by Don Fitz
Whatever the threat, Missouri activists are organizing to protect the environment. August 2013 Green Time TV looks at a variety of concerns: honeybees, organic farming, CAFOs and energy.
What’s behind the disappearance of bees in the US? During the first August show, Jane Sueme, owner of Isabee’s Beekeeping Equipment and Supplies, discusses the importance of pollinators, bee losses in the US and metro St. Louis, and guidelines for people wanting to keep honeybees. She asks what the best time is to start with bees, and what it takes to get started.
The second episode features Molly Rockamann, Founding Director of EarthDance, discussing its continuity with the Mueller Farm, its apprenticeship program, how people can visit the farm and where they can get its produce. She covers challenges facing new farmers and ways that people can become involved in EarthDance and learn about organic food and farming.
How do Confined Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs) affect people living near them? What are problems with lagoons holding 2–20 million gallons of pig waste? During the third and fourth shows Darvin Bentlage of the Missouri Rural Crisis Center discusses effects of the concentration of meat pack-ers on the food supply of the country, including samenela outbreaks. He asks how big agriculture gets advantages that family farmers don’t have and looks at ways that CAFO owners get around restrictions and how anti-trust laws could be applied to meat packers.
The final August episode focuses on Missouri power plants and their emissions. Environmental scientist Mollie Freebairn discusses releases to Missouri’s environment including greenhouse gases, nitrogen and sulfur oxides, acid rain, other acid gases, particulates, organic and heavy metal compounds (including mercury), many of them highly toxic.
August Green Times include the movies “Tom Theobold on Bee Loss,” “Health Begins in the Soil,” and “Pig Business.”
Green Time now airs on KNLC stations in four Missouri areas. It appears at noon on Saturdays and 5:30 pm on Wednesdays in St. Louis on Channel 24-1 and at 8 pm on Mondays in St. Louis on Channel 24-2, Springfield on Channel 39, Joplin on Channel 36 and Marshfield on Channel 17.
August Green Time programs air on these dates:
- August 3, 5, 7: “Health of the Honeybee;”
- August 10, 12, 14: “Health Begins in the Soil at EarthDance;”
- August 17, 19, 21: “Pig CAFOs: Health and the Environment;”
- August 24, 26, 28: “Pig CAFOs in Missouri;”
- August 31, September 2, 4: “Missouri Energy: Health, Environment, Economy, Politics.”
Also see Green Time on greentime.tv. If you would like to help produce Green Time TV call 314-727-8554 or email don@greentime.tv.