Trump Fights California / Beyond the Headlines / Success of the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative / DNA Barcoding for Quick Species ID / Bison and Sustainable Land Management The Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, RGGI, has lowered carbon emissions in participating states by roughly fifty percent while at the same time lower electricity rates for consumers. Some 30 million bison once roamed the Great Plains of North America, by the turn of the century there were less than 600. One ranch in Mex...
Oct 04, 2019•51 min
Silencing Spring / BirdNote®: Snowy Egrets - Killer Hats / Kids Versus the Climate Crisis / Fat Bear Week! / Beyond the Headlines / Container Farming in the City Scientists have documented a staggering decline in North America's birds in recent decades. As many as 3 billion birds have disappeared since 1970, and grassland birds and shorebirds have been hit especially hard. Also, Fat Bear Week is a yearly competition to celebrate the fattest, healthiest brown bears in Katmai National Park. And mo...
Sep 27, 2019•51 min
UN Climate Action Summit / Beyond the Headlines / Clean Water Rollbacks / Rebooting Puerto Rican Power / Naomi Klein's Case for a Green New Deal When Hurricane Maria swept through Puerto Rico in 2017, it crippled the island's fossil fuel-dependent electrical grid. To improve resiliency, the territory is aiming for a 100%-renewable grid by 2050. Also, stronger hurricanes are a sign that the world is on fire - but so is the movement that's calling for action. In her new book "On Fire", Naomi Klein...
Sep 20, 2019•51 min
Coal Ash Cleanup Allegedly Deadly for Tennessee Workers / Andrew Yang's Climate Plan / Beyond the Headlines / Pronghorn Antelope / How the Border Wall Could Harm Wildlife Dozens of workers who helped clean up a 2008 coal ash spill in Tennessee have died and hundreds more fallen ill from diseases linked to the disaster. Now a fight for justice for these workers has won a round in the courts. Also, how President Trump's border wall could sever habitats and migratory paths for wildlife in the borde...
Sep 13, 2019•51 min
Amazon Tipping Point / Democratic Candidates Talk Solutions at Climate Town Hall / Reviewing the Climate Crisis Town Hall / Beyond The Headlines / Underland: A Deep Time Journey The fires in the Amazon rainforest are illuminating the alarming speed of deforestation in one of the most biodiverse places on Earth - and bringing it closer to a "tipping point" transition into dry savannah. Also, Democratic presidential hopefuls spell out their plans to address the climate emergency at town halls host...
Sep 06, 2019•51 min
Saltwater Beavers Bring Life Back to Estuaries / Everglades National Park, a "River of Grass" / Drilling in the Everglades / Fly-fishing Saved From Pollution / Gaza Water Crisis In the Gaza Strip, where every three out of four people are refugees, clean water is scarce and there's a worsening health crisis for Gaza's children. Also, it turns out that beavers, a keystone species in some freshwater ecosystems, could hold the key to help restore degraded coastal habitats, too. And Everglades Nation...
Aug 30, 2019•51 min
Toxicants in Diapers and Sanitary Pads / 'Romeo and Juliet' Frogs' First Steamy Date / Exploring The Parks: North Cascades National Park / Refugees Cultivate Healing Through Gardening / Farming While Black: Soul Fire Farm's Practical Guide to Liberation on the Land A recent study finds that single-use diapers and sanitary pads contain phthalates and volatile organic compounds, chemicals that are known to cause a variety of health complications including birth defects and endocrine disruption. Al...
Aug 23, 2019•51 min
Climate Migrant Caravans / The Place Where You Live: Anchorage, Alaska / Exploring the Parks: Sequoia and Kings Canyon / Confronting Climate Change Through Sound / Rewilding The English Countryside The recent waves of migrant caravans coming from Central America have a link to climate change: many of the migrants are fleeing their homes in the wake of crop failures, the result of a massive drought that has lasted for five years. Also, the constant onslaught of grim statistics about climate chang...
Aug 16, 2019•51 min
No-Show Green Voters / Exploring the Parks: Cactus and Snow in the Desert Sky Islands / BirdNote®: Ponderosa Pine Savanna / Fighting Climate Change, Naturally / Free the Beaches: Desegregating America's Shoreline In the United States, approximately 20 million registered voters list the environment as one of their top two priorities. But these "super-environmentalists" tend to stay home on Election Day. Also, Arizona's Sky Islands are home to heat and cactus, but also many species that you're mor...
Aug 09, 2019•51 min
Exploring the Parks: Aniakchak National Monument and Preserve / BirdNote: Exquisite Thrush Song / Vegan Generation Gap / An Afternoon with Pete Seeger Folk music legend Pete Seeger was renowned for his combination of music and social activism. A year before the first Earth Day, Mr. Seeger and friends built a sloop he christened the Clearwater, because that was his intention: to clear the waters of the Hudson River of pollution and garbage. Also, as part of Living on Earth's series exploring Amer...
Aug 02, 2019•51 min
Miners Pollute the Sea of Cortez / Beyond the Headlines / How to Raise Monarchs / Taggers at Work / Monarch Migration / The Value of Summer Camp / Guinea Fowl and Tick Control / BirdNote®: Do Birds Use Ants as Tools? Mining company Grupo Mexico has spilled millions of gallons of toxic mining chemicals and waste into the Sea of Cortez and rivers that feed into it, endangering people and the natural ecosystem. Now locals are demanding justice in the wake of the latest disaster. Also, some people h...
Jul 26, 2019•51 min
Fracking and Your Health / Beyond the Headlines / Exploring the Parks: Petrified Forest National Park / Offsetting Your Carbon Footprint / "Hadestown" Brings Climate Change To Broadway / Camels at the Henbury Craters / BirdNote®: House Sparrows' Dance In this episode, fracking is a highly efficient method for extracting oil and gas locked up in shale rock, but it comes with environmental and health risks including birth defects, cancer, and asthma. A meta study lays out the evidence from more th...
Jul 19, 2019•51 min
"#MeToo" at the Nature Conservancy / Beyond the Headlines / How To Be A Good Creature / The Secret & Endangered Lives of Freshwater Mussels / Exploring the Parks: Sequoia and Kings Canyon In this episode of Living on Earth, with $6 billion in assets The Nature Conservancy is among the world's richest environmental nonprofits and since 1950 it has protected 120 million acres worldwide. But a recent sexual harassment, gender discrimination and workplace misconduct scandal has shaken trust in t...
Jul 12, 2019•51 min
US Blocks UN and G20 Climate Action / Not Much Presidential Debate About Climate / USDA Kills Thousands of Beavers / Science at Risk at the Border / HBO's "Ice on Fire" Offers Climate Solutions In this episode, scientists working on the US-Mexico border face unique challenges when trying to study borderlands ecosystems, thanks to everything from outright harassment and profiling, to tight restrictions on what can cross the border. Living on Earth's Bobby Bascomb is producing a series of dispatch...
Jul 05, 2019•51 min
Trump Clean Power Plan / Beyond the Headlines / Resilient Corals Get a Helping Hand / Repairing Puerto Rico's Corals / BirdNote®: The Auklet's Whiskers -- Not Just for Show / Freshwater Under the Sea / Turning Backyards Into Pollinator Havens / The Mighty Condor Minnesota lawmakers have heeded dire warnings about pollinator declines. They've just approved a new program that pays homeowners to convert their lawns to pollinator-friendly habitat, like that favored by the rusty patched bumblebee, wh...
Jun 28, 2019•51 min
Increasing World Climate Ambition / Moving the Paris Climate Deal Ahead / Beyond the Headlines / Bringing Back Butternut Trees / Rating the Climate Promises of 2020 Prexy Candidates / Seeking Justice for the Ogoni Nine / BirdNote®: Brewer's Sparrow, Sageland Singer Polls show climate change is a rising concern for Democratic voters looking towards the 2020 presidential election. Greenpeace has a scorecard for each candidate based on commitments to a Green New Deal and phasing out fossil fuels. A...
Jun 21, 2019•51 min
Sobering Climate Risks / Note on Emerging Science: Hot Potato Blues / Beyond the Headlines / Exploring the Parks: Cactus and Snow in the Desert Sky Islands / BirdNote®: Ponderosa Pine Savanna / Horizon by Barry Lopez If carbon emissions keep going up until 2030 it will be too late to avoid a 'hot house' Earth with a billion climate refugees starting in 2050, according to the Australia-based Breakthrough National Centre for Climate Restoration. These researchers warn the climate is changing faste...
Jun 14, 2019•51 min
New Hampshire Fights PFAS Pollution / Youth Climate Suit Plea / Beyond the Headlines / Recomposing the Departed / Global Warming Clues from Henry David Thoreau / Solid Seasons: The Friendship of Henry David Thoreau and Ralph Waldo Emerson / BirdNote®: Henry David Thoreau and the Wood Thrush New Hampshire may be one of the smallest states in the US, but it's taking on some of the largest chemical companies in the world. The state wants DowDuPont, 3M and six other companies to take financial respo...
Jun 07, 2019•51 min
Green Wave Sweeps European Parliament / Beyond the Headlines / The Law of Languages / Misfit Produce at Your Doorstep / Our Planet / BirdNote®: Ruddy Duck Can binge-watching help save our stricken world? The producers of a new Netflix original series are hoping to move viewers enough to demand real action on climate change. Our Planet, narrated by Sir David Attenborough, is streaming majestic scenes of life on Earth -- through the sobering lens of climate change -- to millions of viewers. In fac...
May 31, 2019•51 min
Global Warming Poor Tax / Beyond the Headlines / BirdNote®: Recycle Your Egg Shells to Help Nesting Birds / Saving West Africa's Last Rainforest / Grammy Goes A-Gatherin' When an oil palm development in the poor West African country of Liberia uprooted indigenous communities, destroying their religious shrines and burial grounds, and threatened the last major tropical rainforest in West Africa, lawyer Alfred Brownell jumped into action. He was able to get the company to back off, but was then fo...
May 24, 2019•51 min
Julián Castro Campaigns / Remembering the Legacy of Jim Fowler / Congestion Fee for NYC / Cutting Emissions From NYC Skyscrapers / BirdNote®: Unlikely Places to Go Birding / Beyond the Headlines / Leopard Seal Says Hello / Protecting the Cook Islands from Overfishing Former HUD Secretary Julián Castro is making climate change a key part of his campaign for president. At a recent meet and greet in New Hampshire, he laid his climate agenda and why a green economy can be a strong, job-creating econ...
May 17, 2019•51 min
Bipartisan House Vote For 'Climate Action Now' / Climate-Resilient Cities / A Grave Biodiversity Warning / Beyond The Headlines / Goldman Prizewinner Vanquishes Oil Terminal Project / Exploring The Parks: North Cascades National Park As climate disruption advances with rising sea levels and more intense storms, floods and wildfires, some people are thinking about safer places to live. Duluth, Minnesota and Buffalo, New York are already branding themselves as climate resilient, thanks to their co...
May 10, 2019•51 min
A Refugee Camp Becomes a City / Tulsi Gabbard's Presidential Bid / No-Show Green Voters / Beyond the Headlines / Pioneer Warren Washington Wins Tyler Prize In Uganda's Bidibidi refugee camp, progressive policies enable South Sudanese refugees to live, farm, and work freely with locals, to foster the growth of small businesses and infrastructure. The goal: to attract outside investments and build an enduring future city. Also, Representative Tulsi Gabbard (D-HI) is a Democratic candidate for the ...
May 03, 2019•51 min
Klobuchar Goes Green / A Citizen Science BioBlitz / Beyond the Headlines / Microbeads in the Great Lakes / Microplastics Leading to Macro-Problems / A Season on the Wind: Inside the World of Spring Migration A handy smartphone app is all that's needed to participate in a citizen science "bioblitz", a brief, intensive survey of biological diversity over a set area and time. This year, thousands are expected to participate in the City Nature Challenge. Also, microplastics are everywhere, and sewag...
Apr 26, 2019•51 min
Exxon Sued Over Climate Risks of Storage / Beyond The Headlines / Earth Day Checkup / BirdNote®: What's Your State Bird? / Prepping for the City Nature Challenge / Exploring the Parks: Aniakchak National Monument and Preserve Since the first Earth Day in 1970, much has been done to clean up our air and water, here in the U.S. and elsewhere. But the world now faces the imminent threats of climate change and biodiversity loss, with a long way to go on curbing carbon emissions. Also, our newest ins...
Apr 19, 2019•51 min
'Mayor Pete' and the Climate / Beyond the Headlines / Fearsome Bull Elephant Musth / Science Note: Can Plants Hear? / Pesticide Risks Ignored at Trump Interior Dept. / BirdNote®: Sage Grouse Lek and Grasslands / The Sage Hen and the Sage Brush / Greater Peril for the Greater Sage Grouse Pete Buttigieg, the 37-year-old mayor of South Bend, Indiana, is making climate change a focal point of his forward-looking campaign. That message resonates with those voters young and old who see "Mayor Pete" as...
Apr 12, 2019•51 min
Idai Disaster Update / Beyond the Headlines / The Power of the Purse and 'Climate Action Now' / Youth Testify for Climate Action / 'Romeo and Juliet' Frogs' First Steamy Date / Everglades National Park, a "River of Grass" / Drilling in the Everglades / BirdNote®: Rivers of Birds In this episode, Cyclone Idai brought destruction for residents of Mozambique, Malawi, and Zimbabwe. With the UN calling Idai one of the worst natural disasters to ever hit the Southern hemisphere, East Africans have a l...
Apr 05, 2019•51 min
Brazil To Grab Indigenous Lands / Beyond the Headlines / Losing Ground: Midwest Floods Rip Away Topsoil / BirdNote®: The Rainwater Basin of Nebraska / The Place Where You Live: Chadron, Nebraska / Deep Creek: Finding Hope in the High Country In this episode: Record flooding in the Midwest has swept away the precious topsoil of the "bread basket of the United States." Farmers already dealing with the Trump Administration's trade war with China now face spoiled grain, dead livestock and an interru...
Mar 29, 2019•51 min
Oil Drilling Blocked for Climate / Climate Disasters and Softening Property Values / The Racial Gap of Pollution Responsibility / Beyond the Headlines / GOP Senator Lisa Murkowski on the 2019 Public Lands Act / Baboon, "The Observer" In this week's episode, a federal judge temporarily blocked drilling after he found the Bureau of Land Management failed to adequately consider climate impacts when it held lease sales for oil and gas extraction on hundreds of thousands of acres in Wyoming, Colorado...
Mar 22, 2019•51 min
Youth Strike for Climate / Carbon Pricing and the Green New Deal / Beyond The Headlines / BirdNote®: How a Bird Came to Look Like a Caterpillar / "Hockey Stick" Climatologist Wins Tyler Prize In this episode: A million or more students around the world join the Youth Climate Strike March 15th, inspired by Swedish activist Greta Thunberg and her school strike in front of the Swedish Parliament beginning in August of 2018. Also, the Green New Deal resolution recently introduced in Congress is crit...
Mar 15, 2019•51 min
