Dear Friends,

HERE’S THIS WEEK’S PODCAST:

(01:25) A sneak attack on backyard chickens;
(18:13) Netanyahu’s visit meets wide-spread opposition, with Kathleen McQuillen;
(36:31) The Golden Rule’s journey of peace, with Helen Jaccard;
(42:26) Trump’s march to autocracy;
(54:57) August garden Q & A, with Kathy Byrnes.

Bold Iowa’s Samantha Kuhn questioned Kamala Harris about climate change several times during the 2019 presidential campaign.

In my other-other day job (I have three), I direct Bold Iowa. Bold currently works with local governments to build stronger food self-reliance and opposes Summit Carbon Solutions’ CO2 pipeline. (Here’s Bold’s most recent request to the Iowa Utilities Commission about the pipeline.)

An earlier Bold project involved asking presidential candidates candid questions about climate change, renewable energy, and the Dakota Access Pipeline. From December 2018 through January 2020, Bold’s “climate birddogs” questioned over two dozen presidential candidates on nearly 100 occasions.

Now that Kamala Harris is poised to secure the Democratic Party’s nomination for president, there’s renewed interest in her public statements during the 2020 presidential campaign, including Bold’s birddog efforts. For example, Harris is getting flack from Republicans for saying in 2019 that she supports a ban on fracking.

Instead of standing by her earlier position, according to a Harris spokesperson, she’s no longer opposed to fracking. That’s particularly disappointing, given the stories coming out of one area of Texas about an unprecedented occurrence of earthquakes: Fracking likely responsible for 4.7 earthquake south of San Antonio.

Yeah, I get it. Many Pennsylvania voters like their fracking jobs. But I know from my time spent in western Pennsylvania during the Great March for Climate Action that a whole lot of residents have seen their land, water, and lives ruined by fracking.

Let’s just hope Harris doesn’t renege on most of the positive climate positions she embraced while in Iowa, including:

“I’m going after those big oil and fossil fuel companies, because I know what they’ve been doing and they’ve not been held accountable.” (Bold Iowa video from November 30, 2019)

“If we do not act [on climate change] in a significant way in the next 12 years, the harm will be irreversible.” (Bold Iowa video, October 12, 2019)

One of Bold’s most prolific birddogs, Samantha Kuhn, asked Harris if she would declare a climate emergency on day one, to which Harris replied, “Yes.”

We also asked Harris if she would oppose doubling the flow of oil through the Dakota Access Pipeline, and she wrote “Not only should we not increase the flow of oil through the Dakota Access Pipeline, but as president I would end federal support for the pipeline entirely. For too long big oil companies have been allowed to pollute our environment and our Native American communities in pursuit of more money. That ends when I’m president. I will stop the authorization of new fossil fuel infrastructures, as we must make big changes now to protect our planet and our children’s future.”

That’s a lot of solid commitment to a range of climate actions. Let’s do our part to encourage Harris to stand strong and keep her word — and revisit her flip-flop on fracking.

And for fun, here’s me taking the mic from Harris to blow away a bee that was bugging her. (Bold Iowa video, October 12, 2019)

Thanks for reading, listening, and doing your part for a better world.

Ed Fallon

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In addition to our PODCAST, listen to the Fallon Forum on these affiliates:

– KHOI 89.1 FM (Ames, Iowa)
– KICI.LP 105.3 FM (Iowa City, Iowa)
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– KKFI 90.1 FM (Kansas City, Missouri)

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 Bold Iowa, and Birds & Bees Urban Farm. Thanks to Des Moines Irish Session for providing our bumper music, and thank you for supporting a civil alternative to the shock jocks!

Ed Fallon