Author: William Craven

Joseph Romm: Hell and High Water and What We Should Do

Written by William Craven on January 17, 2007. Posted in climate change.

Joseph Romm, former Assistant Secretary at the US Department of Energy under President Clinton and current Senior Fellow at the Center for American Progress, shares with Betsy his three big picture solutions to global warming,
looks back at the environmental legacy of the Clinton/Gore
administration, and shares his insights on the legacy of the sitting
(duck) presidential administration: "They only like technology that
doesn’t exist." His new book is Hell and High Water: Global Warming– and What We Should Do.

LISTEN (12 min) Read his blog

Drunken Trees and Climate Change in Alaska

Written by William Craven on January 17, 2007. Posted in climate change.

Over her lifetime Laurie Fickus has seen her community in Fairbanks physically transformed by the thawing permafrost and "drunken trees" that have become the signature features of climate change in Alaska. She shared her firsthand account with Betsy as they attended "Al Gore U." in Tennessee last week. LISTEN (8 min)

How Everyday Products Make People Sick

Written by William Craven on January 16, 2007. Posted in Books.

Consuming products in an informed and vigilant way can produce substantial health benefits to you, your family, and your co-workers. But you’ve got to know your stuff! Paul D. Blanc, MD holds the Endowed Chair of Occupational and Environmental Medicine at the University of California, San Francisco, and his new book is titled How Everyday Products Make People Sick: Toxins at Home and in the Workplace. LISTEN (12 min)

Andy Revkin, David Roberts, and the firestorm over the Climate ‘Middle’.

Written by William Craven on January 16, 2007. Posted in climate change. 1 Comment on Andy Revkin, David Roberts, and the firestorm over the Climate ‘Middle’.

On New Year’s Day 2007, The New York Times published an article by Andrew Revkin titled "A New Middle Stance Emerges in Debate over Climate", setting off a firestorm on enviro-blogs and highly-critical editorials written by, among others, Grist Magazine staff writer David Roberts. Just where exactly is this ‘middle’? Does this ‘middle’ really find "An Inconvenient Truth" to be alarmist and further afield of their beliefs? What is the rhetorical value of being seen to occupy a middle ground? What is the danger in labeling like-minded people ‘extreme’?

Andrew Revkin and David Roberts join Betsy to talk about the existence of a climate ‘middle’ and where something like "An Inconvenient Truth" or EcoTalk for that matter, fits on the spectrum of opinions on Climate Change. PART 1 (11 min)
PART 2 (7 min) PART 3 (7 min)

Michael Dietrick, MD on Climate Training with Gore (and Betsy!)

Written by William Craven on January 16, 2007. Posted in climate change.

Michael Dietrick, MD, Executive Director for the Water Planet Environmental Broadcast Service, chats with Betsy about their experience sharpening their climate expertise at Al Gore’s climate training camp last week. LISTEN (13 min)

Dr. Michael McCracken at Al Gore U.

Written by William Craven on January 12, 2007. Posted in climate change.

Betsy dials in from Al Gore’s Climate Training Conference in Tennessee where she is one of 200 Climate Messengers learning the Gore slide show from An Inconvenient Truth and preparing to take it back to their townships and communities around the nation. Here Betsy chats with Resident Scientist Dr. Michael McCracken, who first testified to Congress on climate change in 1975. If anybody knows how to present this issue in laymen’s terms, it’s Dr. McCracken, who has some very interesting things to say about the different type of snowfall slamming Denver this winter.

PART1 PART 2

Hybrid Savings

Written by William Craven on January 12, 2007. Posted in clean vehicles, NRDC segment.

NRDC‘s Daniel Hinerfeld reports on a study that concludes that no matter what you may have heard, owning a hybrid does indeed save you a substantial amount of money– perhaps as much as $13,000. Hear all about it, and new concepts like the Chevy Volt. LISTEN (6 min)

Picture The Hybrid Guy

Mark Harris and Grave Matters

Written by William Craven on January 12, 2007. Posted in Books.

Among the most important rituals that we take part in, the funeral’s true emotional and cultural impact has been compromised by the enormously profitable funeral industry. Mark Harris joins Betsy to discuss his new book "Grave Matters: A Journey through the Modern Funeral Industry to a Natural Way of Burial". It’s one of the most interesting books we’ve come across in a long time. LISTEN (8 min)

Lester Brown: Plan B 2.0

Written by William Craven on January 11, 2007. Posted in Books.

The Washington Post called Lester Brown of the Earth Policy Institute "one of the world’s most influential thinkers." In
1986, the Library of Congress requested his personal papers noting that
his writings “have already strongly affected thinking about problems of
world population and resources.” We all know that Plan A has brought us to our current state. Now it’s time for Plan B 2.0.
PART 1 (11 min) PART 2 (7 min)

The World Watch Institute’s State of the World Report 2007

Written by William Craven on January 11, 2007. Posted in Books.

Lester Brown founded the World Watch Institute in 1974, and since 1975 they have been publishing the most comprehensive and instructive policy environmental reports in the world. This year’s State of the World Report was released yesterday, and the report’s over-arching theme is Our Urban Future. State of the World Project Director Molly O’Meara Sheehan chats with Betsy about population density, urban innovations in Brazil, and even quotes Plato! LISTEN (10 min)