What Mama Wants

05/01/2024

First in the nation law draws attention to PFAS in everyday products.

From shampoo to school supplies, dog treats to dishware, the brand names that admit to using forever chemicals are ubiquitous.

31/05/2023

What are the Hidden Hazards over the life cycle of a plastic bottle? Maya (from Defend Our Health.org) can tell you!
Listen to her on What Mama Wants https://www.whatmamawants.org/archived-episodes/maya-rommwatt
Mama wants a LOT LESS plastic in the world!
https://defendourhealth.org/campaigns/plastic-pollution/hiddenhazards/

Hidden Hazards: The Chemical Footprint of a Plastic Bottle Worldwide, the beverage industry buys more than 500 billion plastic bottles every year to package its products. This insatiable demand for plastic bottles drives the production of a common plastic known as polyethylene terephthalate or PET....

23/05/2023

"When you're sipping your favorite beverage from a plastic bottle, you're microdosing on toxic chemicals...a preventable health risk."-- Mike Belliveau, Executive Director of Defend Our Health.
See today's press release and listen to yesterday's show!
https://defendourhealth.org/news/first-ever-study-reveals-the-hard-truths-behind-soft-drinks-plastic-bottles-beverage-industry-supply-chain-riddled-with-carcinogens-emissions-and-contamination/

Listen to the interview here: What Mama Wants
https://www.whatmamawants.org/archived-episodes/mike-belliveau

16/05/2023

How to get the toxics OUT! Panchakarma!

Madison Madden is an Ayurvedic practitioner, trained in California and India. She uses a detoxification practice called Panchakarma to help people remove toxics from their bodies, as part of an ancient medical tradition, which originated in India. ​ Ma

09/05/2023

Test! Test! Test! And if you need to, fix! Clean water is essential to health and longevity. If you drink from a residential well, like more than half of Maine residents, be sure to test every 3-5 years. If you need remediation just remember, it is more fun to treat your water than to treat your sickness from drinking toxic water. https://www.whatmamawants.org/archived-episodes/will-chappell Air & Water Quality - Maine's Water & Radon Experts

24/04/2023

Did you know Mother Earth was an accountant? Nik will tell you! Listen today at 2:30 on WMPG FM. (also wmpg.org).

Thanks Wells Reserve at Laudholm! And happy Earth Day, every day!
https://www.whatmamawants.org/archived-episodes/nik-charov

For Earth Day, Nik Charov, (President and Chairman of Laudholm Trust at Wells Reserve) thinks of Mother Earth as an "accountant, as much as a nurturer." The spreadsheet is all about living in the balance, not over-spending our resources for corporate pro

10/04/2023

"Mercury in Maine freshwater fish may harm the babies of pregnant and nursing mothers, and young children.

Pregnant and nursing women, women who may get pregnant, and children under age 8 SHOULD NOT EAT ANY freshwater fish from Maine’s inland waters, except, for brook trout and landlocked salmon, one meal per month is safe.
All other adults and children older than 8 CAN EAT two freshwater fish meals per month. For brook trout and landlocked salmon, the limit is one meal per week." Maine Inland Fisheries and Wildlife Advisory

Learn more about mercury in fish from an expert: Dr. Dianne Kopec.

Episode 34 Dianne Kopec is a Research Fellow at the Senator George J. Mitchell Center for Sustainability at the University of Maine. Her biological research documents toxic contaminants in...

10/04/2023

Like mercury, PFAS exposures start in utero and have a profound affect on human development, as well as fertility.

Exposure to chemicals commonly found in drinking water and everyday household products may result in reduced fertility in women of as much as 40 percent, according to a study by Mount Sinai researchers. In a paper published in Science of the Total Environment, the team reported that higher blood co...

10/04/2023

Understanding Fossil Fuel Racism is a must!

The fossil fuel industry contributes to public health harms that kill hundreds of thousands of people in the U.S. each year—disproportionately endangering Black, Brown, Indigenous, and poor communities.

06/04/2023

Do you know how bad-ass Portland and South Portland, Maine are? They are working outside the proverbial box--together--to make a resilient environment in the face of climate change. While it is rare, it is wonderful!
Here's the plan!https://www.oneclimatefuture.org
And last week South Portland Public WorksSustainability Director, spoke on What Mama Wants about their "100 Resilient Yards" initiative. You're going to love it!
https://www.whatmamawants.org/archived-episodes/julie-rosenbach

Julie Rosenbach is the Sustainability Director for the City of South Portland, Maine. Together with Portland's Sustainability Coordinator, Troy Moon, the two cities are pioneers in collaboration between municipalities in an award-winning joint climate a

20/03/2023

Yes to babies! No to toxics! Listen to Dr Kyra Naumoff Shields talk about babies, baby food and developing healthy brains! www.whatmamawants.org

19/03/2023

For the babies!!!

Dr. Kyra Naumoff Shields is an Environmental Health Scientist at Healthy Babies, Bright Futures , an organization known for protecting children's developing bodies and brains from neurotoxins,...

13/03/2023

Making pigment from known PFAS contaminated sites around the USA, artist Susan Smith, PhD wonders about sustainability in our unsustainable world. Her work is fantastic and is being shown at U of Maine. For an artist-guided tour, have a listen: https://www.whatmamawants.org/archived-episodes/susan-l-smith

05/03/2023

What is greenwashing? Listen in! What Mama Wants interviews Mike Garfield, Director of Ecology Center about the spin around melting plastics to make fuel. https://www.whatmamawants.org/archived-episodes/mike-garfield

22/02/2023

The Environmental Working Group has recently published this interactive map of PFAS in animals around the world. OMG.

The toxic “forever chemicals” pollute the air, water and soil, exposing people and animals alike to potential health harms. This map provides a window into the extent globally of the contamination crisis facing wildlife.

25/11/2022

How can we keep dragging our feet when a third of India is now submerged due to melting glaciers? Thank you Richard Killmer for this fabulous summary of COP 27.

In agreeing to establish a loss and damage fund, the latest U.N. Climate Change Conference succeeded in bringing "some credibility to the COP process." The devil will be in the detail.

23/11/2022

I LOVED having Defend Our Health's Adam Nordell in the studio today for an interview on What Mama Wants. Adam and his wife Johanna stopped farming last winter when they learned that their land, water, food and bodies were polluted by PFAS that had been spread on their organic farm back in the 1990's.

Adam is like a poet, having distilled this odyssey into powerful insights. He wisely says, "We have a common destiny with our local environment." Give him a listen:

Episode 28 Adam and his wife own Songbird Organic Farm , in Unity, Maine which became central to the PFAS deliberations last winter, after they learned that their organic farm was in fact heavily...

14/11/2022

Don Kimball worked as an air traffic controller at Pease AFB in the late 70's where he watched as they sprayed foam on burning planes. Now we know that firefighting foam was full of PFAS chemicals, which eventually seeped into the water and created a public health crisis. Don is part of a study being conducted on PFAS exposed/impacted people from the base. He's on What Mama Wants Tuesday Nov 15 at 1PM to talk about all that and how he came to care so much about the environment.

Don's the producer and host of Friendly Fire, A Voice For Veterans on WMPG.org and GMCR.org and has a lot of insight on issues related to veterans, including toxics. Join us! Or listen anytime at www.whatmamawants.org

11/11/2022

It is Veterans Day. (A day that really adds up, this year, too: 11+11=22). And it was my pleasure to talk to veteran Don Kimball yesterday.

He's promoting an event that will be held next week in Boston on Wednesday the 16th of November.

08/11/2022

Clean Air Matters--especially to children's developing bodies. If we clean up the air pollution we get a two-for-one deal: Less sick kids/ stressed families, while also healing the planet! What a great deal.
Way less fossil fuel use is what Dr. Perera and Mama both want. Join us Tuesday at 1PM on WMPG FM for the interview.

https://www.whatmamawants.org/archived-episodes/dr-frederica-perera

24/10/2022

Dr. Roopa Krithivasan talks about the toxic problems that come with plastic, at every stage of production and use. Listen Tuesday at 1PM on WMPG FM (or wmpg.org, if you are out of range). Dr. Krithivasan the Director of Research at Defend Our Health, and she's amazing!

Or listen any time at:
https://www.whatmamawants.org/archived-episodes/roopa-krithivasan

16/10/2022

Boston Bans Artificial Grass in Parks! Less toxic PFAS plastic around developing bodies and brains--always a good idea! https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/sep/30/boston-bans-artificial-turf-toxic-forever-chemicals-pfas?fbclid=IwAR3ZwpSZivhbSi8H8t1JuatKnP9uhd9Qxbxo45kBCPD9DFfIZpVd_Bo_i_0

The city joins a growing number across the US in limiting the use of artificial turf made with dangerous PFAS compounds

13/10/2022

Who in your life deserves a little extra recognition for the difference they make in your community? If you take up a little collection in your office, you can support WMPG FM while shining a light on your unsung hero's gifts to the world!

Who are the change-makers in Southern Maine? Join WMPG to celebrate Mainers who are transforming our world.

11/10/2022

How much of a difference would it make to have more women in science? Listen to Mindi Messmer, author of Female Disruptors on What Mama Wants, today at 1PM on WMPG FM. Or anytime, as a podcast or at www.whatmamawants.org
https://share.descript.com/view/MackK7B7EgC

By Kate Manahan, October 11, 2022

05/10/2022

Corey Hinton and Toxic-Free Water!

Corey Hinton is a lawyer at Drummond Woodsum in Portland, ME. He is the leader of the firm's Tribal Nations Practice Group. Recently, he represented the Passamaquoddy Tribe in a fight for clean...

26/09/2022

Toxics in Tattoos?
Tuesday, Sept 27 at 1PM on What Mama Wants, Epidemiologist Dr. David Kriebel discusses what we know and don't know about how the unregulated toxics in tattoos pose chronic toxic health risks. Join us on WMPG FM or www.whatmamawnats.org to hear the whole conversation.

14/09/2022

Toxics, Plastics, Climate Change, Cancer: We had a lot of fun! Ruth Hennig puts it into clear terms. Listen here to believe it, at What Mama Wants:

https://www.whatmamawants.org/archived-episodes/ruth-hennig

30/08/2022

Abby Barrows shares her findings (and the surprises) related to her groundbreaking international marine science research on micro plastics in the far flung waters of the world. Tune in today to WMPG FM at 1PM or listen to the interview at What Mama Wants. (www.whatmamawants.org/archived-episodes/abby-barrows).

Abby's always doing something to support the big goal of honoring What Mama Wants: Learning about the micro plastics problem, developing new ways to oyster farm without plastic, sharing what she knows, and she's a mama, too!

29/08/2022

PFAS is in the news a lot lately. Do you understand what they are talking about? If you have 11 minutes, CBS does a good job of laying it out straight. There are cameos by four guests from previous What Mama Wants interviews: Fred Stone, Patrick MacRoy, Bruce and Cathy Harrington.

Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (known as PFAS) are long-lasting compounds that are showing up in soil, ground water, drinking water sources, even rainfa...

23/08/2022

Abby Barrows wrote a chapter in this book on micro plastics that wash off our fleece and technical clothing and get flushed out with the water from our washing machines. Then what? Abby Barrows will be the special guest on my show, NEXT Tuesday, August 30th, at 1PM on WMPG FM: What Mama Wants.

This book examines the critical issue of environmental pollutants produced by the textiles industry. Comprised of contributions from environmental scientists and materials and textiles scientists, this edited volume addresses the environmental impact of microplastics, with a particular focus on micr...