EcoNews Report

The Redwood Coast Energy Authority has a sometimes conflicting mission: purchase as much renewable energy as possible, but ideally that power is local, and also it needs to be cheap enough to compete with PGE. And layer onto that state mandates and competition with other power purchasers across the state. Richard Engel of the Redwood Coast Energy Authority joins the show to talk about the difficulties of trying to meet these goals and a new long-term power agreement with a large solar project in Kern County. 

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Filmmakers Dave Feral and Michelle Hernandez talk with The EcoNews Report about their new film about Baduwa’t — a.k.a., the Mad River.

PREVIOUSLY:

• (PREVIEW) The Makers of the New Baduwa’t Documentary Want People to Get Mad About the River

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This week on the EcoNews Report our host Alicia Hamann from Friends of the Eel River talks about the flurry of recent developments on Eel River dam removal. On January 31 PG&E released their final draft license surrender application, a document that outlines some of the logistics of how they plan to remove the two Eel River dams. PG&E is accepting comments on this document until March 3, you can find more information at eelriver.org.

On a separate but parallel track is the publication just last week of a deal for wet-season diversions from the Eel to the Russian post-dam removal in exchange for a number of benefits for the Eel. This includes agreement from all parties to support timely dam removal, $1-million-dollar annual payments to Round Valley Indian Tribes for lease of the water right they will take ownership of, and between $750,000 - $1 million dollar annual payments into an Eel restoration fund. 

Our guests include Hank Seeman, Humboldt County Public Works Deputy Director; Darren Mireau North Coast Director for California Trout; Charlie Schneider, Senior Project Manager for California Trout, and Scott Greacen, Conservation Director for Friends of the Eel River.

Learn more:

Eelriver.org

Freetheeel.org

Eel River restoration and conservation plan: https://caltrout.org/eel-river-watershed-program/report

Eel River Expo: https://caltrout.org/eel-river-watershed-program/eel-river-expo

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In Humboldt we are not new to protecting our environment, but have you ever thought about protecting the night sky from pollution? When nighttime light spills outside of areas we want to illuminate, it becomes light pollution. Bright lights left on at night can disrupt the circadian rhythms of people as well as urban-dwelling and migrating birds, bats, and even aquatic animals, particularly in rivers, estuaries, and coastal areas. 

Ruskin Hartley, CEO of DarkSky International, shares how his organization is helping to ensure that light is used respectfully and responsibly around the world.  Join us for this discussion of the basics of light pollution.

Want to learn more? Check these out:

• New World Atlas of Artificial Night Sky Brightness
• DarkSky International web page
• Light Pollution Fact Sheet by Humboldt Waterkeeper
• Why Should We Make Humboldt a Dark Sky County? by Sylvia van Royen, Humboldt Waterkeeper

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President Trump has entered his second term with a wave of executive orders and other executive actions. These have pulled the U.S. from international climate accords, blamed Southern California fires on "radical environmentalism"—he means us!—and portended a gutting of federal environmental laws in order to drill, frack, log, graze and mine. Jeff Miller, Senior Conservation Advocate at the Center for Biological Diversity, joins the program to discuss how the Center has prepared for Trump to take office, what this slew of new actions means for the environment, and how we can stay sane and engaged. (Jeff has also recently published a book, Bay Area Wildlife: An Irreverent Guide, with illustrations from Obi Kauffman. This might be a fun distraction from the news.)

The EcoNews Report would like to take this opportunity to say: We told you so! In June, Congressman Huffman joined the program to discuss Project 2025, the Heritage Foundation’s policy outline for a second Trump administration. Project 2025 is a template for radical far-right action for the next four years. Curious what else is in Project 2025? Here is a helpful index of topic areas. Care about National Monuments, for example? Project 2025 calls for the repeal of the Antiquities Act and the downsizing of existing National Monuments, like the Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument in Southern Oregon/Northern California. How fun. 

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Every year, delegates from across the globe meet to discuss how we can muster an international response to climate change. On November 5th, 2024, voters elected Donald Trump to be President and one of his first actions was to, again, pull the United States from global climate accords. How can we take meaningful action on climate change when an election fundamentally changes American climate policy? And are these annual meetings actually accomplishing anything or is the age of multinational climate action over? Guests Derek Walker Adjunct Professor in International Climate Change Law at Vermont Law and Michelle McMillan, law student at Vermont Law share their perspectives. 

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Jimmy Carter: Peanut farmer. Humanitarian. President. Environmentalist? On this week's EcoNews Report, we catalogue the environmental legacy of President Carter with Rich McIntyre, friend and fishing partner of the President. Locally, President Carter signed into law the expansion of Redwood National Park (against the protest of loggers). President Carter was also responsible for doubling the amount of acreage protected by the National Parks Service and conserving over 100 million acres of land in Alaska through the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act. An energy crisis drove President Carter to promote renewable energy, even putting solar panels on the White House (which were later removed by President Reagan.) 

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"All go to one place; all are of the dust, and to dust all return." Ecclesiastes 3:20. That was true, at least until the Civil War era. Then a desire to preserve bodies led to a new way of dealing with the dead: toxic embalming, water-tight coffins and concrete vaults. For many of us who try to live simple, low-impact lives, our deaths present a dilemma. We can't go simply or sustainably into whatever comes next.

But there is another way. Imagine breaking down quickly, wrapped only in a shroud or in a biodegradable casket, eighteen inches under the soil, your nutrients being taken up by a tree. Michael Furniss, soil scientist and green burial enthusiast, is working to make that a reality in Humboldt. Michael joins the show to discuss the green burial movement, the science behind natural burial, and efforts to create a conservation burial ground in Humboldt.

For more, check out Sacred Family Groves.

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Poet Jerry Martien joins the Green Gang in the studio to read poetry inspired by the natural landscapes of Humboldt County. If you have never heard Jerry read his poetry before, you are in for a treat, as Jerry’s sonorous voice and crisp lyrical poetry inspires and soothes the soul.

(Encore from 2021)

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Today's episode is about trespass cannabis production and its impact on the environment. We have two fantastic guests from the Integral Ecology Research Center based in Blue Lake, California -- Greta Wengert and Ivan Medel. 

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