environmental policies – The Many Shades of Green

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.

Will AI Inherit the Earth? With Charlotte Ghiorse

The opening song is this weeks podcast is “The Geeks Will Inherit the Earth” by I Fight Dragons. The song is an anthem celebrating the triumph of outcasts, intelligence, and passion over popularity. It asserts that those who are ignored for being “different” are destined to inherit the world and succeed later in life. The common phrase “the geeks shall inherit the earth,” reflects a cultural shift where intellectual and technological skills are valued over social conformity. The song highlights that the social hierarchies of early years are temporary, and the people ridiculed for being “nerds” or “geeks” often become the leaders and innovators of the real world. The question now is, will AI created by geeks inherit the earth?

One can bet that Artificial Intelligence was developed by the nerds and geeks of the world, but how did it get started? People like Alan Turing, who first asked whether machines could think, laid the philosophical groundwork. Later, researchers like Geoffrey Hinton, Yann LeCun, and Yoshua Bengio pushed forward neural networks—the technology behind modern AI. These weren’t celebrities. They were researchers, often working in labs, driven by curiosity more than profit. Yes, these brilliant scientist are considered the geeks who started the research into Artificial intelligence. AI seems to be everywhere and it is one of the most transformative forces shaping our world today. It is in our phones, our computers, our schools, our workplaces, social media and is part of our daily lives. So what does it really mean for society? Artificial intelligence/AI refers to machines designed to perform tasks that typically require human intelligence—things like learning, reasoning, problem-solving, and in some cases, even creativity. Recommendation algorithms decide what you watch, how your GPS apps predict traffic, and how chatbots answer questions in seconds. As computing power exploded and data became abundant, the ideas of the creators of AI, the “geeks” created something that worked very well. What started as niche research turned into the backbone of trillion-dollar industries. While many of the “geeks” of the past are no longer at the center of AI, it is now in the hands of the most powerful companies in the world, which are being led by major tech organizations, venture capital firms, and governments. There are pros and cons to AI, and one of the cons is that AI Data Centers are sucking electricity and water from the communities where these centers are located. Data centers are renowned for their intensive energy consumption and many are facing challenges sourcing reliable electricity supplies for campuses that need to be up and running 24/7. With grids already under pressure from electrification strategies, the industry must deal with many projects which include plans to build their own power generators and fund connections to the grid. Communities are opposing the building of these centers and some have been successful in stopping them. On this episode of TMSOG we talk with our resident artist, comedian, writer, astrologist and super mom Charlotte Ghiorse. We touch on Artificial Intelligence and the problem with AI Data Centers, as well as the innovative inventions which have come out of NASA and the space program (hail Apollo and Artemis ll), as well as what’s being done to clean up plastic pollution, good things about banana trunks and of course, astrology. For more info about Charlotte, House of Choclet and Sexy Astrology go to 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 Fools on “The Hill” with George Polisner, Founder of Civ.Works

Opening Song: The Fool on the Hill by The Beatles. It was written by Paul McCartney but attributed to the Lennon/McCartney songwriting duo, appearing in their 1967 album, Magical Mystery Tour. The song has different interpretations, but for me, it describes a person who sees what he wants to see, and lives in a bubble, as he differentiates himself from the world at large, and stays within his own circle.

Day after Day, alone on a hill.

The man with a foolish grin is keeping perfectly still.

But nobody wants to know him.

They can see that he’s just a fool,

And he doesn’t give an answer!

But the Fool on the hill sees the sun going down,

and the eyes in his head see the world spinning round!

The fool on the hill could be a single person or perhaps there are many fools on the hill. It is interesting to note that the term “The Hill” is used as a nickname for Capitol Hill in Washington D.C. where the U.S. Congress meets. Getting Congress to do its job has not been an easy task, as the current Speaker of the House has constantly put Congress in recess and nothing of substance seems to be getting done. The institution was designed to debate, compromise, and pass laws that address the nation’s problems. But increasingly, Americans are watching something else unfold. The House of Representatives through October 2025 had only met and voted on 87 days. They broke for holidays in November and December, which led to little being accomplished. There are fools on The Hill, and the song is quite apropos, as to the current workings of our representatives in the House and Senate, as they are not doing their jobs. There is a growing frustration with what many Americans are calling a “do-nothing Congress” which is now comprised of fools, as the members seem to be detached from reality. In these difficult times it is hard not to think about the song when looking at what is happening on The Hill-Capitol Hill in Washington, DC.
While the country faces real challenges, war, rising costs, climate disasters, political division, infrastructure needs, pedophiles and global instability, the people elected to govern often appear locked in a different game entirely. A game of messaging, fundraising, and partisan theater. Citizens of the U.S. do not want war. What happened to the President’s promise of no wars and affordability so that we can all live a decent life? We want action on climate resilience, action on healthcare costs, action on housing shortages, action on immigration reform and the return of decency, empathy and morality.
On this episode of TMSOG we talk with George Polisner. George is our resident political analyst, environmentalist and curmudgeon, and is the founder of Civ.works. He gives us information regarding what’s happening or not happening on The Hill. We delve into how increased renewable energy could have staved off the dependence of oil shipments through the Strait of Hormuz. We will also talk about Cuba, the lifting of Russian sanctions and more. For additional information 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/

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

Are We Living In A Cartoon?

South Park Theme Song (Opens the program)

I’m goin’ down to South Park, gonna have myself a time.

Friendly faces everywhere, humble folks without temptation.

Goin’ down to South Park, gonna leave my woes behind.

Ample parking day or night, people spouting: “Howdy, neighbor!”

Headin’ on up to South Park gonna see if I can’t unwind.

Has any series ever had a more fitting theme song than “South Park”? The “South Park Theme” by funk metal group Primus, later reworked by projects led by Les Claypool, is a twanging, frenetic jingle that quite deliberately fails to convince the viewer that its monotone lyrics about the titular small town’s idyllic nature hit their mark. It’s a perfect way to set the stage for the absurdities that invariably follow. The whole thing was carefully planned out and arranged, but as “South Park” co-creator Matt Stone said back in 2010, “the whole thing took just one incredibly lucky cold call to pull off. “

So the question is, are we living in a cartoon?

In a cartoon, characters exaggerate everything: emotions, reactions, conflicts. Sometimes I feel that we are living in an episode of South Park which just keeps rotating day in and day out, sort of like the plot in the movie Groundhog Day. If you’ve ever watched South Park, you know the formula. Something ridiculous happens in the news. The characters react in completely over-the-top ways. Everyone argues, chaos spreads, hypocrisy gets exposed, and by the end of the episode you’re laughing… but also slightly uncomfortable because the satire feels a little too real. The creators, Trey Parker and Matt Stone, built their reputation on one simple idea: take the most outrageous thing happening in society and push it just a little further until the absurdity becomes obvious. At its core, animation is a form of storytelling, and stories are an essential part of the human experience. From the earliest days of human history, people have used stories to make sense of the world around them, pass on knowledge and wisdom, and connect with others.

Animation takes this storytelling to a new level, using visuals and sound to create a rich and immersive experience that can transport us to new places and introduce us to new characters.

In a cartoon, a character falls off a cliff and pops back up unharmed, in real life, when systems break, people get hurt. In the current moment in the United States, sometimes reality seems to be moving faster than the satire. It feels like we are living in an alternate universe and we are being governed by what resembles a reality show. Even if politics feels like a cartoon, the consequences are very real. Policies affect healthcare, schools, immigration, climate policy, and civil rights. Trust in elections are declining, environmental protections are being dismantled and economic inequality is widening. We are now at war with Iran, and we have not received a credible explanation as to why. Every day there is chaos and people are suffering and are stressed. Prices for oil, gas, food, rent and more are rising daily, and we the people are not being heard. When will the madness end? It’s no wonder that Americans are moving to Europe and other places globally, but we need to stay and we must continue to fight, protest, and bring our collective will together to fix this mess. Actions speak louder than words, and we need to take action, so in the words of Bob Marley, “Get up stand up, stand Up For Your Rights!“

On this episode of TMSOG podcast, Charlotte Ghiorse joins me as we delve into the question: are we living in a cartoon? Charlotte is our resident eco activist, artist, astrologer, comic, marvelous mom and founder of House of Choclet. We talk about the environmentally conscious ten your old fashion designer Max Alexander, and what he is doing to reduce fashion waste. We also touch on politics, astrology, eco and social issues and more. For more info about Charlotte, House of Choclet and Sexy Astrology go to https://www.houseofchoclet.com

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.

Keep Hope Alive, We Are NOT Afraid with George Polisner, Founder of Civ.works

This week’s TMSOG podcast opens with a beautiful rendition of We Shall Overcome performed by the Morehouse College Glee Club

We Shall Overcome and other protest songs provided the soundtrack to the Civil Rights Movement. The period saw the U.S. confront one of the most complex and controversial issues in its history-race relations. The origins of the song are unclear, as it was thought to have descended from “I’ll Overcome Some Day,” a hymn by Charles Albert Tindley, while the modern version of the song was first said to have been sung by tobacco workers led by Lucille Simmons during the 1945-1946 Charleston Cigar Factory Strike in Charleston, South Carolina. The most famous version is the Pete Seeger rendition. In August 1963, 22-year old folksinger Joan Baez, led thousands of people in singing “We Shall Overcome” at the Lincoln Memorial during the March on Washington, where the famous “I Have a Dream” speech was delivered by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Reverend Jesse Jackson was part of the inner circle of Dr. King and was in attendance. Reverend Jackson recently passed away at the age of 84, and he always stood up for social justice and was a powerful voice for civil rights, voting rights, labor protections, anti-poverty initiatives, and peace. His speeches, organizing strategies, and coalition-building fundamentally shaped modern progressive politics.

Reverend Jackson said: “Hold your head high, stick your chest out. You can make it. It gets dark sometimes, but morning comes. Keep hope alive.”

I grew up in the 1960s and 70s and lived through and felt the pain of the assassination of President Kennedy in 1963, the Civil Rights riots and uprisings between 1964 and 1969 in New York, Newark, LA, Detroit, Chicago and other cities across the US. Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert F. Kennedy were assassinated two months apart in 1968. Protestors filled the streets in opposition to the Vietnam War. Police brutality, systematic racism and inequality impacted American life, and citizens were on edge, as chaos reigned throughout the nation. While there were peaceful demonstrations, there was also intense civil unrest. During the “Long, Hot Summer of 1967,” more than 150 race riots erupted in cities across the country — fueled by deep frustration over police brutality, segregation, poverty, and systemic inequality. Flash forward to this current moment in history and we are again in perilous times, as democracy is being dismantled from within. In early 2026, Minnesota became a focal point for protests tied to federal immigration enforcement actions undertaken by Operation Metro Surge, where a significant number of federal agents by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) have been deployed. Outrage grew especially after fatal shootings and the use of force on immigrants and US citizens. These actions ignited statewide demonstrations, general strikes, and large public mobilizations calling for ICE to leave Minnesota and for accountability. In Minneapolis, tens of thousands of people participated in protests and a coordinated “shutdown” to oppose aggressive immigration raids and demand policy changes. People have the power and are standing up and are becoming leaders, as actual leaders seem to be MIA. Past leaders like the Reverend Jesse Jackson, as well as John Lewis, who spoke of the need to cause good trouble, have left a void which has not been filled. There is a leadership vacuum, and as our young nation enters its 250th year, we are underestimating the danger of the current administration’s autocratic behavior. What can we do to get the nation back on course? Will we overcome some day?

George Polisner joins us on this episode of TMSOG podcast. George is our resident political analyst, environmentalist and curmudgeon, and is the founder of Civ.works. He gives us information regarding the EPA eliminating core climate protection, Reverend Jesse Jackson’s passing, CBS and the FCC pressuring Stephen Colbert regarding the Equal Time Rule, plus the death of The Washington Post, the Orwellian “Board of Peace” and more. For more information 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/

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

Longtermism, Monks Walk for Peace, plus Astrology with Charlotte Ghiorse, Founder of House of Choclet

We start off The Many Shades of Green podcast with IMAGINE by John Lennon, which was written in 1971 as a utopian anthem calling for world peace. It asks listeners to envision a society free from the divisions of nationalism and material possessions. Co-written with Yoko Ono, the song promotes unity, secular humanism, and living in the moment. It acts as a hopeful, anti-establishment, and anti-war plea for a brotherhood of man.

The Buddhist Monks are living the themes of Imagine, as their walk for peace finally reached its destination after walking 2300 miles from Texas to Washington DC. Many of the people lining the various routes had been following the monks for months on social media, hooked by their seemingly simple message about blocking out the noise of a messy world and finding tranquillity. People from all races, colors, creeds, diverse religions and even those in the law enforcement who were keeping them secure felt a calling for peace and mindfulness. The Monks were helping us get through these most difficult times, times that I never imagined I would see in my lifetime. We live in an age of urgency, chaos, breaking news, breaking systems and breaking nerves. We have to believe in a better future even though we cannot predict or know what that future will bring. Which is why we need both longtermism and optimism. We can question what is happening now, but what will matter decades and centuries from now? Longtermism asks us to value the long-term future, not just the next election or quarterly profit, but the generations that will live 50, 100, even 500 years from now. Philosophers associated with this idea argue that future people will have real moral worth, be more empathetic, and live a happier more content life. The choices we make now could have enormous ethical weight. There are real indications that longterm thinking in environmental policy is urgently needed.

The 2025 policies of the current the EPA rolled back many environmental regulations, exempting hundreds of plants from pollution limits — a decision with immediate effects and long-term consequences for air quality and public health. Just this week on February 12, 2026, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) under the Trump administration officially announced the revocation of the 2009 “endangerment finding,” a landmark decision that declared greenhouse gases a threat to human health and welfare. This action, described by Trump as “the single largest deregulatory action in American history,” removes the legal foundation for most federal regulations targeting greenhouse gas emissions from vehicles, power plants, and oil and gas facilities. The political decisions show how short-term interests can collide with long-term climate and health outcomes, and why we must work on future-focused policy matters more than ever. In terms of AI, experts have estimated substantial risks around misaligned AI, including the possibility of systems that could profoundly disrupt or threaten human autonomy if not governed carefully. We need to push for policies that ensure AI development benefits humanity, and that is does not undermine it. We need to move forward, be active, keep optimism in our sight and work to make sure that we will be good ancestors to the Seventh Generation to come. So on this episode of TMSOG podcast we discuss longtermism, the increasing popularity of second hand and reusable clothes, furniture, tech items and more. We also touch 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/

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 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/

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.

What Say the EPA About What Your Life is Worth, plus Green Day says “Know Your Enemy” with George Polisner Founder of Civ.works

The song Know Your Enemy by Green Day which was released in 2009, is about questioning authority, societal control, self-destructive tendencies, and encouraging listeners to identify the real sources of oppression, whether external (government, elites) or internal (personal beliefs, bad habits).
Green Day has many successful titles including American Idiot, and they will be the opening act for Bad Bunny at the Super Bowl halftime show. I cannot wait to see what Green Day has in store for us. It’s going to be an epic ride!

Do we know who the enemy is now? The state of Minnesota, which has far less immigrants than Texas and Florida now seems to be the enemy of the current administration, and Federal troops might be sent to the state to quell the current protests which are peaceful. ICE is using tactics to intimidate the populace of Minneapolis and St.Paul, two cities with peaceful residents trying not to be dragged out of their cars, homes, and taken from their schools. Many of those taken into custody are American citizens with no criminal records and who are legal citizens. We are now told by ICE via the Department of Homeland Security to “carry” our papers. Check out the history of Germany in the 1930s and you will see the similarities to today’s USA. This isn’t dysfunction, it’s political choice, and it’s a nightmare. ICE continues operating with enormous budgets, limited oversight, minimal accountability, and devastating human consequences. Where is Congress, where is the Supreme Court, where is the Press, and where are the checks and balances? Who is going to uphold the Constitution to stop the madness? On this episode of TMSOG our resident political analyst, environmentalist and curmudgeon, George Polisner, founder of Civ.works, joins us and gives us some insight into the why checks and balances are not working, as well as why the EPA is rolling back regulations and has determined that the value of a life is zero. Why has Congress not stopped the current administration from dismantling democracy? The powers that be are truly intent on destroying life as we know it, using violence while they disregard the law. Who is really is the enemy and who is really in charge? Who is pulling the puppet strings?

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.

Courage and High Hopes with Yolanda Nava, Tina Flores and George Polisner

This week’s podcast started with the song “High Hopes” sung by Frank Sinatra, which is an anthem about optimism, perseverance, and overcoming impossible odds by believing in yourself. The song ends with the phrase “Oops, there goes another problem, ker-plop.” It became a signature tune for its uplifting message, and was even adopted by John F. Kennedy’s presidential campaign. Some of the lyrics are about overcoming obstacles which represent challenges that seem insurmountable but are overcome with “high hopes”. The tune encourages listeners to not give up when things seem impossible and for people to have a positive “can-do” attitude.

I started the New Year with high hopes, only to have those hopes dashed by the current regime starting a war with Venezuela, thus continuing the chaos of 2025. Hope seems elusive now, but it is crucial that we continue to fight and resist. I don’t have high apple pie in the sky hopes, as the song lyric says, but again, we cannot give up, as there are more of us. So where can we find hope? Is it something that is achievable in these difficult times? There are good things happening, but it is mostly under the radar, as mainstream media has been reduced to regurgitating the lies and misinformation being planted in the press daily. On the environmental front, 2025 marked the first year in which renewable energy generated more electricity than coal. Regarding social justice issues, people are mobilizing and taking to the streets to protest the demise of democracy and to protect their civil rights.

People are mobilizing by staying informed, by showing up to local meetings, school boards and town halls. We must support independent journalists, organizers, and watchdog groups and call our representatives—and not just during election season. Our right to protest must be protected. Democracy must remain participatory—or it disappears. We must unite and use our power as citizens. So it’s good to see that millions of people are taking to the streets to protest war, ICE and the rise of fascism. We must continue to raise our voices, protect one another and fight for truth, justice and our fundamental rights under the Constitution. We need to continue to find space for hope, as we cannot let fear overtake us. Yolanda Nava, Tina Flores and George Polisner give us great information, stories, life experience and wisdom on social justice, environmental issues and more.

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/

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.

Stand By Me, Stand by Us, plus The Hoax Economy and Who’s Gonna Stop Me (Him?) with George Polisner, Founder of Civ.Works

The song Stand By Me was originally performed in 1961 by singer-songwriter Ben E. King and written by him, along with Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller, who together used the pseudonym Elmo Glick. According to King, the title is derived from, and was inspired by, a spiritual written by Sam Cooke and J. W. Alexander called “Stand by Me Father”, recorded by the Soul Stirrers with Johnnie Taylor singing lead.

“Stand by Me” was featured on the soundtrack of the 1986 film Stand by Me, which was directed by the late Rob Reiner. The corresponding music video, featured Ben E King along with actors River Phoenix and Wil Wheaton, was used to promote the film. The lyrics are apropos to where we are today, a world that is beautiful, yet broken. I refer to the specific lyric: “if the sky that we look upon, should tumble and fall or the mountains should crumble to the sea, I won’t cry I won’t cry, no I won’t shed a tear, just as long as you stand, stand by me.” We all feel like crying, as the world as we know it is in free fall, and we are all shedding tears of sadness and outrage. I have not slept well in days, as the news cycle is truly breaking my heart (literally), as well as the hearts of millions of people who are experiencing what seems like the demise of goodness, as the uprise of evil has taken hold. We have to follow the lead of Rob Reiner, who fought for a better world, and encouraged people to take action. He said in October 2025 about the US that “We have a year before this country becomes a full-on autocracy and democracy completely leaves us.” Reiner continued to say that “We have to make the public absolutely aware that their democracy is being taken from them, and we have to do everything we can to make people understand that … if they lose that democracy, all of these [First Amendment rights] will be taken away from them.” We must stand by Rob Reiner’s words, and we must stand by each other and take our country and the world back. Our guest this week on TMSOG is our resident political analyst, environmentalist and curmudgeon, George Polisner, founder of Civ.works. George gives us some insight into climate news about AI data centers and Montana Youth lawsuit, plus the affordability “hoax”, immigration, the GOPs lack of a spine and more. 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/

https://www.democracydocket.com/

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 Worlds Gone Wrong with George Polisner Founder of Civ.Works

The phrase “the world’s gone wrong” is the title song from Lucinda Williams’ most recent album of the same name, and it refers to the turbulent socio-political landscape of modern America, reflecting division and hardship. The meaning is a call for resilience and strength in a world that feels chaotic and challenging. The title track which was played on this episode of TMSOG, specifically addresses the plight of the working class. There are so many issues to deal with and as the holidays near, how are we going to get through without having a nervous breakdown? Thanksgiving is a holiday built on gratitude, togetherness and reflection. It is very hard right now to focus on the goodness around us, as chaos is reigning in America from sea to shining sea. Economic pressures, political polarization and personal challenges seem to put a damper on the holiday spirit. We have a lot to think about during these trying times and we are experiencing a high toll on our mental health. We are all anxious, exhausted and on edge, as we deal with the fear of how every decision of the Executive branch, the Federal and State government, and the Supreme Court will impact our daily lives. We worry about the affordability of food, housing, and all basic needs. There are thousands of layoffs, and people are worrying if they will have job in the new year. Will there be a war with Venezuela, and how will extreme storms due to climate change affect us? How do we deal with ICE and the mistreatment of immigrants as well as American citizens? Can we trust anything the courts or government does? Maybe we can hit a pause button on the world gone wrong. Perhaps we can sit around the table on Thanksgiving and take a moment to breathe and regroup, and remember the parts of life that are still steady and meaningful. On this week’s podcast our resident political analyst, environmentalist and curmudgeon, George Polisner, founder of Civ.works, gives us some insight into what is going wrong in America. We touch on the status of COP30 Climate Conference, the affordability of basic needs, women journalists standing up and doing their job, and so much more. For additional 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.democracydocket.com/ https://www.aclu.org/ https://www.brennancenter.org/

If you want to help protect the environment please donate to https://earthjustice.org and 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.

Save the Planet: Eat Less Meat, Boring Tunnels, COP30 and Astrology with Charlotte Ghiorse

The tune Mother Nature’s Son is about a deep, simple connection to nature, written by Paul McCartney with inspiration from his childhood love for the countryside and a lecture by the Maharishi.

Paul is a vegetarian and is very outspoken on the affect that raising meat and eating meat is having on the planet. He adopted the lifestyle for compassionate and ethical reasons and worked on the Best Free Monday campaign. Paul and his late wife Linda McCartney stopped eating meat in 1975 after watching lambs play outside their farm while they were eating lamb chops, which appeared to be quite the conundrum indeed. After that experience, Paul said that he would never go back to eating meat.

Paul McCartney stated that serving meat at a climate conference is like “handing out cigarettes at a cancer-prevention conference”. He issued this statement in a letter to the UN Climate Change Conference (COP30) organizers, urging them to make the event’s menu entirely vegetarian to align it with its mission to combat the climate crisis. His letter, shared by PETA, highlighted the significant environmental impact of the meat industry. The food we consume has an impact on the climate, as what we grow, how we grow it, what chemicals and fertilizers enter the foods we eat, and the methane that is produced by cattle are all having a detrimental impact on the climate and our well being.

According to a recent Associated Press article, about 15 million deaths could be avoided each year and agricultural emissions could drop by 15% if people worldwide shift to healthier, predominantly plant-based diets, The EAT-Lancet Commmission brought together scientists worldwide to review the latest data on food’s role in human health, climate change, biodiversity and people’s working and living conditions. Their conclusion was that without substantial changes to the food system, the worst effects of climate change will be unavoidable, even if humans successfully switch to cleaner energy. “If we do not transition away from the unsustainable food path we’re on today, we will fail on the climate agenda. We will fail on the biodiversity agenda. We will fail on food security. We’ll fail on so many pathways,” said study co-author Johan Rockström, who leads the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research. We are what we eat, and we need to start to consider how our food is grown. Meatless Monday is a good starting point for a more plant based diet. We must consider our own health as well as the health of Mother Earth. On this episode of TMSOG podcast, we delve into the effects of climate change on the food system and the need to reduce meat consumption. We also discuss COP30, Boring Tunnels in Nevada, some Astrology, and other issues 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/ To help protect the environment visit and 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.