Audio [audio:http://archive.org/download/hotinhere/itshotinhere15dec2008.mp3]

We were a little late getting started, so about 7 minutes into this podcast… We had a lengthy news roundup of lots of news bits and pieces. Included is some discussion of the current EPA and forthcoming EPA, Climate Change talks in the EU, and a brief chat with Greg Vendena over at the Clean Energy Coalition based in Ypsi.

We bid Hugh a fond farewell as an in-studio CoHost but he promises to join us as a remote correspondent… from wherever that may be.

Audio [audio:http://archive.org/download/hotinhere/itshotinhere08dec2008.mp3]

We had our general news roundup plus special guest Molly Notarianni with us in the studio. Molly is the manager of the Ann Arbor Farmers Market and spoke of the environmental benefits of shopping locally at a farmers market among other things.

Shannon Brines, aka Brines.net, aka Brines Farm, aka Dj Local joined the show for his first stint as full Senior CoHost in charge of Environmental Talk Radio and Farming. Always smooth, never gritty.

This week two exxxtra special guests steam up the WCBN studios and serve up expert advice and commentary on the way forward (with a side of delicious grooves).

UM’s own Andrew J. Hoffman, Holcim Professor of Sustainable Enterprise and Associate Director of the Erb Institute for Global Sustinable Enterprise, lends his wisdom on the possibilities unfurling at the confluence of humans our economies and our environments.

and…

Kerry Duggan, IHIH’s own Washington Correspondant/Campaigns Project Manager @ the League of Conservation Voters, fills us in on what we planet lovers want (and need) from President Elect Obama and turns us on to the 2008 Environmental Facebook.

This week, Sean Ledwin of the University of Michigan’s School of Natural Resources and Environment joined us to share insights about shrimps, shrimping, and the ups and downs of environmental certification programs.

Remember, get your greens locally, and triumph in the face of diversity.

But first a word from our sponsors.

This week’s playlist:

Listen in this week for exxxtra special guest Dan Fahey from UC Berkeley, expert on resources and conflict in the Great Lakes Region of Africa. Future Dr. Fahey schools us on why our cellphones and i(solationist)pods are fueling violence in the ‘Democratic’ Republic of the Congo. Also, a new ‘Eco-Warrior’ segment and more from Vijay Vaitheeswaran of the Economist on carbon offsets.

• Congo: from the NY Times
• This just in: 61 trees per person!
  
• Raw off the line: Blue Ocean Institute’s Sushi Guide
• California passed Proposition 1A to construct a high-speed rail link.
• The first legal sale of African ivory since 1989, but you won’t be buying it on Ebay.
• NEW EPA Rule: No new coal plants without “Best Available Control Tech” for CO2!!
• Dry Cleaning: It blows, and may result in: depression of the central nervous system; damage to the liver and kidneys; impaired memory; confusion; dizziness; headache; drowsiness; and eye, nose, and throat irritation. Repeated dermal exposure may result in dermatitis.  No joke. here’s why.

Goloco: What’s not to love?

(Download)

We’re not saying there wasn’t any environmental news to report this week, we’re just saying we had too many smart people to talk to to get around to it. Specifically:

• Joseph Romm, author of many books on climate change and other topics of energy and the environment, Senior Fellow at the Center for American Progress and former Assistant Secretary for Energy. He maintains an excellent blog on energy issues at climateprogress.org. Go there now, you can read and listen at the same time.We asked Joe what exactly offsets, cap and trade, and renewable energy credits are, what they do and what they don’t do. His message: don’t count on ’em.
• Howard French, professor of journalism at Columbia, former senior writer for the New York Times and the International Herald Tribune. Howard is author of A Continent for the Taking: the Tragedy and Hope of Africa, and was in town last week to give a talk in the Africa Workshop series. We talked with him about the implications, social and environmental, of the expansion of Chinese industry in Africa.

Playlist:

This week:

• Co-host Gina Gettum made a progress report from Uganda. She told us about the illegality of the only fish which can be eaten, and what it’s like to have dinner in a revolving restaurant with arms dealers while missing your own interview on national TV.
• We spoke with Gary Peters, congressional candidate for Michigan, who is campaigning with our Washington Correspondent Kerry Duggan of the League of Conservation Voters. Gary is on the last day of the campaign trail, and he easily convinced us to endorse him in the 9th District (for the third time over).

  
  Actual photograph of Kerry and Gary calling in from the campaign trail.

Howard French, former senior writer for the New York Times and author of A Continent for the Taking: The Tragedy and Hope of Africa, suffered a major spatiotemporal-decorrelation event, and we didn’t get him into the studio in time for the show. But we were able to sit down with him later in the day and that interview will be featured on a future episode.

Next week: Gina makes her triumphant return from Uganda, and we talk with Joseph Romm, Senior Fellow at the Center for American Progress and editor for ClimateProgress.org.

(Apologies for the ragged start, we had a theme-music failure and had to jump into the gap.)

First, the news:

• Earth Policy Institute is bullish on a new energy economy in the U.S.
• Britain ups it 2050 carbon target to 80%, is struggling to get wind going in the meantime, but going hard on algae.
• In India, climate change is linked to tiger attacks, but they’re still shopping for U.S. coal mines.

This week we talked about Detroit. It wasn’t nearly enough time, but we began to ask the question: what does environmentalism look like in the big and weird city? Thanks to Michelle Martinez from The Greening of Detroit and the Sierra Club, and Kerry Duggan of the League of Conservation Voters, active Detroitist, and Domiana Carter and the crew at Detroiters Working for Environmental Justice. Thanks also to the School of Public Health for helping organize our Toxic Tour field trip.

With music selections by Rob Linn of WCBN’s From Belle Isle to 8 Mile. Just a few of his cuts, listen to his show Tuesdays at 12 for a whole world of Detroit music:

(Co-host Gina Gettum is away in Belgium and Uganda this week, fighting to bring more fish stocks up to Sustainable Fish of the Week levels, but we’re hoping to check in with her via telephone next week.)

Listen in for our first ever Get Your Health on edition of IHIH. Rachel Chadderdon, Market Master of the Ypsilanti Farmer’s Market joins us in the WCBN studios for some majorly uplifting updates on her (and other’s) impressive efforts to de-desertify the food desert of Washtenaw County.

• This just in: Florida AND California are saving money and saving the planet by going green!
• Which is freakin’ brilliant, given that the autumn temps in the Arctic Region, according to NOAA, are the second highest on record! It is Hot in Here!
• The credit crunch is especially bad new for wind power.
• The Union of Concerned Scientists has released their annual Federal Agency Report Card. Rock on NASA and the Nuc Reg Commission for your B’s. Shame on you EPA, NOAA, BLM and the Consumer Product Safety Commission for your D’s! No dessert for you!
• Bush gives 13 billion to Amtrak via the new railroad-safety law.
• Next week: Check out the new sustainable sushi guide, but for now know that U.S. Farmed Abalone (awabi), North American Albacore Tuna (shiro maguro) and Farmed Artctic Char (iwana) are excellent choices. STAY AWAY from Bluefin Tuna (toro), Monkfish (ankoh), Red Snapper (tai) and Freshwater Eel (unagi).
• LVC Releases the 2008 Scorecard! Check out your local reps!! Vote Green!
• Canada’s sour gas situation explodes, literally

This week’s musical cuts:

While Ann Arbor enjoys near-record highs, and the good folks of Saskatchewan soldier on through heavy snowstorms, what better time to tune in to environmental radio?

Another strong focus on economic issues this week. Who knew the environment and the economy were linked?

• Climate change could force millions from homes.
• Nature Loss Dwarfs Banking Crisis
• An economic crisis is a good time to buy a bike or an electric car.

And some environmental stories whose economic impacts are as-yet unknown:

• A frightening new climate prediction from James Hansen et al.
• New species of pollution-adapted fish evolve in Lake Victoria.

And the crime beat:

• Environmental crimes on the rise globally
• And in US parks, thanks to gro-op cartels

Sustainable Fish of the Week: the Atlantic Herring (although we’re currently dubious about the Marine Stewardship Council, so careful with that website.)

This week’s playlist:

Next week: A Toxic Tour of Detroit City. Stayed tuned to your environment.