NASA scientist James Hansen shakes up Capitol Hill (and the media) with explosive testimony to the Select Committee on Energy Independence and Climate Change. For one thing, he thinks oil industry executives who purposely (and secretly) fund groups to confuse the public about climate science – should be charged with crimes against humanity.

Here are the links to supplement this week’s Radio Ecoshock show:

to Select Committee (June 23, 2008) as a .pdf file.
Title: Global Warming 20 Years Later: Tipping Points Near

James Hansen interview on NPR’s Diane Rehms show () audio file mp3

Other Hansen speeches.

Beyond Zero Emissions Melbourne Australia interview with James Hansen Top US scientist says carbon emissions must stop.
Lo-Fi 30 min 5 MB

JAMES HANSEN SPEECH Mind-blowing, must-listen speech in Texas, on the new hot-state planet. Part 1 27 MB 30 min Part 2 27 MB 30 min Courtesy TUC Radio, San Francisco. Part 3 Questions & Answers 30 min

“The White House Climate Report” (actually from NOAA)
“Weather and Climate Extremes in a Changing Climate”

NOAA Press Release explaining this report. June 19, 2008.

Democracy Now “IRS Audited Greenpeace at Request of Exxon Mobil-Funded Group”
March 24, 2006. Text and download available.

Greenpeace database of anti-environmental groups secretly funded by Exxon Mobil
(exxonsecrets.org)

This week’s Radio Ecoshock show is a fast-moving collection of Dr. Hansen’s quotes this week, plus a few other recent ones – woven in with media reaction to his comments on oil exec’s heading for trial.

There is a lot more to Hansen’s message though. Pick up some solid science – and why at 385 parts per million of CO2 we have already PASSED the danger point. Emissions must go down, not up.

Dr. Hansen makes two key suggestions:

1. Stop building any new coal plants, and stop using coal altogether by 2030

2. Build a new power grid. Our current electricity distribution system wastes as much energy as consumer use. Think about that. Hansen says with a new low-loss system as a national priority, then alternative energy really could power the nation.

For fun, I’ve tossed in a fight between Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and conservative CNN talk show host Glenn Beck, CNN’s climate Quisling.

Then Democracy Now does real investigative reporting, to show how Exxon has funded climate deniers, just like the tobacco industry denied cancer. One Exxon front group even sent the IRS against Greenpeace (likely with the help of the Bush Administration, my guess…)

And so it goes. A fine mix, with a touch or Reggae. Clip bonanza to bring you up to speed on the debate - and shocking truth about our climate emergency.

Alex Smith
Host

Radio Ecoshock

Dmitry Orlov interview. Author of Reinventing Collapse: The Soviet Example and American Prospects." Orlov compares end of Soviet & American empires.

His advice for Presidential candidates, as oil era ends is priceless. Hear about "The Collapse Party" platform....

We run a clip from the Minneapolis National Conference on Media Reform (Professor Lawrence Lessig of Stanford on how media sows doubt on global warming, which doesn't exist in climate science...) Then I reference two hours of key speeches from that Conference, available in program number 415 of the underground series "Unwelcome Guests" by Lynn Gary. Find that at the busy website www.radio4all.net

Search by producer "Unwelcome Guests" - but be warned, the site can be too busy to respond well during peak hours. Go in off-peak hours to get your Media Reform files. radio4all is the backbone for distributing radio works by independent producers - including Radio Ecoshock.

Also: Animal rights & global warming: Anthony Marr interview. Anthony runs "HOPE" which stands for "Heal Our Planet Earth". He's been a long time activist on everything from Tigers to biodiversity of the Amazon, and the abuse of farm animals in agribusiness.

Anthony came to the realization that climate change will wipe out more species, faster, than pharmaceutical testing could ever dream of. Animal rights activists need to get on board fighting climate change - but will they?

I hope so, just as I'm sick of seeing all the coverage about climate impacts on humans. As though we aren't going through a mass extinction event. As though animal's lives don't really matter to the animals themselves. As though all the creatures don't have an inherent right to live on this planet too.

Amory Lovins tells government that Nukes are no answer to climate change. Our 6 minute clip is from Lovin's testimony to Congress, at the Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming on March 12th, 2008. It's been a long time since I've heard such a devastating put-down of the nuclear power illusion, in just a few minutes.

I wont' try and summarize what he said - listen in.

Check out some other really interesting testimony to the Committee, with some video, at:
http://globalwarming.house.gov/pubs/testimony

Alex on oil company Net trolls. I was reading a suggestion in Grist that the recent one in 500 year, never seen before, floods in the Mid West might actually be related to climate change. Then the writer gets pounded in the comments - with a pseudo scientific explanation by "Ralph". Ralph says the climate is cooling, and Brad is just a tool.

I always wonder who those trolls really are. Checking out "Ralph" I find Ralph Hansen PHD.
It turns out Ralph is "gainfully employed in the energy industry." What a surprise.

Then I start thinking about all the "independent" military hacks that appeared on TV, really still employed by the Pentagon, as propagandists. Do you suppose that Exxon/Mobil, with $40 billion profits, and other big oil companies (not to mention PR companies hired by the Saudi's) - just might spend a few bucks on blog sites, and a thousand blog commenters like Ralph?

This might explain why any climate science posted on the Net is immediately hit with a torrent of bricks and boos. A newcomer to the Net might think the American public HATES the idea of climate change, or any plan to do something about it.

Funny, real public opinion polls show just the opposite. People are concerned about climate change, and want to save the climate.

We've known the mainstream media, following the lead of the Bush Administration, has long been a force for climate denial and befuddlement. But don't underestimate the psychological operations and paid hacks on the Net as well. It's all propaganda, new and old.

Speaking of mainstream, Discovery Channel has launched a 24 hour "green" themed channel. find it at planetgreen.com

I was a little horrified to see green decorating tips, as the world goes down, but it's a step in the right direction?

How about ABC News bringing out a new special for this September on the possible collapse of civilization due to climate change and other pressures? You can even contribute to the program, and game the end of civilization!!! (at Earth2100.tv)

Their trailer is about as scary as anything I can produce. Is Radio Ecoshock about to be put out of business by Disney's ABC? Don't hold your breath waiting for that. I notice their news program still depends on a 50/50 toxic mix of drugs ads and car/truck/SUV ads. Hardly the stuff of the new age.

Add it all up, and here you go, The Radio Ecoshock Show for June 20th, 2008. Crisis radio.

Alex Smith - your host.

Ecoshock 080620 1 hour CD Quality 56 MB or Lo-Fi 14 MB.

Production Notes: Check out this stinging social song "We Can't Make It Here Anymore" by James McMurty. We take the time to play the whole thing. Best I've heard in a while, almost a country Dylan, back when Dylan had something to say.

Insert quick station ID over music at 29:03 if needed. Or cut into song if you need more.

Hi folks!

Sorry, but last week's podcast send was incomplete. You didn't get the full show. So here is a re-send - the workshop on how to save 90% on building energy costs (and greenhouse gases) is too important to miss.

That was the Radio Ecoshock show for June 13th, 2008.

Won't happen again.

Alex.

QUICK GUIDE AND LINKS - RADIO ECOSHOCK PROGRAM June 6, 2008

Voices on this program:

ANTHONY PERLE Simon Fraser University Urban Studies Program, Co-author of "Transport Revolution" Download that book launch speech Here.

Download 20 minute presentation at "Our Transportation Future" Here.

RICHARD REGISTER Clip from "A Sustainable World" on KCSB radio, in Santa Barbara. Download full interview .

LARRY FRANK J. Armand Bombardier Chairholder in Sustainable Transportation at the University of British Columbia in the School of Community and Regional Planning and Institute. "Our Transportation Future" Presentation at SFU Downtown 21 minutes 5 MB Here.

SIR NORMAN FOSTER Grand old man of green architecture, based in Britain, major buildings all over the world. Audio from DLD Conference Munich Jan 2007. See full video at:

www.ted.com/index.php/talks/view/id/174

DERRICK JENSEN Deep green author of "Endgame: Volume 1: The Problem of Civilization and Volume 2 Resistance". Activism Beyond Hope interview on Wild Earth Radio 29 min 27 MB or "Kick It Over" Ecoshock intro to Derrick Jensen 26 min

GUIDO WIMMERS Austrian architect now in Vancouver, Canada. Expert on "Passivhaus" super low-energy building design and retrofits. His workshop next week on Radio Ecoshock.

AL GORE Clip from 2006 speech on Zero Emission Buildings.

RADIO SHOW TRANSCRIPT:

Another evening downtown, another forum. This one is called "Our Transportation Future". The usual suspects are on stage: three professors and a city engineer. Smugness about our city invades the room. We have reached our goals for cars downtown, years early. The new buzz-word "eco-density" makes all the glass-walled condos sound so green. The local joke: the city has a new symbolic bird: the crane.

The mayor is pro-development. The Premier or Governor is a friend of developers. Everybody seems to feed on campaign donations from building bigger and bigger cities.

Pedestrians are still run down regularly in this model city. A two bedroom condo downtown sells for a quarter million dollars. Glossy full page advertisements show the new suave bourgeois couple luxuriating in their tiny mansions, with granite counter-tops, piled sixty stories high.

It's all set up like a magnet for the rich. Working class people can't afford anything in this planner's dream. Down below, not shown on the slides, a growing swarm of homeless people dig through the dumpsters for pop cans. I'll bet half the population is on drugs, legal or illegal, just to kill the pain. The gnawing sense of disconnection.

Everyone is part of the growth agenda. They either work for the developers, or struggle clean up their mess. The city tries to add enough bushes, and strips of grass, like billboards to remind the prisoners of by-gone nature.

Lost in a memory of real hills, with real seasons, something in me snaps. I interrupt the dream with a rude question....

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