Never do a story about Maple Syrup on an empty stomach. Betsy contemplates "pancakes with no syrup", as maple sugar maker Arthur Berndt tells of climate change as it can currently be observed in Vermont, home to one of our sweetest natural resources: "The trees are clearly stressed. We would have fewer days that are suitable for maple syrup production." LISTEN (7 min)
Center for American Progress Senior Fellow (and author of Hell and High Water) Joseph Romm tells Betsy how impressed he was by Al Gore’s performance before the House and the Senate Wednesday. In many ways Gore’s testimony was like a sequel to An Inconvenient Truth— You wanted solutions? Gore gave Congress ten, from mundane to brand-spanking new. Imagine if this guy had been president. LISTEN (11 min)
See Al on YouTube as mentioned on Joseph’s blog.
Adam Kolton, Senior Director of Congressional Affairs for the National WIldlife Federation tells Betsy about the rallies that bolstered a big week for climate change on Capitol Hill: "There’s an expectation that Congress start to get things done. Bills need to start passing in one chamber or another." LISTEN (11 min)
Carbon Coalition co-chair Ted Leach tells Betsy that in New Hampshire, "people just need to open their eyes and they know that something isn’t right. In 1977, there were 48 ski areas in New Hampshire. Today, there are 15. In the early 1970s, 80% of the Maple Syrup in this country was generated in New England, and 20% in Canada. Today, it’s just the reverse." Never ones to sit still ("Live Free or Die" after all), hundreds of townships have resolved to stop climate change in its tracks, by making any presidential hopeful go through them. LISTEN (11 min)
Vaughan Turekian, Chief International Officer for the American Association for the Advancement of Science talks about the noble skepticism that underscores all legitimate scientific inquiry, and how that differs from the straw men scientists being propped up by of the climate change deniers: "When 2500 scientists– and I there are actually more than that– that say that humans are impacting the climate, then humans are impacting the climate." LISTEN (8 min)