2023 Blog Posts

January 7-8, 2023 (Saturday-Sunday) - THE MOVIE CARBON MAN.  The movie is moving along.  Anne and I picked up our camera man, Matt Johnson, who is studying film at UConn Storrs, and filmed scenes with Bill Young in the senate office set in our Studio 7B “garage”.  Funny moment when Bill, acting as his senate character, held up his hands - a motion revealing his lines written on his hands - hilarious!  The Senate set is really great - thanks to carpenter Ed Gaffney and his son Brian Gaffney.

January 10, 2023 (Tuesday) - Meetings on climate legislation pick up again.  Today we met with Citizens’ Climate Lobby volunteers and CT state Representative Christine Palm.  Our climate bill - once called the “Connecticut Climate Emergency Act” will undergo a name change and changes as we dialogue with other elected officials.

January 21-22, 2023 (Saturday-Sunday) - THE MOVIE CARBON MAN.  In the filming rhythm - Anne and I again pick up camera man Matt Johnson from his dorm at UConn Storrs, we drive back to Mystic, and filming on sets.  Matt is really good at operating the Komodo Red 6k digital camera - he’s got the tech-head gene, and is learning movie making, building on his own short film projects.  Anne reviews lines with actors and we practice, Ronn Toebaas touches base on zoom with pointers.  We have a lot of dialogue-rich scenes for Bill as senator.  The garage set is not big, so we crowd in.  And Bill Young is 6’2” - close to the top of the set, so Matt films with the Red on a tripod while he stands on a step ladder to angle down a bit.

January 24, 2023 (Tuesday) - This year’s League of Conservation Voters state of Connecticut conference.  Anne and I have been trying to get a carbon pricing dialogue going with them, but little progress so far.  Never-the-less, the LCV is an excellent organization with good people, and they track important legislation progress in the state.  Meanwhile Rep. Christine Palm and Anne & I and our small team are progressing on getting our climate bill into the General Assembly’s Environment Committee for discussion and public comments.

January 28-29, 2023 (Saturday-Sunday) - THE MOVIE CARBON MAN.  Filming rhythm continues - Anne and I pick up camera man Matt Johnson from his dorm at UConn Storrs, we drive back to Mystic, and filming on sets.  Bill Young arrived on Friday night.  Anne reviews his lines with him and we practice, often with Ronn Toebaas on zoom for pointers.  We have a lot of dialogue-rich scenes for Bill as senator.  I love dialogue in movies that propels the story line and action, and creates tension.

February 4-5, 2023 (Saturday-Sunday) - THE MOVIE CARBON MAN.  Filming with Bill Young as New Jersey Senator Dan Jones, and with Carin Estey as the graduate student climate scientist and the senator’s daughter.  We have a lot of on-set and on-location filming to do this month.  Once again we pick up film student Matt Johnson from UCONN Storrs (he is always enthusiastic and perceptive about the scene we’ve set up).  Anne is busy helping actors with lines, helping with costumes and with set perfection.  Anne’s attention to detail is really helpful on-set.

February 9, 2023 (Thursday) - Our new friend and actor John Mills is also a black historian searching for his own family’s history in America, as well as historic information on slavery and slaves in Connecticut.  Connecticut during slavery was actually known as “The Georgia of the north”.  We met up with John and his wife Erika for an on-line lecture about this topic at the Webb Deane Stevens Museum in Wethersfield, CT.  Incredible and heartrending information about the history of this state and the black population herein.

February11-12, 2023 (Saturday-Sunday) - THE MOVIE CARBON MAN.  Filming an important dialogue scene between actress Carin Estey and actor Bill Young.  Carin is really getting into her role as a climate scientist/graduate student.  There was a funny moment where our friend and mathematician Chris Chiller, who plays a professor in the film - and is supposed to go over some climate math equations - actually tried to teach Carin the actual math!  Carin’s eyes glazed over as she broke into laughter, saying, “I don’t think I have to know how to derive these equations Roger put in the script - I just act like I know them.”  We have a lot of fun on the sets, and lots of laughter.  We have such an amazing cast and crew.

February 13-21, 2023 (Monday-Tuesday) - Anne and I travel to Oregon to visit my brother Dave and his wife Marijke.  Dave is in our film so we work with him on his two scenes as a stranded time traveler.  Dave is a natural, with improve comedy experience when living in Minneapolis (Dudley Riggs comedy troupe and others). 

February 25-26, 2023 (Saturday-Sunday) - THE MOVIE CARBON MAN.  Filming on-set, and we are working with the incredibly talented John Mills - who plays another stranded time traveler who is also a custodian in the capitol.  John Mills’ character is “Wally Davenport”, and his journey in the film is really important - a key character in the plot line.  The interaction between John Mills’ character and Bill Young’s character is really developing well.  We also filmed Carin’s scene in her apartment - we’ve converted our guest room into that set.  In the making of an independent film one does what one can with limited funds and space, so we use all opportunities we can to create the “illusion” of the world in our film.  Anne and I have a lot of fun explorations into sets and locations around Mystic, CT for the film.

February 27, 2023 (Monday) - THE MOVIE CARBON MAN.  We lost a dear friend this past weekend.  Ronn Toebaas passed away on Saturday.  He was such a good friend for over 20 years, and we worked on a number of projects - and our current film project stands as one of his last acting roles.  Ronn was a writer, director, actor and singer.  He directed two of my monologues, and I worked with him on some Door County,  WI plays, and then our current film project where he performed the role of the Kentucky senator with Mark Moede.  He gave us creative and directorial input in our frequent zoom rehearsals, like the one above with Carin Estey and Bill Young, and laughed and sang with us - we've had so much fun.  And, just the two of us have been having weekly calls for the past six months, and will miss these so very much.  Ronn had a heart condition, and passed away in his Galena home in Illinois.  I think he was 82.  He is missed by all.

March 2023 - IPCC’s Sixth Assessment Report (AR6) [https://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar6/syr/downloads/report/IPCC_AR6_SYR_SPM.pdf]. It states, “This report recognizes the interdependence of climate, ecosystems and biodiversity, and human societies; the value of diverse forms of knowledge; and the close linkages between climate change adaptation, mitigation, ecosystem health, human well-being and sustainable development, and reflects the increasing diversity of actors involved in climate action. . . . Human activities, principally through emissions of greenhouse gases, have unequivocally caused global warming, with global surface temperature reaching 1.1°C above 1850-1900 in 2011-2020. Global greenhouse gas emissions have continued to increase, with unequal historical and ongoing contributions arising from unsustainable energy use, land use and land-use change, lifestyles and patterns of consumption and production across regions, between and within countries, and among individuals (high confidence). . . . Global surface temperature was 1.09 [0.95 to 1.20]°C5 higher in 2011–2020 than 1850–19006, with larger increases over land (1.59 [1.34 to 1.83]°C) than over the ocean (0.88 [0.68 to 1.01]°C). Global surface temperature in the first two decades of the 21st century (2001–2020) was 0.99 [0.84 to 1.10]°C higher than 1850–1900. Global surface temperature has increased faster since 1970 than in any other 50-year period over at least the last 2000 years (high confidence). . . . Widespread and rapid changes in the atmosphere, ocean, cryosphere and biosphere have occurred. Human-caused climate change is already affecting many weather and climate extremes in every region across the globe. This has led to widespread adverse impacts and related losses and damages to nature and people (high confidence). Vulnerable communities who have historically contributed the least to current climate change are disproportionately affected (high confidence).”

March 3-4, 2023 (Friday-Saturday) - This weekend was Citizens’ Climate Lobby’s Northeast Regional Conference in Schenectady, NY.  Iona Lutey is our fearless leader, and hundreds gathered to work on national and state climate issues.  New York is doing particularly well with state climate legislative efforts, and I often chat with those volunteers on fortifying our Connecticut efforts.

March 7, 2023 (Tuesday) - Today was public comments dealing with our climate bill and other bills in the Environment Committee and Technology and Energy Committee in the Connecticut General Assembly.  Rep. Christine Palm is amazing and really working hard with us to get our bill through committee.

March 11-12, 2023 (Saturday-Sunday) - THE MOVIE CARBON MAN.  Filming continues on our movie.  I keep thinking . . . if we can just get our key legislative actions passed into law, such as the carbon tax and cash-back to citizens, then we wouldn’t have to make the movie about the challenges of passing a carbon tax.  But, every day Anne and I wake up to a world not yet willing to fully address climate change, its impacts and costs, and the necessary legislation.  So we continue filming.

March 18-19, 2023 (Saturday-Sunday) - THE MOVIE CARBON MAN.  Filming Carin’s scenes, some of which were of her driving around - so I mounted two GoPros on her car - one on the hood pointed at her as the driver, and one in the passenger seat to get that perspective.  It worked really well.

March 21, 2023 (Tuesday) - THE MOVIE CARBON MAN.  Filming today on the UConn Storrs campus.  We gained permission to film in the greenhouse, part of the series of scenes with John Mills playing “Wally Davenport”, and me (Roger) playing “Noah Poem” - we are both time travelers in the film.  UConn film student and our camera man Matt Johnson was super helpful today - his dorm is literally across the street, so set up was fast and simple.  

March 23, 2023 (Thursday) - THE MOVIE CARBON MAN - Music. Part of our music crew is the talented Jacob Graham - a drummer, keyboardist, singer and arranger.  I’ve tasked him to work with the equally talented Noah Feldman at the String Theory Music School and Studio in New London, CT (Chris Leigh is manager there).  This studio is simple, kinda small, but great equipment.  And Noah & Jacob bring first rate skills to the project.  So, while I have Mark Paffrath working on four songs with his team in Racine, WI, I have Noah & Jacob here to work on the rest of the soundtrack.

March 25, 2023 (Saturday) - I gave a talk on energy and resources today at the Stonington Energy Fair - organized by Paul Giese and Ed Kranich.  Great turnout and lots of climate discussions.

March 27, 2023 (Monday). A sobering weekly call with global climate economist Dr. Gary Yohe - we both fear for the future of our societies around the world as climate impacts increase, and climate actions creep slowly along - sometimes not moving at all.  Our climate bill in the Connecticut General Assembly is in the Environment Committee and has gone through public comment - all turned out pretty well.  But Republican resistance and scare tactics (lots of mis-information) is a powerful force against forward progress.  I have doubts our bill will make it through this year.

April 1, 2023 (Saturday) - Today in Brooklyn is one of those wonderful and happy days - my daughter, Madeleine, got married to Danny - both are such good people.  The wedding was wonderful and celebratory!

April 7, 2023 (Friday) - THE MOVIE CARBON MAN - Music. Continuing to work on the soundtrack music with Jacob Graham - a drummer, keyboardist, singer and arranger.  We gather with Noah Feldman at the String Theory Music School and Studio in New London, CT.  I’m pulling in lot of different voices; I’ve written different styles of music - rock, folk, country, bluegrass and blues - and everyone here and with Mark Paffrath in Racine are stepping up to the task.

April 15-16, 2023 (Saturday-Sunday) -   THE MOVIE CARBON MAN.  We organized a trip down to Washington, D.C. to film some scenes.  I’ve brought Carin Estey, Bill Young (and his wife Robyn), John Mills (and his wife Erica), Anne and me to our Capitol.  Most of the scenes are the actors walking to and from the U.S. Capitol.  This was a really fun weekend.  We filmed a dynamic scene of John Mills in the Botanical Gardens and walking up to the Capitol.  And Carin and Bill doing the same at the Capitol and along the National Mall.  B-roll filming to a degree, but great and establishing shots.  The power of our national government is on show - and stepping out of the “Reel World” into the  “Real World” - this is where we lobby for climate legislation, and the effort is intense, and the climate is reminding us every day that there is no more “normal”.  

April 22, 2023 (Saturday) - Earth Day at the Groton Public Library.  This was organized by Jason Hine at The Ditty Bag sustainable products store with us helping.  Great showing-  hundreds of people, and Anne & I had a Citizens’ Climate Lobby table and handed out “passports” to kids to get stamps from the dozens of tables with environmental and sustainable messages.  We talked and showed information and products on sustainable food and goods, clean energy, composting and land use, forests and tree planting, EVs, the health of the oceans and reducing plastics, and so on.

April 23, 2023 (Sunday) - Our climate sponsor for our climate bills, Representative Christine Palm, has been trying to get a bill on climate education in CT public schools as required.  We have all supported this, and the culmination of a four-year effort came to fruition finally - climate education is required.  The Nation wrote, “While Congress is unlikely to pass a national climate education bill any time soon, there is an opportunity for other states to take action. Following the lead of New Jersey and Connecticut, bills requiring some form of climate education have been introduced in New York, California, Massachusetts. According to Connecticut State Representative Christine Palm, her climate education bill finally passed four years after she first introduced it due to two things: “the engagement of young people who are fed up waiting for older generations to take climate chaos seriously” and “simply wearing down the opposition through persistence.” The time for more states to act is now.” [https://www.thenation.com/article/environment/connecticut-required-climate-change-education-curriculum/#:~:text=According to Connecticut state Representative,simply wearing down the opposition]

April 25, 2023 (Tuesday) -  THE MOVIE CARBON MAN - Music. Continuing to work on the soundtrack music with Jacob Graham and Noah Feldman at the String Theory Music School and Studio in New London, CT.  This is coming together, and having such a tight series of songs professionally recorded will really strengthen the film.  After all, film maker Steven Spielberg said, “Music in the soundtrack is the most important part of a film.”

May 2, 2023 (Tuesday) - a followup meeting with CT Rep. Christine Palm on the failure of our bill.  She got it through the House, but it failed in the Senate - the Republican push-back is just too strong.  Huge disappointment.  We even had Governor Lamont supporting us.

May 3, 2023 (Wednesday) - THE MOVIE CARBON MAN - Music.  Finishing up some of the songs - but more to go.  I wrote a song for Angela Chiller to sing called “Howling Wind”.  This could be the main song in the middle of the movie.

May 6-22, 2023 (Saturday-Monday) - Anne is a knitter and spinner and weaver of wool.  She’s taken a number of classes from Deb Jones, who has organized a field trip for her adult students to the Shetland Islands, northern Scotland.  I tagged along as the token male/spouse.  The trip was fantastic, meandering through this windblown landscape and looking at the sheep farms, the geology, and talking to these people who live at the end of the road, so to speak.

June 3-4, 2023 (Saturday-Sunday) - THE MOVIE CARBON MAN.  Filming with our youngest actor - 11-year-old Jackson Hine.  He plays a techy time traveler alongside me and others.  Jackson has a “non-girlfriend” who loves to come around and watch him act.  She’s pretty talented, so I wrote her into a scene with Jackson - great fun.  I’ve written the song “Help Me” for that scene.

June10-13, 2023 (Saturday-Tuesday) - Anne and I are back in Washington, D.C. for this year’s Citizens’ Climate Lobby - lobby day.  We met with Rep. Joe Courtney and Senator Richard Blumenthal.  Kind of a sedate series of meetings - not much motion on climate nationally in particular for a carbon fee and dividend (carbon tax and citizen cash back) legislation.  Meanwhile, mother nature keeps hitting the human race with ever intensifying impacts.

June 15, 2023 (Thursday) - Anne and I drove up to Wethersfield to attend John Mills’ lecture.  His continuing work on the history of slavery and slaves in Connecticut is incredible - so very heartrending.  He’s also working on raising money for a mural at a community recreation center for a slave named Fortune who lived 1740 to 1798.  Shockingly - this man’s bones were collected and passed around the world to be studied.  John was one of the people that was able to find a final resting post for this man, centuries later.

June 17-24, 2023 (Saturday-Saturday) - Back at The Clearing folk school in Ellison Bay teaching my writing class.  It is always so great to retreat to this in-the-north-woods retreat and step out of the noise of news and politics that surrounds us.  I write in the evenings as Anne knits and spins with Deb Jones.  A great and wonderful week.

June 27-July 8, 2023 (Tuesday-Saturday) - Anne and I are off to the Netherlands to visit her friends and family.  This is a good follow-up after The Clearing to reconnect and find our optimism and creative spirits.  We meander The Hague.  We also toured the Rotterdam Harbor - second biggest in the world, and the scale of carbon-intensive industries and shipping is blatantly on show.  We met Rick Gilles, who is a creative entrepreneur - we may be able to do something in sustainable business together back in the States.

July 10, 2023 (Monday) -  Oh no…My wife Anne has COVID.  I didn’t catch it, but she’s isolating and I’m providing care.  This pandemic continues with over 1.1 million deaths from this in the U.S. - so we are taking COVID seriously.

July 17, 2023 (Monday) - THE MOVIE CARBON MAN - Music.  Continuing to work on the movie soundtrack - we are getting there, most of the songs have been recorded and were in final mixing now.  Anne is feeling a lot better and testing negative on COVID - so she was not impacted that hard - fortunately.

August 6-11, 2023 (Tuesday-Friday) -  THE MOVIE CARBON MAN.  Back in Portland, OR visiting brother Dave and his wife Marijke.  We are filming Dave’s scenes that we outlined on the last trip here.  We found a park on a hill with a good view of Mt. Hood and good weather.  Dave did great as a stranded time traveler.  Now I’ll overlay special effects.  We have most of the movie filmed at this point.  And the music is nearly done.

August 22, 2023 (Friday) - A group of us have put together what we’re calling the Connecticut Legislative Strategy Group with Representatives Christine Palm and Aundre Bumgardner.  The purpose of this Connecticut Legislative Strategy Group:  To develop an actionable roadmap (2024) and write legislation to include Climate, Environmental, Energy, Justice, Transportation, and Waste Management issues that are impacting Connecticut economics, job markets, community resilience, environmental and human health, and justice issues related to and linked with climate change and its impacts.  The group will develop a one to three year strategy to prioritize key legislative proposals to aggressively address these issues, help educate voters (and get the vote out), and increase communication  and support for legislation to Connecticuts General Assembly members through their constituents.  We need to pass legislation on the following, which would all be bundled into one bill: (1) Road Map and how legislation keeps CT on track with existing & new goals.  (2) Meaningful Climate Change Legislation, including Carbon Accounting.  (3) Environmental Protection.  (4) Environmental Justice.  (5) Meaningful Renewable Energy rapid expansion - High Carbon Energy cut-backs & limitations - oil, gas, coal, biogas, hydrogen, anaerobic digester methane, etc. (6) Transportation.  (7) Waste Management - Recycling, Composting, Repurposing, Reductions.  (8) Economics.  (9) Agriculture & farming.  (10) jobs (retraining), careers in clean energy & materials.  We had people from our group - Citizens’ Climate Lobby, and Save The Sound, League of Women Voters, League of Conservation Voters, small business representatives, RiseUpMystic, The Nature Conservancy, and Connecticut River Conservancy.  We are still weak on Senate representation. There is some push and pull between the non-profits as each tries to dominate or get their points prioritized.  That being said, we are working towards the common goal of climate, environmental and clean energy legislation, climate justice legislation, and helping communities.

August 24, 2023 (Thursday) - Well - we have a final tally of the successes and failures for bills in the CT General Assembly 2023 - pass or fail: The 2023 CGA is seen by most environmental/climate groups in the state as being the least successful in years. Our climate bill failed - passing the CT House but not being brought up in the CT Senate.  We urged the formation of a strategy group with select representatives and environmental/climate groups, and we convene our first meeting on Aug. 22. Here is an encapsulation of select pertinent bills.   

SUCCESSES:  Environmental Justice SB1147 - passed. This bill was “watered down”, but requires emphasis be placed on health and environmental impacts in CT communities that are impacted by polluting infrastructure (power plants, waste to energy, pipeline corridors, etc), and that those communities are involved in state permitting decisions. Voting Rights HB5004 - passed. This bill allows early voting in Connecticut; and the John Lewis Voting Rights Act was passed as part of the CT State budget. Consumer Energy Protections SB 7 - passed. This bill protects CT consumers from misbehaving energy providers. Eel Grass Protection HB 6480 - passed. This bill protects coastal eel grass. Protection of Horseshoe Crabs from Harvesting HB 6484 - passed. Extend Producer Responsibility (EPR) for Tires BH 6486 - passed. Managing Waste and Creating a Waste Authority SB1242 / HB 6664 - passed.  

FAILURES.  Act Concerning the Establishment of Sector Specific Sub-Targets for Greenhouse Gas Emissions Reductions and Regulating Emissions of Small Off-Road Engines SB 1145- failed. This bill was meant to update 2008 Global Warming Solutions Act by adding stronger policies to reduce emissions and to hold state accountability. The bill failed.  Zero Carbon Emissions bill HB6397 - failed. This bill originated with CCL CT as the Climate Emergency Act (2022 and again in 2023), was significantly modified by committee and sponsors, and included the development of a Roadmap to Achieve Zero Emissions. The bill passed in the CT HOUSE but failed in the CT SENATE.  Carbon-Free Schools SB961 - failed. This bill would require carbon free requirements for new school construction.  Act Concerning Surplus Food Donation & Estab. Food Composting HB5577 - failed.  Solar Incentives / Shared Clean Energy HB 6764 - failed. Energy Efficiency SB4 - failed. This bill was meant to reinforce CT housing needs. Banning Neonicotinoids SB 963 - failed.  Banning Rodenticides SB 962 - failed. Resolution Proposing an Amendment to the State Constitution to Provide for an Environmental Rights Amendment HB 37 - failed. This is like the right to clean air and a healthy environment article in the Montana constitution (as an example), and our language said “Each person shall have an individual right to clean and healthy air, water, soil and environment, a stable climate and self-sustaining ecosystems for the benefit of public health, safety and the general welfare. The state shall not infringe upon these rights”.  But - this failed as well.

 

August 27-Sept. 1, 2023 (Sunday-Friday) -  Back in Wisconsin at The Clearing in Ellison Bay.  This week I’m leading my geology and Niagara Escarpment class.  I do like tromping around the north woods, meandering along the cliffs on Green Bay and the sinkholes and caves along Lake Michigan.  Every time I return to Door County more and more condos have been built, more and more forest has been cut, fewer sustainable practices have been input.  We explore all of these things and climate change in my class - it is a respectful conversation.  

September 2, 2023 (Saturday) - I spent the day with Tom and Jeff - owners of the Waseda Organic Beef farm south of Baileys Harbor in Door County.  I’m leading a field trip on the property to look at the natural history and geology on their hundreds of acres - all with a number of people who signed up.  It is part of a fund raiser for the Door County Boys & Girls Club.  A good day.  Anne and I fly home to Connecticut tomorrow.

September 7-12, 2023 (Thursday-Tuesday) - Anne and I flew to LA and attended her father’s memorial (held on Monday, Sept. 11).  This was held at the Athenaeum on the Caltech campus in Pasadena, CA.  Anne and her sister Marijke spoke wonderfully, and many guest speakers attended and I filmed the event: YouTube link: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5XvgTgqBB2A].  Anne’s father discovered quasars and has a tremendous career in astronomy from his roots in the Netherlands to Caltech in Pasadena, CA.

October 10, 2023 (Tuesday) -  Big meeting at Jason Hine’s “Ditty Bag” sustainable store in Mystic.  Citizens’ Climate Lobby volunteers and others with RiseUpMystic.  We are trying to figure out how to get our climate bill through the CT General Assembly.  Resistance to climate action and to aggressive renewable energy policies is still unbelievably strong, considering that the community impact and costs from climate change are ever-increasing.

October 18, 2023 (Thursday) - Anne, Jason Hine and I drove up to Wesleyan University in Middletown, CT and held a workshop/lecture with Rosemary’s environmental systems class.  Jason covered sustainable products, and Anne and I covered renewable energy and climate change.  Great Q&A with the students.

October 30, 2023 (Monday) - Anne and I were invited up to high school teacher James Soar’s science class in Manchester, CT.  Ava Chiller, the daughter of Chris and Angela (helping us on the film) is in the class and told James about us.  And here we are - it was a workshop-oriented round-table discussion of what we can do as individuals with regard to community actions at home and in our towns, and voting and lobbying.  Good group of young people.

November 4, 2023 (Saturday) - Great meeting today with CT Rep. Aundre Bumgardner and Rep. Christine Palm about setting up our bill for the 2024 CT General Assembly.  Christine is optimistic, Aundre is cautious, and I am waiting for results!  We’ll get it in committee, and since it got through the House this year (stopped in the senate), we’ll work harder across the board.

November 5, 2023 (Sunday) -  Anne and I held a roundtable discussion with students at Connecticut College Avery Point.  Lots of discussion about how the politics of CT work and how to get involved with proposing bills.  The students were really interested in the politics, but pessimistic about forward progress - I don’t blame them!

November 6-7, 2023 (Monday-Tuesday) - We participated in the fall Citizens’ Climate Lobby “Lobby Days” national event.  We organized on-line calls with our U.S. Congress persons.  We are all very pleased about the Inflation Reduction Act being signed into law, with its renewable energy and climate actions.  But, still - no price on carbon, which is absolutely necessary if we are to ever reach the emissions reduction goals set by states, the federal government and the Paris Accord agreements.

November 15, 2023 (Wednesday) - Tonight we participated in a town hall at “The Nest” in Deep River with CT Rep. Christine Palm.  Subject matter was across the board - community resilience, getting rid of PFAS forever chemicals, and environmental justice, wind and solar energy and of course climate change.  She expressed her frustration with her fellow elected officials in Connecticut.

November 26, 2023 (Sunday) - I participated in a Sunrise Connecticut on-line group discussion about how to get more young people involved in community actions, climate actions and environmental justice.  All of the young people on the call were concerned about economics and stable careers with living wages.  

December 9, 2023 (Saturday) - Anne and I joined our Citizens’ Climate Lobby group leader in New Haven for their monthly meeting this morning.  Eric holds the meetings in the sustainably built Hotel Marcel in New Haven outskirts.  This is U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro’s district and Eric has been trying to get them to join us on the carbon tax and cash back bill.  Progress is slow, but they’ve been talking to DeLauro’s office about correcting misinformation on their website.  That’s going well.  Eric works at Yale in the Yale Program on Climate Change Communication - are really stellar group with very useful climate opinion information around the U.S.

December 12, 2023 (Tuesday) - THE MOVIE CARBON MAN - Music.  Wrapping up recording of the movie’s soundtrack at String Theory recording studio in New London, CT.  Jacob Graham and Noah Feldman are essential in getting my songs recorded and ready.

December 14-15, 2023 (Thursday-Friday) -  THE MOVIE CARBON MAN.  I got Bill Young to drive up to Mystic from his New Jersey home to finish up a couple scenes for the movie.  We have the video files - over 20 terabytes of video and audio - and now I need to start the arduous editing progress.