The Many Shades of Green – Providing ideas to help make the world a better place for this and future generations

Clean Your Plate! Courtney Gravenese MS, RDN talks about Eating healthy, reducing food waste and processed food, plus tips for holiday gatherings

This week’s podcast opens with the iconic tune”Food Glorious Food” from the 1960’s musical Oliver by Lionel Bart. The song is based on Charles Dickens’ Oliver Twist. The lyrics depict the poor orphans dreaming of a grand feast, juxtaposing their reality of gruel with images of rich foods like “hot sausage and mustard” and “cold jelly and custard”. The song we use is the parody version by John Powell from the animated film Ice Age: The Meltdown.

Food Glorious, Food, we love to eat and enjoy food. It is a source of comfort, and it plays a crucial role in our overall health and well-being. We need a varied diet with protein, fruits, veggies, dairy and carbs. While we all love sweets, we should eat them in moderation. On this episode of TMSOG we explore the food choices that shape our health, our communities, and our planet. We discuss what we eat, what we waste, and how it affects our health and climate, as processed food, food waste and diet all have a climate connection. Food waste is one of the most overlooked contributors to global warming and it is something many of us don’t think about day to day. According to the United Nations, we waste about one-third of all food produced globally — and in the U.S., it’s closer to 40%. When that food breaks down in landfills, it emits methane, a greenhouse gas, which is 25 times more potent than carbon dioxide. It’s staggering how much food goes uneaten and gets thrown away, especially when millions of people do not have enough to eat. What we buy, how we cook, and what we waste — really can make a difference. Another food related issue that we address is processed food, which is so prevalent because it’s convenient, affordable, and heavily marketed. Many of these foods are ultra-processed — loaded with added sugar, salt, and unhealthy fats. We need to be conscious of what we eat, what it contains, and how it affects our health and the health of the planet. Joining us on this episode is Courtney Gravenese and we talk about nutrition, diet, and how we can eat better by putting together cleaner plates. Courtney is a nutrition consultant and health educator in the New York Metro area. She is a registered dietitian/nutritionist with Nourish, and also has a private practice providing nutrition education to individuals, communities and corporations. She holds a Master of Science degree in Nutrition and Exercise Physiology from Teacher’s College- Columbia University and has greater than twenty five years of experience including nutrition therapy, fitness training, worksite wellness, and health writing for various organizations in the area. Courtney gives us important information on eating healthy, the ultra processed food problem, food waste and tips for planning meals for the holidays. Every mindful meal helps build a healthier planet. Go to https://courtneygravenese.com/ and https://www.usenourish.com/ for more information.

To listen to past TMSOG shows go to: https://hudsonriverradio.com/ and https://malcolmpresents.com Follow The Many Shades of Green on FB, Threads and Instagram @tmshadesofgreen and on Blue Sky @tmshadesofgreen.bsky.social. Listen to TMSOG podcasts on all major podcast apps.#RaiseYourEco&SocialConsciousness.

A Special shout out to Neil Richter for all of his help and engineering wizardry in getting TMSOG up and running each week.

Bridges Over Generations with Yolanda Nava, Tina Flores and George Polisner

This episode opens with the song “Get Up, Stand Up” by Bob Marley and the Wailers which is an anthem for those fighting for one’s rights and resisting oppression. It was inspired by Marley’s visit to Haiti, where he witnessed poverty, and it has become a global rallying cry for human rights and a symbol for movements and protests worldwide. It is a call for people to action, to rise up and demand their rights instead of giving up. The song touches on unity and the lyric of the chorus has become universal for those facing injustice. Communities must stand up and be one!

At its core, community means connection—people recognizing that their futures are linked. When one person is isolated, change feels impossible. But when neighbors, friends, or even strangers come together around a shared cause—something shifts. Standing up for your rights doesn’t begin with confrontation—it begins with visibility. When one person speaks up publicly, they open a doorway for others to join. And once people connect, they start to build power. When we come together, we don’t just protect our freedoms—we protect one another. And that is where real power lives. When a community speaks—officials listen, institutions shift, and policies evolve. People feel braver when they know they’re not alone. People felt a sense of community during the recent No Kings Rallies. There is power in numbers and it builds resilience!

I am happy to introduce Yolanda Nava and Tina Flores to the TMSOG family. Both amazing ladies will be joining us every other month to give us great information, stories, life experiences and wisdom on social justice issues and more. Yolanda Nava, is an activist, Emmy award winning journalist, and award-winning author. She is a Mexican American pioneer renowned for her contributions to media and civil rights. Yolanda is on the Editorial Board and is a contributor for Mujures de las Americas. She is the spokeswoman for “Salt of the Earth” Anniversary Commemoration, and creator and host of “Do You See What I See” on You Tube. She was the first Latina on KNBC/TV and won an Emmy Award for her reporting. Yolanda shattered barriers and illuminates stories and her career is a testament to her unwavering commitment to justice and empowerment.
Tina Flores is an educator and activist who grew up taking social action. Tina is the West Coast Coordinator for Peace and Dignity, and is the President of a World Wide Medical Relief Organization during a Disaster. She is a Teacher for Caregivers for Health and Safety, and she values life highly, in any form, both 2 legged and 4 legged. Tina organized the High school student involvement for Ethnic Studies Fight at UC Berkeley, SF State, Merritt College on Chicano Power for the Chicano Moratorium. She attended rallies, and boycotts from a young age, and continues on that path today. Both Tina and Yolanda work together on important projects related to education, history, and community organizing. George Polisner, founder of Civ.works also joined us on this episode and for more info go to https://civ.works/ To help defend democracy, please donate if you can to help lawyers defend our constitution by going to https://www.aclu.org/ https://www.brennancenter.org/

Also please support https://www.democracydocket.com/ If you want to help protect the environment please donate to https://earthjustice.org Also follow https://nokingsday.org/

Burning Down the House with George Polisner, Founder of Civ.Works

I was born and raised in Brooklyn, and the two houses that I grew up in, which were down the block from each other, were taken down by a wrecking ball and bulldozed. I had a great childhood, and it was terrific growing up on that block with a diverse group of friends from other nations and those born in Brooklyn. I witnessed the razing of my first house, which had a cherry tree in the back yard and an apple tree hanging over our property from a neighboring house. My mom had a garden and it was fun to play outside. It was a small house but it had history. My musical brothers, Phil and Mitch, who founded the singing group The Tokens, famous from the iconic tune, The Lion Sleeps Tonight, rocked the house into the wee hours and it was constantly filled with music. In my 8 year old mind, my house was a landmark, but a developer entered the picture and dangled some cash in front of my dad and the owners of the other six homes nearby. Plans for a large apartment building were put into place, as money usually talks. I was too young to be part of any decision, but my soul was crushed at the thought of moving somewhere else. My dad eventually capitulated to the sale, but to his credit he was the last holdout. I cried when I saw the wrecking ball knock it down, as I knew I would never enjoy that home again, but I did have the memories. A similar fate came to my second home, but that was after I had already moved out and was in college. I didn’t know the house was gone until I was about to drive by, with my mom in tow, as we had planned to visit the old Ocean Parkway neighborhood. Upon passing by for a look, the house, as well as four others, were gone, and a new four story apartment building stood in their place. My mom cried as we drove by, and I understood her pain. Nothing lasts forever! With my second childhood home razed, I thought about the time spent with my family in that house. I remembered the music, my mom cooking dinner in the middle of the night for my brothers who came home late from their gigs, the sleepovers, the smell of my dad’s cherry pipe tobacco, my brother Mitch’s man cave in the basement, the parties, the holidays, and so much more. Both homes were not grandiose, but they were very special me. I cannot obviously compare them to the White House, but seeing what is happening now, with the demolition of the entire East Wing to put up a ballroom, or perhaps build a new golden bunker, makes me want to cry. The White House is the peoples’ house, and it makes me sad to see it wounded. Its dismantling is akin to the citizenry losing their home, America’s home. There is so much being thrown at the citizens of the United States now, but we are standing strong, as evidenced by the high turnout at the recent rallies on No Kings Day. Over 7 million people attended the rallies in the US and many countries worldwide came out in support, yet mainstream media didn’t think it was high enough on the newsworthy scale and under reported the event. Those of us with morality, humanity and common sense are feeling mental anguish by the daily chaos and corruption. What is the end game and what do we need to do to get our country back? Will we make it home again?

On this week’s podcast we have our resident political analyst, environmentalist and curmudgeon, George Polisner, founder of Civ.works, to give us some insight into the free fall of America into authoritarianism, the demise of the East Wing, and the daily dismantling of democracy. The powers that be are truly Burning Down the House and torching America. For more information go to https://civ.works/ To help defend democracy, please donate if you can to help lawyers defend our constitution by going to https://www.aclu.org/ https://www.brennancenter.org/

Also please support https://www.democracydocket.com/ and if you want to take more effective civic action visit https://civ.works If you want to help protect the environment please donate to https://earthjustice.org

A Special shout out to Neil Richter for all of his help and engineering wizardry in getting TMSOG up and running each week.

Dancing Frogs and Musical Mushrooms with Charlotte Ghiorse

“I’ve lived 82 years on this earth, and this is the first time ever I’ve witnessed people delighting in the suffering of others so openly, so proudly, and even recording it for the world to see.” Mick Jagger

You Can’t Always Get What You Want (Jagger and Richards 1969)

And I went down to the demonstration

To get my fair share of abuse

Singing, “We’re gonna vent our frustration

If we don’t we’re gonna blow a fifty-amp fuse”

Sing it to me, honey

You can’t always get what you want

But if you try sometimes, well, you just might find

You get what you need

The Rolling Stones got it right, and the words and music of Keith Richards and Mick Jagger written back in 1969 reflect how I have been feeling of late. The state of things are, to say the least, quite depressing, but there are cracks in the wall that might eventually turn things around. I think people are energized and are fighting back. There are hundreds of No Kings rallies set for this coming Saturday 10.18.25 (go to nokings.org for more info), not only in the US, but worldwide, as people in foreign countries are supporting those in America who are peacefully protesting. We are at an inflection point, and it seems clear that things have to change, and a new scenario has to be put into place, because what we have now is not working. Yes, the Rolling Stones put it best, “you can’t always get what you want, but if you try sometimes, well you just might find, you get what you need.” We need to take action and I am asking our listeners to be proactive, and to dump the tea into the harbor, as we are not a nation of Kings! On this week’s episode we delve into politics a bit and we talk about topics that affect us. Micro plastics are in our bodies and we have to reduce single use plastic. Behavioral + small interventions (boiling water, avoiding plastic packaging / utensils, using natural fiber clothing) are helpful, especially while larger systems scale up. We also touch on nuclear waste being dumped into the Hudson River, plus musical mushrooms, October Astrology and more. We delve into these subjects with our resident eco activist, artist, astrologer, comic, marvelous mom and founder of House of Chochlet, Charlotte Ghiorse. For more info about Charlotte go to https://www.houseofchoclet.com/

To help defend democracy please donate if you can to help lawyers defend our constitution by going to https://www.aclu.org/ https://www.brennancenter.org/ https://www.democracydocket.com/ and if you want to take more effective civic action visit https://civ.works/ If you want to help protect the environment please donate to https://earthjustice.org

A Special shout out to Neil Richter for all of his help and engineering wizardry in getting TMSOG up and running each week.

Pragmatic Environmental Stewardship with Rand Manasse, Board President of Federated Conservationists of Westchester County (FCWC)

We recently lost a truly great human, Jane Goodall. She was a steward of the Earth in so many ways, was a true conservationist and a mensch. She will be missed. This is one of her many wonderful and insightful quotes:

“We face the sixth extinction, climate change, loss of forests, poverty. But hope is about taking action in spite of it all. It’s about saying: I will do my bit. And when we join together, those bits become a movement.”

When we think of Mother Earth we think of conservation. We might envision beautiful national parks, forests full of wildlife, or the ocean’s coral reefs. We must all take action to conserve the land, and be more resilient and sustainable. Conservation is about the daily choices we make — at home, in our neighborhoods, and in our communities. We all need a sense of community to help us get through our daily lives. People have to come together to work on projects that affect their lives. Whether it’s joining an organization to clean up a river or save a forest, or building a relationship with a favorite farmer to support your local farmers market, we must work together to make things better. There are many organizations which work to make an impact on their communities which range from issues on sustainability, as well as supporting local businesses, and educating the citizenry on matters affecting their everyday lives. One of the best examples of community-driven environmental work in Westchester is the Federated Conservationists of Westchester County, known as FCWC, which has been uniting local groups, schools, and municipalities to protect our natural resources for over 60 years. They advocate for clean water, open space preservation, and sustainable development — but more than that, they connect people who care.
On this episode of TMSOG we are joined by Rand Manasse who is the Board President of the Federated Conservationists of Westchester County, which has been at the heart of environmental advocacy, education, and action in Westchester County New York. For more information and to donate, go to https://www.fcwc.org/ Also please visit other environmental organizations to help protect the environment: https://earthjustice.org and https://www.nrdc.org/ and https://www.preservebuttonhook.org/

To help defend democracy and to help lawyers defend our constitution check out: https://www.aclu.org/ https://www.brennancenter.org/ as well as https://www.democracydocket.com/ If you want to take more effective civic action visit https://civ.works/

To listen to past TMSOG shows go to: https://hudsonriverradio.com/ and https://malcolmpresents.com as well as https://themanyshadesofgreen.com/ Follow The Many Shades of Green on FB, Threads and Instagram @tmshadesofgreen and on Blue Sky @tmshadesofgreen.bsky.social. Listen to TMSOG podcasts on all major podcast apps.#RaiseYourEco&SocialConsciousness

A Special shout out to Neil Richter for all of his help and engineering wizardry in getting TMSOG up and running each week.

Know Your Pokeweed, Plant Trees, and Leave Leaves Alone + Sun, Flood or Drought with Victoria Alzapiedi

The realities of climate change are happening in plain sight. Many parts of the Northeast are experiencing drought conditions, which is more than just dry soil—it’s a stressor that cascades through plants, pollinators, ecosystems, and agriculture. Droughts are becoming more frequent/intense with climate change, even in regions previously thought relatively water-secure. During a drought the soil cracks under the heat. Streams run low. Gardens wilt. And overhead, bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds search for nectar that just isn’t there. Pollinators are essential: they enable reproduction of many wild plants, support ecosystems, and are vital for food crops. While challenges are real, there are many practices, from the backyard to policy level, that can make a difference. Pollinators have survived through great adversity; with awareness and action, people can help them thrive even under changing climate. We also need to pay more attention to the importance of trees. Trees are vital because they produce the oxygen we breathe, absorb carbon dioxide to combat climate change and filter the air, improving air quality. They provide food and shelter for wildlife, prevent soil erosion with their roots, regulate water cycles, and cool urban areas by providing shade. On this episode Victoria Alzapiedi, our resident garden, wildlife and healthy yards guru joins us to discuss current drought conditions on the East Coast which affect our gardens.Our hotter and drier conditions are a result of climate change and global warming. We need to educate people to be more proactive in their behavior to become more attuned to Mother Earth.

We talk about pokeweed, the need to plant trees and native plants. Victoria is a co-founder of New Castle Healthy Yards, and is the chair of the Town of New Castle Conservation Board, as well as a member of the Westchester Climate Smart Communities Task Force. She is also a member of Friends of Buttonhook, which is working to save a 20.3 acre forest in the Town of New Castle https://www.preservebuttonhook.org/ In addition, Victoria is the co-founder of the New Castle Pollinator Pathways Coalition, and started the Facebook group “The Nature of Westchester” an active community of nature lovers which now has more than 5000 members. She is also a Native plant gardening consultant and coach providing eco-friendly planting recommendations (mynativegardenoasis.com). Check out New Castle Healthy Yards on Facebook as well as Doug Tallamy, Entomologist, Conservationist, Author and Professor at University of Delaware who will be giving a lecture at CPAC in Chappaqua on November 2nd. https://homegrownnationalpark.org/doug-tallamy/

To help defend democracy please donate if you can to help lawyers defend our constitution by going to https://www.aclu.org/ https://www.brennancenter.org/ and

https://www.democracydocket.com/ If you want to take more effective civic action visit https://civ.works/ If you want to help protect the environment please donate to https://earthjustice.org and https://www.nrdc.org/

A Special shout out to Neil Richter for all of his help and engineering wizardry in getting TMSOG up and running each week.

Raindrops, Redford and Resistance with George Polisner, Founder of Civ.works and special guests Yolanda Nava and Tina Flores

We open this episode of TMSOG with the song Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head sung by B.T. Thomas which was written by Burt Bacharach and Hal David for the movie Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid starring Robert Redford and Paul Newman.

Redford and Newman both epitomized the human spirit and stressed the importance of giving back by taking action to make things better. We recently lost Robert Redford. He was an amazing actor, director, conservationist and family man. He starred in such films as All The Presidents Men, The Candidate, The Way We Were, and he won an Oscar for directing Ordinary People. Robert Redford was an environmentalist, and he worked in concert with the NRDC to fight for the land. He also started the Sundance Film Festival which helped keep Independent film alive. He was greatly loved and admired and he will be missed.
We are losing our freedoms on a daily basis. So where do we go and what do we do? Raindrops Keep Fallin’ on My Head uses the metaphor of raindrops to represent life’s challenges and struggles, but it also emphasizes that one needs to remain positive and believe that happiness is on its way. The lyrics go on to suggest a realization that complaining won’t stop the rain, and instead, one must “take action” or “take the initiative” to move life in the desired direction. The song can also be interpreted as promoting freedom and the idea that as long as one is free, everything is okay. In today’s world we are facing very difficult times and the rain drops seem more like Oobleck, as in the children’s book Bartholomew and the Oobleck written by Dr. Theodor Geisel, a/k/a Dr. Seuss. In that book the king is bored with normal weather, (is there such a thing as normal weather today?) and orders his magicians to create a new kind of precipitation. They conjure up Oobleck, a sticky, green goo (similar to Nickelodeon’s Green Slime) that falls and quickly wreaks havoc, causing the entire kingdom to become covered and immobilized. Young Bartholomew is the king’s page, and he is the only one not stuck in the green muck. He has to get the king to apologize to break the magicians spell. Bartholomew eventually convinces the king to apologize for his greedy desire for a new type of precipitation, and the king’s apology causes the Oobleck to melt away, and he learns to appreciate the simple, natural weather. Right now we are dealing with a wannabe king who has no capacity for apologies or being a leader for ALL the people of the USA. He believes climate change is a hoax and has reduced staff at the NOAA, FEMA, the EPA and other agencies that do research and follow weather patterns, hurricanes and other extreme weather. In these challenging times we need to resist, take action and work to save the Republic for which we stand! We are joined on this episode by our resident political analyst, environmentalist and curmudgeon, George Polisner, founder of Civ.works, to give us some insight into the free fall of democracy in the US and the globe. We also welcome Yolanda Nava and Tina Flores, as they will be doing a new TMSOG monthly program with a focus on activism, community organizing and climate, and the historic importance of diversity. So let’s walk between the raindrops, stay away from the Oobleck and activate our eco and social consciousness. Go to Civ.works for more info.

To help defend democracy please donate if you can to help lawyers defend our constitution by going to https://www.aclu.org/ https://www.brennancenter.org/ and

A Special shout out to Neil Richter for all of his help and engineering wizardry in getting TMSOG up and running each week.

Remembering our 9/11 experiences, Should we be Talkin’ About A Revolution? Plus Eco Talk and Astrology with Charlotte Ghiorse (House of Choclet)

We opened this episode of TMSOG podcast with Tracy Chapman’s song “Talkin’ Bout a Revolution” which she wrote when she was 16 years old. It was inspired by her experiences and anger about the socioeconomic disparities she witnessed in school during her teen years. We are still mired in a socioeconomic and racial quagmire, and things are not getting better. The song rings true today, as we are still experiencing racism rearing its ugly head as SCOTUS, the highest court in the land, tramples our constitutional rights. We are witnessing and watching the dismantling of democracy in plain sight. I believe that we must take action to fight the current dive into authoritarian rule. So it might be time to start talking about a revolution. It is time to rise up, protest, take action, call out your elected officials and make some noise! There is much work to be done to keep our republic from collapsing. Elections must be fair, voting rights are crucial, as are equal rights. Checks and balances are slipping away and must be put into place to keep the government running. The rounding up of immigrants is tearing families and the citizenry apart, as people are being taken off the streets with little or no due process, and they are being detained in facilities with little regard to their health, safety and welfare. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is rolling back a generation’s worth of rules meant to keep the air, land and water clean. If we don’t take care of the environment, then nothing else will really matter, as breathing is fundamental. There are many environmental issues that need to be addressed, and because of the rollback of EPA rules, there has been an increase in greenhouse gases and carbon emissions. Climate change is affecting temperatures, which are heating up the oceans and land masses causing more extreme weather and fires. We are a single use, throwaway society and we need to reduce, reuse and recycle. More personal responsibility is needed and a good place to start is what is in your closet, as clothing that is thrown out takes years to decompose in landfills. We delve into the topic of textile/clothing recycling, as well as other issues with our resident eco activist, artist, astrologer, comic, marvelous mom and founder of House of Choclet, Charlotte Ghiorse. For more info about Charlotte go to https://www.houseofchoclet.com/ You can catch her comedy stylings on September 13th at the Broadway Comedy Club located at 318 W. 53rd St, New York City at 4pm.

To help defend democracy please donate if you can to help lawyers defend our constitution by going to https://www.aclu.org/ https://www.brennancenter.org/ and if you want to take more effective civic action visit https://civ.works/ If you want to help protect the environment please donate to https://earthjustice.org and FABSCRAP at https://fabscrap.org/fabric-recycling

A Special shout out to Neil Richter for all of his help and engineering wizardry in getting TMSOG up and running each week.

Our Kids Climate: Teach Your Children Well with Harriet Shugarman, Executive Director of ClimateMama

It cannot be denied that we are in a difficult period of time in the US and globally. How do we talk to children about what is going on without scaring the living daylights out of them? How do we talk to them about the state of our nation and about climate change? We need to start listening to them in order to understand their feelings, so that we can better connect with them on topics that might be difficult to explain. With respect to the environment, a good starting point can be to find ways to relate climate change to their daily lives and explore the basic facts together. Try to expose your child to nature as much as possible, and nurture their enjoyment while being outside. Focus on positive action, exploring solutions as a family and pointing out the ways people and communities are working to make a difference. We have to empower children by showing them how they can contribute, emphasizing that it’s not their fault, and fostering a connection to nature and their community. We need to focus on actions and solutions and site examples of people who are working on ways to address climate change. For every problem you discuss, try to show a solution. Discuss positive and inspiring stories you see on the news or in your own community.

Climate education is key and (CRETF work) New York State, outlines the elements that educators believe are required for a successful statewide climate education program. It is based on research and analysis of best practices in other states, as well as the expertise from members, many of whom are educators, scholars, policymakers, and students. It lays out a shared vision which is aligned to ensuring the successful realization of the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act (CLCPA) New York State’s climate law, which is one of the most ambitious in the country.

It is my honor to have Harriet Shugarman join us on the Season 14 opening episode of TMSOG. Harriet is involved with the Climate & Resilience Education Task Force (CRETF) and is one of the leading voices in the global parent climate movement. She is the founder of and Executive Director of ClimateMama, and the award-winning author of “How to Talk to Your Kids About Climate, Turning Angst into Action.” She is the chair of the Advisory Council for Our Kids Climate, an anchor organization connecting national and grassroots groups from more than 50 countries working on intergenerational organizing and engagement strategies. Harriet is a core team member with Climate Junction/The Ecopsychepedia Project, as well as a Leadership Council member with Dear Tomorrow and a professor of World Sustainability and Climate Change Policy and Society. She is an economist and policy analyst and worked for 13 years with the International Monetary Fund including 10 as an IMF representative at the United Nations. Harriet is a mentor and leader with the Climate Reality Project and the recipient of the prestigious Climate Reality Alfredo Sirkis Memorial Green Ring. So it is important to teach our children well, and Harriet is leading the way in educating children and adults about the need to protect Mother Earth.

New York Climate Week 2025 runs from September 21st to September 28th. For more info on Climate Week NYC go to: https://www.climateweeknyc.org/ Event Calendar from The Climate Group

Additional links of interest are below:

NEST Climate Campus at the Javits Center

Dear Tomorrow Pop Up at The Creative Climate Forum, Pier 57 on 9/25 (no ticket needed to drop in)

https://www.wecaninternational.org/climate-week

https://www.wecaninternational.org/event-details/climate-week-women-in-action-for-climate-justice-and-a-just-transition-path-to-cop30-and-beyond

WECAN EVENT UN Church Center 9/24

Climate Education In Action 9/26 SunDay 9/21 with GreenFaith and other organizations. Check out EcoPsychepedia via Climate Junction

Dear Tomorrow

Our Kids Climate

CRETF Climate Education in NYC

To help defend democracy please donate if you can to help lawyers defend our constitution by going to https://www.aclu.org/ https://www.brennancenter.org/ and https://civ.works/ If you want to help protect the environment please donate to https://earthjustice.org

A Special shout out to Neil Richter for all of his help and engineering wizardry in getting TMSOG up and running each week.

Liberty and Justice for Some and The Shadow Docket

Liberty and Justice for Some song by Mitch Margo (2000)

Spin a little spin, stay the truth to win

Suddenly it’s become liberty and justice for some

Forget Election Day, it’s equal protection day

We don’t have to vote at all

The Supreme Court will handle the call

Those wise old owls in their treehouse

changed the course of history

Though there’s a song for every bird

Some of them will not be heard

The Liberty Bell has lost its ring

my voice don’t mean a thing

It only takes a 5-4 swing

Liberty and Justice for some

How can I trust a man

who doesn’t seem understand

that there is something inherently dumb

about liberty and justice for some

Mitch wrote that song after the U.S. Supreme Court stopped the Florida vote recount in 2000. Remember the hanging chads! The song was Mitch’s commentary on the election system, and he must have had a vision into the future, as our election process continues to be a sh*t show 25 years later. The landmark Bush v. Gore case centered on a dispute over the vote count in Florida, which was critical to determining the winner of the Electoral College and, ultimately, the presidency. It was a highly controversial decision, sparking accusations of political partisanship and raising debates about the role of the judiciary in political processes. It brought to light flaws in the U.S. election system, particularly concerning the inconsistent application of voting standards and the potential for narrow margins to create electoral uncertainty. The decision underscored the complexities of federalism and the interplay between state and federal courts in matters of election law. So here we are again, but in a different circumstance, as the head of the current regime has demanded that the electoral maps in Texas be redrawn in order to give the GOP advantage in the 2026 midterm elections. The Texas legislature was successful in their gerrymandering efforts, and as of now, the GOP has a 5 seat advantage in Congress. I am fairly certain that the Supreme Court will be getting another election case in the not too distant future, and it will politicize voter rights.

There is clearly executive overreach and checks and balances have been diminished, as both the US Congress and the Supreme Court are rubber stamping the Executive orders of the President. We are already in a Constitutional crisis and these actions will affect our democracy for generations to come. The Supreme Court is especially aiding executive overreach as it is making decisions with virtually no case law backing those orders. In an article about the SCOTUS Shadow Docket by The Brennan Center dated July 2022, Harry Black and Alicia Bannon explained that the conservative justices are increasingly using a secretive process to issue consequential decisions.

Controversial uses of the Supreme Court’s shadow docket makes it quite clear that the justices are willing to use this previously obscure procedural mechanism in ways that their predecessors did not. For better or for worse, the shadow docket is now a significant part of Supreme Court jurisprudence. The Brennan Center explainer notes that shadow docket cases “typically do not receive extensive briefing or a hearing. The decisions are accompanied by little to no explanation and often lack clarity on which justices are in the majority or minority. They are sometimes released in the middle of the night, creating a sense of palace intrigue.” This is why SCOTUS has now gone rogue, as it no longer seems to be one of the checks on the Executive branch as was intended by the framers of the Constitution. Malcolm and I delve into the Shadow Docket, and its destructive path towards the environment and the dismantling of democracy, as both Congress and SCOTUS walk in lock step with the Executive Branch. To help defend democracy please donate if you can to help lawyers defend our constitution by going to https://www.aclu.org/ https://www.brennancenter.org/

To find out how to take actions to heighten your civic duty go to https://civ.works/ Please go to the following organizations to get info and if you can, donate to https://www.ucs.org/ (Union of Concerned Scientists which helps scientists continue their valuable work). If you want to help protect the environment please donate to https://earthjustice.org/ and World Wildlife Fund: WWF

A Special shout out to Neil Richter for all of his help and engineering wizardry in getting TMSOG up and running each week.

People Have the Power with Reverend Fletcher Harper, Executive Director of GreenFaith

We started this episode of TMSOG with the song “People Have the Power” by Patti Smith, which is a song about collective empowerment and the potential for positive change through unified action. It emphasizes the idea that ordinary people, when acting together, possess the ability to shape their world and achieve their dreams. The song was written by Patti Smith and her late husband Fred “Sonic” Smith as a call to action, inspired by the spirit of the 1960s protest movements and aiming to inspire a similar sense of agency in the late 1980s and beyond. It is an anthem about the collective power of individuals to create change. It encourages listeners to recognize their own agency and work together to realize their dreams and address societal issues. The song emphasizes that meaningful transformation comes from the unified efforts of people rather than relying on external forces or authority.

People have the power to do great things, but at times it seems that humans have a propensity to mess things up, especially when it comes to the environment. There are those who are working to make things better and to help reduce the pollution of the land, air and water. We need to build community to protect the Earth. So on this week’s podcast we talk about a powerful ally in the climate movement: religious institutions. From churches to mosques, synagogues to temples, faith communities are stepping up and making a tremendous effort to protect the planet. According to our guest Reverend Fletcher Harper, Executive Director of GreenFaith, the United States stands at a crossroads, as within months, decades of climate progress have been undone. So what can we do to get the pendulum to swing back and get us on a path to creating a healthier planet for current and future generations?

For centuries, faith traditions have urged people to care for the Earth. People more likely trust their spiritual leaders more than politicians or corporations. When a pastor, rabbi, imam, or monk speaks about climate change, it can resonate in a deeply personal way. The climate crisis is causing real harm right now and Faith based groups are helping to fill a gap in climate activism by connecting the global crisis to local needs—providing disaster relief, protecting vulnerable communities, and ensuring that climate justice includes racial and economic equity. The message is clear: caring for the planet isn’t just environmental—it’s spiritual and moral. Our guest Rev. Fletcher Harper gives us his thoughts, as well as important information on how GreenFaith is working to inform faith based communities on ways to be proactive on environmental issues. Reverend Fletcher is a pioneer of the global religious environmental movement, and he helped spearhead the faith-based fossil fuel divestment movement. He organizes faith turnouts at major climate mobilizations, and a mobilization is coming up next month as the Faiths 4 Climate Justice Sun Day will take place from September 19th though the 21st, please go to greenfaith.org for more info. Rev Harper is also the founder of Shine, an international campaign that supports women and community-led renewable energy access initiatives in Africa and India. He is the author of GreenFaith: Mobilizing God’s People to Protect the Earth. You can email Rev. Amy Brooks at amy@greenfaith.org for more info on the Sun Day events.

To find out how to take actions to heighten your civic duty go to https://civ.works/

Also please go to the following organizations to get info and if you can, donate to https://www.ucs.org/ (Union of Concerned Scientists which helps scientists continue their valuable work). If you want to help protect the environment please donate to https://earthjustice.org/ and World Wildlife Fund: WWF

You can also donate to help lawyers defend our constitution by going to https://www.aclu.org/ https://www.brennancenter.org/

A Special shout out to Neil Richter for all of his help and engineering wizardry in getting TMSOG up and running each week.

Benjamin Franklin once said that “It’s A Republic, If You Can Keep It!” George Polisner of Civ.Works gives us insight into the current state of the Republic and what it stands for now…

This week’s podcast opened with the song Joy by Lucinda Williams from her Grammy award winning album, Car Wheels on a Gravel Road. The lyrics of the chorus reflect how millions of people are feeling right now:

I don’t want you anymore ’cause you took my joy

I don’t want you anymore, you took my joy

You took my joy, I want it back

You took my joy, I want it back…

While we need to look for pockets of joy in these chaotic and difficult times, we have to take a step back and look how we got here. Our resident political analyst, environmentalist and curmudgeon, George Polisner, founder of Civ.works, gives us some insight into Premature Democratization, which is his recent article on Substack. He states in the article that any meaningful form of democracy requires an educated, informed and engaged society. George always sends me notes and topic ideas for our monthly discussions, and this week the first note on the list was titled, Democracy and Government: why can’t we have nice things. According to AI, the phrase “This is why we can’t have nice things” is often used to express frustration when something desirable is broken or ruined, either due to accidents, carelessness, or deliberate actions. It highlights a sense of disappointment and resignation that the enjoyment or benefit of something nice is short-lived. George expands on this in more detail on the podcast, but I want to add my two cents in. I think we don’t have nice things because we lost civility, empathy, compassion and being nice to one another. There are many nice people doing wonderful things, but here in the US of A, trumpery has taken hold and is running rampant within a third of the populace in America. The term trumpery originates from the old French word “tromperie,” meaning deceit or trickery. It also refers to something that is meaningless or absurd and describes something that appears impressive but is actually of little or no value. The Rose garden was renovated by Jackie Kennedy in 1962 and was nice. It had lovely flowers and greenery and added beauty to the White House. It was a garden that made people smile. So now we no longer have a nice thing there, as the flora was dug up in what was the Rose Garden and it has been replaced by a white concrete floor poured over the garden grounds. The project was initiated by the current occupier of the White House, in a moment of “trumpery”. The primary reason for the change was to make standing in the garden comfortable for women in high heels, especially to prevent their stilettos from getting caught in the mud. I guess women cannot wear comfortable shoes within the outdoor confines of the White House. Birkenstock Buyers Beware! In addition, he has transformed the Oval Office to include gold plating on the ceiling, the walls, the fireplace and the floor. Our feckless Leader wants to compete with King Louis the XIV’s Versailles, but try as he might, there are NO KINGS in America!

For more info go to https://civ.works/ and find out how to take actions to heighten your civic duty .

A Special shout out to Neil Richter for all of his help and engineering wizardry in getting TMSOG up and running each week.