Green Time TV, July 2016: Broken Systems – Real Alternatives
By Don Fitz
When systems break down, it's time to develop new ones. July Green Time episodes explore systems of energy, health care, nuclear power, capital punishment, and animal agriculture.
Residential energy efficiency can play a key role in reducing demand for electricity. In the first July Green Time, host John Hickey discusses energy efficiency measures people can choose for their homes with Jim Jordan of the Maplewood Sustainability Commission and Stephen Mahfood of the Missouri Coalition for the Environment. They look at how energy efficiency can affect utility bills and rebates being offered. They cover solar panels, water heaters and the easiest energy efficiency measures for homeowners to install.
How does it affect health care workers to have seriously ill patients talk about whether their families would have less financial distress if they died? During the second July Green Time host Don Fitz and guests Mimi Signor of Missourians for Single Payer and Dr. Pamella Gronemeyer, a physician and small business owner, discuss "best practices" standards of care and how the private insurance monopoly impacts professional ethics. They look Supreme Court decisions protecting insurance companies and ask how single payer could help small businesses.
How did radioactive waste get to be in the West Lake Landfill? Why is it an issue? Who does it affect? In the third July Green Time, Dawn Chapman and Karen Nickel, co-founders of Just Moms STL explain to host Don Fitz how they got involved in one of the biggest health crises of the St. Louis area. They have learned that people have to organize themselves because no Superman is coming to save them, that they must have clear and concise goals and that they need to reach out to other groups and elected officials.
Why is the death penalty so important to some people? In the fourth July Green Time, Margaret Phillips, of Missourians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty, and Elston McCowan, of the Gateway Green Alliance, and host Don Fitz discuss the pain of family members of murdered victims and alternatives to execution. They review the status of the death penalty in Missouri, what people are doing about it, and the likely future of the death penalty in the US.
During the final July Green Time, Bonnie Boime, of the St. Louis Animal Rights Team, and host Don Fitz ask how raising animals for food is inherently inefficient. Though people have been farming animals and consuming animal products for millennia, things have changed. What are factory farms and how are they destructive to the environment? Would these problems be lessened if everybody switched to grass fed or free range meat and dairy products?
July shows include the movies Make Your Voice Heard in This Election, Get Outside with Sierra Club Outings, Fix It, Safe Side of the Fence, Potosi: God in Death Row, Meat's NOT Green! and Shocking Cowspiracy Facts & Statistics.
Green Time appears at noon on Saturdays 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. Green Time programs air on these dates:
July 2 & 4: “A Local Look at Energy Efficiency,”
July 9 & 11: “Broken System: Effects on Health Care Workers,”
July 16 & 18: “Shadow of the Mushroom Cloud: West Lake,”
July 23 & 25: “Redemption on Death Row.”
July 30 & Aug 1: “Can Animal Agriculture Be Sustainable?”
“Like” Gateway Greens on Facebook and click “Get notifications.” Also see Green Time on greentime.tv. To help produce Green Time TV call 314-727-8554 or email don@greentime.tv
