BUTTE ENVIRONMENTAL COUNCIL
ECO 601 27 APRIL 2021
On this program we talked with Caitlin Dalby, the General Manager of the Butte Environmental Council. She spoke with us about the complexities of managing BEC during the Covid-19 crisis and described recent and upcoming programs that are taking place despite Covid. Upcoming are the Endangered Species Faire and the Bicycle Music Festival. She also review ongoing programs such as RARE (the recycling project), Community Forums, Urban Forest Project, and the Oaks Restoration Program. Learn more about BEC, volunteer, or contribute at becnet.org.
Download or listen to this important interview: click here.
Download or listen to this important interview: click here.
ecotopia celebrates 600 shows since 2019
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clearing the air
eco 600 april 20, 2021
Our guest on this 6-Hundredth Ecotopia was Laura Gladson. She’s a PhD Candidate with Department of Environmental Medicine, New York University Grossman School of Medicine, and a Research Scholar, Marron Institute of Urban Management at NYU. Laura is also a Chico resident, whom we met via Zoom a few weeks ago at the get together of the Environmental Council of Butte County at the This Way to Sustainability Conference. Her research interests include air quality; health effects of air pollution; policy-driven research; translational research; and environmental justice. In this program she gave us a brief course in Pollution 101, described the methods used to measure air pollution, and discussed the impacts on the population, with particular emphasis on Environmental Justice. For additional information, check out healthoftheair.org. And listen to or download this excellent interview: Click here.
PARADISE RECOVERY
ECO 597 30 MARCH 2021
Our guests on this program were Marc Maddox and Katie Simmons. Marc is Paradise’s Public Works Director and Town Engineer, and Katie Simmons is the town’s Disaster Recovery Director. They spoke with us about the town’s Long Term Community Recovery Plan (schematic above) after the 2018 Camp Fire, including road repair and regeneration as well as plans to put utilities underground. Of particular interest was their explanation of the proposed sewer project, which would send Paradise sewage to the Chico plant via a pipeline. They discussed other options under consideration and explained why the Chico route may be the only possible one. They also explored funding options for this massive project.
Click here to listen or download.
Click here to listen or download.
Lose That Lawn!
eco 595 9 MARCH 2021
We recently read some essays about the environment printed in the Enterprise Record. These were written on topic of water conservation by 5th graders at Parkview Elementary School. We were very impressed by the writing and the students' insights. Their major concern was lawns, and they have lots of ideas on how we can eliminate grass and replace it with native plants, mulch, and compost. We spoke with Brayden Peacock,Kaitlyn Wassinger, Audrey Vu, Sean Kelley and their teacher Tammy Janos.
Listen to or download this excellent interview.
Listen to or download this excellent interview.
the affordable housing dilemma
eco 594 2 march 2021
Chico Attorney Richard Harriman spoke candidly about the Chico affordable housing crisis and need need for affordable infill rather than suburban developments for the affluent. He lamented the lack of community input for the revision of the Chico general plan housing element and argued that the community wants more diversity and more affordable housing while developers, who have a loud voice, ignore community needs and cater to the wealthy who are fleeing the big cities and seeking more affordable McMansions. If Chico keeps going this way, he warned, "It's going to look just like Stockton." See image above.
Listen to or download the program.
Listen to or download the program.
BI0CHAR
ECO 593 24 FEBRUARY 2021
We had two guests on this program. Josie Strong is a farmer (principally walnuts) in East Biggs, California, and Richard Roth is a sustainable agriculture practitioner from Chapmantown, Chico, CA. They told us about the value of biochar--a kind of charcoal produced under low oxygen, smouldering, so to speak--and how it can sequester carbon, improve soil moisture content, and generally reduce C02 pollution. Each has experimented with ways in which the backyard gardener and the farmer can produce biochar from "homemade" furnaces and even trenches in the ground. They suggested that the uses and benefits of biochar are just beginning to be explored and encouraged listeners to join the biochar revolution.
Listen to or download the program: Click here.
Listen to or download the program: Click here.
the URBAN FOREST
ECO 591 9 FEBRUARY 2021
We talked about trees this week, specifically about Chico’s Urban Forest and more generally about the value of trees in the worlds of the environment and poetry. First we spoke with Gianna Anselmo, Urban Forest Coordinator for the Butte Environmental Council. She told us about BEC’s plan to plant 700 trees in Chico’s neighborhoods, working with volunteers and homeowners to plant trees well adapted to our environment. You can learn more at becnet.org. We also rounded out the program with some fun facts and poetry about trees. Didja know that some trees have been to the moon?
Listen to or download the program: Click here.
Listen to or download the program: Click here.
FUNGI RULE THE WORLD
ECO 590 2 February 2021
Our guest was Cheetah Tchudi--yes, our son--who is a farmer, rancher, and mycologist working out of TurkeyTail Farm in Yankee Hill. He spoke with us about the role fungi play in the world, the varieties around the world, how to avoid poison mushrooms, some fun facts, and his mushroom bioremediation projects cleaning up after the 2018 Camp Fire.]
Learn more about his work at butteremediation.com
Listen to or download the show: Click here.
Learn more about his work at butteremediation.com
Listen to or download the show: Click here.
CLIMATE GIRLS CHANGING OUR WORLD
ECO 587 19 JANUARY 2021
KZFR programmer and polymath Gayle Kimball, author of over twenty books, spoke with us about her newest book, Climate Girls Changing Our World. She interviewed 54 young women in seven continents and found a vigorous, inspired, inspiring and dedicated climate activists. We asked her about how climate change issues vary in such areas as Africa, Asia, Europe, and North America and how these young people are acting on them. She also shared her view of what these climate activists have in common, including family birth order, motivation, commitment, and career ambitions. Listen to or download this interview: Click here.
LET IT SNOW!
ec0 586 12 january 2021
This program focused on the Sierra Nevada snowpack, which supplies about one-third of California’s water and serves as a vast winter reservoir. We spoke with Sean de Gusman of the Department of Water Resources. He is chief of DWR’s Snow Supply and Water Forecasting Section and is responsible for measuring the Sierra snowpack and figuring out how much water it contains. We asked him how he measures the snowpack. He told us about the extraordinarily complex process that involves physical, on-the-scene measurements at Phillips Station in the Sierra, 120 electronic sensing sites, airplane and satellite determinations, and more. At the close of the program, we read excerpts from a Wikipedia article on the great flood of 1862, when above average snowpack coupled with spring rains turned the Sacramento valley into a vast lake. Read the press release that sparked this interview: https://water.ca.gov/News/News-Releases/2020/Dec-20/December-2020-Snow-Survey See the actual data at cdec.water.ca.gov. Listen to or download the interview: Click here.
GOOD ENVIRONMENTAL NEWS FROM 2020 FOR 2021
ECO 585 5 JANUARY 2021
Often on this program we bring you some discouraging words about the environment, though generally with some concrete solutions. Although 2020 was a pretty terrible year on many fronts, there was, in fact, some positive news on the environmental front and in this program, we offered good news from around the world. We don’t want to minimize the crisis. According to the World Wildlife Foundation, “Humanity has wiped out 60% of mammals, birds, fish and reptiles since 1970, leading the world’s foremost experts to warn that the annihilation of wildlife is now an emergency that threatens civilization.” While that statistic is chilling and heartbreaking, there are some good news stories, and we provided some from here in the US, from Canada, from around the world on topics ranging from preserving Marmots and Tasmanian Devils to solar cars and how reading labels can save the earth.
Click here to download or listen to the program
Click here to download or listen to the program