Mammologist, biologist, writer, and 2007 Australian of the Year Tim Flannery tells Betsy about water rationing in a draught-striken Australia, his book for all ages The Weathermakers, and how us Yanks can’t afford to wait out Bush’s term in office. PART ONE (7 min) PART TWO (12 min)
Grist Magazine staff writer David Roberts kept a rather wily running commentary of yesterday’s congressional hearings on the White House putting their grubby claws all over taxpayer-funded science. The good guys got some jabs in, but was all the "lawyering" and "technobabble" a distraction from the fact that in the only contest that really matters (Climate Change!), we’re falling behind? "It was a political circus" Roberts says. "Trying to pretend that we’re arguing about science when what we’re actually arguing about is policy, helps the conservatives.
PART 1 (11 min) PART 2 (7 min)
Carbon Coalition co-chair Ted Leach tells Betsy that in New Hampshire, "people just need to open their eyes and they know that something isn’t right. In 1977, there were 48 ski areas in New Hampshire. Today, there are 15. In the early 1970s, 80% of the Maple Syrup in this country was generated in New England, and 20% in Canada. Today, it’s just the reverse." Never ones to sit still ("Live Free or Die" after all), hundreds of townships have resolved to stop climate change in its tracks, by making any presidential hopeful go through them. LISTEN (11 min)
Alaska WIlderness League Executive Director Cindy Shogan sits down with Betsy to urge all of us to stand up and be counted on March 20th in Washington, DC. LISTEN (11 min)
As long as this absurdly early presidential campaign season is underway, EcoTalk might as well get its two cents in. Simply hearing environmental platitudes on the campaign trail represents progress, but it is our job to tell them what we expect from them on energy policy and climate change. Here Tony Massaro, Political Director for the League of Conservation Voters, talks about how they and other green groups are putting heat on politicians in every single congressional district in the United States. LISTEN (10 min)
As Betsy says, "More proof that we all live downstream." When it comes to pollution and environmental degradation, it’s often not so much what we bring on ourselves, its what we pass along to others. A new report out this week draws conclusive links between carbon emissions in China and India with intensifying storms in the Pacific North. Report co-author Renyi Zhang, a scientist at Texas A&M’s Department of Atmospheric Sciences says that storms are not necessarily becoming more plentiful in the Northwest, but that they are increasing in strength and intensity. LISTEN (11 min)
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As Michigan State Professor Harm de Blij tells Betsy in this fascinating interview, "Geography is the only science that combines analysis of natural environments in the context of human society." So why have Americans become so ignorant of Geography, just at the moment when the Earth and its problems are ever more inter-related? Professor de Blij’s new book, Why Geography Matters: Three Challenges Facing America: Climate Change, the Rise of China, and Global Terrorism, answers, and guides us forward. LISTEN (12 min)
Vaughan Turekian, Chief International Officer for the American Association for the Advancement of Science talks about the noble skepticism that underscores all legitimate scientific inquiry, and how that differs from the straw men scientists being propped up by of the climate change deniers: "When 2500 scientists– and I there are actually more than that– that say that humans are impacting the climate, then humans are impacting the climate." LISTEN (8 min)
Cathy Zoi of the Alliance for Climate Protection tells Betsy about the launch of the SaveOurSelves campaign and the star-studded (Pharrel! Chili Peppers! Snoop Dog! Bloc Party! Bon freakin’ Jovi!) LiveEarth Concert Festivals slated for July 7th. She also speaks to the droughts in her sometime home Australia that are pushing public opinion towards greater conservation, and a more considered look at our relationship to the Earth’s resources. LISTEN (11 min)
Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders tells Betsy about his letter to the American Enterprise Institute in response to their offer of $10,000 to any scientist who would challenge science showing that global warming is human-caused, so that they can continue to sow confusion, and put the brakes on all the progress we, the majority, are making: “It is a sad state of affairs when major corporations like Exxon Mobil and others are trying to cast doubt on the scientific work being done by very serious scientists on such an important issue.” Betsy wonders, “Don’t they live on this planet?” Senator Sanders also shares his hopes for the passage of The Global Warming Pollution Reduction Act of 2007 that he is co-sponsoring with California Senator Barbara Boxer.
LISTEN Part 1 (11 min)
LISTEN Part 2 (7 min)