MAY IS OVER, WHERE DO WE GO FROM NO MOW?

For our show on May 30th, host Terri Wilke opens the hour with a short update on the current status of the monarch butterfly from Orley R. “Chip” Taylor, Founder of the Monarch Watch, a nonprofit education, conservation, and research program affiliated with the Kansas Biological Survey at the University of Kansas. The Monarch Watch program strives to provide the public with information about the biology of monarch butterflies, their spectacular migration, and how to use monarchs to further science education. Each year, tens of thousands of individuals participate in Monarch Watch’s citizen science programs, including the tagging of monarchs as they migrate to distant overwintering grounds in the fall.

Orley R. “Chip” Taylor is Director of Monarch Watch and a Professor in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS. Trained as an insect ecologist, Chip Taylor has many published papers and is well respected in his field.  Monarch Watch was founded in 1992.  This program has produced many new insights into the dynamics of the monarch migration.  Monarch Watch created the Monarch Waystation program in recognition that habitats for monarchs are declining in the United States. The goal of this program is to inspire the public to create habitats for monarch butterflies and to assist Monarch Watch in educating the public about the decline in resources for monarchs, pollinators and all wildlife that share the same habitats.

Chip Taylor will provide listeners with an up-to-date report on the status of the monarch butterfly.  Monarchs demonstrate strength and endurance, most probably the secret to sustainability.

https://monarchwatch.org/

Listeners might be aware of the movement for No Mow May.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7518183/

Let’s discuss our next best approach now that May is over! Terri will speak with Jay Feldman, Ex. Director of Beyond Pesticides.

https://www.beyondpesticides.org/

Jay Feldman is a cofounder of the organization and has served as its director since 1981. Jay dedicated himself to finding solutions to pesticide problems after working with farmworkers and small farmers through an EPA grant in 1978 to the national advocacy organization Rural America (1977-1981). Since that time, Jay has helped to build Beyond Pesticides’ capacity to assist local groups and impact national pesticide policy. He has tracked specific chemical effects, regulatory actions, and pesticide law. He is very familiar with local groups working on pesticides and has helped develop successful strategies for reform in local communities. His work with media has helped to bring broader public understanding of the hazards of pesticides. Jay has a Masters in urban and regional planning with a focus on health policy from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (1977), and a B.A. from Grinnell College (1975) in political science. In September 2009, U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack appointed Jay to the National Organic Standards Board (NOSB), where he completed a 5-year term in January 2015.

Beyond Pesticides is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., which works with allies in protecting public health and the environment to lead the transition to a world free of toxic pesticides. The founders felt that without the existence of such an organized, national network, local, state and national pesticide policy would become, under chemical industry pressure, increasingly unresponsive to public health and environmental concerns.

Beyond Pesticides believes that people must have a voice in decisions that affect them directly. We believe decisions should not be made for us by chemical companies or by decision-makers who either do not have all of the facts or refuse to consider them.

Beyond Pesticides seeks to protect healthy air, water, land, and food for ourselves and future generations.

Please stay tuned to hear ideas for positive change.

We at EcoRadio KC are glad to encourage awareness and protection of our world.  Our goal is to assure our listeners are aware of how we can create a sustainable present for a sustainable future!

This will be a great radio hour!   We hope you can tune in!

George Carlin said “we (meaning people in general) are arrogant to think we (usually meaning they) are a threat to the planet. This planet put up with dinosaurs for 165 million years then waited another 65 million before putting up with people. Do any of you think people, humans, can last 165 million years?”

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