EcoNews Report

On this week's EcoNews Report, Ken Burton, local bird nerd, joins the show to discuss this year's Godwit Days Spring Migration Bird Festival and other big news in the birding community. This year's festival, running from April 13-16, features over 75 events, from bird walks to lectures. We hope to see you there!

In other bird news, we chat about the controversy in the birding community about whether to retain reference to birder and slaveholder John James Audubon by the Audubon Society and its chapters. Also, are you concerned about bird impacts from offshore wind? Be sure to check out this week's episode for more.

• Audubon faces a backlash after deciding to keep name that evokes a racist enslaver

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Tune into the EcoNews Report for big news about Eel River dam removal – PG&E is finally taking dam safety seriously! On March 16, the company announced big changes to how they will manage Scott Dam and Lake Pillsbury reservoir based on an updated evaluation of seismic stability and dam safety. Dam removal advocates at Friends of the Eel River have been ringing alarm bells about dam safety for years and are hopeful about what this could mean for expediting the dam removal process.

PG&E Admits Scott Dam Faces Serious Seismic Risks

Free The Eel 

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Do you live or work in a tsunami zone? Do you drive through one to take your kids to and from school? Do you like to go to the beach but wonder how to know if there might be sneaker waves? Do you wonder what you should do to prepare for climate change?

This week’s guest is Troy Nicolini, Meteorologist-in-Charge at the National Weather Service in Eureka. Troy has lots of practical, time-tested tips on avoiding sneaker waves, what to do in a tsunami and why empowering people to take action and connect with each other is better than instilling fear, whether you’re dealing with disaster-preparedness or climate action.

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This week, Colin Fiske of Coalition for Responsible Transportation Priorities and Matt Simmons of EPIC join the show to talk about why the race to electrify cars and trucks isn't a one-size-fits-all solution to our climate woes. More - and larger - electric vehicles mean more mining lithium for batteries, which comes with social and environmental costs. And the more vehicles on our streets, the more dangerous those streets are for people walking and biking. One solution is building more housing close to where people work, shop, and study, so that we can free ourselves from auto-dependency.

For more info:

Achieving Zero Emissions with More Mobility and Less Mining

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Today’s guests, Jaytuk Steinruck of Tolowa Dee-ni’ Nation and Megan Rocha of Resighini Rancheria, join the show to talk about the Tribal Marine Stewards Network, an alliance of Tribal Nations working together to steward, protect, and restore the ocean and coastal resources along the California coast. 

The network’s initiatives include monitoring important marine species like surf smelt, mussels, salmon, and kelp, as well as toxic algae, erosion, and other climate related impacts on coastal environments.

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So you have decided to do your part to fight climate change (or maybe you just don’t want a gas stove to slowly kill you). Great! There are a bunch of incentives now available to help insulate and electrify your house. Aisha Cisna and Stephen Kullman of the Redwood Coast Energy Authority walk through the incentives available to people who want to make climate-smart improvements to their homes.

For more, check out the Redwood Coast Energy Authority and Rewiring America.

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We don't know why he continues to join the show—doesn't he realize he's palling around with a bunch of treehugger dirt worshipers?—but Congressman Jared Huffman joins the EcoNews again for more discussion on what's going on in Washington D.C. Who does he want to replace Feinstein? What's it like to work with George Santos? How is D.C. going to help fund offshore wind infrastructure improvements? (For the answers, you have to listen.)

Bonus: Watch Rep. Huffman's own state of the union address!

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For a weird, brief moment, prominent conservatives pitched a collective freak out over the false notion that the Biden Administration was coming to steal gas stoves. ("You can have my stove when you pry it from my cold, dead hands!") While bad faith scare mongering in the conservative culture war isn't really newsworthy, the moment had something of a Streisand effect: it exposed that your gas stove may be giving your kids asthma as well as the public relations campaign by the fossil fuel industry to cover up this well-documented link. Whoops. 

Laura Deehan, state policy director at Environment California, joins the show to talk about the indoor air quality risks from gas stoves and the movement to limit gas appliances in new home construction.

Want to start electrifying your house. Environment California has put together a toolkit to help!

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Local jurisdictions have very limited control over regulating local pesticide use. New legislation introduced by Assemblymember Damon Connoly would return some local control. Assembly Bill 99 would require Caltrans to respect resolutions passed by counties banning the roadside spraying of pesticides. This legislation builds on decades of work by anti-spray advocates, who have continuously pushed on the agency to reduce its reliance on the nozzle. 

The EcoNews talks with Patty Clary of Californians for Alternatives to Toxics, Patty Mayall of Protect Our Watershed San Mateo County, and Megan Kaun of Sonoma Safe Ag, Safe Schools about their experience working to reduce roadside spraying and their thoughts on the proposed legislation. 

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On this week’s EcoNews Report, we travel to California’s Central Valley to explore the elaborate plumbing that connects North Coast rivers to the Central Valley and the impact of this massive diversion system has on local fish populations. 

In December, Interior Secretary Deb Haaland reversed a Trump-era decision that got Central Valley irrigrators off the hook for habitat restoration costs. Chris Shutes of the California Sportfishing Protection Alliance and Glen Spain of the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen’s Association lay out the sordid history of the Central Valley Project. 

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