Earth – The Many Shades of Green

The Spirit of Doves with Poet, Artist Attorney and Renaissance Woman Susan L. Pollet

We start off the TMSOG podcast with the song When Doves Cry, which was written by Prince for the film Purple Rain in 1984 and it was his first Billboard number 1 single. Prince used doves as a metaphor in that a dove in distress or crying represents the violent shattering of peace. Doves are a universal symbol of peace and Prince’s lyrics refer to his parents differences and not getting along. He states:

Maybe I’m just like my father, too bold

Maybe you’re just like my mother

She’s never satisfied

Why do we scream at each other

This is what it sounds like when doves cry

By using doves as a symbol, was Prince hoping that his parents could work things out?

We need connectedness and peace more than ever, as we live in a world which is teetering on the brink of moral and ethical collapse. Wars continue to be fought between countries and the environment is being decimated by human behavior. While I truly believe that most people want to do good things, it seems like the evil empire is holding us hostage, and we need to fight the powers that be who are bent on destroying the earth so they can rule the world. We don’t want war, we want peace, clean air, clean water, untainted food, good medical care, a living wage and a better life for our children. We need to take a stand and fight for our rights, and so we bring out our symbols to try to counter the madness. While those who resist and protest dress up as frogs or unicorns, the ultimate symbol of peace are doves. Doves are gentle, quiet, and non-aggressive. The nature of doves makes them a natural visual metaphor for harmony. Ancient Mediterranean cultures used harvested olive branches as an offering to signal peaceful intent to end hostilities. The white dove carrying an olive branch is a universal symbol of peace and renewal, deeply rooted in ancient traditions, biblical stories and modern art popularized by Pablo Picasso. With the world in dire need of peace, we are lucky to have poets, artists and musicians to help us get through tough times, and fill our need for joy. I am delighted to have Susan Pollet on this episode to talk about the relationship between poetry and art and how these two forms of creativity speak to each other, inspire each other, and connect in many ways. Susan is a poet, an artist, published author and an attorney. Her poetry and artwork have been featured in many publications, and she created the cover art for her latest poetry collection, Deep Diving. Other recent collections are Managerie of Musings, Palpable Ponderings and Susiku And More which was her first collection of poetry. In addition to writing poetry, Susan is an attorney who has practiced law for for over 40 years, primarily in the area of family law. She has published over 60 articles on a variety of legal topics. Susan is a published author, poet and artist, and truly is a Renaissance woman. So let’s read some poems and explore the mindset of my friend Susan Pollet. Check out her poem The Spirit of Doves and others by going to https://susanpollet.com/ and https://susanpollet.substack.com/

To help defend democracy please donate if you can to help lawyers defend our constitution by going to: https://www.aclu.org / www.brennancenter.org/ https://libertyjusticecenter.org/ and learn more about civics at https://civ.works/

To help protect the environment visit and please donate to https://earthjustice.org Help save a forest by going to https://www.preservebuttonhook.org/

To listen to past TMSOG shows go to: https://hudsonriverradio.com/ https://malcolmpresents.com and 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 big shout out to Neil for all his engineering wizardry!

Who Can Sleep When the World is on Fire? With Yolanda Nava, Golda Valez, Jim Driscoll and George Polisner

Some People Sleep, by The Tokens

Sweet harmony amidst the chaos. Some people sleep to the sound of the waves on the shore, some people sleep to the sound of the falling bombs, and some people don’t sleep at all. A beautiful song written by my Token bro Mitch has a message that reverberates today as much as it did in the late 1960’s, when turmoil kept us awake. But within the turmoil there was harmony.

Some people sleep, some people don’t. Some people remain in their bubbles, others are proactive. Some people believe in lies, others want the truth. Some people believe in science, history, climate change and fair elections. Others prefer to believe in cult leaders and get joy out of other people’s suffering. Some people prefer to take coverage in the Trojan horse, while others take to the streets to protest and make good trouble. I believe that more of us want to do what’s right. We want to have clean air, clean water and clean land, and we want our children and grand children to live in a safe and beautiful world.

So the question arises, why can’t we sleep ? I think the answer is that we are hit by chaos in the news without stop, and the world is on fire. We are living in unprecedented times, and we seem more divided than ever. Yet the US along with Canada and Mexico, hosted the World Cup, and even as bombs dropped in wars around the planet, visitors from around the world experienced some joy. Our global visitors enjoyed the good nature of the majority of Americans being helpful and welcoming. Some even became NY Knick fans. People from around the world were expecting the worst, as they cited news reports of the USA being a total hellhole. I cannot dispute that we are living in uncertain and difficult times, but it seems that when the world leaders were mostly absent from the picture, the globe united for a few weeks. So on this episode of TMSOG podcast we talk about the divisions, past history, and what we need to do to take action to save our democracy. We must continue to protest, and perhaps strike. We must all come to the realization that climate change is not a hoax and renewable energy is more important than ever. There are things we can we learn from history of decades past, especially the 60s and 70s? We discuss these topics and more with friends of the show, Yolanda Nava, George Polisner, Golda Valez, and special guest Jim Driscoll. Jim is a decorated, combat Vietnam veteran with degrees from Harvard and Cornell, who taught at MIT. He is an activist who helped put together the Nuclear Weapons Freeze Campaign and the American Peace Test. Jim worked to Stop the Gulf War, and reached out to veterans to start Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans Against the War, now named About Face. From 2012-2020 he focused on climate change, winning the first local resolution declaring a climate emergency in Montgomery County (MOCO). His accomplishments and resume is too long to list here, and I am honored to have had him on the podcast. For more info go to (NIPSPeerSupport.org), https://civ.works/ https://workers.vc/ and https://www.yolandanava.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://libertyjusticecenter.org/

To help protect the environment visit and please donate to https://earthjustice.org and https://action.nrdc.org/ Help save a forest by going to https://www.preservebuttonhook.org/

To listen to past TMSOG shows go to: https://hudsonriverradio.com/https://malcolmpresents.com and https://themanyshadesofgreen.com/

A big shout out to Neil for all his engineering wizardry!

Heat Domes in Virgo, Smoke Gets in Our Eyes, Let Us Not Eat Lettuce, July Astrology and more with Charlotte Ghiorse, Founder of House of ChoCLeT

We start off the episode with the tune Heat Wave which is a 1933 jazz standard written by Irving Berlin. The song uses scorching summer weather as a playful metaphor for intense, passionate desire. I am not sure if today’s heat domes bring out the same passion, and while heat waves are not new to summer months, heat has become more extreme, and so perhaps a new song needs to be written titled What’s It All About-Heat Domes. Because of its show-stopping, rhythmic nature, Heat Wave has been covered by numerous icons, including Ethel Waters (who debuted it), Ella Fitzgerald, and Marilyn Monroe in the film There’s No Business Like Show Business.

This summer, millions of people across the United States, Europe and globally are experiencing something that has become increasingly familiar: relentless, dangerous heat. Cities are breaking temperature records. Emergency rooms are seeing increases in heat-related illnesses. Energy systems are being pushed to their limits, as people turn to air conditioning for relief. Are these extreme heat events the new normal, and how much are they connected to climate change? Climate change exacerbates droughts and warms the atmosphere, both of which intensify heat waves and heat domes. The Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) warns that while high-pressure heat domes are a natural atmospheric phenomena, fossil fuel-driven climate change is supercharging them. Warmer oceans and atmospheres trap heat more effectively, making these systems more stagnant, prolonged, and intense, directly amplifying extreme summer temperatures across North America. Warming temperatures can also lead to forest fires, which leads to dangerous smoke in the air. Climate Scientists note that a fundamentally warmed planet means heat domes trap much more heat and humidity, which would be virtually impossible without decades of human-caused greenhouse gas emissions.

Heat domes are dangerous for humans and animals. Not only can they create record-high temperatures during the day, but they also warm temperatures during the night. Children, the elderly and people with underlying health conditions are most affected by the heat. Heat domes are not just a weather story. They are a reminder that the climate we live in today is changing, and extreme heat is becoming one of the defining challenges of our era. The science is clear: a warmer atmosphere increases the likelihood of more intense and prolonged heat events. The choices we make in our communities, our energy systems, and our policies will influence how much hotter the planet becomes and how prepared we are to face it.

So on this episode of TMSOG we talk about heat domes and how a warming climate is making extreme heat events more intense, longer-lasting, and more dangerous. We discuss the cyclospora parasite which is affecting what fruits and vegetables we can eat, plus a story about artist Victor “Marka27″ Quiñonez, who was banned from exhibiting his work called I.C.E. Scream,” at University of North Texas. In addition, we cover positive eco news about a young lady, Rebecca Young in Glasgow, Scotland, who invented a solar blanket that fits in a backpack to help keep homeless people warm in colder weather. We hit on these topics as well as July astrology and more with our resident artist, activist, astrologist, comedian, writer, and marvelous mom, Charlotte Ghiorse, Founder of House of ChoCLeT. For more info go to https://www.houseofchoclet.com/ and check out Charlotte’s new show “Bad Music for Bad People” at the Nocturnal Cafe in Ithaca, NY July 19, 20, 23, 26,27 and August 1st.

Go to https://civ.works/defend for more info about civic action, voting and more.

To listen to past TMSOG shows go to: https://hudsonriverradio.com/https://malcolmpresents.com and https://themanyshadesofgreen.com/

A big shout out to Neil for all his engineering wizardry!

Caring for the Earth: Stories from Faith Communities with Reverend Carol Devine, Director of Blessed Tomorrow and Dayna Reggero, Founder of Climate Listening Project

This episode of TMSOG starts with the song What A Wonderful World sung by Louis Armstrong. The song was written in the turbulent late 1960s. The lyrics counter societal strife by celebrating the beauty of nature and human connection, encouraging listeners to pause, appreciate their surroundings, and find hope amidst adversity.

It is a wonderful world, yet many people don’t spend time to stop and smell the roses, or walk around in nature. Beauty surrounds us, but we all get stuck in our life bubbles and we don’t pay attention to what is most important. We are going through a difficult moment in time, but people are coming together to try and make things better. We have to protect the planet so that future generations will have clean air, land and water, and the message about climate needs to be prioritized. Climate change is a global environmental challenge that has profound ramifications for both human and non-human life across the planet. It is a crisis that raises deep questions of what constitutes responsible stewardship of the earth, and justice for all of its inhabitants. On this episode we discuss an important but sometimes overlooked part of the climate conversation—the role of faith communities. We delve into how congregations are responding to climate change, what motivates people of faith to become environmental leaders, and how communities can work together despite political differences. For millions of Americans, faith provides not only spiritual guidance, but also a framework for caring for one another and for the world we share. Many religious traditions teach stewardship, compassion, and responsibility for future generations—values that align naturally with environmental protection. Faith communities across the country are on the frontlines of climate action, leading with hope, compassion, and courage.

Our guests this TMSOG podcast are Dayna Reggero and Reverend Carol Devine. Reverend Devine is the Director of Blessed Tomorrow, a coalition of faith leaders working through EcoAmerica to inspire climate action grounded in shared values of hope and compassion. She is an ordained pastor in the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) and founded the creation care program, Green Chalice, for the denomination. Reverend Devine has pastored congregations in Kentucky, has been part of Disciples’ regional staff, and was Director of Admissions at Lexington Theological Seminary, where she earned her MDiv. Reverend Devin works with faith leaders and congregations across the country to help them engage thoughtfully and compassionately on climate change. Dayna Reggero, is a friend of the podcast and is the founder of the Climate Listening Project. Her documentaries focus on community conversations and personal storytelling. Dayna has helped people across the country share their experiences with climate change to help foster understanding rather than division.

For more information go to https://blessedtomorrow.org/get-the-film-series/ and blessedtomorrow.org and https://climatelisteningproject.org/

Go to https://civ.works/defend for more info about civic action, voting and more.

To listen to past TMSOG shows go to: https://hudsonriverradio.com/https://malcolmpresents.com and https://themanyshadesofgreen.com/

A big shout out to Neil for all his engineering wizardry!

The Bees, The Octopus and The Plastic Eating Mushrooms with Charlotte Ghiorse Founder of House of ChoCLet

The Opening Song for this episode is Flight of the Bumble Bee.

“Flight of the Bumblebee” is an orchestral interlude composed by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov in 1899 for his opera The Tale of Tsar Saltan. Its musical meaning is to depict the erratic, frantic flight of a bumblebee, serving as magical background music for a prince transformed into an insect. While intended to be a minor background transition in the opera, the song’s vivid, frantic imagery caused it to take on a life of its own.

It became famously used as the theme for the 1930s radio and television show The Green Hornet. It has many musical challenges because of its immense speed and technical difficulty, it is frequently arranged for solo instruments and serves as a virtuosic showpiece for musicians wanting to display their dexterity and skill.

Bees are among the most important pollinators on Earth!

While honeybees often get the spotlight, thousands of native bee species quietly perform essential pollination services every day. One Spring day in 2022, a Cornell University entomology technician Rachel Fordyce, who regularly walked through East Lawn Cemetery in Ithaca New York, noticed bees everywhere and became quite curious. She collected several specimens and brought them back to the lab for identification. Hidden underground, beneath the gravestones and grassy pathways of the cemetery, scientists have uncovered an estimated 5.5 million bees—one of the largest known aggregations of ground-nesting bees ever documented anywhere in the world. What seemed like a routine observation soon turned into a major scientific discovery. It made national headlines, and many people imagined a gigantic underground hive, but that is not what is actually occurring. (Cornell Chronicle)

The bees at the cemetery are solitary mining bees. Each female builds her own nest in the soil. Unlike honeybees, they do not live in large colonies with queens and workers. Instead, millions of individual bees have chosen the same favorable habitat for nesting. This discovery reminds us that nature often thrives in the places we least expect it to. What is underground is often not noticed by us humans. There are massive mycelium (fungi) networks underground in forests which breakdown environmental toxins and can absorb radioactive waste. Nature is remarkable, and scientific discoveries teach us about conservation, biodiversity, and the hidden wonders beneath our feet.

On this episode of TMSOG podcast we delve into the bees of Ithaca, mushrooms that eat plastic, plus we will talk about the amazing Octopus, as well as politics, astrology and other eco and social issues with our resident eco activist, artist, astrologer, comic, marvelous mom and founder of House of ChoCLet, Charlotte Ghiorse. Go to https://www.houseofchoclet.com/ for more information.

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://libertyjusticecenter.org/ and https://civ.works/defend

To listen to past TMSOG shows go to: https://hudsonriverradio.com/https://malcolmpresents.com and https://themanyshadesofgreen.com/

A big shout out to Neil for all his engineering wizardry!

There’s Too Much Chaos, So Let’s Get Smart with George Polisner

We open with the song: They Own the Media written and performed by Van Morrison, which was released May 7, 2021

In the song, Morrison critiques what he perceives as a lack of independent thought and the manipulation of information. Key lyrics from the track include:

“They tell us that ignorance is bliss. I guess for those that control the media it is”.
“They own the media, they control the stories we are told”.
“They control the narrative, they perpetuate the myth“.

The mainstream media is now Meet De-press. We are witnessing the news media in the US being turned into State News, as the oligarchs control mainstream and social media. Facebook has 3 billion users, and Zuckerberg is controlling what we see and read on the platforms within the Meta Universe—Facebook, Instagram and Threads.

The Ellisons via Skydance Media own Paramount and CBS, and just recently, shareholders of Warner Brothers approved to combine with Paramount. Skydance will own more than 50% of the media in the US if that merger goes through. Last I checked, that is a monopoly. In addition to all of this, Musk owns X, formally know as Twitter, Bezos owns The Washington Post, and of course the king of all conspiratorial media, there is Rupert Murdoch’s Fox News. We are being controlled by oligarchs who are kowtowing to a corrupt regime in charge of all three branches of government. We are watching and witnessing the Fourth Estate, the press, dissolve into news for conspiracy groups and an out of control Executive branch. Walter Cronkite and Edward R. Murrow must be turning in their graves. The the press in 2026 is being assaulted, and independent, trustworthy outlets are being quashed by propagandistic media. Local newspapers are shutting down as costs rise, and CBS News has become State news, as it boosters the Trump administration’s messaging. FBI agents have raided the homes of Washington Post and New York Times reporters and the Pentagon Press corp has been dismissed only to sue and come back, but with reduced access. There is a war on independent media which is doing the bulk of reporting on important issues, as mainstream media, especially on the broadcast side, has fallen into a dumpster. Late Night TV has more genuine content than mainstream media, and CBS fired Stephen Colbert in a move that seems ripped out of the blacklist playbook of the McCarthy era, thus wiping out an important voice. Don Lemon was arrested and is now in court defending his right to report current events as a member of the independent press. There is some good news as various outlets such as Substack, where you can find Heather Cox Richardson and our own George Polisner is giving journalists a place to report the all consuming chaos we are all living through. Other good independent sources include ProPublica, The Guardian, The Associated Press, Reuters, PBS/NPR and more.

On this week’s TMSOG podcast George Polisner, our resident political analyst, environmentalist and curmudgeon, and founder of Civ.works joins us to discuss de-press, media consolidation, eco news, Earth Day and the current chaos of the day. In the words of Van Morrison, “they” control everything you own, they control the media! My guess is that he is referring to the oligarchs as the most likely “they“. For more info from George Polisner go to https://civ.works/defend

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://libertyjusticecenter.org/

To help protect the environment visit and please donate to https://earthjustice.org and https://action.nrdc.org/ Help save a forest by going to https://www.preservebuttonhook.org/

To listen to past TMSOG shows go to: https://hudsonriverradio.com/ https://malcolmpresents.com and 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.

Feng Shui in the Fire Horse Year with Anjie Cho

I’m just here to mess with your feng shui

Rearrange the room in a new way

Get you back to feelin’ like yourself

Again, again, again

We start off the podcast with Philadelphia artist John Faye’s song Feng Shui, which uses the ancient Chinese philosophy of space and energy as metaphor of rearranging home energy to find emotional balance. The track is a standout single from his 2024 album, The Long Game, and is often celebrated as an anthem for resilience and personal renewal.

On this episode of The Many Shades of Green, we explore something ancient that feels surprisingly urgent-how feng shui connects to sustainability and environmental responsibility, as well as personal balance. Feng Shui is rooted in Taoism and Chinese philosophy, which teaches us that humans are inseparable from the natural world. The goal is balance between light and dark, activity and rest, people and planet. That’s also the foundation of sustainability. Imagine if environmental responsibility began with the energy in our bedrooms, kitchens, and gardens. Imagine if climate action wasn’t just about policy, but about how we arrange our living rooms. Maybe sustainability isn’t only about sacrifice, but about aligning your space with nature’s rhythms. We need to be intentional about what we bring into our homes. In feng shui, clutter blocks energy, as it creates stagnation. In environmental terms, clutter often represents overconsumption as we tend to buy fast furniture and disposable decor. Sustainability asks us to buy less, choose well, and keep things longer. Minimalism, when done thoughtfully, aligns with feng shui’s emphasis on intentional placement and meaningful objects. Instead of filling space, we curate it. It’s important to look at the five elements (wood, fire, earth, metal and water) through a sustainability lens, wind, energy, water and flow. Our homes can be sanctuaries, not just for us, but for the planet. Decluttering allows energy to flow and feng shui encourages natural materials, indoor plants, and connection to sunlight. It is important to align your space with nature’s rhythms and being intentional about what you bring into your home and your office. Organizations like the U.S. Green Building Council promotes LEED-certified buildings that optimize sunlight, airflow, and water efficiency — principles that mirror feng shui’s ancient guidelines. Feng Shui connects us to being more sustainable, as it helps us design spaces that heal us and the planet.

Our guest on this episode of TMSOG is Anjie Cho, who helps us understand how feng shui can give us balance, and how it helps us consume with intention. We touch on the importance of the Five Elements, as well as the current Lunar Year of the Fire Horse. Anjie is a feng shui guru, and is a New York-based architect, author, certified feng shui consultant, and teacher of mindful, holistic design. As the owner of Anjie Cho Architect PLLC and co-founder of the Mindful Design Feng Shui School, she focuses on creating nourishing environments through feng shui, ikebana (Japanese flower arrangement), and sustainable design. Anjie hosts the Holistic Spaces podcast, runs a blog at HolisticSpaces.com, and has written books including Holistic Spaces and Mindful Homes.

We are living in a world that needs balance and needs us to take action to reduce chaos and create peace through understanding. 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://libertyjusticecenter.org/

To help protect the environment visit and please donate to https://earthjustice.org and https://action.nrdc.org/ Help save a forest by going to https://www.preservebuttonhook.org/

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

Help Birds and Wildlife Snuggle and Survive the Winter with Victoria Alzapiedi Co-Founder of New Castle Healthy Yards

We start the podcast with the song Little Bird by Annie Lennox.

Annie Lennox released Little Bird as part of her debut solo album Diva, it might be one of the best songs ever to reference birds and it quickly became one of her signature songs. The track reached number three on the UK charts and became a number one hit on the U.S. dance charts. At its heart, though, the song is about Annie watching a bird in flight and longing for that same freedom, finally declaring: “this little bird’s fallen out of that nest now, so I’ve just got to put these wings to test.” For anyone who has ever wished they could spread their wings and take flight, this song remains a reminder that sometimes you just have to test those wings and soar. (The Birding Life-songs about birds)

It’s been a long, cold, snowy winter and we all want Spring to come, as there is only so much cabin fever one can take. After the recent blizzard which dumped over 20 inches of snow on my property, I kept looking out my window and did not see birds or other animals for a couple of days. Where did they all go? How do they survive? When a blizzard hits, most of us hunker down inside, dress in layers, turn up the heat, and drink hot chocolate, and keep that cup of coffee or shot of whiskey within reach. But outside, in the howling wind and blowing snow, birds and other critters are doing something extraordinary, they are surviving. While we cancel plans and complain about snow, tiny birds, each weighing less than a deck of cards are enduring the same storm with no walls, no heaters, no guarantees. Small birds will often roost alone or in groups, minimizing exposure to wind. The key enemy in a blizzard isn’t cold—it’s wind and wetness. Birds survive winter storms largely because of feathers, which are remarkably engineered insulation. Before a storm, birds fluff up, trapping pockets of warm air close to their bodies. Cold is survivable, but starvation is the real threat. Birds respond by gorging before storms, building fat reserves—sometimes increasing body weight by up to 10% in a single day. After the storm, it’s a race against time. A small songbird may only survive one winter night without food. This is why backyard feeders matter most during and immediately after storms, not just on calm winter days. Animals survive blizzards by finding shelter to escape wind and cold, such as tree cavities, thickets, underground burrows, or under structures like sheds,according to wildlife reports. They often hunker down and snuggle curling into balls to conserve body heat, or, in the case of small mammals like mice, burrow into insulating snowdrifts. In a way, birds and other wildlife surviving blizzards are reminding us resilience is about adaptation.
On this episode we have Victoria Alzapiedi, our resident garden, wildlife and healthy yards guru who discusses wildlife surviving in winter. We talk about how birds (and other species) endure brutal winter storms—blizzards, ice, white-out conditions—and what their survival can teach us about resilience, adaptation, and even how we can help. We also discuss the importance of planting trees to provide resources for wildlife. Victoria is a co-founder of New Castle Healthy Yards and Chair of the Town of New Castle Conservation Board. In addition she 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. Victoria is also a Native plant gardening consultant and coach providing eco-friendly planting recommendations (mynativegardenoasis.com). For more information go to New Castle Healthy Yards and The Nature of Westchester on Facebook. Check out the Audubon Society @ https://act.audubon.org and https://www.nwf.org/ National Wildlife Federation.

To help protect the environment visit and please donate to https://earthjustice.org Help save a forest by going to https://www.preservebuttonhook.org/

To listen to past TMSOG shows go to: https://hudsonriverradio.com/ https://malcolmpresents.com and https://themanyshadesofgreen.com/

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

The Winter Irruption of the Red-breasted Nuthatch and Helping Wildlife Survive in the Cold with Environmental Guru Victoria Alzapiedi

We start the podcast with the song “Don’t Eat the Yellow Snow” by Frank Zappa, which is the opening track of a surreal, satirical suite about an Eskimo named Nanook dreaming of a journey where his mother warns him to avoid yellow, husky-contaminated snow. The track is from his fifth solo album Apostrophe (‘) released in (1974), and was inspired by a conversation about Eskimo language. The song serves as a whimsical, cautionary tale against eating polluted snow.

Winter is now upon on in full force. We recently had a historic snow storm in the northeast and other parts of the country. We have to think about what a difficult time it is for the birds, insects, and small animals around us. Winter is a season of survival. So what do we need to do to prepare our yards and landscapes to become true winter habitats? Life-saving ecosystem are crucial in making survival of wildlife possible and the way we landscape our yards plays a big role in that process. For decades, we’ve been taught that a “good yard” is neat, tidy, trimmed, and clean. But nature doesn’t work that way. In fact, many of the things we are encouraged to remove in fall — leaves, seed heads, fallen branches, dead stems — are exactly what wildlife depends on to survive winter.

When we build landscapes that support life, even in the coldest months, we are choosing connection over control, care over convenience and stewardship over aesthetics, which is crucial in the colder seasons. Good gardening is key to survival of wildlife. We must assist Mother Nature in helping creatures live through the harder winter months. Winters today are more unpredictable than they used to be as freeze-thaw cycles, sudden deep freezes, and erratic storms are becoming more common with climate change, which makes resilient landscaping more important than ever. Diverse plantings, native species, layered habitats — trees, shrubs, perennials, ground cover — all work together to create stability.
We are joined on this episode by Victoria Alzapiedi, our resident garden, wildlife and healthy yards guru who gives us great info about putting a winter plan in place to support habitat in freezing weather, snow and ice. We talk about birds and small mammals, especially the Red-breasted Nuthatch. 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 forrest in the Town of New Castle. In addition, she 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 5300 members. So again, in the words of Frank Zappa, don’t eat the yellow snow. Only your doggies know what’s in there. For more information go to New Castle Healthy Yards and The Nature of Westchester on Facebook. Check out the Audubon Society @ https://act.audubon.org and https://www.nwf.org/ National Wildlife Federation.

To help protect the environment visit and please donate to https://earthjustice.org Help save a forest by going to https://www.preservebuttonhook.org/

To listen to past TMSOG shows go to: https://hudsonriverradio.com/ https://malcolmpresents.com and https://themanyshadesofgreen.com/

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

Hail Sweden’s Second Hand Mall, plus good environmental news about the Amazon Rainforest, and some Astrology with Charlotte Ghiorse, Founder of House of Choclet

I’m wearing second-hand hats
Second-hand clothes
That’s why the call me Second Hand Rose
Even our piano in the parlor
Father bought for ten cents on the dollar
Second-hand pearls
I’m wearing second-hand curls
I never get a single thing that’s new

The aforementioned lyrics are from the song Second Hand Rose as performed by Barbara Streisand. The song is apropos to the topic we discuss in this week’s TMSOG podcast, which is about the need to reduce waste by recycling, reusing clothes and other items.
I used to shop with my mom, QOFE Ruthie at second hand and antique stores in Brooklyn and NYC, especially Greenwich Village. I loved wandering around checking out cool hats, clothes, costume jewelry, dishes from England and sometimes vinyl records, 33s, 45s, and 78s mostly from the 40s,50s and early 60’s. People would sometimes look down upon those of us who shopped at stores with gently used items, but secondhand stores are no longer a stigma. We can make smarter choices, take action on the climate and show creative expression. People are selling and buying secondhand for so many reasons. Many folks want to save money, reduce waste, avoid fast fashion, find unique, one-of-a-kind pieces and make extra income from selling items they no longer use. Resale apps like Depop, Vinted, ThredUp, Poshmark, and eBay have made it easy. But Sweden took the idea even further — and turned secondhand into an actual mall experience. In Eskilstuna, Sweden, there’s something called ReTuna Återbruksgalleria, often known as the world’s first secondhand mall. It’s a full shopping mall where everything sold is reused, repaired, upcycled, or secondhand. We are a throw away society, so maybe it’s time to consider selling old clothes, and swapping them for other items, donating them, and to reimagine what you can do with older items to reduce waste. It is highly possible that somewhere out there, someone else might need exactly what you no longer use. So this week we discuss the second hand mall in Sweden, a Swedish billionaire who is helping to save the Amazon Rainforest, Octlantis where Octopuses thrive, plus Astrology, and other eco and social issues with our resident eco activist, artist, astrologer, comic, marvelous mom and founder of House of Choclet, Charlotte Ghiorse- https://www.houseofchoclet.com/

For more information on civic action 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/

To help protect the environment visit and please donate to https://earthjustice.org Help save a forest by going to https://www.preservebuttonhook.org/

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

The Environmental Cost of War, Wave Browser, December Astrology and more with Charlotte Ghiorse

The opening song of this episode is Some People Sleep, by The Tokens, which was written by my Token Bro, Mitch Margo. The last line of the lyric, sung in three part harmony is “some people sleep to the sound of the falling bombs… and some people don’t sleep at all.” The tune was written during the Vietnam War, and Mitch wrote it to bring out his opposition, but in beautiful way with music. War is horrific, and mankind continues to wage wars through the centuries, with little end in sight. People lose their lives fighting each other, and innocent lives perish as collateral damage. There is also another area of collateral damage, which seems to fall under the radar, and that is the destruction of the land where conflicts occur. When we think of war, we think of human loss, destruction, migration, trauma. But with every bomb that drops and every military convoy that rolls through a landscape, nature absorbs a blow too. War doesn’t just change borders. It reshapes ecosystems.

There is an environmental impact of war which includes air, water, and soil pollution, habitat destruction, and a significant contribution to greenhouse gas emissions. Conflicts lead to deforestation, biodiversity loss, and long-lasting contamination from chemical weapons, landmines, and military waste. Warfare also causes long-term damage to ecosystems and natural resources, affecting everything from food security to the availability of clean water.

According to the Conflict and Environment Observatory in an article dated May 5, 2025, the environmental impact of wars begins long before they start. Building and sustaining military forces consumes vast quantities of resources which includes metals or rare earth elements and critical minerals, water or hydrocarbons. Control over militarily relevant critical minerals is becoming an increasingly important strategic consideration for militaries, as evidenced by policies towards Ukraine and the DRC. The CO2 emissions of the largest militaries are greater than many of the world’s countries combined. It is estimated that militaries are responsible for 5.5% of all greenhouse gas emissions globally, however military emissions reporting to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change is poor and not all of the information gets out. So, war, what is it good for, absolutely nothing! Charlotte Ghiorse is on this episode of TMSOG. Charlotte is our resident eco activist, artist, astrologer, comic, marvelous mom and founder of House of Chochlet. We talk about the environmental effects of war, as well as some eco-innovations (Wave Browser), plus an homage to a cat that lived to be 38, fake vs real Christmas trees, some Astrology, and other things. For more info about Charlotte go to https://www.houseofchoclet.com/ and https://www.houseofchoclet.com/sexy-astrologyflkx9h8uma0

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/ To help protect the environment visit and please donate to https://earthjustice.org Help save a forest by going to https://www.preservebuttonhook.org/

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.

Help Save Buttonhook Forest (savebuttonhook.org) with Victoria Alzapiedi and Stacy Morgan

We have an interesting song to start the podcast entitled Plantasia.

Plantasia was recorded by Mort Garson on his Moog synthesizer in 1976. The album was created for houseplants to grow, but I am sure the trees would also love it, and your doggies will too. It is quite incredible that the composer created this music for growing plants. The album cover’s tagline reads “warm earth music for plants… and the people who love them.”

On this episode we discuss saving Buttonhook Forest, which is in a suburban area about 45 minutes from NYC. Forests are one of our most critical natural pathways for absorbing and storing excess carbon to fight climate change. For millennia, trees have pulled carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere and turned it into their bark, wood and leaves through the oldest carbon-capture technology on Earth: photosynthesis. Trees and plants communicate with each other through underground fungal networks and by releasing airborne chemical signals. These networks allow plants to share nutrients, water, and alarm signals, while chemical signals can warn nearby plants of threats like insect attacks.

The “Wood Wide Web”: A vast network of mycorrhizal fungi connects the roots of trees and plants, enabling them to exchange resources. Plants and trees can share vital resources like carbon, water, and nutrients through these fungal links. For example, a shaded sapling may receive carbon from a nearby tree. When a plant is under attack from pests, it can send warning signals through the network to alert its neighbors. When we protect existing forests, we avoid and reduce deforestation which contributes to climate change and biodiversity loss. Forests are one of the most important ecosystems on Earth. They provide habitat to 80% of the world’s land-dwelling species. They help keep our water clean by naturally filtering out pollution. They provide sustenance and offer refuge as well as recreation to billions of people around the planet. A forest isn’t just a patch of trees, it’s a living archive. It’s ecological history. And it’s a space with deep cultural, spiritual, and even ancestral importance.

Indigenous communities relate to forests socially, economically, politically and spiritually. They use traditional knowledge and sustainable agriculture and resource management to ensure their forests’ survival. It’s hard to overemphasize the importance of forests. The story of saving Buttonhook Forest in is a powerful one as it touches on ecology, water, land, heritage, and a community fighting to protect something irreplaceable. The journey to save this magical forest has taken the core members of the non-profit, Friends of Buttonhook Forest on quite a ride. Joining us to discuss the forest is Victoria Alzapiedi, our resident garden, wildlife and healthy yards guru. She is a board member of Friends of Buttonhook Forest and is a co-founder of New Castle Healthy Yards. She is the chair of the Town of New Castle Conservation Board. In addition, we have Stacy Morgan, a core member of Friends of Buttonhook Forest. Stacy is an organic chemist, and she became interested in climate science while working at the National Physical Laboratory in London. Stacy is working hard to save this diverse and important carbon sink and she continues to educate and engage the community in protecting this amazing land. For more information go to https://www.preservebuttonhook.org/ and if you can donate, please check out the website and find the Go Fund Me link. Follow the forest on Facebook via Friends of Buttonhook Forest and Instagram @SaveButonhook.

If you want to help protect the environment go to https://earthjustice.org and https://www.nrdc.org/

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.