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Tori Amos, Loudon Wainwright III, and the etones take the Etown stage
Rachel Cernansky
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Etown is a radio show that does a pretty unique thing: combines music—two artists a week—with a celebration of community and activism, and as host Nick Forster said on the phone last week, it's a "happy coincidence" when their musical guests are activists themselves.
The show is based in Boulder, but hit the road this week and found a warm welcome at New York City's Manhattan Center on Monday night. To be truthful, Tori Amos probably received the warmest welcome by the audience of anyone on stage from what was obviously a devoted following, but Loudon Wainwright III followed her, and put on what might have been the more lively and entertaining show, leading off with a song about how long the Christmas season is—"suddenly it's Christmas, seven weeks before the day."
In between Amos and Wainwright, however, came the presentation of the weekly e-chievement award, which awards a listener-nominated individual who is making a difference in their communities. This week, it was Richard Cherry, who got involved in weatherization and efforts to green his urban community back in the 70s. He went on to found the Community Environmental Center in 1994 as part of a continued search for energy efficiency and green building solutions. What started as an effort to save costs in low-income communities, however, evolved into an expanded vision of environmental activism in the city because of what he said on stage was a recognition of the "urban environmental issues aside from just the cost-saving reasons." He saw environmental improvement and job creation as one and the same opportunity.
He wanted to help people shift away from the notion that discussion of environmental issues implied a focus on rainforests across the world, rather than troubles here at home—in local and urban areas. He started out with energy efficiency and greening buildings because the biggest issue in urban environments is the energy consumption (and inefficiency) of existing buildings. The CEC estimates it has saved customers over $300 million and more than one billion tons of CO2 emissions.
The center has since branched out from weatherization initiatives and into projects like the Build It Green! NYC reuse center, and Solar One, which is an energy conservation and environmental education center—and the city's only self-sustaining solar-powered building.
Toward the end of their on-stage chat, Etown host Nick Forster reiterated Cherry's point about focusing on the environmental issues right here at home, Cherry said, "And we must do something about it now. I wanna save the world for all these folks out here."
Cheers to that!
Check your local public radio station schedules—or WFUV in NYC—around Christmas Day to hear the December 7 recording on the air.
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