December 29, 2009

Tonight’s topic on Ecotopia is “A Sustainable Northstate New Year,” and we’ll have several guests from the community talking about their Ecotopian visions for the coming year.  First we’ll talk with Chico Mayor Ann Schwab about priorities for the city. Second, we’ll meet with Nicki Schlaishunt and Mary Muchowski of the Butte Environmental Council about their new year’s resolutions.  And then we’ll talk with Gerard Ungerman, Chico filmmaker and the moving force behind a new Green Transition Chico initiative.

Our questions for Ann Schwab:

With us in the studio now is Chico Mayor Ann Schwab, who, among myriad other assignments for the City, is Chair of the Sustainable Task Force.  Welcome, Ann Schwab.

  • We know that you are deeply committed to sustainability issues, but we’d also like to explore some of the economic, social, and other issues that you see as important. Please tell us what you see as the major problems/issues facing Chico in the immediate future.  What’s on the agenda in the next several months that people should know about?
  • Please also tell us about your vision of the longer range future for Chico and the northstate. Megalopolis?  Oasis of sustainability?  Armed camp?
  • Obviously growth is a big issue. What are the Planning Commission’s next problems or issues. Can the “green line” hold?  How can Chico’s infrastructure not only keep up but evolve in sustainable ways?
  • What issues are coming to the Sustainable Task Force in the next year or so?  What will its Climate Action Plan contain?
  • What’s the economic future?  Where will new or alternative jobs come from in Chico?  As with the WalMart case, what kinds of tensions do you see among  jobs, sustainability, and growth?
  • What can Chicoans and Northstaters do to participate fully in the processes of (sustainable) government?

Our questions for Nicki Schlaishunt and Mary Muchowski:

Your topics on the Butte Environmental Council website include:

  • Land use
  • Toxins and health
  • Transportation
  • Water
  • The vernal pools
  • Bidwell Cleanup
  • Endangered Species

And others.  We don’t have time to talk about them all, so please give us some idea of what you see as the major issues and problems coming up next year.

Other issues:

  • Big business and environmental activism—how can you compete?
  • California budget crisis.
  • Federal support for local environmental projects.
  • How can people become involved in the work of BEC?

http://www.becnet.org

Our questions for Gerard Ungerman:

One of the most exciting new projects in our part of the world is Green Transition Chico: Their theme is “Chico is our Community; its Sustainability is Up to Us All.  The leader of this project is Gerard Ungerman, filmmaker.  Welcome Gerard.

  • Please tell us something about the Green Transition Chico project.  How did it begin?  What are the goals?  Who is involved?  Who can be involved?
  • How does the website work?
  • What’s your personal vision of a sustainable northstate.  Do we become a gated or armed state and sustain ourselves?  a model for other communities?
  • What’s the link to the global green transition movement generally?
  • Is Green Transition apolitical?  asocial?  What are its links to, say, social, racial, and economic justice?

http://www.greentransitionchico.org/

Playlist for Eco #66: A Sustainable Northstate New Year

1. You’ve Got To Be Strong   4:02  The Dillards     Roots And Branches/Tribute To The American Duck

2, Utopia    4:58  Alanis Morissette    iTunes Originals – Alanis Morissette

3. Worldwide Connected       5:06  The Herbaliser    Something Wicked This Way Comes

4. Beautiful Day  4:08  U2    All That You Can’t Leave Behind

5. Auld Lang Syne       2:36  Straight No Chaser    Holiday

6. Weave Me the Sunshine    4:28  Peter, Paul And Mary    The Very Best of Peter, Paul and Mary

7. Glorious  5:19  MaMuse    All The Way

9. The Road to Utopia  4:54  Utopia   Adventures In Utopia

10. Land of the Future  5:14  Josh Lasden & Synoptic   Futuristic Music EP Part 2