Talk of the Towns 10/13/21: How Maine Land Trusts are building on the legacy of land protection

Producer/Host: Ron Beard

-How do land trusts, including Blue Hill Heritage Trust, carry out the work of private land protection in Maine?

-In addition to protecting land by owning it or by permanently restricting some forms of development, how else do your organizations work with landowners and other partners to promote conservation values through public access and use, as in the case of trails, wildlife observation and hunting?

-How has Maine Farmland Trust worked with farmers to protect farmland and to provide access to new farmers and help those farmers make their operations viable?

-How has Maine Coast Heritage Trust worked with local volunteer and fisheries experts to increase fish passage, including for river herring in the Bagaduce River watershed and at Walker Pond?

-Looking ahead to the next fifty years of work by land trusts, what are the challenges and what are your hopes for the outcomes of this work?

Guests:
Hans Carlson, Executive Director, Blue Hill Heritage Trust
Sarah Simon, Program Director, Farmland Access/Farm Viability, Maine Farmland Trust
Ciona Ulbrich, Senior Project Manager, Maine Coast Heritage Trust

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 10/13/21: CRISPR restores vision in colorblind

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 how companies are trying to recycle solar panels, solar power batteries in Nigeria, and how CRISPR restored vision in colorblind people.

To learn more about the topics in this episode:

CRISPR partially restores vision in colorblind people
Solar panel recycling: how companies will make it work
Solar power batteries offer Nigerians green energy

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. @teresa_carey

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Tough Island, Maine, Episode 9 10/12/21: Island Life on Matinicus

Producer/Host: Crash Barry

This week on Tough Island, Maine, one of Crash’s partying pals decides to return to church, only to experience God’s wrath. Thanks to Captain Edward and Nan, (and some psychedelics) Crash’s life gets better.

About the host:
Writer Crash Barry lives near a cannabis grove in the foothills of western Maine. Thirty years ago, he moved to Matinicus, Maine’s most remote inhabited island, to live and work as a sternman aboard a lobster boat. In Tough Island, Maine, Crash retells his misadventures using dramatic storytelling and unique sound design.

For over 25 years, Crash has worked as print, radio and on-line journalist, reporting on the intersection of politics and culture. He’s the author of the rollicking novel Sex, Drugs and Blueberries, a gritty memoir Tough Island and the true story of Marijuana Valley. Crash is also a filmmaker and wrote and directed the screen adaptation of Sex, Drugs and Blueberries.

Crash’s podcast Devils and Dirtbags is an ongoing investigation of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Springfield, Massachusetts and a true tale of deceit, homicide, molestations and cover ups. The actions of evil Bishops and their unholy henchmen play out like a Hollywood movie, rife with death, destruction and disgrace, all framed by a murder mystery that haunted Springfield until an ex-priest made a deathbed confession. Crash tracked down both the murderer and another former priest, a serial child rapist that served as pastor of Crash’s childhood parish, to see if they felt guilt for their sins and crimes.

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BoatTalk 10/12/21

Producers/Hosts: Mike Joyce, Alan Sprague, Jon Johansen

boatyard news, morning muster podcast, sailing south “til the butter melts

guests: teresa carey, lecain smith

About the hosts:

Alan Sprague a.k.a. Flounder of the Soul Show, has been a programmer at WERU since the glaciers receded. For thirty years at community radio he has worked his way from being an unpaid volunteer to being an unpaid volunteer today, and he says he’s worth every cent of it. In 2003 he and Mike Joyce started the monthly call-in show Boattalk which has become a boating related show without piers (pi). Mike and Alan met many years ago while both were working at the Hinckley Company. Alan was the head service carpenter at the Hinckley skunkworks called Bass Harbor Marine or sometimes Kibbee’s Kennels. He worked there for nearly thirty years and saw yachts of stories to tell yawl. As part of Boattalk they organize the annual WERU Boattalk Cruise in late June for a fun pot-luck trip up Somes Sound, America’s former fiord. Quite cunning Mike and Alan are to work a free scenic boat trip with fine food for themselves.

Mike Joyce bio to follow

Jon Johansen bio to follow

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Outside the Box 10/12/21: “Every Day Bias”

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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Poetry Express 10/10/21: “You Are Not the Disposable Trash”

“You Are Not the Disposable Trash” by Maya Williams read by the poet and written in response to “Comfort Measure” by Cait Vaughan

About the host:
Jan Bindas-Tenney is a trans non-binary and queer writer, reader, fighter, lover, friend and parent living on unceded Abenaki land. They hold an MFA in nonfiction from University of Arizona. Their writing has appeared in the opinion pages of Maine newspapers, in legislative testimony, as well as in Orion, Guernica, Gulf Coast, Arts & Letters, CutBank, the Maine Review, among other places. They work at the Maine Humanities Council where they curate a weekly poetry feature on WERU Community Radio called Poetry Express.

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Pet Sounds 10/10/21: Warming Up

Producer/Host: Dr. John Hunt

About the host:

My Sunday morning short has been running for about 11 years. I’ve cover a wide range of animal related topics from COVID to porcupines.

After graduating from Michigan State University Veterinary School in 1982 I practiced at three different veterinary hospitals in the Hartford, Conn area for 5 years. Then I bought a small part time clinic in Bucksport and turned it into a full time small animal surgery and medicine hospital. From 1987 to 2014 I enjoyed serving the Bucksport-Orland area pet owners. My kids grew up in Bucksport. I was a Boy Scoutmaster for a few years, and coached cross country and track in the Bucksport school system for 20 years. I’ve written three books working on a fourth.

I sold my practice and retired from practicing medicine in 2014. Since “retiring” I’ve continued Pet Sounds and my monthly Lets Talk Animals show on WERU. I’ve been teaching at local community colleges, officiating at high school track meets, writing and started a blog on line.

I enjoy hiking, reading, writing and anticipate spending more time with my first grandchild.

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