Mainstreet Halifax

Since 1979, locals and visitors have come together every summer to celebrate Yarmouth's food, culture and traditions by the sea. It started on Thursday and runs until July 27. Guest host Preston Mulligan is joined by Darryl LeBlanc, president of Seafest, to talk about what attendees can expect this year.

It's been almost two months since the Nova Scotia Energy Poverty Task Force recommended some generous discounts for low-income earners. It's urging the province to give qualifying lower income earners a 50 per cent cut in home heating costs and electricity. Guest host Preston Mulligan is joined by Brian Gifford, the chair of the task force.

Sociologist Gary Kinsman talks about what's new in the third edition of his book, The Regulation Of Desire: Queer Histories, Queer Struggles ahead of its official release at Venus Envy in Halifax this weekend. He spoke with Mainstreet's Alex Mason about "the social organization of forgetting," a concept he explores in the new edition.

The wife of a transgender man in metro Halifax talks about the journey she has been on alongside her husband, Alex Ripley, during his transition. Chaya Nadi says the role spouses play is often invisible, but she wants to change that. She and her husband spoke with Mainstreet's Alex Mason.

As climate change leads to more intense fires, storms and other severe weather events, psychologists are reporting more stress, anxiety and cases of post-traumatic stress disorder. Guest host Preston Mulligan is joined by Janine Hubbard, a registered psychologist in St. John's, Newfoundland, to talk about why that is and what can be done about it.

The Halifax Pride Festival starts on Thursday and there will be dozens, maybe even hundreds, of events happening at the community level for the next 11 days. Dan MacKay, the publisher of the Halifax Rainbow Encyclopedia, joins guest host Preston Mulligan to talk about the history of Pride in Halifax and what's coming up.

Last August, the Halifax Regional Municipality installed four new receptacles for cigarette butts. The twist? They like ballot boxes with the intention of encouraging people to dispose of their cigarette butts properly, rather than throwing them on the ground. Guest host Preston Mulligan is joined by Ally Chant, the waste resource education officer for HRM, to talk about this effort to reduce litter.

The annual Nova Multifest will kick off at Alderney Landing in Dartmouth on Friday. Guest host Jane Sponagle is joined by three of its organizers, Hannah Matharu, Maddison Day and Vishal Bhardwaj, to talk about the annual celebration of food, culture and music.

Pulitzer Prize-nominated poet and playwright Cornelius Eady is in Cape Breton this week. He's doing a reading at the Inverness County Centre for the Arts on Wednesday afternoon. Guest host Jane Sponagle spoke with Eady about his work and what inspired him to hitchhike from New York to Cape Breton in the 1970s.

The Plastic Free Foundation promotes Plastic Free July as a movement to get people around the world to refuse single-use plastics in the name of a cleaner environment. Rachael Butcher and Krista McDonald co-own Wholesum Refillery Shoppe in Kentville, N.S. They're participating, but it's also their mission to minimize single-use plastics year-round. They join guest host Jane Sponagle to talk about how they've set an even more ambitious goal for themselves.