Month: July 2022

An 81,000-mile journey on “muscle fuel”

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My first guest is Dr. Corrine Sanchez, executive director of Tewa Women United (TWU). TWU was founded in 1989 as a support group for Native women in New Mexico dealing with “the traumatic effects of colonization, religious inquisition, and militarization leading to issues such as alcoholism, suicide, domestic/sexual violence, and environmental violence.”

Corrine is from the San Ildefonso Pueblo north of Santa Fe. Her Pueblo is one of eleven Native communities who extended kindness to participants in the Great March for Climate Action in 2014. It’s safe to say that, without their help, the March wouldn’t have made it across New Mexico. Continue Reading →

Learn to love and protect plankton

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Given the prominence this week of news stories about heat and wildfire, you might have missed another critical story: last week’s stunning discovery about the decline of plankton in the Atlantic Ocean. (I missed it until John Davis alerted me. Thanks, John.)

How big a decline? At the current rate of loss, 90% of plankton will be gone by 2045! That’s huge, imminent, and frightening.

Why frightening? Because plankton is the foundation of the oceans’ food chain. If 90% of it dies off, the majority of salt-water aquatic life won’t be far behind. And even those of us living in the middle of a continent can’t survive without viable oceans. Continue Reading →

The Flag, the Cross, and the Station Wagon

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Bill and I discuss his new book, The Flag, the Cross, and the Station Wagon. It’s an intriguing title, and the book’s sub-title is perhaps even more intriguing:

“A graying American looks back at his suburban boyhood and wonders what the hell happened.”

We’re in a world of hurt, and Bill’s take on “what the hell happened” is thoughtful, provocative, and hopefully inspiring.

Recently, Bill launched a new initiative focused on mobilizing older Americans to work for change. It’s called Third Act. I love the introductory video. Check it out and let me know what you think. Continue Reading →

How Democrats might avoid a November shellacking

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The passion for freedom, liberty, and keeping g’ummint out of our private affairs is arguably stronger now than it was in the ’80s. (Note to the radicals pushing abortion bans and other personal-liberty-negating nonsense: your attacks on our freedoms will not prevail!)

The chicken-coop issue of the 2022 election is … CO2 pipelines. Big corporations think of themselves as not only too-big-to-fail but too-big-to-not-get-everything-they-want from their pals in government. In Iowa, pro-CO2 pipeline corporations are discovering opposition to their get-rich-quick scheme is huge.

How huge? Like Osterberg”s campaign in the 1980s, potentially huge enough to impact legislative races this fall. Take Jessica Wiskus of Linn County, whose farm is in the path of the Wolf Pipeline. Not only has the threat of eminent domain made an activist out of Jessica, she’s decided to run for the statehouse this fall. She’s a Democrat, and normally, that seat is one a Democrat couldn’t win — just like the seat Osterberg captured in the 1980s. Continue Reading →