Eco Radio KC

EcoRadio KC is glad to encourage awareness and protection of our world.  Our goal is to ensure our listeners are aware of how we can create a sustainable present for a sustainable future! It will take us all to make the world safe for habitation for millennia to come.  This will be a great radio hour! Host Richard Mabion will speak with his co-host, Richard Gutowski, and their guests, Zack Pistora, Kansas Sierra Club Chapter Director and Billy Davies, Senior Kansas City Conservation Program Coordinator of the Missouri Chapter of the Sierra Club.  We share the same planet overall, but there are some differences.  A state boundary includes a different legislature.  Will Kansas and Missouri laws line up with what is proposed in Project 2025? https://moenvironment.org/blog/2025-missouri-legislative-bill-tracker/ Please tune in for their discussion of the coming year 2025 expectations. Project 2025 would be an unmitigated disaster for the climate, for our economy, and for the life and livelihood of families across the country. What we need is cleaner air, safer and more plentiful water, and an expanding green energy economy adding middle class jobs. Environmental leadership is the ability to guide positive change toward a vision of an environmentally better future.…

Thanks for listening to EcoRadio KC! We bring you vital information underserved or ignored by mainstream media. We are supported by listeners who share our mission.  Thanks to everyone who showed support for KKFI during our fall pledge drive.  We appreciate your support! In return, we will continue to bring you good radio! EcoRadio KC is glad to encourage awareness and protection of our world.  Our goal is to ensure our listeners are aware of how we can create a sustainable present for a sustainable future! It will take us all to make the world safe for habitation for millennia to come. Today on EcoRadio KC, host Brent Ragsdale speaks with Dawn Buehler, the Kansas Riverkeeper and Executive Director of Friends of the Kaw.  Dawn is also the Chair of the Kansas Water Authority and the Governor’s Appointee for the Oil & Gas Advisory Committee. Friends of the Kaw is a 501(c)3, not-for-profit organization, which serves the Kansas River, known locally as the Kaw. The Kansas River is the largest prairie-based river system in the world. The river originates at the junction of the Smoky Hill and Republican Rivers and runs 173 miles to meet the Missouri River at Kaw…

EcoRadio KC will broadcast John Fish Kurmann’s 5-22-2023 presentation to the Sustainable Sanctuaries Coalition; Recycling Reset: Why It's Failing & What to Do Sustainable Sanctuary Coalition encourages, assists, and partners with people of faith and faith groups to preach, teach, model, and advocate for sustainable living and ecological justice for all creation. https://www.facebook.com/sustainablesanctuarycoalition/events?ref=page_internal Our friend, John Fish Kurmann, is a community activist in metro-Kansas City who has an earnest desire to help save the world. He has managed a drop-off recycling center for more than 10 years and has been studying the issues of waste, consumerism, and cultural change for 30 years. He is also Lead Coordinator of 350KC, the local arm of the https://350.org/   a global grassroots climate action movement. We at EcoRadio KC are glad to encourage awareness and protection of our world.  Our goal is to ensure our listeners are aware of how we can create a sustainable present for a sustainable future! This will be a great radio hour! Before we start, please pick up your phone and dial (888)931-0901, that is (888)931-0901, to make a financial pledge to show your support for EcoRadio KC. KKFI is listener supported radio, not part of any larger…

EcoRadio KC is bringing listeners a special show during pledge drive.  Host Terri Wilke speaks with Virgina LeClere, Environmental Manager, Verna Potts, Senior Environmental Technician, and Jamie Colvin, GIS Technician - who all work at the Planning and Environmental Protection Department on the Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation AND Patti Ragsdale, Master Naturalist and Owner of Happy Apples Farm, a native plant nursery dedicated to engaging people to explore and learn about our world. https://www.pbpindiantribe.com/ https://happyapplesfarm.com/ Braiding Sweetgrass, a renowned non-fiction book written by Robin Wall-Kimmerer is discussed by our guests.  The book itself is instructive poetry, indigenous wisdom, scientific knowledge and the teachings of plants.  Our show reveals that Braiding Sweetgrass shares and reveals ancient stories that serve our world and all of our denizens. https://milkweed.org/book/braiding-sweetgrass Tune in as we discuss our history and our future.  We can help to mitigate climate change when we respect our place on our planet in equal rank with all other living life. Please tune in to hear discussion of how great change is made. We at EcoRadio KC are glad to encourage awareness and protection of our world. We can create a sustainable present for a sustainable future! It is understandable to freak…

Speaking of climate change, a highlight of the Kansas 2019 - 2020 Legislative Session was the “Comprehensive Climate Hearing” that Kansas Interfaith Action (KIFA) held as part of WEALTH Day at the Topeka Capitol in February. After that, almost everything that needed to be addressed this year, wasn’t. You know when KIFA is in the House (or in the Senate) the moral voice will be heard and that’s important.  The COVID-stymied last Legislative Term's actions, however frustrating now, help to ensure KIFA will continue advocating for future progress in environmental protection. Host Teresa Wilke talks with Reb Moti to explain the issues.  Already in front of the Kansas Legislature were bills legislating a reduction in plastic waste and coal power plants and an increase to incentives for alternative renewable fuels.  Let's dream of bills to improve our economic health with green business incentives and to fully fund the  Kansas Water Act. We are all part of this.  Tune in to learn the issues, the facts and how you can help.   Call in with your opinions. https://www.kansasinterfaithaction.org/

On this episode of EcoRadio KC we hear from young people who are growing food in Kansas City.  We have interviews from kids at the KC Farm School at Gibbs Road who share their experience in this summers' Farm Camp, one of only a few area camps that were able to adapt to hands-on and virtual learning.  We also talk with Grow Guerrilla Grow, a new organization dedicated to using vacant lots for food production in areas that need more fresh produce. The KC Farm School With Wyandotte County and metro-wide support, KC Farm School at Gibbs Road is growing a community around food by presenting the natural world to youth and adult alike, inviting them outside to connect to land and soil. The farm is a laboratory for their learning, the soil is their guide. Food: We grow a lot of food on our 3 acre urban lot in Wyandotte County. To grow great food, we build our soil using regenerative and organic agriculture practices. To learn more about the land we walk on, visit our mission page. Our food is distributed through Community Supported Agriculture shares, at our Pay What You Please on-farm market, wholesale through our membership…

The Missouri River is the longest river in North America. Rising in the Rocky Mountains of western Montana, the Missouri flows east and south for 2,341 miles before entering the Mississippi River north of St. Louis, Missouri.  Host Richard Mabion will discuss the Mighty Mo, from Iowa to St Louis, with his guests Caroline Pufalt, Sierra Club Grassroots Network Team Activist, Gerald Mestl, who was Missouri River Program Manager with the Nebraska Games and Park Department before his recent retirement and George Cunningham of Omaha, Nebraska who will talk about the history of the river. The goal of the Missouri River Grassroots Network Team is to promote a healthier MO river, including greater native species diversity and health, better water quality, a more natural floodplain regimen and a more natural connectivity to the MS River and Gulf of Mexico. As part of this effort we want to increase appreciation of the Missouri River among area residents and help river communities develop sensible approaches to flood control and development. MRGNT are active in the Missouri River Recovery Implementation Committee ( Mr. Ric). This committee discusses the implementation of the US Fish and Wildlife Services opinion on how to protect the endangered species on the river. The 2011 flood…

On today's episode, we focus on work being done for more equitable food systems in Kansas City and around the world.  You'll hear from Lana Dominguez of Cultivate KC and Max Kaniger of Kanbe's Markets as well as an update from the Ellen MacArthur Foundation's Big Food Workshop.

On June 15, host Terri Wilke will discuss wind energy with Alan Claus Anderson, a Shareholder and Vice Chair of Polsinelli's national Energy Practice Group. He has extensive experience representing and serving as lead counsel and outside general counsel to public and private domestic and international companies in the energy industry. Mr. Anderson represents renewable energy developers in projects throughout the country, representing clients in more than 4,000 MW in operating wind and solar projects. https://www.polsinelli.com/professionals/aanderson Mr. Anderson also teaches renewable energy law as an adjunct law school professor at the University of Kansas and Washburn University. Mr. Anderson is actively involved in numerous organizations and trade groups supporting the renewable energy industry. Mr. Anderson has served as a member of the American Wind Energy Association’s Siting and Social License to Operate Committee, Chair of the Government Team for the United States Department of Energy Electrify the Heartland Project, Solar Finance Lead for the Department of Energy’s Solar Ready KC SunShot initiative and Chair of the Kansas City Area Development Council's Advanced Energy and Manufacturing Advisory Council. https://www.energy.gov/eere/wind/advantages-and-challenges-wind-energy We at EcoRadio KC encourage use of renewable energy sources.  Here is your fortune cookie advice: When the winds of change blow,…

On June 8th, hosts Richard Mabion and Terri Wilke will discuss the Poor People’s Campaign with Mary Akerstrom, who has been involved with the movement since Rev. Barber came to Kansas in 2016. The Poor People's Campaign, or Poor People's March on Washington, was a 1968 effort to gain economic justice for poor people in the United States. It was organized by Martin Luther King, Jr., and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC). This show is about the 2018 US anti-poverty campaign The Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for a Moral Revival, named after the Poor People's Campaign and led by Co-chairs William Barber II and Liz Theoharis. The Poor People’s Campaign now calls for educational dialogue and potential future action related to the intersections of systemic racism, poverty, militarism and ecological devastation. These “four evils” build on the “evil triplets” that Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. denounced in launching the original Poor People’s Campaign of 1967–68 :  racism, poverty and militarism. We have a long history of addressing racism, poverty and militarism.  On EcoRadio KC, we will enhance our newer awareness of how ecological devastation affects Poor People.  Why do we locate industry that generates pollution near…

Host Brent Ragsdale welcomes guest Daniel Wildcat to speak about ways to alter our crash course with the environment based upon the experience and knowledge of the people with the longest and the strongest connections with the land and its ecosystems. Daniel R. Wildcat is a Yuchi member of the Muscogee Nation of Oklahoma. He is director of the Haskell Environmental Research Studies (HERS) Center and member of the Indigenous & American Indian Studies Program at Haskell Indian Nations University in Lawrence, Kansas. In 2013 he was the Gordon Russell visiting professor of Native American Studies at Dartmouth College. Dr. Wildcat received B.A. and M.A. degrees in sociology from the University of Kansas and an interdisciplinary Ph.D. from the University of Missouri at Kansas City. He has taught at Haskell for 29 years. Dr. Wildcat has been an invited speaker on American Indian worldviews at Goddard Space Flight Center, National Museum of the American Indian. Harvard Medical School, Dartmouth College, University of Kansas Medical School, Kansas State University, University of California (Riverside) and many other institutions of higher education. Dr. Wildcat frequently speaks to community groups and organizations on the issue of cultural diversity. In 1992 Dr. Wildcat was honored…

Climate Action Kansas City Eco-Radio Host, Dave Mitchell, interviews Bridget Sanderson and Sollie Flora of Climate Action Kansas City, discussing its role in the development of a regional Climate Action Plan with the Mid-American Regional Council, and other CAKC activities. Join the conversation on Mindmixer... https://climateactionkc.mindmixer.com/  

This week we'll have Sierra Club lobbyist for the state of Kansas, Zack Pistora on the line.   Let's talk about how we can make the environment work for the PEOPLE!  How a recovery from the pandemic means we can rebuild America with good jobs while saving people money using efficient power, clean energy, better food and less pollution.  Let's get people essential jobs that make our planet better.  

This week on EcoRadio Brent plays a talk from the Clean Energy Business Council's Policy Summit that was held in Topeka on January 16th at the start of the KS legislative session.  The speaker is Geoff Marke, Chief Economist of the Missouri Office of the Public Council.  His talk was titled “Energy Efficiency and Pay as You Save -- What lessons can we learn from Missouri's Energy Efficiency Act? What new financing tools can help Kansans make efficiency upgrades?” The Missouri Office of Public Council and the similar group in Kansas, the Citizen's Utility Rate-Payer Board both advocate of consumers with respect to utility rates.  In the talk Geoff explains how utilities use supply-side management which often results in excess generation capacity being build.  He advocates a demand-side management method called Pay as You Save, which is successfully helping poorer consumers gain access to energy savings.

On April 27, host Terri Wilke will discuss the dicamba drift lawsuit with Paul Johnson and Rob Faux.  Paul Johnson is an organic farmer and the lobbyist/policy analyst for the Kansas Rural Center (KRC) which is working on local food systems, water, environment and noxious weed law. Rob Faux is a diversified vegetable and poultry producer in northeast Iowa.  He is also the Communications Associate in Iowa for  Pesticide Action Network (PAN).   He has been involved in work sponsored by PAN that includes their drift catcher citizen science project and is working to educate sprayers regarding specialty crops and to develop resources for those who have been subjected to pesticide drift. https://kansasruralcenter.org/ http://www.panna.org/ In February 2020, a U.S. jury's decision awarded a Missouri peach farmer over $265 million in compensation for years of crop losses as a result of drifting Dicamba weed killer. Dicamba is  produced by Monsanto, which Bayer acquired in 2018.  Dicamba kills plants, whether they are desired crops or otherwise.  Dicamba is a highly volatile chemical that drifts away from the place of its application, causing damage to plants other than those it was applied on. https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/02/17/victory-farmers-jury-awards-grower-265-million-damages-drift-monsantos-dicamba Our show will discuss how to address chemical damage in…

With the passage of Amendment 2 in Missouri in late 2018, Cannabis sativa became legal for medical purposes.  Though many advocates celebrated the change, the freedom they imagined has come to only a limited number of the state's residents.  With a select few licenses granted to growers, vendors and prescribing physicians,  prohibition is still the reality for the vast majority.  On this episode, we speak with 3 people at the heart of this legal and (agri)cultural shift.  Joani Harshman runs the Harshman Law Firm, practicing what has become known as cannabis law.  Mark Samborski is an urban farmer and medical marijuana patient who is working to educate people about the benefits of the cannabis plant and plants in general.  Dolores Halbin is a former nurse who, along with the Canna Convict Project, has been fighting to reform the laws that put her husband behind bars and ended his life.  Find out the reality about legalization of the cannabis plant in Missouri and what can be done to further change its perception and regulation. Below are some resources to find out more about legal cannabis and decriminalization as well as links to connect with your state representatives. Home page to Missouri…

This week, Richard talks with Emily Libla, Program Facilitator for the Pachamama Alliance.  She will share about her work focused on environmental justice and the Burmese & Nepali communities in Wyandotte County.  Emily is an educator and activist who has been working to promote just and sustainable ways of living for over 20 years.   She is co-founder of Drawdown of the Heartland, a community network committed to acceleration solutions to reverse global warming here in the KC region.

On 4/6/20, Teresa Wilke will have a talk with Cara Schuster, licensed massage therapist and owner of Fox Den Folk Care.  Months ago, Cara contacted EcoRadio KC and offered to do a program about natural funerals.  What a timely subject this is! Cara began her career as a massage therapist in 2005. Her work is deep and intuitive. She creates her own herbal massage mediums to facilitate deep healing from within.  Cara Schuster started Fox Den Folk Care to provide people with certified massage therapy, home funeral guidance, and estate organization. Her journey in holistic end-of-life care came to her in 2013, when she became a certified death midwife. She is committed to continuing community outreach and educating folks on natural death care options. As a certified home funeral guide, it is her mission to provide folks with authentic, economical and environmentally-friendly alternatives to end-of-life care. http://foxdenfolkcare.com We quote Bob Dylan, “He who is not busy being born is busy dying.” Please stay tuned!

EcoRadio KC welcomes Kristan Chamberlain, Executive Director, and Heather Nevarez,  Director of Operations of KC Can Compost. KC Can Compost is an innovative social and environmental enterprise conceived by Shelter KC, a charity that provides homeless men and women with compassionate relief services, long-term recovery support, and green employment training. Together, they educate and employ once-homeless men and women, at a living wage, to collect organic waste from local area kitchens and divert it from the landfill for composting. Two goods, one solution. The average Kansas City resident produces 102 tons of garbage in a lifetime and up to 60% could be used to create soil instead of methane. By composting, people actively decrease our city’s methane production and contribute to a healthier Kansas City. Composting food waste puts nutrients back into the soil, so healthier food can be grown safely and efficiently. Because of its healthy microbial activity, compost serves as a potent fertilizer and natural pesticide - a sustainable alternative to chemical products.  Composting helps the soil retain water more efficiently which minimizes damaging runoff that contaminates our waterways and contributes to land erosion. Landfills are reaching capacity and contaminating our water and air with toxins in the…

Dorothy Barnett, Executive Director of the Climate + Energy Project joins hosts Brent Ragsdale and Dave Bennett Freeling to talk about climate and energy related legislation in Kansas.  We will play clips from the Clean Energy Business Council's 3rd Annual Policy Summit that took place on January 16th and WEALTH Day, (Water, Energy, Air, Land, Transportation & Health) which was February 10th. You can watch the entire WEALTH Coalition Comprehensive Climate Hearing you can click here (or just listen to this EcoRadio KC episode for the highlights!).  And while you're clicking around getting educated, find out more of what's goin on in the Sunflower State... Kansas Rural Center's weekly policy watch https://kansasruralcenter.org/category/legislative-policy-watch/ and Loud Light - brief Youtube updates during each week of the Kansas Legislative session https://www.loudlight.org/week-9-2020     ABOUT THE CLIMATE + ENERGY PROJECT It started when founder, Nancy Jackson was having a "dialogue” with her father-in-law, Wes Jackson (founder of The Land Institute) about a proposed coal plant under consideration in Western Kansas. Supporters of the plant badly needed jobs and wanted new transmission lines to carry wind energy. Opponents of the plant feared the impact of millions of tons of carbon dioxide and water use. A…

Join hosts Richard Mabion and Dave Bennett Freeling as they sit down with young people who have been learning and teaching others about water quality in the KC area through […] The post Friends of the KAW appeared first on KKFI.

This week hear about all the issues that have impacted your environment over the past year and help us look toward a brighter future! EcoRadio KC has been broadcasting on KKFI for over 10 years.   We are one of the best local resources for information and advocacy on behalf of your environment.  This is a huge responsibility for us and we do not take it lightly!  Our 5 co-producers spend countless hours researching and connecting with people and organizations to bring you all the news, events, ideas and interviews that can fit into an hourly program each week.  This year, we have spoken with inspiring authors like Paul Hawken, Pam McElwee and Carey Gillam, featured exclusive talks by visionaries like Wes Jackson, Andres Bernal and Amory Lovins, and highlighted the work of Earth-saving organizations like the Natural Resources Defense Council, Sierra Club, the Resilient Activist, Green 2.0, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Beyond Nuclear, Missouri Coalition for the Environment, Friends of the Kaw, Compost Collective KC, After the Harvest, Metropolitan Energy Center, Climate Action KC, Mid-America Regional Council, the Kansas City Farm School, Extinction Rebellion, Sunrise Movement and so many more!  Your support and feedback are so valuable to keep…

As sea levels rise and the planet warms what effects should we anticipate in our region of the country? Patrick Marchman is a member of the Agenda Setters for the Climigration Network. He founded the Climate Migration and Managed Retreat Member Interest Group, at the American Society of Adaptation Professionals. Marchman has a Master’s degree in Marine Affairs from the University of Washington in Seattle. He is a Certified Environmental Planner and he lives in Kansas City MO.

Out on the plains of western Kansas, you can hear the same sounds from nature that early Americans listened to hundreds and thousands of years ago, but many of the sounds have been lost.  Through machine dependent farming and monocultures of corn, alfalfa, soy and wheat nature’s great seed bank has been robbed and few have acted to save it. One institution that has been a great champion of restoring diversity in ways that are useful and ultimately most economical for humanity is The Land Institute in Salina, KS.  They have been doing research on how to retain and enrich the soil and feed our species for decades. Today, they have teams of scientists and interns that breed tamer versions of wild crops and wilder versions of domesticated varieties as they learn how to live within our respective ecosystems in a regenerative way. Two plants that we hear about on this episode are called Silphium and Kernza. Kernza is a small Kansas wheat grass which is being bred to produce more larger grains in diversified fields. It can be made into flour and used just like the standard wheat grain we have become so dependent on. Silphium integrifolium is a…

Monsignor Stewart Swetland of Donnelly College will be in the house this week talking to Richard about why we should be better stewards for the Earth within our communities.  He has been preaching recently on Pope Francis’ encyclical “Laudato Si" on care of our common home.   Swetland says, “Environmental justice is a concern for every person because it is a part of the human vocation to participate responsibly in God’s ongoing creative action.”  Gain some perspective this Monday evening or on our podcast. Msgr. Stuart W. Swetland, S.T.D., was ordained a priest in 1991 for the Diocese of Peoria, IL. He received his undergraduate degree in Physics from the United States Naval Academy. Elected a Rhodes Scholar in 1981, he entered the Catholic Church while studying Politics, Philosophy and Economics at Oxford. He has a B.A. and M.A. from Oxford; a M.Div. and M.A. from Mount St. Mary’s Seminary; and his S.T.L. and S.T.D. from the Pontifical Lateran University having studied at the John Paul II Institute for Studies on Marriage and Family in Washington, DC. He has an honorary Doctorate in Humane Letters from Benedictine College in Atchison, KS. He currently serves as the seventh President of Donnelly College…

Man Cave finds the “last man on earth” (coincidentally named “Tim”) burrowed into what is essentially a Hobbit home, somewhere in Canada, broadcasting into a microphone for whomever might yet be out there listening. Realizing that perhaps there may not be anyone out there still listening, Tim faces the inability to have any impact on humanity itself, and turns his attention to warning whatever far corners of the universe may still be out there receiving radio waves. Along with a stirring rallying cry for saving the planet, Man Cave walks the line that drips with both irony and edgy gallows humor. "Tim Mooney is a barnstorming actor, touring the United States with one-man plays. He presents “Man Cave” at high schools and college and conferences and festivals wherever he goes, changing minds… perhaps “blowing minds”… among audiences that are both receptive and not-so-receptive to the climate change message. He would love to share this event with your community. "The Timothy Mooney Repertory Theatre is a not-for-profit institution, and available to bring this event to your school, conference and environmental event. You can find his theatre at www.timmooneyrep.com, and check in about booking an event with Tim directly at [email protected]. “Man Cave” is also available in…

Wiki is an Hawaiian word meaning quick. Ward Cunningham heard the word in Hawaii and used it to refer to the efficient and open collaborative projects that he was working on in the early 1990s that went on to inspire many projects like Wikipedia.   The wiki provides a way for different people to share their knowledge, to educate one another and to solve problems.  Ward Cunningham also first used a term, “technical debt” to refer to a failure to fully plan for how computer programs would work over time.  Technical debt is the result of “quick and dirty” methods that are incomplete, leaving a debt to be paid in labor in the future.  Ward has given us words to describe both vital problem-solving techniques and a phenomenon that has plagued the tech world as well as American society for many decades.   For our environment today, we all know we  must collaborate to address those old debts and find the most sustainable solutions … quick. We can see our technical debt wreaking havoc globally through business, government and all kinds of organizations.  In light of this, we feature an interview with a tech author named Quinn Norton who has begun using technical…

16-year old Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg recently urged the US Congress to "Unite Behind the Science."  This week, Kenneth Schmitz, PhD, Emeritus Professor of Physical Chemistry and Environmental Studies at UMKC, will join hosts Brent Ragsdale and Dave Bennett in the studio to give an overview of the science of climate change. Topics will include the evolution of Earth's atmosphere, a history of the discoveries about the greenhouse effect, the likely consequences if we don't get a handle on the C02 problem and a response to a couple of common climate denial claims.

“Warheads to Windmills: How to Pay for a Green New Deal” by Timmon Wallis is a plan to solve the climate crisis by using  the resources currently wasted on nuclear weapons.  This would also solve the income inequality problem by creating millions of good-paying permanent jobs to manufacture windmills and solar panels, install and maintain them.  Visit NuclearBan.US to learn more. Kansas City’s Extinction Rebellion is doing Friday’s for the Future and will hold a rally Friday December 13 and 20 from 11am to 1pm at the J.C. Nichols Fountain on the Plaza.

On this episode of EcoRadioKC, we hear from the great storyteller, Wes Jackson.  Wes is the pragmatic visionary who created The Land Institute of Salina, Kansas 43 years ago as a research site to understand the ecosphere combining intellectual rigor with hands on labor. Together they work to develop sustainable food supplies for our species and the ecosystem beyond the foreseeable future.  Hear the excellent and inspiring stories about family,  beginning a new school, softball rules, insulting meat, and the beauty of the small. Wes Jackson established and served as chair of one of the country’s first environmental studies programs at California State University-Sacramento and then returned to his native Kansas to found The Land Institute in 1976. He is the author of several books, including New Roots for Agriculture, Becoming Native to This Place, Consulting the Genius of the Place, and most recently Nature as Measure. Wes is widely recognized as a leader in the international movement for a more sustainable agriculture. He was a Pew Conservation Scholar in 1990, a MacArthur Fellow in 1992, and received the Right Livelihood Award in 2000. Life magazine included him as one of 18 individuals predicted to be among the 100 important Americans of the…

We feature a Veterans' Day Special this week with host Richard Mabion and his guest Maurice Copeland.  Mr Copeland is a Kansas City native, Vietnam and Cold War Veteran who served for 32 years.  He is also a poet, artist and advocate for the sick and dying workers of the Bannister nuclear weapons production complex.

Tune in to hear growers Kathy Dean (President of Uplift) & Pantaleon Florez (Maseualkualli Farms), as well as ATH Gleaning Network Manager Zach Callaway on EcoRadio Oct. 14 at 6 pm. Learn about Kathy's efforts to raise corn to donate and how she has created a partnership with After the Harvest gleaners over the past several years.  Since 2017, Kathy has donated 13,722 lbs. of corn, which After the Harvest staff and volunteers delivered to Harvesters.  Pantaleon Florez is a Lawrence farmer, educator, sociolinguist and Mexica herbalist who donates a portion of his annual crops to those in need. After the Harvest rescues nutritious fruits and vegetables from going to waste and donates them to agencies that serve hungry people, primarily in Greater Kansas City. Our volunteers glean after the harvest, picking what’s left in farmers’ fields and picking up already harvested leftover produce. The majority of the funds we raise helps secure semi-truckloads of donated produce that might otherwise end up in landfills. After the Harvest, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, is the largest local produce donor to Harvesters—The Community Food Network. Maseualkualli Farms (The Peoples’ Farms) is a no-till, no fossil fuel machine, vegetable farm growing organically for NE Kansas. Email [email protected] (or Instagram…

Co-hosts Dave Bennett Freeling and Brent Ragsdale bring you field recordings from the Prairie Festival at the Land Institute in Salina, KS.  Celebrating it's fortieth year, the event has been called  “an intellectual hootenanny” in The New York Times.  This year's theme is Carbon, Culture and Change: From the Ground Up.    Held September 27-29th along the banks of the Smoky Hill River, the festival revolves around “low tech” presentations by notable guests in The Land Institute’s Big Barn.   Listen to the sounds of visionaries and geniuses Ann Zimmerman, Bill McKibben, Anna Porzecanski,  Wes Jackson, Fred Iutzi and Amory Lovins.  Join us for this remarkable event on the prairie and be sure to check out the great scientific work being done at the Institute.

This week Richard Mabion hosts a program all about the economic potential of industrial hemp in Kansas and beyond.   He'll be joined by our friend Zack Pistora, State Lobbyist for the Kansas Sierra Club to inform you about the latest in legal hemp in the sunshine state.  With an eye towards entrepreneurship, we'll also have Murray D Anderson, Sr, Founder of Taylor Made Visions and grassroots organizer, Chris Morrow in the studio.  Join us for a lively conversation! Murray D. Anderson Sr. Mr Anderson is the founder, Chief Executive Officer and President of the “Taylor Made Visions LLC.,” which is a venture capital formation consulting firm solely dedicated to establishing a sustainable Seed and Venture Capital Impact Investment Entity endowed with not less than $1.2 Billion to fund the “Under-served Business Enterprise Ecosystem,” through startup micro businesses, small businesses with less than 25 employees, as well as high growth technology enterprises that in fact enable struggling intelligent men and women of all nations to build wealth and create jobs through entrepreneurship and self- employment, whereas optimization of the double bottom line strategic start up business opportunities in our Kansas City Kansas disadvantaged ethnic markets reaches its optimum financial potential throughout…

Host Brent Ragsdale shares an "audio tour" of Project Living Proof, a demonstration house run by the Metropolitan Energy Center.  David Albrecht, Program Coordinator with the MEC explains the many energy efficient features of this historic home located at 917 Emanuel Cleaver II Blvd that was renovated in 2010 to showcase the benefits of building or retrofitting with energy efficiency in mind. For the second half of the show, Brent is joined in the studio by Craig Wolfe of the Heartland Renewable Energy Society and Rob Jones of Green Cat Service, one of many local companies that provides energy audits and improvements, to talk through the process and possibilities to make our existing houses more efficient and comfortable.

EcoRadio KC is fortunate to have the opportunity to share with you a live conversation with one of the biggest crusaders in the movement to reverse climate change Paul Hawken.  Interviewers, Teresa Wilke and Dave Bennett Freeling will be asking about some of the powerful changes that are happening and those that we can make happen for our future. Paul is an renowned environmentalist, entrepreneur, author and activist who has dedicated his life to environmental sustainability and changing the relationship between business and the environment. He is one of the environmental movement’s leading voices, and a pioneering architect of corporate reform with respect to ecological practices. His work includes founding successful, ecologically conscious businesses, writing about the impacts of commerce on living systems, and consulting with heads of state and CEOs on economic development, industrial ecology, and environmental policy. Paul is Founder of Project Drawdown, a non-profit dedicated to researching when and how global warming can be reversed. The organization maps and models the scaling of substantive technological, social, and ecological solutions. You can join in the action by emailing your questions for Paul in advance at [email protected] or call in to the station on Monday between 6:15 and 6:40pm.…

On today’s program our guest is Monta Welch. She joins host Richard Mabion to discuss her lifelong advocacy, which started in earnest just over 10 years ago focusing on health, environment and climate concerns.  She hasn’t stopped!  She has founded a number of unique organizations, learned how to work with others and at all levels of government, successfully supporting and changing local dynamics, shepherding successful state ballot initiatives, building coalitions, etc... Her work continues to bear fruit today locally, statewide and nationally. Witnessing the depth of our problems with elections with the 2016 primary election she began investigating, researching, and writing sweeping comprehensive, 50-state solutions out of the online working group - Take Back Elections - in a collective effort to establish fair, transparent, verifiable, secure, unified, 50-state reform as constitutional amendments. But first, the environmental news for the week of 12/24/18: USA Today reports: * (12/19) The World’s burgeoning plastic waste crisis has won the attention of Britain’s Royal Statistical Society, which chose 90.5 percent – the proportion of plastic waste that has never been recycled – as its international statistic of the year. The society chooses a winner from nominations made by the public. Democracy Now reports: * (12/21) Washington, D.C.,…

On today’s program, we talk with Lisa Ousley and Mariah Friend from the stellar non-profit program After the Harvest. After the Harvest rescues nutritious fruits and vegetables missed by commercial […] The post After the Harvest appeared first on KKFI.

Bob Grove, Sierra Club Missouri Chapter Legislative Chair, and Philip Fracica, Policy Organizer for renewMo, join host Craig Lubow to talk about wind and solar energy in Missouri, recycling, IPL's solar energy plans, and "Clean Missouri" initiative.

The Kansas Sierra Club’s Zack Pistora returns to KKFI to update us on all things environmental in the Kansas Legislature. Also, the Climate Energy Project updates us on their latest […] The post Kansas Legislative Update appeared first on KKFI.

Biaggio Pagano discusses household toxins with Natural E.

Craig Lubow welcomes Lynate Pettengill and Mary Helen Korbelik On Citizens' Climate Lobby. Lynate has been an environmental activist all of her life. After watching Inconvenient Truth in 2006 she realized that climate change was the t-rex romping around in the living room, and started focusing all of her energy on that issue. She was a volunteer with Citizens' Climate Lobby for 2 years before joining the team as a staff member in 2013. She lives in Lawrence, KS, has an awesome 20-year-old son who is studying to become an environmental attorney, and a very sweet 11-year-old labrador who is researching the most advantageous napping location in the home.

Nancy Karon Tripp, Heather Marie, and Jay Canter discuss GMOs and the local March Against Monsanto event. The post March Against Monsanto appeared first on KKFI.

John Kurmann returns to EcoRadio KC to discuss air quality with Amanda Graor of the Mid America Regional Council (MARC)

We will start with a phone interview of Dr. Chip Taylor of KU, founder of Monarch Watch. He will talk about the current plight of the butterfly and how folks can help provide backyard habitat for monarchs. http://www.monarchwatch.org/ The second half of the program will be live with Craig Wood, Solid Waste Management Coordinator for the Johnson County Dept. of Health and Environment. He will discuss the county's Green Business Awards program and some innovative efforts to reduce wastes in non-residential settings (businesses, schools, hospitals, etc.)   [email protected]

Highlights from the Kansas City March Against Monsanto event held on Saturday.   Angela Cooper’s speech: Hello, I am Angela Cooper. I am with THE CHILDREN OF VIETNAM VETERANS HEALTH […] The post March Against Monsanto appeared first on KKFI.

Kellis Bayless is a coal activist with a Ph.D in Ecology in Evolutionary Biology.  He is an expert on mountaintop removal and its consequences.  We'll discuss the whole spectrum of coal consumption on the program.   www.ilovemountains.org