We are grateful for the encouragement of KMUD news staff for Biofuelwatch to produce this series. We deeply appreciate the participation of all of our guests in our six featured episodes: Greg Karras of Community Energy Re-Source, Andrés Soto of Communities for a Better Environment, Ben Eichenberg of San Francisco Baykeeper, Jayla Burton and Zoe Christopher of Breast Cancer Action, Dr Miguel Lovera of Iniciativa Amotocodie, and the team from Rodeo Citizens Association.
This series in its totality presents important information and insights on the California liquid fuels energy system broadly and the refinery conversion to biofuels issue specifically.
The proposal to re-purpose the Marathon Martinez and Phillips 66 Rodeo refineries to process largely soy-based ‘drop-in’ diesel and aviation biofuel is a matter of global importance. Evidence shows that this massive pivot to biofuels as a supposed climate solution represents a threat to natural ecosystems and human communities, around the world and at home in California. Our effort here is to help break the media silence on climate false solutions. We are fortunate to have organizations like KMUD, as community radio remains an important actor in getting the news out about crucial issues that otherwise may not get the attention they deserve.
Down below you can find a complete roster of the six episode series, as well as the introductory public affairs shows produced with Biofuelwatch for KMUD. Also included is a ‘bonus track’ of the early May guest appearance of Biofuelwatch on the Institute for Sustainable Forestry journalism program to discuss The Fantasy of Net Zero Emissions.
Listen to and share these independently produced podcast/radio archives by following the links below. Stay tuned for more independently produced media in the future.
EPISODE 6: California Refinery Conversion to Biofuels Keeps Rodeo Community in the Pollution Hot Seat — As the dramatic California refinery pivot to biofuels gains political momentum, members of the community based Rodeo Citizens Association join KMUD and Biofuelwatch to describe how ordinary people can do extraordinary things to hold a big polluter accountable.
EPISODE 5: Soy-Based Diesel Threatens Paraguay — In this Public Affairs collaboration between Biofuelwatch and KMUD, host Gary Hughes examines California’s refinery pivot to Soy-based Diesel and how this threatens forests and communities in Paraguay. Dr. Miguel Lovera is the featured guest.
EPISODE 4: Women’s History Month Special with Biofuelwatch and Breast Cancer Action — This KMUD Public Affairs special features host Gary Hughes of Biofuelwatch with guests Jayla Burton and Zoe Christopher of the organization Breast Cancer Action describing the urgent need to develop policy to protect women’s health from the environmental risks associated with oil and gas production in the State of California.
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EPISODE 3: Bay Protectors Skeptical About Biofuel Refinery Ploy — San Francisco Baykeeper staff attorney Ben Eichenberg joins KMUD to speak with host Gary Hughes of Biofuelwatch about the threats to California marine environments from the oil industry and the risks of the proposed conversions of refineries to biofuels.
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EPISODE 2: Have You Ever Been In A Toxic Relationship? Richmond Goes Beyond Chevron — In the second episode of this KMUD Public Affairs Series, From Beyond the Redwood Curtain, host Gary Hughes of Biofuelwatch interviews Guest Andrés Soto, from Communities for a Better Environment (CBE). Soto shares a spell binding account of environmental justice organizing in the San Francisco Bay Area refinery corridor, the industrial center for processing the liquid fuels that the North Coast has come to take for granted.
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EPISODE 1: Decommissioning Refineries or a Diesel Dead End? — In this first episode of KMUD Public Affairs new series, “From Beyond the Redwood Curtain,” host Gary Hughes of Biofuelwatch interviews Greg Karras, an Energy Systems Scientist, about decommissioning refineries or reaching a diesel dead end. Gary and Greg discuss how the pivot to soy-based liquid fuels could create a long term lock-in of a destructive energy system.
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EPISODE ZERO: Refinery Conversion to Biofuels Is A Climate Dead End – Biofuelwatch on KMUD Public Affairs Dec 2020 — Gary Hughes from Biofuelwatch joins KMUD Public Affairs to announce an upcoming special series of radio shows exploring the proposed conversion of refineries in the SF Bay Area to soy-based liquid fuels and related human rights, climate justice and forest protection issues.
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EPISODE MINUS 1: KMUD NEWS SPECIAL – Post-Election Climate & Energy Policy — In this KMUD Public Affairs Special, host Gary Hughes of Biofuelwatch talks with journalist Steve Horn about climate and energy policies after the November 3rd 2020 Election. Biofuelwatch works to raise awareness of the negative impacts of industrial biofuels and bioenergy on biodiversity, human rights, food sovereignty and climate change.
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EPISODE MINUS 2: Chile Landslide Vote Reason for Celebration and Mobilization — Alejandra Parra of Red de Acción por los Derechos Ambientales (RADA) joins Gary Hughes of Biofuelwatch and Tanya Horlick of the KMUD News Department for a discussion of the historic Oct 25 plebiscite vote in Chile for a new constitution.
BONUS TRACK: The Fantasy of Net Zero Emissions — In this special, the Institute for Sustainable Forestry presents an interview with two local veterans of the Timber Wars, Gary Graham Hughes and Richard Gienger, about the dangerous and erroneous notion of Net Zero. Together they explain how capturing CO2 from biomass to cancel carbon emissions from fossil fuel burning is just a fantasy created to greenwash big timber and the petroleum industry. This program is part of the Institute’s ongoing Sustainable Forestry Journalism Project.
https://soundcloud.com/