Jono Miller and John McCain Representative on WSLR 96.5 this Friday
WSLR 96.5 FM welcomes Jono Miller (for Sarasota County Commission) AND John McCain (for president, Florida campaign) as our guests.
When: Friday, June 20 from 9 am to 10 am EST
Where: The Surreal News on WSLR 96.5 LP FM Sarasota, Florida. If you cannot get it then hear the show live via INTERNET STREAMING (on WSLR.org “Live Broadcasting”), or hear us podcast on demand on iTunes, on Pacifica Broadcast Network, or at the web site thesurrealnews.com.
If you have any questions for the guests e-mail them to steve52n@aol.com.
In the late 70’s we started collaborating with New College Biology Professor John Morrill to offer classes like Our Changing Local Environments and Botany. In 1981 we were hired to coordinate the Environmental Studies Program, a staff position that enabled us to work with faculty to offer classes explicitly linked to the environment. That has continued to this day (now I’m the director of the Environmental Studies Program.)
I’ve been recruited to participate in several efforts to bring different community factions together to search for common ground. These include an informal effort by Bob Richardson, the “April 22nd Group” convened by the Sarasota Herald Tribune, the County’s Multi-Stakeholder Group (MSG) that explored many of the issues that were later addressed in 2050, and SCOPE (Sarasota County Openly Plans for Excellence) where I have served as both Board Chair and co-Chair of “Aging: the Possibilities”.
These efforts have contributed to my image as a bridge-builder – someone who can listen to all sides and generate possible solutions without getting lost in posturing . It sounds glamorous, but it comes at a cost because there is a certain amount of suspicion from both sides. Despite having one of the longest and strongest environmental records in the county and having worked diligently to protect over 30 square miles of environmentally sensitive lands in the county, I have been called the “developer’s favorite environmentalist”. And some developers no doubt think I have green skin and bark impressions on my nose from prolonged tree-hugging. That’s okay. People who know me and have worked with me know I will always be an environmentalist and will always be open to making Sarasota a better place, even if the environment has to take a hit now and then.
Let me be specific about these matters and not abstract and general. Part of my job at New College involves providing advice about how we manage the landscape. When plans emerge that do not consider the possible impact on trees, I argue forcefully to go back and do it right, protecting the trees. I even argue on behalf of dead trees on occasion. But when trees are considered from the outset and some needed improvement involves removing some, I’m okay with that. As one Sierra Club saying puts is “ Not blind opposition to progress, but opposition to blind progress.”
This entry was posted on Tuesday, June 17th, 2008 at 4:33 pm and is filed under WSLR Blog Updates. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
