On a dark and rainy day I journeyed down to Provincetown with four other Cape activists for guest appearances on Michelle Calling’s bi-weekly Organic Thinking radio show called “Healthy Food For the Mind.”
With me were Jared Collins of Concerned Citizens, Laura Kelley of Littlefield Landscapes (right, listening to Michelle, before going live), as well as Sandra Larsen of Green Cape and Eastham Selectman Aimee Eckmann. The topic was, of course, the utility company’s plan to spray herbicides under the power lines here on Cape Cod. Below is Michelle, right after we went on the air. Two people called in with questions. I felt as if I were representing grandmothers who care about the environment, as well as green innkeepers. 
Spraying of herbicides will contaminate our drinking water and introduce new toxins into the dust on the popular bike trail, along the power lines. These toxins will be tracked into our homes and inns by bikers, hikers, children, and pets, anyone who enjoys nature along this magnificent stretch of Cape Cod. (Two weeks ago Time Magazine did an article called What’s in Household Dust? Don’t Ask. DDT was banned in 1972 but the toxic chemical has turned up in dust samples examined by Silent Spring Institute.) If you listen to the Herbicides broadcast on WOMR, you can hear the passion in my voice when I discussed the need to change our way of thinking and be more careful of what we put into our environment, especially here on Cape Cod where herbicides can and will leach through sandy soil into drinking water. The reason activists were on Michelle Calling's show was to urge Cape Codders to respond to DAR Commissioner Scott Soares, who has requested, by March 26, scientific facts and legal reasons why the herbicidal spraying should be challenged. Activist Jared Collins will be on the air again on Wednesday, with Rep. Sarah Peake, for Ira Wood’s new talk show Outer Cape Debate.
5 comments:
CAPE RESIDENTS - please write a letter to Commissioner Scott.soares@state.ma.us today. Time is running out...the comment period is over March 26th. Send a letter with a fact why this should be stopped. For example, our drinking water will be contaminated, health risks to all living things - including humans, native insects including pollinators we need to survive, will be compromised, etc.
MEETINGS - Open forum with NStar and concerned citizens presenting both sides of the story for town selectmen: HARWICH, March 15 @ 7pm @ Harwich town hall, BREWSTER, March 22 @ 7;30pm @ Brewster town hall.
All are welcome! Please pass this info on to loved ones and send a letter to Scott Soares today. Thank you to those who are doing so much to help protect our land for citizens and the future of us all!
Wonderful post! N is going to be doing this on an "as needed basis" every 6 weeks Capewide!!!!?????!!!!! As if ONCE weren't bad enough???? So who's testing the safety in that?
I'm praying over this issue every day, morning and night for a positive resolution.
Chris
What happens if residents become sick? Who do we sue? Will NStar be liable for our health? They are just doing their job. So state legislators or feds? Who do we go to deal with the aftermath?
Bravo for you not sitting down in this fight!! I do hope all of you are able to make some headway in this and see a positive result.
It must have been interesting to be the interviewee and not the interviewer (I know you used to host a talk show in France). Thank you for doing this! Thank you for speaking up! (Though I so don't think of you as a "grandmother" but as an energetic activist on top of the most pressing issues. That's what all grandmothers should be. Or maybe are. My bad for having a stereotypical reaction to that word...)
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