Loss of Heritage
Listen to RRI President, Huey Johnson, on how the 1929 crash led to the Save
the Redwoods League, why Michigan Governor Granholm won't turn wetlands into
green jobs, what the Depression can teach us about long-term stewardship of
natural heritage, and what makes the real quality of life.

Preservation of Heritage
Everything has a price; few things have a value: Huey Johnson tells a
personal story of how the movement to preserve natural heritage arose from
promises to defend it with "every last breath and every last dollar."

91.7 KALW Your Call: Picking Winners in the Green Economy
Should the state play a primary role picking winners in the green economy? On the next Your Call we'll discuss who should take the lead creating the new jobs and new technologies that will reverse the damage of the oil-based economy. Measures on November's ballot in California would boost high-speed rail, natural gas cars, and certain kinds of renewable energy. Should the state favor specific technologies, like cars that use natural gas? Should the state just set general rules and leave the rest to the market? It's Your Call with Sandip Roy and you.

Guests: Huey Johnson in San Francisco
Founder and president of the Resource Renewal Institute (RRI), a nonprofit organization that incubates ideas and practices for environmental sustainability. From 1976-1982, Mr. Johnson served as Secretary of Resources for the State of California where he conceived and implemented "Investing for Prosperity," a hundred-year plan for managing the state's natural resources.

Bernadette Del Chiaro in Sacramento
Clean energy advocate with Environment California, a statewide, citizen-based environmental advocacy organization. They are urging a split vote on the fall ballot's clean energy propositions.

Professor David Orr in Oberlin, Ohio
Sears Distinguished Professor of Environmental Studies and Politics at Oberlin College. He is author of many books including Ecological Literacy and Earth in Mind: On Education, Environment, and the Human Prospect.

Clips from RRI's video library:

New Zealand's Revolutionary Green Policy: How, Why, and What It Has Proven
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Highlights of EU Environmental Policy

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Huey Johnson on why we don't have to reinvent the wheel to solve US environmental problems
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Martha Delgado on Mexico City's twenty million citizens and their role in reducing carbon
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Hans van Zijst on the Netherlands' success using the product cycle to create a long-term policy cycle
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Herman Sips on the European Union's refusal to solve one environmental problem by creating another
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Tom Fookes on New Zealand's dual focus on sustainability and climate change - and what a tiny country can teach the US
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View complete transcripts of videos here

The essence of a Green Plan is the comprehensive management of resources for the benefit of the environment, economy and society as a whole. Water, the most fundamental of resources, is low on the political radar around the world but it is a major reason for conflicts. Climate change and overpopulation are driving the devastation that includes catastrophic floods and droughts. This week the World Water Forum sponsors a meeting of heads of state, environment and development ministers to prepare a list of recommendations. RRI also is working to raise consciousness about the impact of water quantity and quality on wildlife, especially here in the U.S., and the impact of poor or failed water policies on the economy.

France has launched an addition to its Green Plan (le Grenelle Environment Round Table) known as Le Grenelle de la Mer. Announced in February 2009, le Grenelle Oceans will bring together experts, stakeholders, industry, government, and NGOs to form four working groups. Themes to be addressed include sustainable fisheries, biodiversity, transportation, energy, climate change, marine sector jobs, coastal development, and governance at local and global levels. While le Grenelle Environment does address marine issues, Le Grenelle Oceans aims to bring deeper, single-issue analysis to the overarching Green Plan.

The International Union for Conservation of Nature urged world leaders at the World Water Forum to do more to protect rivers and wetlands which provide energy and clean drinking water. Business leaders asked the international community to recognize the inextricable links between water, energy and climate change at the Copenhagen climate change talks in December. A water advisor to the UN noted that the global water crisis is where climate change was five years ago on the public and political radar. The WWF website is at http://www.worldwaterforum5.org/

The National University of Singapore and General Electric are collaborating on an institute to “develop new solutions for low-energy sea water desalination, water reclamation and more efficient water use� with a focus on alleviating water crises in regions of China, India and the Middle East. International water experts and policy makers will meet in June at the Centre. The news is reported by the World Business Council for Sustainable Development, www.wbcsd.org

Video of "Creating and Implementing National Green Plans: How Countries are Succeeding," RRI's successful 2008 conference, is available online in eight separate segments. Watch the conference speakers via Google Video, Vimeo, Youtube and other online video sharing sites! Also coming soon to this site...

In December 2008 the Government set up a Technical Advisory Group to study streamlining and simplifying the RMA. The following summarizes the proposed changes. The legislation is moving through Parliament with scrutiny by a Select Committee and public comment. Plans are to finalize the changes in late August 2009.