Thursday, October 3, 2019 at 6 PM
Columbus Metropolitan Library - Hilltop Branch
511 S Hague Ave, Columbus, Ohio 43204
Register on Facebook Event page

Politicians are copy cats.

Today they are aping President Donald Trump by ignoring the will of the people and taking vengeance on their enemies.

Look no further than Liberty Township in southern Delaware County where trustee Melanie Leneghan exemplifies Trumpian behavior run amok.

You may recall my February column in the Columbus Free Press headlined "Government At Its Worst. GOP Gives Black Eye to Powell, Liberty Twp."

I described how Leneghan and a second trustee were joining with two Delaware County commissioners, all four of whom are Republicans, in an attempt to remove emergency medical services from the Liberty Township Fire Department and transfer them to the Delaware County operation.

This ran counter to the will of the people as 75 percent of voters supported a fire and EMS tax levy in 2017. Hundreds of people showed up at trustee meetings to protest.

After much anguish, one of the two commissioners, Gary Merrell, relented and the plan was suspended.

At the end of September, hundreds of herbalists, plant conservationists and green-minded folk gathered together to celebrate the 25th anniversary of United Plant Savers (UpS). The nonprofit organization has been pivotal in efforts to protect North American medicinal plants throughout the Ohio region and beyond. Within the beautifully biodiverse Appalachian foothills sits Goldenseal Botanical Sanctuary (UpS headquarters). It is an oasis and refuge for those interested in learning about medicinal plant conservation and how to protect the legacy of earth’s ancestors. The sanctuary is a hidden gem, and one that often gets overlooked by Ohio residents.

The event connected people from across the continent, with a singular common goal: banding together to advocate for plants and the role humans play as stewards of the world ecosystem. Founded in 1994, the organization was forged from the painful realization that many medicinal and native species were becoming endangered or going extinct. The key players saw a problem and decided to take action. They were not just herbalists, but horticulturalists and farmers who were intimately observing the decline of native botanicals.

It’s all over the news. Vaping is dangerous, no it’s better than smoke. The problem involves tobacco. No, THC. Additives should be outlawed – no – marijuana should. If you’re confused, concerned or even cautious, let’s shed some light on this new health problem.

First, who started vaping? Inventor Herbert A. Gilbert first conceptualized a “smokeless non-tobacco cigarette” device for inhaling vapors in 1963. Phil Ray, a NASA engineer and father of the desktop computer,” coined the term “vaping” in the early 1980s as part of his push to reduce cigarette risk with a device that eliminated the toxic byproducts of smoke while leaving nicotine. In the cannabis world, the famed “Volcano” created by Markus Storz and Jürgen Bickel hit the market in the mid-2000s. A 2007 study published in the Journal of the American Academy of Neurology found that "there was virtually no exposure to harmful combustion products using the vaporizing device."

The Left Coast Forum/Solartopia Congress scheduled for Occidental College Oct. 11-13 has been postponed.  Stay tuned!

The Greta/AOC generation is marching for our place on this planet.  

We can all turn off lights, get off plastic, go vegan, ride bikes, sail the Atlantic, demand eco-straws, solarize our homes. 

But four gorillas block our way to survival.  They demand a next step of mass action far beyond anything we can do as individuals: