Common Ground Radio 12/9/21: PFAS Contamination in Soils and Water Sources

Producer/Host: C.J. Walke

-PFAS “forever chemicals” and their historic use in industry
-How PFAS moves through, soils, crops and livestock
-Current testing efforts and attempts at remediation in Maine

MOFGA’s PFAS Maine Farmer Information and Support

Guests:
Ryan Dennett, Farmer Programs Director, MOFGA, Unity, ME
Jacki Martinez Perkins, Organic Dairy and Livestock Specialist, MOFGA, Unity, ME
Caleb Goossen, Organic Crops and Conservation Specialist, MOFGA, Unity, ME

About the hosts:

C.J. Walke has been involved in Maine agriculture for over 20 years and has worked in numerous capacities for the Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association (MOFGA) starting in 2006. Since 2012, C.J. has worked as farm manager for College of the Atlantic’s Peggy Rockefeller Farms in Bar Harbor, Maine, where he works with students to grow organic fruits, vegetables and livestock products. He holds degrees in park management/environment education and library science. Common Ground Radio debuted in June of 2010 and C.J. has been the show’s host since 2014.

Holli Cederholm has been involved in organic agriculture since 2005 when she first apprenticed on a small farm. She has worked on organic farms in Maine, Vermont, Connecticut, Scotland and Italy and, in 2010, founded a small farm focused on celebrating open-pollinated and heirloom vegetables. As the former manager of a national nonprofit dedicated to organic seed growers, she authored a peer-reviewed handbook on GMO avoidance strategies for seed growers. Holli has also been a steward at Forest Farm, the iconic homestead of “The Good Life” authors Helen and Scott Nearing; a host of “The Farm Report” on Heritage Radio Network; and a long-time contributor for The Maine Organic Farmer & Gardener, which she now edits in her role as content creator and editor at MOFGA.

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Notes from the Electronic Cottage 12/9/21: Maine Law re Facial Recognition Technology

Producer/Host: Jim Campbell

There are lots of reason for those of us who live in Maine to be grateful. Who would have thought that one of them is Maine law regarding facial recognition technology? It’s true! Here’s why.

About the host:
Jim Campbell has a longstanding interest in the intersection of digital technology, law, and public policy and how they affect our daily lives in our increasingly digital world. He has banged around non-commercial radio for decades and, in the little known facts department (that should probably stay that way), he was one of the readers voicing Richard Nixon’s words when NPR broadcast the entire transcript of the Watergate tapes. Like several other current WERU volunteers, he was at the station’s sign-on party on May 1, 1988 and has been a volunteer ever since doing an early stint as a Morning Maine host, and later producing WERU program series including Northern Lights, Conversations on Science and Society, Sound Portrait of the Artist, Selections from the Camden Conference, others that will probably come to him after this is is posted, and, of course, Notes from the Electronic Cottage.

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Talk of the Towns 12/8/21: Working Toward Universal Health Care in Maine

Producer/Host: Ron Beard

What are Maine voters being asked to consider… what does the referendum question intend to change/create?

Outline the concept of health insurance… how is health care paid for in Maine ( private pay and insurance: private, employer-based, publicly supported (Medicare, Medicaid/Maine Care)

What would Universal Health Care do for consumers, employers, health care providers, insurance companies? Are there predicted health outcomes that we can anticipate, based on how the concept works elsewhere?

Is Universal Health Care as you are proposing it the same as Medicare for All… how is it different?

Who is covered under the present system, how well are they covered, who is left out?

Remind us about the referendum process in Maine… how does it work… what is the role of groups like Maine Health Care Action… what is the role of citizens, of the legislature, of the Governor with initiatives like this?

Guests:

Lisa Savage, Maine Health Care Action board member, retired educator, Skowhegan
Rachel Herbener, volunteer, Belfast
Valerie Dornan, volunteer, retired teacher, experience NHS in England, Hancock
Bill Clark, Maine Health Care Action Board member, retired physician, Brunswick

About the host:
Ron Beard is producer and host of Talk of the Towns, which first aired on WERU in 1993 as part of his community building work as an Extension professor with University of Maine Cooperative Extension and Sea Grant. He took all the journalism courses he could fit in while an undergraduate student in wildlife management and served as an intern with Maine Public Television nightly newscast in the early 1970s. Ron is an adjunct faculty member at College of the Atlantic, teaching courses on community development. Ron served on the Bar Harbor Town Council for six years and is currently board chair for the Jesup Memorial Library in Bar Harbor, where he has lived since 1975. Look for him on the Allagash River in June, and whenever he can get away, in the highlands of Scotland where he was fortunate to spend two sabbaticals.

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Technoptimist Radio 12/8/21: How music can rewire the brain after injury

Join Teresa Carey as she breaks down the latest news on the technology that is solving the world’s biggest problems. In today’s show, Teresa covers luminescent cities, rock dust that can absorb greenhouse gasses, and digital music therapy.

To learn more about the topics in this episode:

Luminescent materials could cool our cities and light the streets
Rock dust can turn farmland into a sponge for greenhouse gases
How music can rewire the brain after an injury
Green sand beaches could erase carbon emissions

About the host:
Teresa Carey is a senior staff writer at Freethink.com, where she covers genetics and the environment. She is also a US Coast Guard licensed captain and a NatGeo Explorer. In addition to Freethink her work can be found in BuzzFeed, Scientific American, PBS NewsHour, NPR Weekend Edition, Smithsonian and more. Find her on twitter @teresa_carey

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Maine Currents 12/7/21: Word Festival Interview with Bob Keyes, author of a new book on Robert Indiana

Producer/Host: Amy Browne

On this month’s edition of Maine Currents, we bring you to the Word Festival in Blue Hill in October 2021. Reading from their website: “Every October, Word brings together readers, writers, and tellers of tales to celebrate the written and spoken word—fiction and non-fiction, children’s literature, poetry, drama, nonfiction, storytelling and more. The festival takes place in Blue Hill, Maine where a literary tradition of great thinkers and artists extends over two hundred years and includes Jonathan Fisher, Mary Ellen Chase, and E.B. White to name a few. Many writers continue to call the Blue Hill peninsula home as does a large community of passionate readers. To celebrate this rich heritage, Word presents three days of author readings, a poetry crawl, writing workshops, panel discussions, school events, and spoken word performances to sold out crowds.”

One of the events this year was an interview with Bob Keyes, author of the new book, Isolation Artist: Scandal, Deception, and the Last Days of Robert Indiana, conducted by Paul Sacaridiz, Executive Director of Haystack Mountain School of Crafts. The talk was recorded via zoom by festival organizers, and we thank them for making it available to our listeners.

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 and Maine Currents, she 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 the First Place 2017 Radio News Award from the Maine Association of Broadcasters.

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Outside the Box 12/7/21: “Occupy at 10”

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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