WCRS Podcast - consciousvoices

Music by Jake Wildwood

You are able to hear my voice right now because of electricity. Electricity that powered my computer and the voice recorder. As you hear this, electricity powers the computer in our studio that operates our radio programming. Most of that electricity comes from burning coal, especially in this part of the country. Some of that coal comes from a mining practice leads to people in Appalachia breathing silica dust into their lungs and ingesting selenium and arsenic as they drink the water in their communities.

It is my hope that this program is at least a small part of more people getting involved with finding better ways to get our electricity.

Welcome to the Feb 12, 2010 edition of Conscious Voices. I am Tom Over. This program has been made possible with funding help from the Puffin Foundation and from you.

To comment on this show go to WCRSFM.org or columbusfreepressforum.org

If you search the internet for information about mountain top removal mining, you'll find that people too numerous to count have, during the past few years, sat in jail cells, chained themselves to mining machinery, staged tree-sits, marched, rallied, and otherwise have worked to put an end to this form of strip of mining that is not only contaminating the air, land , and water in Appalachia, but also deforming its landscapes.

http://civicallyengaged.net 

A group of citizens from Union County who oppose the proposed installation of a large-scale egg-farm in their community met with Adam Ward, who is legislative liaison of the Ohio Department of Agriculture and Kevin Elder, who is Executive Director of the Ohio Department of Agriculture's Livestock Environmental Permitting Program.

The company, Hi-Q Egg Products wants to build a facility near Mansfield that would involve 6 million chickens. Citizens formed the group called No More Chickens because they are concerned about , as their website says “the further negative impact that this facility will bring to our health, ground water, streams, air, soil, property values and roads.”

The meeting between community members and Adam Ward and Kevin Elder of the Ohio Department of Agriculture was part of the Ohio Environmental Council’s Environmental Lobby Day. It’s an event via which members of the community, along with members of environmental groups meet with Ohio legislators.

The conversation you will hear took place in the State House atrium. It was noisy. About 12 or 13 people sat around a banquet table in the echo y atrium, struggling to hear one another. I huddled closely with the people at the table in an attempt to hear what was being said.

The meeting between community member and Adam Ward and Kevin Elder of the Ohio Dept of Agriculture interested me because the concerns that were being voiced is a specific case which reflects the broader issue of problems associated with some aspects of industrialized agriculture.

When I spoke with some of the people working with the community group NO MORE Chickens , some of them said that promoting local and organic food is part of the solution

Columbus commemorated Earth Day 2009 with many work-site events around greater Columbus on Saturday April 18, and with a celebration at Goodale Park on the following day.

The music you are hearing is from System Theory, recorded at Dick’s Den on High Street. Just a Frisbee throw south of the Blue Danube, the jazz bar is , in my opinion, one of Columbus’ cultural and historical sites.

On keyboards is Scott Steeleman . On bass guitar Jim Tussing. On drums and moog synthesizer Adam Smith, not to be confused with the economist. On flute is Michael Cox.

Some might call the Earth Day event a celebration. Some might call it an observance of Earth Day, not wanting to use the term ‘celebration,’ due to thinking that humanity has many tough ecological challenges before us. Some might say its premature to celebrate any sort of achievement in terms of dealing with our eco-challenges.

But another way of thinking of the Earth Day event is think that there are things to celebrate, such as the fact that many people are working together to address our eco-challenges and not giving in to cynicism and hopelessness.

Some people might also say that environmentalism has at its roots a celebration of life-or perhaps a celebration of, and appreciation for, the physical and mental health of human beings, and other sentient beings, and an appreciation for the Earth’s services

upon which, not only life, but quality of life depends.

So, with that line of reasoning, Earth Day can involve celebrating life and appreciating the quality of life we have.

But how much of that celebration is based on our sense of what we have accomplished in terms of making our lives and our communities more ecologically and socially sustainable? You tell me. Go to Civically Engaged DOT NET to give your input. It would be great to hear from you.