David Fair

Michigan's bee population has been devastated. Monarch Butterflies are in swift decline. Our food, and landscaping habits, may be to blame.

Movie Openings, Hollywood News And Cinema-Focused Conversation   

  Opening Downtown

In “A Most Wanted Man” a half-Chechen, half-Russian, brutally tortured immigrant turns up in Hamburg’s Islamic community, laying claim to his father’s ill-gotten fortune, forcing both German and US security agencies to take close interest. 

In this week's installment of 'Issues of the Environment', we explore the growing benefits of salvage wood and the difference it's making right here at home.  

Zingerman' Co-founder Honored With 'Champions Of Change' Award  

The White House today will honor Paul Saginaw at a ceremony in Washington. he is among those being recognized with a 'Champions of Change' award.

Saginaw is co-founder of the Zingerman's community of businesses. During a visit to Ann Arbor in April, President Barack Obama praised Saginaw for paying his restaurant workers above minimum wage.  

Iconic Rock and Blues guitar slinger Johnny Winter has passed away while touring in Europe. 

Johnny Dawson Winter III has passed away. He was 70. ”Texas blues icon Johnny Winter has passed away on July 16th, 2014, in his hotel room in Zurich, Switzerland,” read an official email from Winter’s PR company, Kid Logic Media. “His Wife, family and band-mates are all saddened by the loss of one of the world’s finest guitarists.”

The email promised an official statement at the appropriate time.

Meet the Gold family from Superior Township. They've turned their land into an innovative,  self-sustaining property. 

  Overview   

The Gold family owns and operates a farming “homestead” in Washtenaw County known as “Our Handmade Life”, where they live a self-sustaining, green life and they offer courses to the public on how they do it.

The farm, on Vreeland Road, features a bio-intensive passive greenhouse (no fossil fuels!), the Michigan Folk School, dozens of varieties of organic produce, mushrooms, goats, and chickens.

Jason and Julia Gold have operated “Our Handmade Life” since 2011, and both the farm and the school have expanded every year since. They are currently offering classes on chicken butchering, earth ovens, soap making, fermentation, ale brewing, and much more.

The Ann Arbor Art Fairs begin tomorrow and run through Saturday evening. As a result, there are several street closures downtown. The closures begin at 7:00am Tuesday morning and run through noon, Sunday, July 20th.   

According to the City of Ann Arbor, closures include:

Presidential Inauguration Won't Be held Until Fall     

The new President of the University of Michigan is on the job.  Mark Schissel officially took the helm today.   

There are a number of good films opening in the area this weekend, and plenty of Hollywood news to discuss. It's all here in this week's installment of Cinema Chat. 

Opening at the Multiplex

In “Dawn of the Planet of the Apes,” a growing nation of genetically evolved apes is threatened by a band of human survivors of the devastating virus unleashed a decade earlier. They reach a fragile peace, but it proves short-lived, as both sides are brought to the brink of a war that will determine who will emerge as Earth's dominant species. “Dawn of the Planet of the Apes” opens Friday.

Boaters Can Take Responsibility for Mitigation of Environmental Harm

Overview

• The I-75 Green Corridor Project began with the goal of allowing  drivers to traverse any portion of I-75--which runs from Sault Ste. Marie to Miami, Florida--making the entire trip on biofuel, either E85 and B20.

• While ethanol fuels do significantly reduce air pollution and GHG emissions, their environmental benefit may be less impactful than originally hoped..

Approximately 15 percent of Americans under age 70 have preventable noise-related hearing loss. New research is showing that seemingly benign levels of noise can have impacts, and the effects can go far beyond just hearing loss. In this month’s edition of 89.1 WEMU's “The Green Room,” Barbara Lucas explores sound in our environment and it’s potential effects. 

Deer overpopulation in Ann Arbor and Washtenaw County is responsible for increasing home and vehicle property damage and is threatening the area's ecological balance.

This week, David Fair talks with Maurita Holland about the issues creating the problem and the potential solutions.

1st Friday Focus on the Environment is a monthly feature on 89.1 WEMU. Michigan League of Conservation Voters Executive Director Lisa Wozniak this month looks at newly proposed state regulations for the natural gas extraction process known as hydraulic fracturing, or fracking. The guest this month is fracking expert Jaque Rose. Rose is co-founder of the activist group Friends of the AuGres Watershed.

Cinetopia starts tonight in Ann Arbor with screenings of “1982,” “The Skeleton Twins” & John Sayles’ “Go For Sisters!”

Thousands have taken to the City of Ann Arbor's expanded composting program. It now allows residents to add all food scraps to their composting carts, and keeps the material out of landfills, benefiting the environment and, ultimately, the budget. WEMU's David Fair discusses the early successes of the program with Ann Arbor Solid Waste Coordinator, Tom McMurtrie 

Water is life-giving, but too much, too fast is destructive. Climate change is causing more severe rainstorms, creating challenges for both homeowners and municipal governments.

Cinetopia is almost here!

Listen here:

The Cinetopia Festival, taking place in Ann Arbor and Detroit June 4-8, features the best feature-length dramas, comedies, and documentaries selected from the world’s outstanding film festivals, including Sundance, Cannes, Toronto, and Berlin. The Cinetopia Festival Schedule is now online, Tickets On Sale May 9

In this week's installment of Issues of the Environment, WEMU's David Fair talks with Jesse Tack of Ypsilanti about the growing local food movement in Ypsilanti. 

Food Forests, as they're called are popping up in greater numbers, in part thanks to the group Jesse Tack founded called, Abundant Michigan, Permaculture Ypsilanti, or AMPY. 

Ann Arbor's expanded compost program is proving popular with the community.

Since April, city residents have been allowed to add all plate scrapings to residential composting bins for pick-up.

Cinetopia Returns!

The third annual Cinetopia International Film Festival returns to Ann Arbor and Detroit starting June 4th and running until the 8th! Featuring the best feature-length dramas, comedies, and documentaries from the best film festivals around the world, including Sundance, Cannes, Toronto, and Berlin, this year’s festival will have 110 screenings at 10 venues throughout Detroit and Ann Arbor, including Detroit Film Theatre at the Detroit Institute of Arts, College for Creative Studies, Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History, and the Michigan Theater, State Theater, and University of Michigan’s Modern Languages Building. The complete film schedule will be announced on May 1st. Tickets and passes go on sale to the general public on Friday, May 9th. Visit cinetopiafestival.org for more information!

And Cinetopia is not the only Film Festival coming soon: The Jewish Film Festival, May 4-8

   Overview

Scio Twp residents living near the intersection of Zeeb and Dexter-Ann Arbor roads have received inquiries about leasing the mineral rights on their property from Traverse City-based West Bay Exploration Company.