The Sustainable Living Show March 22, 2010

On today’s Sustainable Living program our first guest was a member of the Gulf Coast Conservancy, an environmental advocacy group located in Pasco County.  Presently, they’re fighting a development on some of Florida’s last remaining natural coastline, called Southwest Harbor Towne.  This item will be voted on by the Pasco County Commission this coming Tuesday, March 23, 2010.  Next up, we were honored to have Randy Hayes, founder of the Rainforest Action Network joining the program by phone from California. Randy has an extensive Bio, including being an officer at the World Future Council, heading up Oakland Green Cities initiatives, and attending the last UN Climate Change meeting in Copenhagen.  He’s also an advocate for Feed-in Tariffs, and helped the city of Gainesville FL adopt the first feed-in tariff in the United States.  Randy is headed back to Florida this weekend, March 26-28 to attend the Florida Alliance for Renewable Energy in Orlando.

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Check out all of the great Sustainable Living Shows on WMNF 88.5FM archives by pressing the button below.  Here is a sample of some of the sustainable subjects since November 2009:

Debbie and Tiffypop hosted the show for International Women’s Day last Monday, March 8, 2010, with lots of help from the Women’s Show  (every Saturday at 10:00AM) host, Mary Glenney, running the board for us.  Deb talked about the trials and tribulations of living in a farm-based intentional community, and Tiffany shared valuable information about reusable feminine products that she makes.  She also told us about the sustainable side of the Womyn’s Fest that takes place every fall in Michigan.  Pam, the ‘goat lady’ Lunn (of the Dancing Goat) was a guest by phone and she added a humorous side to women in farming.

December 14, 2009 – Jon played a taped interview with Lisa Carlson, author of the book Caring for the Dead, with information about green burials and many subjects that the powers-that-be would rather we not know about.  Greg David was a guest by phone.  He is an alternative fuel and syngas expert that really got us all thinking about safer and more efficient ways to get rid of some of our waste products.

December 28, 2009 – Jon urged past guests and listener supporters to call or email some sustainable moment they had during 2009.

January 12, 2010 – Co-author of the book Two Million Cars – driving toward sustainability, Deborah Gordon, talked about alternative fuels and transportation systems and how to save our planet for future generations.

February 8, 2010 – Jon’s guests  Ann Paul, Tampa Bay Regional Coordinator for Audubon of Florida and Troy Springer, President of the Suncoast Native Plant Society chapter of Florida Native Plant Society hosted a lively call-in discussion on bird houses, estuaries and native plants versus exotic invasive plants.

February 22, 2010 – Guests included Karen Kress, of Tampa Downtown Partnership and Julie Bond, with the Center for Urban Transportation Research at the University of South Florida, returning for an annual show on local transportation, and new guests from the Tampa Bike Co-op.

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Sustainable Living Show November 30, 2009

On December 8th the Pinellas Chapter of the Florida Native Plant Society and the St Pete Audubon Chapter will be having their annual Holiday Conservation Celebration at the Pinellas County Extension Center on 12520 Ulmerton Road, Largo.  This event will start at 6:30PM and the speaker will be Professor Douglas Tallamy, author of “Bringing Nature Home”. Douglas Joined the program for a short interview about how native plants sustain wildlife, and related topics he will speak about next Tuesday. Then we shifted gears to a new age NASCAR program, with students from three of our local schools. This coming Saturday at the Brandon High School Stadium, on 1101 Victoria St., starting there will be the final Electrathon race of the year.  Students design, build and drive these small electric powered cars,  powering their cars  for one hour on similar sized batteries, with the winner completing the most laps. This will be the future of human transportation as our fossil fuel reserves decline. Check out their web site www.electrathonoftampabay.org    

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Sustainable Living Show, November 16, 2009

 Our first guest on today’s program was a young mental health intern who’s trying to promote gardening to improve nutrition, reduce stress, exercise, and for a sense of accomplishment. Matt Fahy will be doing four gardening workshops in Saint Petersburg at the Twigs and Leaves Nursery starting November 28.  Matt’s phone number is 727-488-2597 for more information.   Next up we had a group of Barefoot Gardeners tell us about their Sustainable Living Conference coming up this weekend, November 21 & 22.  To find out more you can visit www.thebarefootgardener.org.  Tom Carroll, and Peg & Jeff Campbell helped answer listeners’ gardening questions for the remainder of the show. Ants seemed to be the hot topic. Tom suggested Boric Acid, Jeff was for urinating on them, and Peg just stays clear.

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Sustainable Living Show, November 2, 2009

Today’s Sustainable Living Program was about alternatives to the car. First we talked to Rob Mears, a Light Electric Vehicles (LEV) dealer in the suburbs of San Francisco. He’s created a great website with everything you’d want to know about the topic of LEV’s www.electric-bikes.com.  Next up we had Karen Kress, with the Tampa Downtown Partnership and a local bicycle advocate. Also, Alan Snel, the Director of South West Florida Bicycle United Dealers (SWFBUD) joined us to talk about local bike related issues. We spent a lot of time talking about bike safety. Some of the main safety issues are: riding in the same direction as traffic, not riding on the side walk, stopping at all stop signs & lights, riding with a helmet, and bicycles must obey all traffic laws same as cars. 

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Sustainable Living Show October 19, 2009

On Today’s Sustainable Living Program about Climate Change our guests included author and international speaker, Bill McKibben, the Reverend Warren Clark with Faiths United for Sustainable Energy (FUSE) and Kate Melges, a volunteer for Green Peace.   McKibben’s many books with environmental themes include ‘The End of Nature’, and he has co-founded a new effort based on the number 350.  Science has given us this number as an acceptable amount of CO2 in our atmosphere in parts per million (PPM).  Although we are nearing 400 PPM of CO2, 350’s efforts are to raise awareness through a day of action on October 24.  This event will take place all over the world, with Kate and Warren organizing efforts in our area.  You can find out about efforts in Tampa Bay, and your area, by going to www.350.org .  Warren will be traveling to Washington tomorrow to meet with our elected leaders in hopes of getting legislation passed on this critical issue.  He asked that we keep him in our thoughts and prayers–and please call your congress person now!

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Sustainable Living Show, Sept 21,2009

Our first guest was a spokesperson for the Florida Department of Environmental Protection and we talked about their efforts to promote National Pollution Prevention Week (P2 week). They will be offering free kits that include CF light bulbs,low flow sink aerators, and green cleaning supplies. You can get your kit through their website www.dep.state.fl.us/green.

 Our next guests were promoters for USF Campus Sustainability Conference starting October 7 at the Marshall Center at USF. This will be followed by the USF Green Expo starting on October 9, 2009, featuring many great sessions, speakers, and exhibits. See www.sustainablefloridaconference.org.

The Tampa Bay area will be holding its first Solar Tour of Homes on October 3. To take part in this historic event check out www.tampasolartour.blogspot.com 

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