Tough Times with Lou Young

WE BROKE IT, WE BOUGHT IT The US Executive branch may be unhinged, but WE elected it.  What's a dissenter to do? We've got input from both coasts, and full half-hour with Westchester's new County Executive Ken Jenkins.  Plus, concerned callers and.... Rev Billy and the Church of Stop Shopping.  Tough Times: we were made for this.

He was a New York City cab driver, a political activist in the Nixon era, and ultimately an international journalist who walked the streets of Papa Doc’s Haiti, the Sandinista’s Nicaragua, and Tel Aviv at the dawn of a doomed peace process. Then he tackled true crime as a producer for DATELINE NBC. This man has stories to tell and begins with us in this two-hour broadcast. Plus, Rev Billy and Eco...

Constitutional Lawyer Michael Sussman joins us for an assessment of the Trump electoral victory; What it means and what it doesn’t. How to read the results, what to expect from the dramatic change, and how reality may temper the shift. There is optimism amid the anxiety. Plus Rev. Billy and the Church of Stop Shopping as the Earth asserts itself. LOTS to think about here.

NUKE POWER & SUPERSTORMS- Can the decommissioned Indian Point Nuclear Power Plant be repurposed and reactivated? The folks who are taking the plant apart say a newer, smaller plant could be put eventually to use the spent fuel stored on site. Opponents say no way. We hear from both sides of that debate….Then…. In the wake of Hurricanes Helene and Milton we talk with storm expert Dr. Suzana Cam...

ALL ABOUT E-V'S (Electric Vehicles) An automobile consultant joins Lou, George Potanovic, and Will Hennessey in debriefing a series of EV owners and experts as we help you decide if the all-electric road option is something for you.  Callers during the two hours include folks who participated in the DRIVE ELECTRIC event held in Mamaroneck NY on Sept. 28, 2024. There's information about Telsa, Rivi...

TRUTH IS A GOAL NOT A PRECONCEPTION.  Lou brings in former colleague and "recovering" journalist Howard Price for a wide ranging chat about news, our "post-truth" world, broadcasting, our love of radio and the shape of things to come.  The two hours mixed with good music, friendly wisdom and a smattering of from-the-field journalism war stories.  Rev Billy, and Savitri D provid...

CANADIAN CONNECTION:  It may be the longest extension cord in the world and it's being installed right now.  The 339 mile long Champlain-Hundson Power Express (CHPE) will ultimately deliver electricity from Quebec to Queens NY, moving along the lake and river bottoms and alongside Route 9W in Rockland County to supply a sizable chunk of NYC's power for the 21st Century.  The crew at "...

Independence Day, are we even listening? Misunderstand popular patriotic music that defines who we are or who we hope to be as we talked through the recent Presidential Debate and US Supreme Court decision with US Constitutional and Civil Rights Attorney Michael Sussman. Rev Billy, Neil Young, News from the Natural World and much more…

SHRINKING YOUR CARBON FOOTPRINT, HANGING WITH THE STARS OF TV NEWS, AND ON THE ROAD WITH NEIL YOUNG AND REVERAND BILLY Host Lou Young is a climate “doomer,” according to producer Will Hennessey: He’s just so pessimistic about or climate prospects in the future. Co-host George Potanovic is a bit more optimistic and so is our first guest, Stephen Cea from the Nyack Climate 2030. Stephen outlines way...

A SMALL TOWN STEPS UP We were knocked out!  Lou and co-host, George Potanovic attended the Climate Solutions Fair in a small New York State Village, which was held on a chilly Wednesday, February 7 night and we frankly didn’t expect much. Wow! Hundreds jammed the Nyack Center in Nyack, NY – an old colonial style wooden church that bristled with community spirit, innovative ideas, and good, solid i...

THE MAN FROM DOWN UNDER In this episode of Tough Times, host Lou Young welcomes environmental activist Liam Robb O’Hagan to the studio for a freewheeling romp through climate action in our rapidly changing world. O’Hagan, a Westchester web designer and habitual volunteer, tells us about Climate Smart programs he’s involved in: from pollinator paths to suburban geo-thermal projects, riverside green...

NYACK ON MY MIND It’s easy to get down about climate change; that’s one of the things that tends to make our host, Lou Young, into something of a “doomer” about the future. But there is another way to deal with climate anxiety: DO SOMETHING. Nyack, NY a delightful village on the Rockland County side of the Marion Cuomo/Tappan Zee Bridge is on a journey to address climate change and get ready for t...

AFTER THE DELUGE Six Months ago a strange rain tore through the Hudson Valley: 10 week’s worth of water in a matter of hours delivering a gut punch to Highland Falls, NY just outside the gates of the US Military Academy at West Point. This edition of Tough Times with Lou Young features Highland Falls Mayor Joseph D’Onofrio, and NY State Assemblyman Chris Eachus. They’ve got a progress report on re...

CLIMATE VOICES 2023 Lou Young, George Potanovic, and Will Hennessey look back at a year of shows as the climate change deepened and the conversation became increasing more urgent. Guests include Riverkeeper’s Tracy Brown, NY Senator Peter Harckham, Rockland Fire Chief Jerry Knapp, Energy expert Susan Shapiro, Geologist Jeff Tolhurst, Sustainability Director Peter McCartt, Wood’s Hole Senior Scient...

TOUGH TIMES With Lou Young #63    “The Do-ers” It’s one thing to be a “doomer” as producer Will Hennessey refers to our host Lou Young, and quite another thing to face the changing climate with local action.  Our guests this week are four local climate activists who volunteer, organize, and make real changes in their communities.  Lou calls them “Do-ers” as in folks who actually get something done...

RULES OF ENGAGEMENT FOR CLIMATE SCIENTISTS, AND A VETERAN’S DAY TRIBUTE Christopher Reddy, a senior scientist at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) on Cape Cod, MA, has written a new book called “Science Communication in a Crisis,” with advice for climate scientists when they are communicating with the public. The author says scientists find themselves hesitant to speak with the public an...

At the end of the hottest Summer in human history consider that it may also be the coolest Summer of the rest of your live! In this latest episode of “Tough Times” host Lou Young worries that our fatal climate change tipping point may have already been reached. Peter McCartt, Westchester County’s Director of Conservation and Sustainability, tries to offer Lou a measure of optimism and hope. Peter...

Ending New York’s Political “Hide-and-Seek” A bill headed to Governor Kathy Hochul’s desk will end New York’s practice of electing county and town officials in low-turnout off-year elections and move voting for ALL those jurisdictions to even numbered years, the so-called “federal schedule.” Our guest NY State Senator James Skoufis of Orange county is primary co-sponsor of the bill and our primary...

Dealing with the downside: This two hour episode features a discussion about the NRC’s licensing of an interim storage site for nuclear waste in Lea County, New Mexico for Holtec International, the firm that is decommissioning the Indian Point Nuclear Power Plant at Buchanan, NY. Since all the fuel ever used at the site since the 1970’s is still stored on site we wanted to know what the prospects...

Earth Day – Then & Now On today’s show, our host George Potanovic is sitting in for Lou Young who is on vacation. George began the show with a tribute to the 53rd Anniversary of Earth Day – April 22, 2023 by reading about how history has evolved since the first Earth Day in 1970 that inspired 20 million Americans, including thousands of colleges and universities, to organize protests against s...

“Earth Observatory to Earth, come in Earth….”  On this show, two scientists from the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory in Palisades, New York check in to “Tough Times with Lou Young” to weigh in on the advancing climate crisis and its effect on our local environment.  Dr. Dorothy Peteet is Director of the Paleoecology Division of the observatory’s New Core Lab; Dr. Roisin Commane is Atmospheric Che...

The Trouble with Trash: Greasy Pizza boxes and single-use plastics plague the people who move our mountains of trash and try to make sure what we put in the recycle bin is actually reused. Now we’re also beginning to separate our food scraps and isolate a varied array of hazardous items like complex electronics and potentially flammable batteries and the task gets ever more complex, just as the st...

PRICE HIKES ON TAP: The cost of water is on the rise and reason is twofold: infrastructure and supply. This week “Tough Times with Lou Young” welcomes Bill Madden, spokesman for Veolia Water, and Tom Murphy, Mamaroneck Mayor and Board member at the Westchester Joint Water Works to discuss why rates are rising and who should pay. Also joining the conversation is Sam Rulli, Director of the Rockland...

Who’s starting the fire? On today’s show, our host George Potanovic is sitting in for Lou Young who is on vacation. George’s conversation with in studio guests Gordon Wren, the retired Director of Rockland Fire & Emergency Services and President of C.U.P.O.N. (Citizens United to Protect Our Neighborhoods) and Michael Miller, CUPON founder and current Vice-President begins by asking both men wh...

A SERIES OF UNATURAL NATURAL DISASTERS: CALIFORNIA AS CANARY-IN-A-COAL-MINE We begin our broadcast in a snowed-in cabin up in northern California. Geologist Dr. Jeff Tolhurst opines on all he’s experienced: the wildfires, the punishing drought, the atmospheric rivers of rain, and the epic blizzards. California has seen each of these events before, but never all at once, at least not in human memor...