Solartopia Green Power & Wellness Hour

Solartopia Green Power And Wellness Hour - 04.28.15

The fabulous, fascinating FREDA SIDEROFF joins us to describe the GARIFUNA FILM FESTIVAL ( http://garifunafilmfestival.com/2015/03/may-22-25-4th-annual-garifuna-film-festival/ )upcoming May 22-25 in Venice, California.  Freda is a member of the indigenous Garifuna culture, one million humans strong, based largely in the Caribbean regions of St. Vincent, Belize, Guatemala and Honduras….but with “diaspora” representatives through the western hemisphere.    

Currently a resident of Topanga Canyon, Freda tells us in transcendent detail about the ethereal nature of the Garifuna culture, which dates back way before Columbus, has been mixed with African immigration,  and continues to thrive throughout the Americas.

Her festival is a celebration of indigenous cultures, featuring the likes of ALUNA, a gorgeous exploration of native resistance to the destruction of our planet.  GARIFUNA MEDICINE tells us about an indigenous hospital in rural central America, completely off-grid, powered entirely by solar energy.  

The festival also features a talk from Joseph Paulino, the police chief of the San Bernardino City School System, himself a Garifuna.  And a performance by Danza Temachtia Quetzalcoatl, the resident Aztec dance group at Tia Chucha’s Centro in the San Fernando Valley.

Needless to say, Freda is a brilliant representative of a  beautiful nature-based culture with much to offer to a mass society poised on the brink of self-destruction.  

Solartopia Green Power And Wellness Hour - 04.14.15

The ATTACK ON RENEWABLES IN OHIO is dissected and made understandable by the brilliant NED FORD, the Cincinnati-based expert who has translated the state’s mutated energy policies for years on end.

In 2008 Ohio adopted a forward-looking bi-partisan energy policy designed to promote efficiency and renewables and bring Ohio into the 21st Century.  Like other midwestern states, Ohio has been hooked on coal.  But to meet federal air quality standards, many of the old Buckeye coal burners are scheduled to shut down in 2016.  Ohio’s excellent northern wind resource, plus new renewable and efficiency, have been poised to pick up the slack.

But since 2010 and the coming of a new Republican regime, led by Governor John Kasich, an industry attack has gutted Ohio’s green-powered future….and with it the prospects of many other states who are following in the same polluted footprint.

Ned Ford provides us a stunningly clear, concise picture of how this is happening.  If you are interested in a green-powered future, this show is a vital resource.  

Solartopia Green Power And Wellness Hour - 04.07.15

RANDY HAYES of FOUNDATION EARTH (FDNEARTH.ORG) give us an astonishing overview of the ecological crisis we now face on planet Earth, and how to solve it.

A founder of the legendary Rainforest Action Network, Randy’s decades of activism and deep green analysis make him a fascinating, erudite witness to what it will take to survive amidst unparalleled challenges to sustaining our life support systems.   

Randy starts with a call to double the planet’s forest cover and then takes us through his brilliant, profoundly vital Nine Planetary Ecological Boundaries.

Full of uniquely articulated insight and hard-fought wisdom, this hour just flows by.  Don’t miss it.

Solartopia Green Power And Wellness Hour - 03.31.15

MOVE TO AMEND (https://movetoamend.org/wethepeopleamendment ) wants to change our Constitution so corporations can’t buy our elections and run our government.  We’re joined by Frank Hribar of Mentor, Ohio, a long-time Move to Amend activist who tells us about the resolution passed by his small home town demanding an end to corporate domination.  A state-wide convention just held in central Ohio has joined a national wave of activism aimed at finding ways to free our political and economic systems from the curse of corporate personhood.  

In the course of our discussion we read through the actual amendment designed to restore power to the public.  Be sure to take a listen.

We’re then joined by GEORGE SAKHEIM, a 91-year-old Jewish World War II vet, born in Germany, who translated the testimony of Nazi #2 Hermann Goering at the Nuremberg trials.  An unrepentant Goering made no apologies for his murderous actions.  

Nor did Rudolph Hoess, SS Commandant of Auschwitz, who was personally responsible for at least 2.5 million deaths.  Sakheim tells us that at the end of his life, the rock-hard Hoess confessed his “sins” and asked forgiveness.  

Sakheim’s unique, astounding story from the very core of the post-Nazi inferno must be heard to be believed.