Books – The Many Shades of Green

Liberty and Justice for Some (The Rocky Horror Election Show) with Mark W. Sutton, Charlotte Ghiorse and George Polisner

Maxine Rubin — Fri, 01 Nov 2024 19:53:32 +0000

“How can I trust a man, who doesn’t seem to understand, that there is something inherently dumb about Liberty and Justice for Some!” (Mitch M.)

“The vote is precious. It is almost sacred. It is the most powerful nonviolent tool we have in a democracy.” – John Lewis

The song played at the top of the podcast is titled Liberty and Justice for Some and was written by my Token Bro Mitch. He wrote it in the year 2000 in response to the Supreme Court’s decision in Bush v Gore, which reversed an order by the Florida Supreme Court for a selective manual recount which effectively awarded Florida’s 25 Electoral College votes to George W. Bush, ensuring victory over Al Gore. So here we are in 2024 and the court is even more politicized. My election stress is through the roof as are millions of other Americans at this moment in time. If DJT gets in, he will pack the Supreme Court, which already has issued major rulings which reflect the extreme right agenda, especially the overturning of Roe v. Wade and granting presidential immunity giving the president unchecked power. Mel Brooks got it right when he released the film High Anxiety, because we are all in the crippling mental condition of “high anxiety” which is election stress. This episode of TMSOG is a roundtable discussion about the 2024 Presidential election with George Polisner, Founder of Civ.Works, Charlotte Ghiorse, Artist, Eco-Activist and Sexy Astrologist, and Mark W. Sutton, author of the insightful and important book How Democrats Can Win Back Men. George, Charlotte and Mark give us their insight and opinions on the state of the current election cycle. There is a lot at stake, and the only way to stop the madness is to VOTE, and VOTE as if your life depends on it, because it does! My shade of green is evergreen, as we need everlasting greenery, beauty, hope and togetherness. If all else fails, have a slice of apple or pumpkin pie a la mode and a shot of Skrewball whiskey! For more info go to George’s website: https://civ.works/ Charlotte’s website: https://www.houseofchoclet.com/ and Mark’s website: https://www.mark-sutton.com/ and for voter information: https://www.vote.org/ Mark’s book How Democrats Can Win Back Men is available on Amazon.

To listen to past TMSOG shows go to HudsonRiverRadio.com and Malcolmpresents.com. Follow The Many Shades of Green on Facebook, Instagram and Threads @tmshadesofgreen. Listen to TMSOG podcasts on all major podcast apps. #RaiseYourEcoConsciousness

TMSOG is on Feedspot’s list of the 50 Best Environmental Podcasts to follow in 2024!

Jeffrey Rissman author of ‘Zero-Carbon Industry: Transformative Technologies and Policies to Achieve Sustainable Prosperity’ discusses GHG Emissions in the Industrial Sector

Maxine Rubin — Fri, 07 Jun 2024 18:28:55 +0000

“THE CLEAR AND PRESENT DANGER OF CLIMATE CHANGE MEANS WE CANNOT BURN OUR WAY TO PROSPERITY. WE ALREADY RELY TOO HEAVILY ON FOSSIL FUELS. WE NEED TO FIND A NEW PATH TO THE FUTURE WE WANT. WE NEED A CLEAN INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION.” BAN KI MOON, FORMER SECRETARY GENERAL OF THE UNITED NATIONS

Progress is defined as movement toward an improved or more developed state. The Industrial Revolution was a major period of industrialization, and a defining moment in the timeline of mankind’s accomplishments, but while it has it brought manufacturing to the forefront, as well as new ideas and technologies, it has also brought a depletion of natural resources, as factories continue to spew smog and soot into the air. The emissions and release of pollutants and chemicals into rivers and streams has resulted in increased air and water pollution. Fossil fuels, which include coal, oil, and fracked gas play a major role in the release of green house gas emissions into the atmosphere, but there are other high-emission sectors which need to cut emissions, specifically those which manufacture materials such as iron, steel, chemicals, cement, and concrete. Jeffrey Rissman discusses current technology and policies being put into place to combat greenhouse gas emissions in the industrial sector. Jeffrey is the Senior Director for Industry at Energy Innovation, where he leads the company’s work on technologies and policies to eliminate industrial greenhouse gas emissions. He is the author of Zero-Carbon Industry: Transformative Technologies and Policies to Achieve Sustainable Prosperity (2024) and coauthor of Designing Climate Solutions: A Policy Guide for Low-Carbon Energy (2018). In 2024, Jeffrey was appointed by Secretary Jennifer Granholm to serve on the Department of Energy’s Industrial Technology Innovation Advisory Committee. Jeffrey is also the creator of the Energy Policy Simulator, an open-source computer model that quantifies the effects of various energy and environmental policies in combination, predicting outputs such as fuel use, pollutant emissions, financial cost or savings, electric vehicle deployment, power sector structure, and more. For more information go to https://zerocarbonindustry.com/

TMSOG is proud to be on Feedspot’s list of the 50 Best Environmental Podcasts to follow in 2024: https://podcasts.feedspot.com/environmental_podcasts/

Susiku, And More: A Collection of Poems by Susan L. Pollet

The Many Shades of Green — Mon, 06 Mar 2023 21:03:39 +0000

Poetry is a verbal art form. I was awed by the young poet Amanda Gorman who wowed everyone at President Biden’s inauguration. I always try to start my podcasts with a poem, as I feel it is important to push poetry out further into other mediums. When I was in grade school we had to memorize a poem and recite it in class. I remember learning The Children’s Hour, by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, and was so nervous about going in front of the class because I thought I would flub the lines. In an online article in herculture.org Poetry and Social Change Richa Gupta said that “poetry doesn’t solely have a literary dimension; it has a religious one, a social one, a cultural one. An often neglected aspect of poetry is the power it can have in initiating social change, or in raising awareness about different issues people would otherwise remain oblivious to.” Poetry surrounds us daily, especially in the form of lyrics by songwriters (Bob Dylan, Paul Simon, Neil Young, Joni Mitchell from boomer land, and Billie Eilish, Taylor Swift, and Michael Kiwanuka from Z and Millennial generations. The Internet has been a spring board for poetry making it more accessible online with a click of a button. Our guest on this episode is Susan L. Pollet, a poet, artist, author and attorney who has written thought provoking poems which are now available in her most recent book Susiku, and More: a collection of poems. The poems focus on life moments, struggles, conflicts, as well beauty and the environment. The book is divided into two parts. Part One is called Seeking Connection, However Tenuous, and Part Two, Redemption and Renewal, On Occasion. It is available on Amazon, Barnes and Nobel and other book retail outlets. Go to SusanPollet.com for more info.

Check out past shows on: HUDSONRIVERRADIO.COM, MALCOLMPRESENTS.COM AND THEMANYSHADESOFGREEN.COM TWEET US YOUR THOUGHTS @TMSHADESOFGREEN. FOLLOW US ON INSTAGRAM AND FACEBOOK AND SUBSCRIBE TO TMSOG PODCAST ON ALL MAJOR PODCAST APPS. REMEMBER TO PICK A SHADE OF GREEN AND #RAISEYOURECOCONSCIOUSNESS

Teach Your Children Well about Climate Change with Guest Harriet Shugarman-Founder of Climate Mama

The Many Shades of Green — Fri, 20 Jan 2023 16:58:18 +0000

We are all anxious about world events and particularly to the degradation of the environment. The term eco-anxiety, includes “worry, fear, anger, grief, despair, guilt, and shame, as well as hope. A recent BBC Newsround survey found that 70% of 8- to 16-year-olds report feeling worried about the state of the planet. So how do parents, caregivers and teachers talk to kids about climate change? What can we tell them that will ease their tension about the climate crisis? We discuss these issues with our guest and friend of the podcast Harriet Shugarman, an incredible woman who is working to put children’s minds at ease. Harriet wrote the book, How to Talk to Your Kids About Climate Change:Turning Angst into Action, which provides tools and strategies for parents to explain the climate emergency to their children and galvanize positive action. Check out these websites for more info:

Our Kids Climate https://ourkidsclimate.org/

Parents for Future Global https://parentsforfuture.org/

How to Talk to Your Kids About Climate Change, Turning Angst into Action. https://www.amazon.com/Talk-Your-About-Climate-Change/dp/0865719365/ref=sr_1_2?keywords=anthropocene&qid=1570739365&s=books&sr=1-2

Global Warming Six Americas, Yale Climate Communications https://climatecommunication.yale.edu/about/projects/global-warmings-six-americas/

You can find The Many Shades of Green podcast on all major podcast apps (Spotify, Apple, iHeart, Amazon and more) Also check out HudsonRiverRadio.com and Malcolmpresents.com #RaiseYourEcoConsciousness

The Fight for a Decent, Fair Cup of Coffee

Divas@72 — Sun, 03 Apr 2016 12:00:33 +0000

By Susan Lutz

One week coffee gets a bad wrap, the next a good one. Which is it? Is coffee good for us? Killing us? Destroying the environment? Causing cancer? Delightfully tasty? Or all of the above? From the deep grind of espresso to the convenient, light fair of the K-Cup, we love it. However, are we taking care of the earth and the growers as we sip down our brew and satiate that morning, afternoon, and even evening desire?

One day with a few minutes to spare on an errand run, I stopped in Dunkin’ Donuts. When I was growing up, the brand stood for doughnuts – lots of them. It was a sinful, delightful treat and soon became a sign of too much. Yet, Dunkin’s found a way to turn the focus more on coffee and a bit less on the doughnut part. In part, getting a sugary latte-something will replace a hole a doughnut is waiting to fill. When I approached the door, I saw a Fair Trade sticker on a poster advertising that Dunkin’ Donuts buys Fair Trade beans for espresso. I was thrilled to get my double espresso over ice knowing it was Fair Trade. The joy goes down a notch when I’m handed the disposable cup – a glitch in all take-out facilities. The cup I received wasn’t Styrofoam, though I know Dunkin’ was famous for those white cups. NYC banned Styrofoam take-out containers. Dunkin’ says it’s working on phasing out the material all together.

On the other side of the block, Starbucks takes on the same issues: the material of the take-out cups, the origin of the coffee, and the treatment of the people who grow and pick the beans. Starbucks purchases from Fairtrade International and other sources, including the company’s own Coffee and Farmer Equity Program called Ethically Sourcing. Starbucks claims 95% of their coffee is ethically sourced:

The cornerstone of our approach is Coffee and Farmer Equity (C.A.F.E.) Practices, one of the coffee industry’s first set of sustainability standards, verified by third-party experts. Developed in collaboration with Conservation International (CI), C.A.F.E. Practices has helped us create a long-term supply of high-quality coffee and positively impact the lives and livelihoods of coffee farmers and their communities.

On the other side of taste and quality comes the K-Cup. Sales tripled just a few years ago. The convenient one-cup brewer tripled, making an increase of over 200% and over 31 billion in sales in 2011. Perhaps campaigns to kill the small plastic cups with just a one-time use put a dent in sales.

Today, the outlook looks a bit bleaker for the convent cup. Holiday sales reported a sixth straight quarter loss in sales by Keurig. The sale of the little cups is down too. Consumers are heading back to the barista and other traditional ways to make coffee. The first time I saw one of these machines, a natural “yuck” look came across my face like I’d just sucked on a lemon. Instinctively, I imagined that all that plastic making one little watery cup of coffee was just a bad idea. Today, I notice the machines pushed further back into the corners of offices, the dying K-Cup tossed asunder, forgotten, and ignored. Keurig’s slow response to changing the plastic cups into something recyclable by 2020 must not have sat well with coffee drinkers. Really? 2020? (Read my article on The Many Shades of Green for more information). The consumer has spoken.

This year, the Dietary Guidelines for the U.S. looked at coffee and health. They concluded that coffee was part of a “healthy lifestyle.” Not just one or two cups of coffee but up to five.

“Strong and consistent evidence shows that consumption of coffee within the moderate range…is not associated with increased risk of major chronic diseases.”

Eating five celery sticks is healthy; five glasses of water is great, but five cups of coffee? Studies like this succumb to our coffee desires. We will continue to get reports about the good and the bad of coffee. I’m waiting for more studies to look at the high level of pesticides used to grow the crop and the effect this has on workers and consumers.

Though sales go up and down, the desire grows and the consumers of coffee get younger. I watch kids order from coffee houses with ease and authority. They sit at tables with a steamy cup of joe. Coffee hooks us with the smooth image of connection. At the coffee house, neighborhood store, coffee machine in the corner, we’re drawn towards getting along for that sweet amount of time it takes to brew a cup of coffee.

Commodities inherently demand we get along on a global scale. We can’t drink, eat, and wear things when we have no idea where they came from. We can’t ignore the people planting and picking the crop. A simple map quickly shows who wants the coffee and who grows it.

We can no longer take for granted whether or not a product is good for us, environmentally sound, and treats the farms well just because it’s packaged well or the latest scientific study says it’s healthy. We’re smarter than that. We have the power to demand more from the giants who sell us our daily grind.

There is Still Time

The Many Shades of Green — Wed, 17 Feb 2016 19:00:03 +0000

My guest this week is Peter Seidel and we discuss his new book, There is Still Time: To Look at the Big Picture and Act. The book delves into how our modern habits, which are intertwined with evolutionary psychology, are causing a disconnect with nature. What is causing this dilemma, and how can we become more emotionally connected to create a more sustainable planet? Tune in to find out why we need to take action to bring forth positive solutions to environmental problems. There Is Still Time is available on amazon.com and peterseidelbooks.com.

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#1603: Beyond Global Warming

The Many Shades of Green — Wed, 03 Feb 2016 18:00:26 +0000

My guest this week is Victor Provenzano, eco-consultant and author, who has written articles for clean tech websites. His article for Clean Technics, entitled The Intermittence of Wind and Solar, has been well received, and has been widely circulated. In addition, Victor is currently working on a new book, Beyond Global Warming, which will emphasize that solutions to current ecological problems are being developed, and will hopefully be put into place within the next decade. You can also check out Reinventing Fire: Bold Business Solutions For The New Energy Era, by Amory Lovins, to get more detailed data, analysis and modeling regarding the future of energy. For more info go to Rocky Mountain Institute: rmi.org

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1602: Slick Water

The Many Shades of Green — Wed, 20 Jan 2016 19:00:25 +0000

It is no secret that mainstream media coverage of environmental issues is slow-moving, and many stories go un-reported in the press. Climate change deniers spout their ideology with reckless abandon. Enter my guest this week, Andrew Nikiforuk, an award winning environmental writer based in Calgary, Canada, who has written a new book about the hydraulic fracturing industry entitled Slick Water: Fracking and One Insider’s Stand Against the World’s Most Powerful Industry. The book traces the saga of Jessica Ernst, and the path she takes to hold Encana Oil and Canada’s environmental government agencies, responsible for secretly fracking hundreds of gas wells around her home, in a rural area northeast of Calgary. A cover-up ensues, which leads Ms. Ernst to take legal action against the various parties for their role in contaminating land, water and air in her community. For more information andrewnikiforuk.com and to amazon.com to check out his new and older works.

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#1541: Annihilation of Nature

The Many Shades of Green — Wed, 23 Dec 2015 19:00:15 +0000

Our guest this week is Dr. Paul Ehrlich, Professor of Population Studies at Stanford University, whose famous book, The Population Bomb, remains controversial to this day. His current work is titled ANNIHILATION OF NATURE: Human Extinction of Birds and Mammals, which discusses the loss of species due to human activity, and the importance of biodiversity and empathy in helping solve problems of habitat loss, and the effects of climate change as it relates to all Earthlings. We are in the Sixth Extinction, and it is time for humans to use their emotional cues to protect Mother Earth. For more information go to ccb.stanford.edu (Center for Conservation Biology) and his book is available via amazon.com. You can send him a tweet @PaulREhrlich

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#1534: The End of Plenty

The Many Shades of Green — Wed, 16 Sep 2015 18:00:43 +0000

Can we feed the world without wrecking it? Are we farming ourselves out of food? My guest, Joel K. Bourne Jr. and I delve into those questions on this week’s show. Joel’s new book, THE END OF PLENTY: The Race to Feed a Crowded World, discusses the world food crisis, as it relates to population increase and environmental concerns. Farm land is becoming decimated, as water shortages are spreading globally, thus reducing growth of crops needed to feed the populace. Political unrest and revolutions have occurred in various hot spots around the world, as wheat crops have failed, which has lead to tightening grain supplies. Lives are lost as fights break out over bread. Will 3D printing of food save us? Probably not, but there is hope, as farmers are using innovations in food irrigation, as well as conservation methods to solve some of the problems. A new land ethic must be put into place to feed the world. For more information go to joelkbournejr.com and amazon.com for his book, THE END OF PLENTY.

#1525: The End of Plenty by The Many Shades Of Green on Mixcloud

#1532: The Green Living Guy

The Many Shades of Green — Wed, 19 Aug 2015 18:00:10 +0000

Do the electric slide into an EV (electric vehicle), and plug into a greener way to travel. My guest this week, Seth Leitman, a/k/a Green Living Guy, brings his expertise on vehicles that are electrifying the roadways. From Ford Fusion to Mitsubishi to Tesla, we learn about how the car industry is heading towards a more electric future. Seth’s Green Guru Guides and soon to be videos, are great tools to help you become a more sustainable Earthling. For more information go to greenlivingguy.com

#1532: The Green Living Guy by The Many Shades Of Green on Mixcloud

#1518: To Life! Eco-Art in Pursuit of a Sustainable Planet

The Many Shades of Green — Wed, 06 May 2015 18:00:40 +0000

What is Eco-art and how does it differ from conventional western art and mediums? For the answer, tune in to this week’s program, as Eco-artist, educator, author and curator, Linda Weintraub and I discuss how eco-artists connect to the natural earth via photography, performance and public art, and much more. These cutting edge artists help transform our way of life, through their unique approaches and unconventional methods, which set out to transform our environmental consciousness. From the use of microbes, which ebb and flow into divergent patterns of life forms, to a sunflower which is equipped to photograph the sun as it follows it in the sky, this burgeoning art field helps raise awareness of the environmental impact, both positive and negative, that we humans are having on the planet. For more information about Linda’s work and her book: To Life! Eco-Art in Pursuit of a Sustainable Planet, go to lindaweintraub.com.

#1518: To Life! Eco-Art in Pursuit of a Sustainable Planet by The Many Shades Of Green on Mixcloud