James Speth, Dean of the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies and author of Red Sky at Morning, America and the Crisis of the Global Evironment (2004),
joined us in studio to talk about global warming and his call for action in a
recent letter to the Editor of the NY Times.
LISTEN (part 1: 11 min)
LISTEN (part 2: 7 min)
NASA’s Chief Climate Scientist, Jim Hansen,
turned down more than 100 requests for interviews this week in the wake
of a front page New York Times article about administration efforts to
curb his candor in speaking publicly about imminent dangers of global
warming. He chose EcoTalk to share thoughts on what’s behind
attempts to muzzle him and why we must take action now.
Listen (part 1 = 9 min)
Listen (part 2 = 3 min)
MUSIC
CREDIT: ALL music on EcoTalk #82 is from M.U.S.E. Musicians United to
Sustain the Environment, a nonprofit organization using the creativity
of music to make a pragmatic environmental impact.
Michael Hanemann, Professor at UC Berkeley discusses an important
new report "Managing greenhouse gas emissions in California" that underlines the economic advantages of climate action.
Listen (5 min)
The hot new eco-trend, Carbon sequestration – how you can
offset your emissions – will be discussed with Jason Smith, CEO of driveneutral.org and Craig Coulter, Partnership Director of carbonfund.org. Listen (11 min)
Before 2005 becomes just another bad memory we’ll do a quick rewind and name the Top Five Environmental Stories Of The Year with David Roberts, Assistant Editor for our favorite green news website, Grist magazine.
Listen (10 min)
Then on to some better news with Amy Warren, of the Puget Sound Clean Air Agency – she’ll tell us about a model anti-idling program getting revved up in the Seattle area. Idling tidbits to keep in mind:
On average, a single vehicle dropping
off and picking up kids at one school puts three pounds of pollution
into the air per month.
Vehicle idling consumes 1/2 to 1 gallon of fuel per hour. Put another way, idling = ZERO mpg. It is more efficient to turn off and restart your car than it is to idle for more than 30 seconds.
Asthma is the most common chronic
illness in children and the cause of most school absences. Children’s
asthma symptoms increase as a result of car exhaust.
Also contributing to this segment is EcoTalk’s co-producer Shana Weber talking about commercial truck idling, the new laws in place and new technology that makes it easier to turn those big engines off at night and still stay comfortable in the cab.
Listen (7 min)
Our second half will focus on films with a green tint…first, The End of Suburbia with Julian Darley, founder and director of the Post-Carbon Institute –
this DVD is playing at house parties across America and driving
housewives to abandon their SUVs en masse (we wish).
Listen (11 min)
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The second film in
the EcoTalk spotlight is Syriana. NRDC‘s Daniel Hinerfeld critique this geo-political thriller, starring George Clooney. It is a project of Participants production, a different type of producer. The movie is also an opportunity to participate in the Oil Change campaign to reduce our dependance on oil, inspired by the film and organized by NRDC and the Sierra Club.
Listen (7 min)
LISTEN to the whole show (37 min)
So just what WAS accomplished at the U.N. Climate Change conference in Montreal?
We’ll find out from New York Times environment reporter, Andrew Revkin. Andy also lends his voice and musical talent (who knew?) to this week’s theme s
song…Liberated Carbon…by his band Uncle Wade. Listen (11 min)
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Paul Rogers, science reporter for the San Jose Mercury News, will join us for an update on what California is doing to combat global warming while the Bush administration fiddles away. Listen (7 min)
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In our second half
we’ll hear Daniel
Nepstad, senior scientist at the Woods Hole Research Center and
founder of the Amazon Institute of Ecological Research in Brazil, will join us to talk about a devastating drought unfolding in the Brazilian
rainforest, most likely the result of climate disruption. Listen (12 min)
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Last, but not least, Jerome Ringo, new president of the Apollo Alliance ,
will weigh in on this week’s announcement by the Energy Department that
the price of oil will continue to rise steadily (surprise!) and so the
U.S. must turn to "renewables, like coal and nuclear". Oy to the world. Listen (7 min)
We’ll go back to Montreal for an update on the climate change conference, wrapping up this week. David Doniger, policy director for the NRDC’s climate center
will join us with his observations of the proceedings.
LISTEN (9 min)
We’ll also get a
report on the other part of the climate conference story – worldwide
protests against global warming inaction held last weekend but you’d
never know it from the meanstream media.
We’ll speak with Jonathan Neele in London,
a key organizer of the protests, about why this is just the first of
many global actions to come.
LISTEN (7 min)
One way to get off the fossil fuels that
are causing climate extremes is to use biofuels. We’ll speak with Allen Dusault, with Sustainable Conservation
about the most promising renewables, including cow gas!
LISTEN (12 min)
And speaking
of gas – if you want to lower your utility bills this winter, consider
a tankless water heater…we’ll hear about the cost and conservation
benefits of hot water on demand from Dan Moffroit, with Bosch.
LISTEN (8 min)
This devilish image is by R.O. Blechman
All illustrations are courtesy of the virtual exhibition of the Climate Action Network Canada and the Art Directors Club of New York.
They also offer a video (if you have the system to run it).
Just in time for Halloween – and these ARE scary times – we’ll debut "The Climate Mash", a scathing version of Bobby Puckett’s classic, The Monster Mash…global warming has burned him out of retirement to record the song, complete with hysterical graphics (at climatemash.org).. We’ll talk to Angela Ledford, executive director of Clear The Air, which has a campaign to go along with the song. We’ll also check in with two experts to learn what yet another killer storm portends for the future –Jerome Ringo, with The National Wildlife Federation, was a flood victim in Louisiana only to get hit by Wilma while in Florida for a talk. Peter Webster is a professor at Georgia Tech who says batten down the hatches for more warming fueled weather. Nell Newman will join us to talk about why Newman’s Own Organics is pushing fair trade coffee and Scott Silver with Wild Wilderness will tell us why national parks are under siege from a relentless administration and what you can do about it. Last, but not least, Daniel Hinerfeld will check in with a report on why the NRDC is suing the Navy over sonar… LISTEN to the whole show (37 min)
Angela Ledford, campaign director of Clear the Air , the national campaign againt dirty power that just produced the climate mash video.
LISTEN (11 min)
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Jerome Ringo, chairman of the board of directors for
the National Wildlife Federation;
LISTEN (3 min)
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Peter Webster, professor at Georgia Tech
LISTEN (3 min)
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Nell Newman, president and founder of Newman’s Own
Organics;
LISTEN (6 min)
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Scott Silver, executive director of Wild Wilderness;
LISTEN (7 min)
Send your comments
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The NRDC segment is devoted to the lawsuit filed against the US Navy about their high intensity sonar exercises. We’ll hear part of the film narrated by Pierce Brosnan about those underwater noises.
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Experts explain why they produce masswhale mortality and the precaution the Navy should take to protect marine mammals. Speak out with NRDC’s Earth Action Center.
The interviews for this segment are by Daniel Hinerfeld. LISTEN (4 min)
With Wilma taking aim at the Florida coast and the hurricane center quickly running out of names we’ll speak with global warming guru Ross Gelbspan about "Katrina’s True Name". The author, journalist and lecturer tells us why we should prepare for more extreme weather. We’ll also be chatting with Laurie David, eco-activist and wife of Curb Your Enthusiasm’s Larry David. Laurie discusses why she’s so enthusiastic about curbing global warming as is Steve Cochran, with Environmental Defense’s Undo It campaign. We’ll also hear why a change in the climate is impacting trout habitat in Montana – and what it means to you – from NRDC’s George Black.
Ross Gelbspan Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and author of Boiling point (just published in paperback).
Listen to the first part of the interview (11 min)
Listen to the second part of the interview (7 minutes)
More info on Kyotoandbeyond.org (the people’s ratification).
We’ll also hear parts of the song Change in the climate by Sharon Abreu
Steve Cochran, Director of Strategic Communications for Environmental Defense Fund
about their global warming undoit campaign.
Listen (4 min)
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Laurie David Founder and active promoter of the virtual Stopglobalwarming.org march
Listen (7 min)
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NRDC‘s magazine OnEarth explores the impact of global warming on trout habitat in Montana: how anglers and environmentalists join forces. George Black is articles Editor for OnEarth and his last book is The Trout Paradox. Listen (7 min)
NRDC also join forces with EcoTalk via a special partnership.
We wish and hope other groups join us to promote and produce more radiobroadcasts about key environmental issues.
LISTEN to the whole show (37 min)
This week-end we look at the G-8 interrupted and how the London tragedy has once again knocked
the environment off the agenda. We’ll speak first with
Michael Dorsey, a professor of environmental studies at Dartmouth and former
Sierra Club Director who held a "G-8 Alternative" conference (see the pictures). LISTEN (18 min)
Our second guest is Michel Gelobter, Executive Director of Redefining Progress, a
leading think tank in Oakland and DC focused on sustainable economic and environmental solutions.
Both our guests are co-authors of The soul of environmentalism. LISTEN (19 min)
If you want to LISTEN to the whole program (38 min)