Talk of the Towns 6/26/09

Producer/Host: Ron Beard
Studio Engineer: Amy Browne

Topic: Balancing Act- Promoting and Protecting Maine’s Outdoor Legacy
Guest: Patrick McGowan, Commissioner, Maine Department of Conservation

How would you describe Maine’s outdoor legacy– is it accurate to say that the Department of Conservation mission contains a balancing act–to promote the use of Maine’s outdoors and to protect those resources, part of it’s “quality of place”? What are the main functions of the Department of Conservation and how is it organized?

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RadioActive 6/25/09

Producers/Hosts: Meredith DeFrancesco and Amy Browne

Today we look at a stand Maine health care providers are taking against climate change, we hear about shifting policy on the application of industrial pesticides in the state and we look at Congressman Michaud’s TRADE Act which would reorganize US trade priorities.

1.On Monday, Governor Baldacci signed a bill which will create a statewide registry for notification of agricultural pesticide application by aerial spray or air carrier application equipment.
Guest: executive director of the Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association (MOFGA) Russel Libby discusses what the legislation does and where it has fallen short on the protection of people and organic crops from pesticide drift. FMI www.mofga.org

2.On Tuesday, 100 healthcare professionals from across the state sent Maine’s Congressional delegation a letter urging them to take decisive action to address climate change specifically the United States production of green house gases. The focus of the letter was the public health implications of climate change. We speak with Dr Lani Grahm, the co-president of the Maine Chapter of Physicians for Social Responsibility. Her organization ,as well as the Maine Medical Association have stressed their deep concern on the issue. FMI www.psr.org/chapters/maine www.cleanandhealthyme.org

3. A bill which would establish stringent standards for future free trade agreements, and the review and potential renegotiation of current free trade agreements, was introduced yesterday in Congress.
HR 3012, the “Trade Reform, Accountability, Development and Employment” or “TRADE” Act was introduced, with 106 co-sponsors, by Maine Congressman Mike Michaud, the Chairman of the House Trade Working Group.
The TRADE Act would require adherence by country signatories to labor, environmental and human rights standards, as well as addressing the privatization of public services, intellectual property rights and procurement policies.
Even more significantly, the Act would require a review, and potential renegotiation, of a number of current trade agreements, including NAFTA, CAFTA and the World Trade Organization’s Uruguay Round agreements, based on the Act’s new trade standards.

Guest: Sarah Bigney, Maine Fair Trade Campaign www.mainefairtrade.org

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Notes from the Electronic Cottage 6/25/09

Producer/Host: Jim Campbell

Technology has played an important role in the protests about the recent election in Iran – both for good and for ill. The Internet allowed protesters to communicate after the Iranian government effectively took control of the mass media. Deep packet inspection technology also allowed the Iranian government to monitor protesters emails and help identify those who were communicating via the Internet and what they were saying. The monitoring technology was supplied by western companies – who also supplied the same technologies to western governments, including the U.S., who are using it in much the same way the Iranian government is. Interestingly, the language we use to describe that activity is quite different depending on who is doing the monitoring.

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