April 13, 2025 • 14 mins
Original Air Date: April 13, 2025
NYC Earth Day Initiative is coming up Thursday, April 17!!! Find out what you can do to help protect the environment, listening to Earth Day Initiative Executive Director Jon Oppermann.
NYC Earth Day Initiative is coming up Thursday, April 17!!! Find out what you can do to help protect the environment, listening to Earth Day Initiative Executive Director Jon Oppermann.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to Sunstein Sessions on iHeartRadio, Conversations about as yous
that matter. Here's your host, three time Gracie Award winner,
Chilly Sunstein.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
It is spring, thank goodness, and it is time for
the New York City Earth Day Initiative. It is coming
up this coming Thursday. Joining me this morning, John Opperman,
the executive director of the New York City Earth Day Initiative.
Speaker 3 (00:26):
What do you have planned this year?
Speaker 4 (00:28):
John, Yeah, so thank you so much for having me.
Speaker 5 (00:32):
We have our big festival that we'll be back with
this Thursday, April seventeenth, that's from twelve to six pm
and Union Square, and that is the kind of earth Fair,
Earth festival atmosphere that people are used to. There with
dozens of organizations represented with exhibitor Booze. There's little grassroots
nonprofits up to big multinational ones like Fridays for a
(00:54):
Future or World Wildlife Fund. There are sustainable businesses mixed
in there. There's all kinds of stuff that people can
check out that they can do in their own lives
to green their lifestyle or make a positive impact. And
there's entertainment on the stage. There's an art installation, really
something for everyone.
Speaker 3 (01:12):
There are there streaming opportunities.
Speaker 5 (01:15):
Yes, So throughout the month if people go to Earthdayinitiative
dot org and sign up for our email list or
follow us on Facebook or Instagram at earth Day Initiative,
we are pushing out content throughout the month for Earth
Day as part of our Earth Day Virtual Stage programming.
So there's all kinds of conversations with great folks like
(01:36):
back Market, which is an electronics reused marketplace. They have
a really incredible system in place where you can get
electronics that.
Speaker 4 (01:46):
Are just as good as new.
Speaker 5 (01:48):
It's way more sustainable than buying new, and they're going
to have a special segment on that virtual Stage as
part of the programming too. We have another conversation with
a few actors that are pushing for initiatives to reduce
single use plastics on TV and movies.
Speaker 4 (02:06):
So it's kind of like how we dealt with.
Speaker 5 (02:08):
Smoking years ago, where maybe we shouldn't have people smoking
on screen all the time, but reduce single use pics
on screen. So it's sort of that like messaging, subliminal
messaging that we're getting and TV and movies, so we
have a conversation about that as well.
Speaker 3 (02:21):
I never even thought of that.
Speaker 5 (02:24):
Yeah, it's a really interesting take on it because it
goes along with a lot of what our messaging is
about of what we call being a quote climate communicator.
Speaker 4 (02:33):
And the idea that you can have an impact in
all of these.
Speaker 5 (02:37):
Ways that you maybe don't think about, where it's inviting
your friend to take part in a climate march with you,
or just talking about oh, hey, I found this really
cool sustainable product.
Speaker 4 (02:48):
I really love it, Like, here's a link to it.
Speaker 5 (02:51):
All these ways that you can kind of subtly influence
in your lives people in your lives. And then obviously
if you have some sort of platform, if you are
the administrator like office manager an office, or you run
some pta group, you kind of influence people in that
group in a way that you have power over. Oh,
(03:13):
let's opt for reusables, let's opt for plant based snacks,
let's opt for things that are more sustainable. And there's
all these ways that we could be influencing things in
our life.
Speaker 4 (03:23):
And this is a really good example of that.
Speaker 5 (03:25):
Just these like little ways that as an actor you
could speak up and say, hey, why don't we not
have this single use plastic water bottle on screen?
Speaker 4 (03:33):
Why don't we have a reusable one.
Speaker 3 (03:35):
So it's kind of interesting. You see what I'm wearing.
Speaker 2 (03:37):
I'm wearing this top that looks like it's straight out
of the seventies.
Speaker 3 (03:43):
This is my biggest fashion secret, all right.
Speaker 2 (03:46):
This I bought from the Beverly Hills Goodwill. I did
this whole sustainable clothing thing before it became fashionable.
Speaker 4 (03:57):
Well yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3 (03:58):
I covered my son when I was I don't want
to visit to LA.
Speaker 2 (04:01):
He took me to the Santa Monica Goodwill because he
needed some pants or a jacket. And I said, oh,
you know, looking around this is fantastic. He said, oh no,
what's fantastic is the Beverly Hills Goodwill. He took me there,
and I happened to be kind of small sized, and
(04:25):
think of it, it's in Beverly Hills. Somebody might donate
to the Beverly Hills Goodwill after you just wear it once.
I got a Michael COR's dress for seven dollars. I
got the designer jeans that cost two hundred dollars for
like eleven dollars. Then I realized, several years later John,
(04:48):
that my little grandsons were not very you know, they
didn't really like hanging out at the Beverly Hills Goodwill.
So I had to find another option, and that's when
I heard about thread.
Speaker 3 (05:03):
Up, which is an app and.
Speaker 2 (05:06):
It's only women's clothes. From what I could tell, it's
not children's clothes, it's not men's clothes. It's women's clothes.
But once you sign up, you can type in what
your size is and so whatever you search for, it'll
immediately come up in your size. I have to tell you,
I so rarely now buy anything new when it comes
(05:31):
to clothing, even now.
Speaker 3 (05:34):
Swimsuit bottoms, yes, no, swimsuit tops, no rouz yes, pennies
obviously no.
Speaker 2 (05:43):
But I'm telling you not only the amount of money
I have saved. And I'm telling this to you because
I'm telling my listener. Yeah, and that's thhr e ed up.
You know, this is a small way of helping Actually,
it's probably a big way of helping the environment, because
the amount of clothes that are just discarded, you know,
(06:08):
particularly in today's world with social media and influencers and
fads coming and going, you don't have to buy new.
So it's kind of interesting the small things that you
can do. And really, I'm saving so much money. John
so much money because I like being fashionable, but I
(06:30):
hate shopping a and who doesn't want to save money, right.
Speaker 4 (06:36):
Yeah, one hundred percent. Yeah. And there's a lot.
Speaker 5 (06:39):
Of stuff like that, Like we have talked a lot
in the past about clothes, or there's a whole marketplace
like that for furniture. And in this case what I
was talking about with back Market, it's electronics, and it's
such a wasteful industry, especially with one of the things
they're talking about is the sort of like fast technology,
similar to fast fashion, where it's like, oh, it's cheap
(07:01):
and easy, like let me get a new device every year,
and it's just this constant like let me get the
new thing, new thing, new thing, when.
Speaker 4 (07:08):
It's incredibly unsustainable. And a lot of the people that.
Speaker 5 (07:11):
Are doing this, they really do care about the environment,
They care about climate change. The type of person that
wants the new technology they also care about these issues,
but they don't totally recognize the way that that's impacting
their own environmental footprint. So Back Market's doing a great
job of really publicizing a lot of this stuff. They've
done a big campaign to just educate the public. You'll
(07:33):
see their ads all over New York City subways, for instance.
So we'll see them on the virtual stage this year,
and we're really very excited about that.
Speaker 3 (07:42):
I'm speaking with John Opperman.
Speaker 2 (07:44):
He's executive director of Earth Day Initiative and their big
event is coming up this Thursday, Union Square, starting at
eleven in the morning. Speaking of the electronics, how do
we what is the proper way of disposing of them?
Speaker 4 (07:59):
Yeah, so that's.
Speaker 5 (08:00):
Another thing that really confuses people. People have these things
lying around. With a service like back market, you can
trade things in so you actually can send them to
them and.
Speaker 4 (08:09):
Then you get some sort of credit.
Speaker 5 (08:11):
A lot of the things in electronics are quite valuable,
like the metals and things that are used to create electronics.
Speaker 4 (08:18):
It's actually quite valuable.
Speaker 5 (08:20):
So it's crazy that we don't have a better education
system about how to get these back into some sort
of valuable use, whether it's like reuse or recycling or.
Speaker 4 (08:31):
Whatever it is.
Speaker 5 (08:32):
But they wind up in our closets and our drawers
and the landfill. And I think everyone has had that
experience of them just having a drawer filled with electronics that.
Speaker 4 (08:43):
You don't even know what to do with.
Speaker 5 (08:44):
You don't even know when you got these and there
are ways, like looking at back market that they can
channel you into the right system of whether you trade
it in, if you donate it so it can be
reused again, whatever it is, there's ways to get that
back in the system.
Speaker 3 (09:00):
You reach them.
Speaker 4 (09:01):
So it's called back market, so be ack market.
Speaker 5 (09:05):
And that's a sustainable startup that they have offices right
here at New York off of Union Square.
Speaker 3 (09:12):
Okay, that's very very helpful. All right.
Speaker 2 (09:15):
How are we doing with congestion pricing? What is your
take on this? How are we doing?
Speaker 5 (09:20):
Yeah, I mean it's been a very back and forth process.
For anyone that's followed that they've seen the back and
forth on congestion pricing. I think a lot of people
did actually enjoy the less congested streets when we've had
congestion pricing in place. What we do need, which I've
repeated every year, is we need a really robust system
(09:43):
to bring more public transportation options into So a lot
of times the issue with any sort of sustainable policy
is we do this over here, but then we don't
follow it up with that over there. So like electric cars,
like we need a big push toward electric cars, but
we need a really robust charging system to make electric
(10:04):
cars work. So what we need to do is we
need to put pressure on public officials and those in
power to really ramp up the efforts across the board.
So it's like if you put congestion pricing in place,
we also need to really robust public transportation options that
are going to bring people in from outside.
Speaker 4 (10:23):
Of New York.
Speaker 3 (10:24):
But we don't have that.
Speaker 5 (10:25):
Yeah, and that's one of the things that I think
has been frustrating. And then it gives the whole thing
of a bad name, which I think is really unfortunate
because there are lots of places in the world that
have put this kind of thing in place and they
love it.
Speaker 4 (10:38):
It's been a great experience for people.
Speaker 5 (10:40):
People have been able to use the public transportation options,
and we need more support for that. But the problem
is we do a little bit over here, but we
don't really do the whole, all encompassing scope of it.
But it's not a reason to abandon it. I think
we need to make it better, but we need.
Speaker 4 (10:57):
To make it right.
Speaker 3 (10:58):
Okay, where do you stand?
Speaker 2 (11:00):
And on everything that is coming down from Washington, the
changes in the EPA, the cutbacks in the EPA, I mean,
when you talk about putting pressure on public officials, we're
going in just the opposite direction as they push to deregulate.
So where does their stated initiative stand. What are you doing,
(11:23):
if anything, or are you just avoiding this and trying
to get people to do little things in their own way,
things that we can actually control.
Speaker 4 (11:32):
Yeah, I think yeah.
Speaker 5 (11:34):
To address your last point first, I do think people
feel powerless and they feel helpless. And this isn't a
new thing. People have felt that way about environmental issues
for a long time because we for decades haven't felt
like things are being done to the extent that they
need to be to address climate.
Speaker 4 (11:53):
Change, for instance.
Speaker 5 (11:54):
So we do always want to empower people that it's like, Okay,
here's a thing that you can do when you feel
like things aren't going on in the right direction and
the big picture. But here are things that you could
do in your own life to move things in a
positive direction. Here are ways that you could communicate about
this to sort of move things at the higher levels.
But it's really unfortunate, and I think we're going to
(12:14):
see very quickly how undervalued these basic protections for the
environment are.
Speaker 4 (12:21):
Whether it is the EPA and the way that they
protect our water and our air, whether it is.
Speaker 5 (12:29):
NOAH, and our weather prediction system, whether it is FEMA,
and dealing with the impacts of extreme weather events. All
of these systems are in place, and we may say, oh,
they don't do this right or they don't do that
right from time to time, but let's see how it
works when they're not there. We're really going to be
in trouble without basic protections for our water, basic protections
(12:50):
for air, and basic predictions of our weather. Like a
lot of people don't realize that actually, even the weather
service that you get on your phone or on the TV,
all of that data comes from NOAH. So if NOAH
is underfunded and stripped of its power, then you're not
going to be able to predict the weather. You're not
(13:11):
going to be able to anticipate extreme weather events. And
it's not only inconvenient, it will be dangerous at some point.
And I think people will start to realize that because
a lot of these things we've grown up with our
entire lives. So a lot of these protections like for
air and water, and even the existence of the EPA
(13:33):
came about in the early nineteen seventies, So a lot
of people don't remember a time when we didn't have
those basic protections. Before that, polluting companies could pollute our air,
they could pollute our water. Rivers would literally catch on
fire because they were so polluted. So literally the water
was burning because it was so polluted. And that's one
of the things that sparked the first Earth Day in
(13:55):
nineteen seventy that there were national headlines about the Cuyahoga
River in Ohio and people were outraged. What are we
doing to our environment with rampant pollution and we just
don't care about it. And it's not only harming our environment,
but it's harming our health. This isn't good for us
as humans to have such polluted air and water. These
are the basic protections that now we're going to see attacked,
(14:20):
and we'll see how people feel about that going forward
when we don't have some of those basic protections that
we have seen for decades.
Speaker 2 (14:29):
Interesting times we're in, right, John Opperman. So Earth Day Initiative,
the big event Thursday, Union Square starting at eleven am.
It never rains, so let's hope for the forecast to
cooperate on Thursday.
Speaker 1 (14:43):
If you've been listening to Sunstein sessions on iHeartRadio. The
production of New York's classic rock Q one O four
point three
Welcome to Sunstein Sessions on iHeartRadio, Conversations about as yous
that matter. Here's your host, three time Gracie Award winner,
Chilly Sunstein.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
It is spring, thank goodness, and it is time for
the New York City Earth Day Initiative. It is coming
up this coming Thursday. Joining me this morning, John Opperman,
the executive director of the New York City Earth Day Initiative.
Speaker 3 (00:26):
What do you have planned this year?
Speaker 4 (00:28):
John, Yeah, so thank you so much for having me.
Speaker 5 (00:32):
We have our big festival that we'll be back with
this Thursday, April seventeenth, that's from twelve to six pm
and Union Square, and that is the kind of earth Fair,
Earth festival atmosphere that people are used to. There with
dozens of organizations represented with exhibitor Booze. There's little grassroots
nonprofits up to big multinational ones like Fridays for a
(00:54):
Future or World Wildlife Fund. There are sustainable businesses mixed
in there. There's all kinds of stuff that people can
check out that they can do in their own lives
to green their lifestyle or make a positive impact. And
there's entertainment on the stage. There's an art installation, really
something for everyone.
Speaker 3 (01:12):
There are there streaming opportunities.
Speaker 5 (01:15):
Yes, So throughout the month if people go to Earthdayinitiative
dot org and sign up for our email list or
follow us on Facebook or Instagram at earth Day Initiative,
we are pushing out content throughout the month for Earth
Day as part of our Earth Day Virtual Stage programming.
So there's all kinds of conversations with great folks like
(01:36):
back Market, which is an electronics reused marketplace. They have
a really incredible system in place where you can get
electronics that.
Speaker 4 (01:46):
Are just as good as new.
Speaker 5 (01:48):
It's way more sustainable than buying new, and they're going
to have a special segment on that virtual Stage as
part of the programming too. We have another conversation with
a few actors that are pushing for initiatives to reduce
single use plastics on TV and movies.
Speaker 4 (02:06):
So it's kind of like how we dealt with.
Speaker 5 (02:08):
Smoking years ago, where maybe we shouldn't have people smoking
on screen all the time, but reduce single use pics
on screen. So it's sort of that like messaging, subliminal
messaging that we're getting and TV and movies, so we
have a conversation about that as well.
Speaker 3 (02:21):
I never even thought of that.
Speaker 5 (02:24):
Yeah, it's a really interesting take on it because it
goes along with a lot of what our messaging is
about of what we call being a quote climate communicator.
Speaker 4 (02:33):
And the idea that you can have an impact in
all of these.
Speaker 5 (02:37):
Ways that you maybe don't think about, where it's inviting
your friend to take part in a climate march with you,
or just talking about oh, hey, I found this really
cool sustainable product.
Speaker 4 (02:48):
I really love it, Like, here's a link to it.
Speaker 5 (02:51):
All these ways that you can kind of subtly influence
in your lives people in your lives. And then obviously
if you have some sort of platform, if you are
the administrator like office manager an office, or you run
some pta group, you kind of influence people in that
group in a way that you have power over. Oh,
(03:13):
let's opt for reusables, let's opt for plant based snacks,
let's opt for things that are more sustainable. And there's
all these ways that we could be influencing things in
our life.
Speaker 4 (03:23):
And this is a really good example of that.
Speaker 5 (03:25):
Just these like little ways that as an actor you
could speak up and say, hey, why don't we not
have this single use plastic water bottle on screen?
Speaker 4 (03:33):
Why don't we have a reusable one.
Speaker 3 (03:35):
So it's kind of interesting. You see what I'm wearing.
Speaker 2 (03:37):
I'm wearing this top that looks like it's straight out
of the seventies.
Speaker 3 (03:43):
This is my biggest fashion secret, all right.
Speaker 2 (03:46):
This I bought from the Beverly Hills Goodwill. I did
this whole sustainable clothing thing before it became fashionable.
Speaker 4 (03:57):
Well yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3 (03:58):
I covered my son when I was I don't want
to visit to LA.
Speaker 2 (04:01):
He took me to the Santa Monica Goodwill because he
needed some pants or a jacket. And I said, oh,
you know, looking around this is fantastic. He said, oh no,
what's fantastic is the Beverly Hills Goodwill. He took me there,
and I happened to be kind of small sized, and
(04:25):
think of it, it's in Beverly Hills. Somebody might donate
to the Beverly Hills Goodwill after you just wear it once.
I got a Michael COR's dress for seven dollars. I
got the designer jeans that cost two hundred dollars for
like eleven dollars. Then I realized, several years later John,
(04:48):
that my little grandsons were not very you know, they
didn't really like hanging out at the Beverly Hills Goodwill.
So I had to find another option, and that's when
I heard about thread.
Speaker 3 (05:03):
Up, which is an app and.
Speaker 2 (05:06):
It's only women's clothes. From what I could tell, it's
not children's clothes, it's not men's clothes. It's women's clothes.
But once you sign up, you can type in what
your size is and so whatever you search for, it'll
immediately come up in your size. I have to tell you,
I so rarely now buy anything new when it comes
(05:31):
to clothing, even now.
Speaker 3 (05:34):
Swimsuit bottoms, yes, no, swimsuit tops, no rouz yes, pennies
obviously no.
Speaker 2 (05:43):
But I'm telling you not only the amount of money
I have saved. And I'm telling this to you because
I'm telling my listener. Yeah, and that's thhr e ed up.
You know, this is a small way of helping Actually,
it's probably a big way of helping the environment, because
the amount of clothes that are just discarded, you know,
(06:08):
particularly in today's world with social media and influencers and
fads coming and going, you don't have to buy new.
So it's kind of interesting the small things that you
can do. And really, I'm saving so much money. John
so much money because I like being fashionable, but I
(06:30):
hate shopping a and who doesn't want to save money, right.
Speaker 4 (06:36):
Yeah, one hundred percent. Yeah. And there's a lot.
Speaker 5 (06:39):
Of stuff like that, Like we have talked a lot
in the past about clothes, or there's a whole marketplace
like that for furniture. And in this case what I
was talking about with back Market, it's electronics, and it's
such a wasteful industry, especially with one of the things
they're talking about is the sort of like fast technology,
similar to fast fashion, where it's like, oh, it's cheap
(07:01):
and easy, like let me get a new device every year,
and it's just this constant like let me get the
new thing, new thing, new thing, when.
Speaker 4 (07:08):
It's incredibly unsustainable. And a lot of the people that.
Speaker 5 (07:11):
Are doing this, they really do care about the environment,
They care about climate change. The type of person that
wants the new technology they also care about these issues,
but they don't totally recognize the way that that's impacting
their own environmental footprint. So Back Market's doing a great
job of really publicizing a lot of this stuff. They've
done a big campaign to just educate the public. You'll
(07:33):
see their ads all over New York City subways, for instance.
So we'll see them on the virtual stage this year,
and we're really very excited about that.
Speaker 3 (07:42):
I'm speaking with John Opperman.
Speaker 2 (07:44):
He's executive director of Earth Day Initiative and their big
event is coming up this Thursday, Union Square, starting at
eleven in the morning. Speaking of the electronics, how do
we what is the proper way of disposing of them?
Speaker 4 (07:59):
Yeah, so that's.
Speaker 5 (08:00):
Another thing that really confuses people. People have these things
lying around. With a service like back market, you can
trade things in so you actually can send them to
them and.
Speaker 4 (08:09):
Then you get some sort of credit.
Speaker 5 (08:11):
A lot of the things in electronics are quite valuable,
like the metals and things that are used to create electronics.
Speaker 4 (08:18):
It's actually quite valuable.
Speaker 5 (08:20):
So it's crazy that we don't have a better education
system about how to get these back into some sort
of valuable use, whether it's like reuse or recycling or.
Speaker 4 (08:31):
Whatever it is.
Speaker 5 (08:32):
But they wind up in our closets and our drawers
and the landfill. And I think everyone has had that
experience of them just having a drawer filled with electronics that.
Speaker 4 (08:43):
You don't even know what to do with.
Speaker 5 (08:44):
You don't even know when you got these and there
are ways, like looking at back market that they can
channel you into the right system of whether you trade
it in, if you donate it so it can be
reused again, whatever it is, there's ways to get that
back in the system.
Speaker 3 (09:00):
You reach them.
Speaker 4 (09:01):
So it's called back market, so be ack market.
Speaker 5 (09:05):
And that's a sustainable startup that they have offices right
here at New York off of Union Square.
Speaker 3 (09:12):
Okay, that's very very helpful. All right.
Speaker 2 (09:15):
How are we doing with congestion pricing? What is your
take on this? How are we doing?
Speaker 5 (09:20):
Yeah, I mean it's been a very back and forth process.
For anyone that's followed that they've seen the back and
forth on congestion pricing. I think a lot of people
did actually enjoy the less congested streets when we've had
congestion pricing in place. What we do need, which I've
repeated every year, is we need a really robust system
(09:43):
to bring more public transportation options into So a lot
of times the issue with any sort of sustainable policy
is we do this over here, but then we don't
follow it up with that over there. So like electric cars,
like we need a big push toward electric cars, but
we need a really robust charging system to make electric
(10:04):
cars work. So what we need to do is we
need to put pressure on public officials and those in
power to really ramp up the efforts across the board.
So it's like if you put congestion pricing in place,
we also need to really robust public transportation options that
are going to bring people in from outside.
Speaker 4 (10:23):
Of New York.
Speaker 3 (10:24):
But we don't have that.
Speaker 5 (10:25):
Yeah, and that's one of the things that I think
has been frustrating. And then it gives the whole thing
of a bad name, which I think is really unfortunate
because there are lots of places in the world that
have put this kind of thing in place and they
love it.
Speaker 4 (10:38):
It's been a great experience for people.
Speaker 5 (10:40):
People have been able to use the public transportation options,
and we need more support for that. But the problem
is we do a little bit over here, but we
don't really do the whole, all encompassing scope of it.
But it's not a reason to abandon it. I think
we need to make it better, but we need.
Speaker 4 (10:57):
To make it right.
Speaker 3 (10:58):
Okay, where do you stand?
Speaker 2 (11:00):
And on everything that is coming down from Washington, the
changes in the EPA, the cutbacks in the EPA, I mean,
when you talk about putting pressure on public officials, we're
going in just the opposite direction as they push to deregulate.
So where does their stated initiative stand. What are you doing,
(11:23):
if anything, or are you just avoiding this and trying
to get people to do little things in their own way,
things that we can actually control.
Speaker 4 (11:32):
Yeah, I think yeah.
Speaker 5 (11:34):
To address your last point first, I do think people
feel powerless and they feel helpless. And this isn't a
new thing. People have felt that way about environmental issues
for a long time because we for decades haven't felt
like things are being done to the extent that they
need to be to address climate.
Speaker 4 (11:53):
Change, for instance.
Speaker 5 (11:54):
So we do always want to empower people that it's like, Okay,
here's a thing that you can do when you feel
like things aren't going on in the right direction and
the big picture. But here are things that you could
do in your own life to move things in a
positive direction. Here are ways that you could communicate about
this to sort of move things at the higher levels.
But it's really unfortunate, and I think we're going to
(12:14):
see very quickly how undervalued these basic protections for the
environment are.
Speaker 4 (12:21):
Whether it is the EPA and the way that they
protect our water and our air, whether it is.
Speaker 5 (12:29):
NOAH, and our weather prediction system, whether it is FEMA,
and dealing with the impacts of extreme weather events. All
of these systems are in place, and we may say, oh,
they don't do this right or they don't do that
right from time to time, but let's see how it
works when they're not there. We're really going to be
in trouble without basic protections for our water, basic protections
(12:50):
for air, and basic predictions of our weather. Like a
lot of people don't realize that actually, even the weather
service that you get on your phone or on the TV,
all of that data comes from NOAH. So if NOAH
is underfunded and stripped of its power, then you're not
going to be able to predict the weather. You're not
(13:11):
going to be able to anticipate extreme weather events. And
it's not only inconvenient, it will be dangerous at some point.
And I think people will start to realize that because
a lot of these things we've grown up with our
entire lives. So a lot of these protections like for
air and water, and even the existence of the EPA
(13:33):
came about in the early nineteen seventies, So a lot
of people don't remember a time when we didn't have
those basic protections. Before that, polluting companies could pollute our air,
they could pollute our water. Rivers would literally catch on
fire because they were so polluted. So literally the water
was burning because it was so polluted. And that's one
of the things that sparked the first Earth Day in
(13:55):
nineteen seventy that there were national headlines about the Cuyahoga
River in Ohio and people were outraged. What are we
doing to our environment with rampant pollution and we just
don't care about it. And it's not only harming our environment,
but it's harming our health. This isn't good for us
as humans to have such polluted air and water. These
are the basic protections that now we're going to see attacked,
(14:20):
and we'll see how people feel about that going forward
when we don't have some of those basic protections that
we have seen for decades.
Speaker 2 (14:29):
Interesting times we're in, right, John Opperman. So Earth Day Initiative,
the big event Thursday, Union Square starting at eleven am.
It never rains, so let's hope for the forecast to
cooperate on Thursday.
Speaker 1 (14:43):
If you've been listening to Sunstein sessions on iHeartRadio. The
production of New York's classic rock Q one O four
point three
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