there (we thought we saw all of you!) it’s HERE, including Holly Lovelace’s stirring testimony that moved her to go on bended knee to some startled DPU officials begging them to save her home from Kinder Morgan’s proposed pipeline. Our guess is the DPU won’t do anything but rubber stamp their corporate masters demands so you might want to think about helping Holly yourself by going here. Meanwhile the Gazette reports “The attorney general’s office maintains that the DPU’s mission is to find whether the proposed Berkshire Gas long-term contract with Tennessee Gas Pipeline is in the public interest, and must first examine regional pipeline capacity conditions and potential future needs, along with reasonable alternatives and other issues.”  Like our sign at the hearing said: “We’re looking at you DPU!” Back to Kinder Morgan itself: it looks like some investors are not happy with KM’s debt load. Getting back to Berkshire Gas, our guy Glen pointed out clearly at the DPU hearing that such a bucolic name belies Berk Gas’ real ownership which is right HERE (PDF). Finally, our friends at FANG got into the faces of Gas Man at an industry forum in Boston multiple times (word has it besides some rough treatment by security they also tried playing loud music to drown out the protesters – why not just play a recording of a compressor station blowdown, that’s LOUD!)

Breaking News! The Pope has released his climate crisis bombshell. Climate change deniers are already preparing their defense: the Earth is flat, OK??  “Everyone is going to ride the pope now. Isn’t that wonderful,” said Denier-in-Chief Sen. James Inhofe, who chairs the U.S. Senate Committee on Environment (!) and Public Works. “The pope ought to stay with his job, and we’ll stay with ours.” Actually Jim, the Pope IS doing his job, how about you do yours….for a change!!

For our Enviro Show Quote of the Week you don’t have to go very far:  “Right now, in the amazing moment that to us counts as the present, we are deciding, without quite meaning to, which evolutionary pathways will remain open and which will forever be closed. No other creature has ever managed this and it will, unfortunately, be our most enduring legacy.”
― Elizabeth Kolbert

 

On to the Bus Stop Billboard!

 

July 1-8, The 2015 Earth First! Round River Rendezvous, hosted by Green Mountain Earth First!, will be held on occupied Abenaki land in so-called Vermont.  Website for more info on this Rondy.

Thursday, July 2, 7pm. Montague Against the Pipeline meeting. Montague Public Safety building (180 Turnpike Rd.),  Turners Falls, MA. Montague is not only effected by the Berkshire Gas moratorium, but it is also in the path of the pipeline! All out to defend the Plains!

Monday, July 6, 7pm. Interfaith Eco-action meeting. There will be a Moral Action on Climate March on Sunday, September 20th and your church, mosque, temple, sangha, congregation, Friend’s meeting, or other community can join in!! Come to First Churches in Northampton (corner of Main and Center St.) and participate in the local planning.

Thursday July 9, 6:15 pm (and Saturday July 25th at 12:45pm). Mothers Out front house parties. We are a group of mothers who refuse to stand idle while climate change threatens the future of all our children. Join us in learning how to build and flex our civic muscle as we TAKE ACTION.  If you can make either house oparty, email GreenZinnia@hotmail.com. If not, or to check out their local work beforehand, go to their website at http://mothersoutfront.org/amherst_community_team

Sunday, July 12, 2015, 1 to 9PM. Benefit Event: Midsummernight Faerie-Concert Against the Pipeline!
 – A broad assortment of local music and comedy at the Singing Bridge Arts Center, beside the Westfield River, just a couple of miles from where the NED pipeline would cross it. Gaia Star Band, Rachel Laitman, Visioning BEAR Singers, Sarah Stockwell, Burrie Jenkins and more. Potluck refreshments and dinner.  All proceeds go to fight the pipeline. Singing Bridge Arts Center, West Main St. (right off Rte. 9) West Cummington, MA.

July 18th & 19th.  Intro to Direct Action Climbing in Washington DC. Greenpeace is hosting a 2-day Intro to Direct Action Climbing workshop at their DC warehouse.  This workshop is designed to expose potential climbers to a couple of the most popular climb systems and to develop basic climbing skills.  If you have ever wondered if climbing is for you, this is an ideal place to have a bash and see if you like it.  Skills covered will include learning basic knots, set up on rope, basic ascent and descent, rappeling, switching systems on rope, and basic problem solving.  Breakfast and lunch are provided.  Please contact James Brady directly if interested: james.brady@greenpeace.org

Tuesday, July 21 11am-1pm 350MA holds monthly demonstrations in support of fossil fuel divestment outside the state pension management board meetings at 55 State Street, Boston. For further information or to join a carpool going to Boston call Adele Franks at 413 320 9418.

 

That’s all folks! remember to listen to your Mother, OK?