Old Mole Variety Hour May 3rd 2021

Tom Becker Hosts this Episode of the Old Mole which includes

• Paul Fenn on Community Energy. Bill Resnick talks to Paul Fenn who drafted the legislation now in effect in Massachusetts, Ohio, California, Illinois, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island, and Virginia. Collectively, they serve about 5% of Americans in over 1300 municipalities. These enactments authorized communities to take over the electricity supply responsibility from the local Investor Owned Utility (IOU).  Bill and Paul also discuss how community energy agencies operate on a day to day basis, and why, though under attack now by the IOUs, they are still expanding because of their many virtues, offering more reliable, less expensive, and greener sun and wind energy to the cities. Universalized across the U.S. and the industrialized world, Community Energy, confederated in regions, could greatly reduce the existential threat of climate change.
• Defund/Divest with 350pdx. Laurie Mercier speaks with Sue Palmiter, who is co-leading the Defund/Divest team with 350PDX, about an upcoming Climate Justice Q&A with Oregon’s State Treasurer on Wednesday, May 5, 7:00 pm. The State Treasury invests $118 Billion, mostly PERS monies, with a portion of that invested in fossil fuel companies contributing to the climate crisis. Find out how Oregon can invest in a more sustainable future. For more information about the Climate Justice event with State Treasurer Tobias Read and to register, and for resources on how to take action, see: https://350pdx.org/action/
• U.S broken policies in Latin America. All progressives know that the increase in migrants arriving at the U.S. border are fleeing intolerable conditions in their home countries and deserving of our compassion and support. These intolerable conditions, we are told, are the root cause of this migration. But that is only the surface cause. The real cause lies deeper. Today I am sharing an article from the Soapbox webpage entitled “The Root Cause of Central American Migration Is Broken U.S. Policies” by Felipe De La Hoz [owe z]. 
• Climate  Resistance: Art, Action and Allyship. Concluding our program today Denise Morris interviews Old Mole Jan Haaken, director of Necessity: Oil, Water and Climate Resistance, about a panel coming up on May 6th titled Climate  Resistance: Art, Action and Allyship.  Hosted by Portland State University, the panel includes Oregon-based artists, activists and an attorney who bring their wisdom and knowledge to the Necessity film project-- a two-part documentary that features indigenous leadership in responding to the climate crisis and shows how activists are creatively using legal tactics, including the necessity defense, in the fight to save the planet.