Tag: Climate Change

RadioActive 9/21/17

Producer: Meredith DeFrancesco

Overview: Climate Change, Climate Policy and the Fossil Fuel Industry

-As Hurricane Maria devastates Puerto Rico and other Caribbean islands, on the heels of Harvey and Irma and drought and fires consume other regions of the US, we look again at climate change, climate policy and the fossil fuel industry.
-Today, we take a broad look with the US policy director for Oil Change International, Janet Redman.
-Topics include, the Trump Administration’s stance on climate change and fossil fuel extraction, the EPA’s Science Advisory Board, the Union of Concerned Scientists new report on the quantifiable impacts of fossil fuel companies’ emissions on climate change, the varying definitions of “Clean Energy”, the Paris Climate Agreement and the disproportionate impacts of climate change on individuals and communities with the least economic resources.

Guest: Janet Redman, Oil Change International, US policy director; Associate Fellow at Institute for Policy Studies

Maine Currents 9/19/17

Producer/Host: Amy Browne
Audio recorded by John Greenman

Activist and author George Lakey on “Building a Movement: the Big Picture Vision for the Climate”

George Lakey’s keynote at the Sierra Club of Maine’s “Maine Grassroots Climate Action Conference” on Saturday, September 16th on the topic of “Building a Movement: the Big Picture Vision for the Climate”. He recently retired from Swarthmore College where he was Eugene M. Lang Visiting Professor for Issues in Social Change. While there he wrote his 9th book “Viking Economics: How the Scandinavians got it right and how we can, too:” after interviewing economists and others in the Nordic countries. All of his books have been about change and how to achieve it.
As a young adult Lakey lived in Norway and worked there as well as in Denmark and Sweden. On returning to the U.S. he alternated academic positions with founding and leading organizations working for justice and peace. Later he returned to the global stage to found Training for Change. George Lakey has led over 1500 social change workshops on five continents. He received the Martin Luther King, Jr., Peace Award and the National Giraffe Award for Sticking his Neck out for the Common Good.

FMI:
www.facebook.com/George-Lakey-1721380654783824/
www.sierraclub.org/maine


Maine Currents- independent local news, views and culture, every Tuesday at 4pm on WERU-FM and weru.org

RadioActive 6/1/17

Guest Producer/Host: Meredith DeFrancesco

Juniper Ridge Landfill Expansion Approved by BEP; Trump Withdraws from Paris Climate Agreement

-Today the Maine Board of Environmental Protection approved the expansion of the Juniper Ridge Landfill in Old Town.
-Local activists have strongly opposed the expansion, underlining the amount of out of state waste that is reclassified as “in-state waste” and disposed at Juniper Ridge, which is state owned, but privately operated by Casella Waste Management. Opponents, including members of the Penobscot Nation, are alarmed by potential impacts on ground water and the continued dumping of leachate by product into the Penobscot River.
-We also examine Trump’s withdrawal from the Paris Climate Accord

Guests:
Ed Spencer, Old Town resident and intervenor in Juniper Ridge Landfill Expansion
Erika Lennon, senior attorney for the Center for International Environmental Law

This program was produced in partnership with the Sunlight Media Collective.

RadioActive 4/6/17

Producer/Host: Meredith DeFrancesco

Program Topic: President Trump’s Executive Order on Climate and Energy and Environmentalist Split on Metallic Mining in Maine

1) Today, we look at a split between grassroots environmentalists and non-profit environmental groups over legislation that could open Maine to devastating metallic mining ground water pollution.
2). Seven bills are currently before the Maine legislature’s Committee on the Environment and Natural Resources. LD 160 would ban mining outright. LD 253 would repeal a 2012 rule change which negated more protective standards that had been put in place in 1991. Today we look at LD 820, which a number of non-profits have supported, while others in the environmental community reveal would allow substantial and irreversible onsite groundwater pollution by mining companies. The bill sponsor now seeks amendments to the bill for further protection, but it is now in the hands of the Committeee.
3) We also look at President Trump’s sweeping executive order on climate and energy, with Janet Redman, the US policy director from Oil Change International.

Guests:
Janet Redman, US policy director for Oil Change International and Associate Fellow at the Institute for Policy Studies.
Lew Kingsbury, activist with Alliance for a Common Good and freelance journalist for The Cryer http://thecryeronline.com/. Find his article “ Twice Defeated Metallic Mining Rules Faces Third Vote in Legislature”“ in the April edition.

This program was produced in partnership with the Sunlight Media Collective.

Coastal Conversations 2/24/17

Producer/Host: Catherine Schmitt
Studio Engineer: Amy Browne

Issue: Maine coastal and ocean issues

Program Topic: Salt Marshes

Key Discussion Points:
Salt marshes are valuable habitat
People are working to preserve marshes threatened by sea level rise
Salt marsh sparrows live only in high marsh habitat

Guests
Misha Mytar, Maine Coast Heritage Trust
Jeremy Gabrielson, Maine Coast Heritage Trust
Joseph Kelley, UMaine
Brian Olsen, UMaine
Kate Ruskin, UMaine

RadioActive 1/19/17

Producer/Host: Meredith DeFrancesco

Issue: Environmental and Social Justice

Program Topic: Planned Disrupt J 20 Inauguration Actions and Discussion on Trump’s Nominees’ Impact on Environment and Climate Change

Key Discussion Points:
1) Reporting from Washington DC, the day before the inauguration of Donald Trump, we look at the protests planned for tomorrow, including the Disrupt J 20 direct action blockades of the inauguration entrances.
2) We also look at what Trump’s nominees to head the EPA, the State Dept, the Dept of Energy and the Dept of Interior could mean for environmental health and climate change.
3) We discuss the urgency of climate change and the need for action.

Guest: Janet Redman, climate justice activist, part of coordinating committee of the climate contingent of Disrupt J 20; policy analyst for Oil Change, in Washington DC

Coastal Conversations 12/23/16

Producer/Host: Natalie Springuel
Studio Engineer: Amy Browne

Issue: Maine coastal and ocean issues

Program Topic: Waterfront Communities Prepare for Climate Change

Key Discussion Points:
What are some of the impacts of climate change that waterfront communities in Maine are already seeing?
How do these changes, such as sea level rise and increased storm frequency and strength, impact waterfront infrastructure?
What are tools that these municipalities can use to predict and address climate change impacts?

Guests:
Judy East, Washington County Council of Governments
Tora Johnson, University of Maine at Machias
Jennifer Curtis, Maine Floodplain Management Program
Pete Slovinsky, Maine Geological Survey