Vivian Thomson
vivianthomson.bsky.social
Vivian Thomson
@vivianthomson.bsky.social
Former University of Virginia Professor of environmental policy and state/national public official. Producer of The Meaning of Green podcast (meaningofgreen.com), with listeners in 82 countries. https://evsc.as.virginia.edu/people/vivian-thomson
Montgomery County, Maryland, is considering sending 600,000 tons of trash yearly to an out-of-state landfill. Here's a commentary that a colleague and I co-authored.

virginiamercury.com/2025/11/17/d...
Dear Virginia, here’s lots more of our trash. All the best, Maryland • Virginia Mercury
Montgomery County, Maryland, is considering exporting its large volume of trash — and the resulting pollution — to a landfill in Virginia. Here's what residents of both states should consider, write g...
virginiamercury.com
November 17, 2025 at 1:06 PM
The Meaning of Green's latest episode highlights the drama of undamming the Klamath River and saving the forests that feed the Panama Canal. And the episode answers the question: How was an ill-fated dam proposal likened to flooding the Sistine Chapel?

directory.libsyn.com/episode/inde...
S6 Episode 7: Damming and Undamming
The Kalamath River undammed, the US's dam building bender, fighting to preserve the forests that feed the Panama Canal, and Brazil's energy transition
directory.libsyn.com
September 29, 2025 at 11:32 AM
Weapons of the Weak, the latest Meaning of Green episode, features trembitas, community-based conservation in Ukraine, and Europe's magnificent beech forests, and explains why we should care about biodiversity. directory.libsyn.com/episode/inde...
S6 Episode 6: Weapons of the Weak
Trembitas, community-based conservation in Ukraine, Europe's magnificent beech forests, and why we should care about biodiversity
directory.libsyn.com
September 3, 2025 at 12:44 PM
Reposted by Vivian Thomson
Slideshow of today in Washington DC, and how it looks when a terrorizing government scares people away.

By me, no paywall: fallows.substack.com/p/a-summer-a...
August 23, 2025 at 11:21 PM
The latest Meaning of Green episode is called Germans Know How to Party.
directory.libsyn.com/episode/inde...

Germans Know How to Party features this tiny car, which has become a kind of cult car. Asparagus also figures into the episode, which is about parties and energy and climate action.
August 1, 2025 at 1:52 PM
A committee of the Montgomery County Council in Maryland has voted down a proposal to gut the County's gas powered leaf blower ban. The Council's president will not bring the failed proposal to the full Council. So, the County's leaf blower ban will stay in effect.
July 31, 2025 at 12:42 PM
Reposted by Vivian Thomson
MoCo (Montgomery County MD, outside DC) took big, important step in phasing out dirty, grossly polluting gas leaf-blowers. As DC has done, to wide public support.

Some MoCo politicians trying to undermine it. How/why to stop them @vivianthomson.bsky.social

marylandmatters.org/2025/07/10/l...
Latest proposal to undermine Montgomery County leaf blower ban endangers worker, public health - Maryland Matters
Gasoline-powered leaf blowers are more than a nuisance, they're a health hazard, and Montgomery County was right to ban them, write Vivian E. Thomson and Kit Gage. Now's not the time for backsliding b...
marylandmatters.org
July 12, 2025 at 12:44 AM
These days, I really miss Molly Ivins, with her sharp tongue, marvelous writing, deep faith in the possibilities of American democracy, and willingness to call things as she saw them. Here she describes why she left The New York Times. It has to do with chickens. www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Pug...
Molly Ivins, "Why I Left the New York Times"; 3 of 6 from 1992 Mother Jones Fundraiser
YouTube video by rghm
www.youtube.com
July 5, 2025 at 1:06 PM
Other recent Meaning of Green (meaningofgreen.com) episodes feature a mysterious nocturnal creature in Brazil (Janis and the Sea of Forested Hills), an analysis of who could lose the most from overturning environmental rules in the US (Let Them Drink Lead), and The Great Rice Fiasco in Japan.
The Meaning of Green
With host Dr. Vivian Thomson. Listeners are from 49 US states and 78 countries. Available on the usual podcast platforms.
meaningofgreen.com
July 2, 2025 at 12:19 PM
Reposted by Vivian Thomson
Great podcast episode by Vivian Thomson at Meaning of Green, on nationwide movement away from filthy, obsolescent gas-powered leaf blowers. (And why some bitter-enders in MoCo Maryland are trying to backslide.) Goes into class/race/equity issues.
Worth hearing

directory.libsyn.com/episode/inde...
S6 Episode 4: A Cruel Bargain
Class, race, and leaf blowers, strong vs. weak local powers, birds that attack windshield wipers, and Cate Blanchett's recommendation
directory.libsyn.com
July 2, 2025 at 12:33 AM