Equal Time with Anthony Pollina, Carl Etnier, & Traven

February 10, 2010

LeDonna Redmond (PDF) is President, CEO, and Founder of the Institute for Community Resource Development, a nonprofit organization that works on creating and strengthening local food systems in urban communities, based in Chicago. She is the keynote speaker at NOFA Vermont's winter conference on Saturday, Feb. 13.

Ken Meter is the President of Crossroads Resource Center in Minneapolis. After his visit to Vermont in January, he reflects on how Vermont's local food system stacks up with the other 45 regions he has worked with.

Jon Groveman is Water Program Director and General Counsel for the Vermont Natural Resources Council. He filed a motion to intervene on Feb. 9 in the Vermont Yankee re-licensing docket with the Public Service Board, because the nuclear power plant is polluting the groundwater, a public trust in Vermont.

Peak Oil Check-In: Does civilization need saving?

Carl Etnier hosts.

Sacha Ismail, of Workers' Climate Action, explains the need to build a working-class movement to fight for a “just transition” to an ecologically sustainable society. How can we achieve a just and fair transition – that shows a deep concern for both jobs and the environment - to a sustainable economy?

Anja Rudiger, Human Right to Health Program Director of the National Economic and Social Rights Initiative/National Health Law Program & David Kreindler of the Vermont Workers Center articulate a human rights approach to protecting health and ensuring access to adequate health care for all people in the United States. Human rights offer a framework for promoting health policies rooted in a commitment to prioritizing the well-being of people over profits.

February 1, 2010

Kate Pickett is co-author of The Spirit Level: Why Greater Equality Makes Societies Stronger, and the book asks, Which is more important for a strong society--high overall levels of wealth, or equal distribution of wealth? The authors argue that more equal countries and US states have greater longevity, fewer homicides, more trust, and other better outcomes, but average wealth doesn't matter much. Pickett is on for the entire show.

Ed Paquin, former six-term Vermont state representative and current executive director of Disability Rights Vermont (formerly Vermont Protection and Advocacy), joins during the second half of the show to put Pickett's findings in a Vermont perspective. Disability Rights Vermont is part of the One Vermont initiative, which is "committed to a state that works for all Vermonters – where everyone contributes to and enjoys the state’s prosperity."

Carl Etnier hosted.

Peak Oil Check-In (rebroadcast from February 2009): A Peak Oil Superhero

Cordwood: It's a renewable, Vermont-made heating resource that many
people take for granted. What do the professionals know about burning
wood that most people don't? Guests are David Sparrow, a firewood processor and seller (229-2347); Harold Garabedian, former director of the Air Quality Division of the Department of Environmental Quality; and Vivian Davis, owner and CEO of Chimney Works.

Davis recommends the information on using woodstoves at the web site of the Chimney Safety Institute of America.

In the last part of the show, Kevin Kamts and Paul Gunter of Beyond Nuclear were schedule as guests, ahead of their testimony to the legislature on Entergy's stewardship of nuclear power plants outside Vermont and the radioactive fuel cycle. Their plane was turned around, and they were in flight and incommunicado during the show, unfortunately. Thanks to Debra Stoleroff of the Vermont Yankee Decommissioning Alliance for filling in on short notice.

Ted in Shelburne called in to recommend the Union of Concerned Scientists' information on nuclear power.

Carl Etnier hosted.

Peak Oil Check-In: Converging for Village-Building

Ron Blackwell, the AFL-CIO's Chief Economist, explains that Wall Street has gotten its bailouts. It’s overdue for Main Street to get real help. Ron lays out the AFL-CIO's five step program to put America back to work.

January 18, 2010
Feed the soil, keep down landfill costs, extend the life of landfills, create jobs, reduce greenhouse gases: These are all reasons to compost food waste instead of throwing it into the trash.

A new facility in Moretown, Grow Compost, is partnering with the Highfields Center for Composting and the Central Vermont Solid Waste Management District (CVSWMD) to collect food waste from restaurants, grocery stores, and other large sources and create good compost, right next to the Moretown landfill. Guests on today's show are Josh Kelly of Highfields and Lisa Ransom of Grow Compost.

CVSWMD has information about residential composting options.

For information about Highfields' community composting program, call Josh Kelly at 802-472-5138 x204.

Other local resources mentioned during the show:
Mad River Valley residents can purchase Soil Saver composters for $45 at the Earthwise Transfer Station in Waitsfield.

Worm composting information and supplies are available through Down To Earth Worm Farm in Greensboro.

Carl Etnier hosts.

Peak Oil Check-In: Lack of Resilience in Haiti

January 11, 2010

David Blittersdorf is CEO of Earth Turbines, which manufactures residential wind turbines and solar trackers in Williston and founding CEO of NRG Systems, which makes wind measuring instruments in Hinesburg. He sees an energy future for Vermont where wind and other renewable energy sources provide most of the energy, including fuel for transportation. He also describes how he designed the NRG building to be ultra-efficient for fuel and electricity, for a 7% initial cost premium that he made back in just a few years, and how energy-efficient Denmark was when he went to Copenhagen during the climate talks.

Carl Etnier hosts.

Peak Oil Check-In: Indiana Peak Oil Task Force Report Sets Bar

January 4, 2010

Ken Meter, one of the top experts on community food
systems in the US, discusses how local food networks thrive and how
they can help strengthen economies. Meter is president of the Crossroads Resource Center in Minneapolis.

Meter will speak in Montpelier at Vermont College's Chapel on Thursday, January 7 at 7 pm, on “Building Resilience and Recovery through Regional Foods.” He will also give the keynote and hold a workshop at NOFA-Vermont's Direct Marketing Conference on Saturday, January 9.

Carl Etnier hosts.

Peak Oil Check-In: Free Investment For Energy Savings, With PACE

Les Leopold, executive director of the Labor Institute, and Dan Dewalt, citizen activist wanting to shut Yankee, discuss the need for a Just Transition for the workers at Vermont Yankee who would be impacted by a plant shutdown. Untold millions will be spent on decommissioning the plant, cleaning up piles of contaminated dirt. Why should we treat dirt better than we treat workers?