Dear Friends,
Click here for this week’s podcast (details below), including my conversation with Des Moines City Council candidate, Justyn Lewis (click here for YouTube version).
Justyn Lewis
As reported in The Guardian last week, scientists have further confirmed signs of the imminent collapse of the Gulf Stream, finding “an almost complete loss of stability over the last century.”
When (let’s be honest: not if, but when) the Gulf Stream grinds to a halt, it will severely disrupt rainfall in India, South America, and West Africa. Europe will be much colder and stormier. Sea levels along the East coast of the US and Canada will rise. The Amazon rainforest and Antarctic ice sheets will likely see huge impacts, too.
Between that piece of bad news, the latest IPCC report on the worsening climate emergency, and the heat waves, droughts, and wildfires happening across the western US states (and elsewhere across the world), everyone — EVERYONE! — oughta be doing their part in the full-scale mobilization humanity desperately needs.
I hate to sound like a broken record, but if I do it’s because we’re witnessing the front end of an existential crisis that must be addressed immediately. For the status quo to continue means, at a minimum, the end of human civilization as we know it and possibly the extinction of most life on Earth.
So I make no apologies about focusing most of my attention on the climate emergency. That said, I try to approach the conversation with cautious optimism and a sense of humor, and I make sure to leave time for other important conversations. In my personal life, I make sure there is time for activities essential to maintaining and nurturing a healthy mind and body. Walking. Music. Friends and family. Healthy food. Sleep. Bocce ball. That sort of thing.
I hope all of you are able to find the same balance, even as you commit to doing your part in the greatest challenge humanity has ever faced — a challenge, alas, brought on by our own greed and ignorance, or at least the greed and ignorance of a few powerful men and nations.
Much of this week’s program addresses some aspect of the climate emergency. The other segments discuss:
— The unconscionable hypocrisy of Iowa’s governor, Kim Reynolds, regarding immigration;
— The faux election “audit” in Arizona;
— An anti-vax shock-jock who called Anthony Fauci a “power-tripping lying freak,” until he came down with COVID-19 himself and died;
— How Facebook allowed Big Oil to spread falsehoods about the climate crisis leading up to the 2020 election, and
– Answers to common August garden questions.
Thanks for reading. Thanks for listening. Thanks for sharing your feedback. And thanks for doing your part. — Ed Fallon
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CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO THIS WEEK’S PODCAST
(02:26) Justyn Lewis, Des Moines City Council candidate;
(14:29) An environmentalist makes the case for wind transmission lines, with David Osterberg;
(29:12) Gov. Reynolds’ double-standard on immigrants, with Joe Henry;
(42:13) Climate Update: Gulf Stream collapse imminent, dire IPCC report, and walking to COP26;
(55:16) Dangerous lies and the hypocrites who spread them;
(1:08:38) Food and Farming: August garden Q & A, with Kathy Byrnes.
CHECK OUT ED’S CONVERSATION WITH JUSTYN LEWIS ON YOUTUBE
Subscribe to the Fallon Forum on Stitcher, Apple Podcasts, or your preferred podcast platform. Check out our website and Facebook Page, and listen to the program on these and other local affiliates:
– KHOI 89.1 FM (Ames, Iowa)
– KICI.LP 105.3 FM (Iowa City, Iowa)
– WHIV 102.3 FM (New Orleans, Louisiana)
– KPIP-LP, 94.7 FM (Fayette, Missouri)
– KCEI 90.1 FM (Taos, New Mexico)
– KRFP 90.3 FM (Moscow, Idaho)
Please support the local businesses and non-profits who make this program possible. Click on their logos on the Fallon Forum website and in our weekly email, and visit Dr. Drake Family Psychiatry, Story County Veterinary Clinic, Bold Iowa, and Birds & Bees Urban Farm.
Thanks for supporting the progressive alternative to the right-wing shock jocks!
Ed Fallon