Earthwise 7/1/23: The Element of Mist

Producer/Host: Anu Dudley

About the host:

Rev. Dr. Anu Dudley is an ordained Pagan minister and a retired history professor. She continues to teach classes, including the three-year ordination curriculum at the Temple of the Feminine Divine, and others such as History of the Goddess, Paganism 101, Ethical Magic, and Introduction to the Runes. Currently she is writing a book about how to cast the runes using their original Goddess meanings. She lives in the woods off-grid in a small homesteading community in Central Maine.

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The Cosmic Curator 7/1/23: It’s Just Emotion

Good Morning, People. This is your Cosmic Curator, Tom Yaroschuk with a download on what’s shaking in the zodiac for July 1st, and boy there is a lot of shaking’ going on.
Well folks, this could be a week to remember…

About the Host:
Tom Yaroschuk is a Vedic Astrologer. His intention is to help people understand their karma and the issues they may confront to cultivate more fulfilling lives. Tom is writing a memoir of the spiritual lessons derived from his work in a Homeless Day Center in between a career as an award winning television and documentary producer.

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Power for the People 6/28/23: Energy reduction progress at College of the Atlantic

Producer/Host: Steve Kahl

Power for the People: Energy education and solutions for Mainers and Maine communities

This month:
– Steps to transition any home or building off fossil fuels
– Non-energy benefits, such as conform of occupants
– Training and career opportunities in the energy field

Guest/s:
David Gibson, Sustainability Director, College of the Atlantic
Environmental Commitment · College of the Atlantic

About the host:

Steve Kahl is Professor of Science at Thomas College where he teaches environmental and energy courses and advises the student sustainability club. He writes the monthly ‘Sustainability Minute’ email which is distributed to over 1,200 readers. He is a member of the Quarry Road Recreational Area board of directors where he is advocating for a net-zero energy new welcome center. He has advised the board of WERU on the current plan for the station to become 100% solar powered in 2020. Steve is a member of the Green Campus Coalition of Maine, the working group of sustainability directors at Maine college campuses.

Steve’s past positions include Sustainability Director at Unity College where he developed a plan for the college to become 100% solar powered and earned the college the prestigious STARS Gold ranking with the American Association of Sustainability in Higher Education. Before that, he was Director of Environmental and Energy Strategies for the James Sewall Company of Old Town where he led a Maine Technology Institute research project that found that Maine could be 79% solar powered if all suitably-oriented rooftops had solar PV panels.

Prior to moving home to Maine, he was a member of the Energy Commission in Plymouth NH where he was obtained funding for the renovation of a town office building to net-zero energy and the installation of 160 KW of solar PV panels on town properties included a major PV array at the sewage treatment plant that offsets 40% of its electrical costs.

In his own home, he has installed two air-source heat pumps to completely eliminate heating oil, a hybrid hot water heater to reduce his water heating costs by 70%, and insulated the basement and attic to further reduce energy consumption and increase comfort. He would like to install rooftop solar panels but so far his shade trees that also produce maple syrup each year have convinced him otherwise. However, he has solar panels on his summer place at the lake and hasn’t paid for any electricity there since 2011.

Steve has a Ph.D. in Earth Sciences from the University of Maine.

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Wabanaki Windows 6/27/23: ICE 4 Cowan Transcript

Producer/Host: Donna Loring
Other credits: Technical assistance for the show was provided by Joel Mann, WERU Orland Maine.
Music for the show was from the CD Dream Walk by Rolfe Richter

Wabanaki Windows is a monthly show featuring topics of interest from a Wabanaki perspective.

This month: This episode reveals the second of three uncovered Indian transcripts. They are from the 1942 Maine Legislative Research Committee. The committee was searching for a way to save money for the State since we were in a World War. They discuss ways to do this in these committee meetings. Much like the Nixon tapes these transcripts are a smoking gun that reveal in the Legislators own words a long-range plan to eliminate the Maine Tribes. Frank Cowan was the Attorney General of the State of Maine. This Transcript shows exactly what the AG thought of the Tribes and reveals a stunning lack of knowledge or regard for the Wabanaki people and for what was owed to them by the State of Maine.

Guest/s:
Eric Mehnert, Chief Judge of the Penobscot Nation Tribal Court.
Attorney Joseph Gousse, Legal researcher and writing specialist has worked with the Maine Wabanaki Truth and reconciliation Commission is a Professor of Business Law in the Maine Community College System.
Professors Harald Prins is a Native of the Netherlands. He is a Distinguished Professor of Anthropology and an Emertus at Kansas State University.
Darren Ranco, Member of the Penobscot Nation. He is Professor of Anthropology and Chair of the Native American Studies at the University of Maine.

About the host:
Donna M Loring is a Penobscot Indian Nation Tribal Elder, and former Council Member. She represented the Penobscot Nation in the State Legislature for over a decade. She is a former Senior Advisor on Tribal Affairs to Governor Mills. She is the author of “In The Shadow of The Eagle A Tribal Representative In Maine”. Donna has an Annual lecture series in her name at the University of New England that addresses Social Justice and Human Rights issues. In 2017 She received an Honorary Doctoral Degree in Humane Letters from the University of Maine Orono and was given the Alumni Service Award. It is the most prestigious recognition given by the University of Maine Alumni Association. It is presented Annually to a University of Maine graduate whose life’s work is marked by outstanding achievements in professional, business, civic and/or Public service areas. Donna received a second Honorary Doctorate from Thomas College in May of 2022

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Outside the Box 6/27/23: “Autism Spectrum”

Producer/Host: Larry Dansinger

About the host:
Larry Dansinger (no pronouns) of Bangor came to Maine in 1974 and has been here ever since. Some of Larry’s activities since then: Done community organizing on numerous issues through INVERT and then Resources for Organizing and Social Change (ROSC), committed civil disobedience several times, grown a garden yearly since 1977, joined various food cooperatives and two men’s groups, refused to pay federal income taxes for war, lived on a community land trust for 23 years, and met a wonderful partner whom Larry has loved for over 40 years. Larry has produced Outside the Box features on WERU since 2007 and continues to look for unique ways of seeing almost any problem or situation.

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Around Town 6/27/23: Update on the latest threat to Sears Island

Producer/Host: Amy Browne

Steve Miller of Islesboro Islands Trust spoke with us on Friday, ahead of the final meeting of the Maine DOT’s Offshore Wind Power Advisory Group.

About the host:
Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021.

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The Essential Rhythm 6/25/23: Blue Blood

Producer/Host: Sarah O’Malley

This episode explains why horseshoe crabs’ blood is blue as well as the critically important substance found in it. Limulus amoebocyte lysate is isolated from horseshoe crab blood and used to test the sterility of medical equipment and vaccines, and as of yet has no approved synthetic alternative in the United States.

About the host:
Sarah O’Malley is an ecologist, naturalist and science communicator passionate about deepening her listeners’ experiences with the natural world. She teaches biology and sustainability at Maine Maritime Academy and is currently collaborating on a guide book to the intertidal zone in the Gulf of Maine.

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