When President Biden took office a year ago, he laid out bold goals to halt federal oil and gas drilling, reach carbon neutrality by 2050, and rectify environmental injustices. We’ll look at where progress has been made on these initiatives and where it’s lacking. Also, the world’s largest financial institutions have formed an alliance to tackle climate change as pressure mounts to steer capital away from fossil fuels and towards ventures that can put the world on a path to net zero carbon emiss...
Jan 21, 2022•52 min
A conversation about how the Zen Buddhist practice of mindfulness can help us break out of a destructive cycle of consumption and live in harmony with the planet. Also, lead contamination in drinking water can have serious impacts on growing brains and even contribute to mental illnesses years down the road. And millions of Americans are breathing carcinogenic air pollution emitted from refineries and chemical plants, but EPA has failed to account for the cumulative cancer risk for people who li...
Jan 14, 2022•53 min
Two leading naturalists who pioneered the field of conservation biology passed away at the end of December 2021. A look back on E.O. Wilson’s big idea to save half of the Earth for nature, and Tom Lovejoy’s gift for bringing people together to protect the planet. Also, the wildfire that torched around a thousand homes in the suburbs of Boulder, Colorado in late December highlights the growing risk of wildfires to many neighborhoods year-round. As many as 60 million homes in America are within a ...
Jan 07, 2022•53 min
From one woman’s dream of swimming with marine iguanas, to uncommon encounters with common rabbits, to a Native American tale of how the dog came to be our loyal companion, and much more, this Living on Earth holiday storytelling special features stories of how other species on this Earth touch human lives. “Wildly Magical: Stories of Animal Encounters”, a storytelling special from PRX. Thanks this week to our sponsor Climate Talks, a new podcast from Meta. Learn more: https://sustainability.fb....
Dec 31, 2021•53 min
Native American myths and tales help us endure or even enjoy the short days and long nights of winter. Living on Earth’s annual celebration of stories helps connect people with the natural world, and includes an Iroquois explanation of why the constellation Pleiades twinkles overhead and an Abenaki custom that asks forgiveness for any wrongs of the previous year. Seasonal stories and more, in this holiday special from Living on Earth from PRX. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm...
Dec 24, 2021•53 min
Underwater explorer Craig Foster dives nearly every day in the near-shore waters of South Africa and it’s here that he befriended an octopus, a relationship captured in the documentary “My Octopus Teacher.” He’s coauthor of the 2021 book “Underwater Wild” and joined us for a recent Living on Earth Book Club event to talk about his encounters with cuttlefish, sharks, and Cape clawless otters, and the power of connecting with wild nature. Also, as the autism rate continues to rise among children, ...
Dec 17, 2021•52 min
As Americans prepare to travel and gather in the end-of-year holiday season, many may be questioning how to do so safely in this era of the pandemic. We’ll talk about the best practices for keeping safe during this time of year. Also, breast cancer is the leading cause of cancer death among women worldwide, and endocrine disrupting chemicals are partly to blame. One such chemical is DEHP, a phthalate chemical commonly used in plastic hospital intravenous bags and medical tubing, and a recent stu...
Dec 10, 2021•52 min
Air pollution causes serious damage to our bodies, sometimes resulting in premature death, and it’s also messing with our minds. Depression, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder are among the mental health problems that researchers have linked to air pollution. Also, a groundbreaking meta-study correlates exposures to plastics containing phthalates with a wide variety of diseases including mental health problems as well as obesity and diabetes. And plastic is wreaking havoc on the health of the plane...
Dec 03, 2021•53 min
“The Reign of Wolf 21” is the true love story of an alpha pair who lead their Yellowstone pack with grace, courage, and an unbreakable bond. What these wolves can teach us about love, loyalty, and leadership. Also, our global food system feeds environmental crises like global warming and water pollution even as it fails to adequately feed billions of people worldwide. So in the 50th anniversary edition of “Diet for a Small Planet,” author Frances Moore Lappé renews her calls for a plant- and pla...
Nov 26, 2021•53 min
The bipartisan infrastructure bill sets aside $1.2 trillion dollars in funding for clean water, bridges, and roads, as well as higher-tech infrastructure like EV charging stations and electric school buses. Why the implementation of these projects needs to focus on creating equitable and sustainable systems that will last for generations. Also, the COP26 climate talks in Glasgow, Scotland brought mixed results with an agreement to phase down coal, side agreements to cut methane emissions and a r...
Nov 19, 2021•53 min
At the COP26 climate talks in Glasgow, the US and European nations agreed to provide $8.5 billion in financing to help South Africa phase out its use of coal power. South Africa, which is experiencing yet another wave of power outages, gets most of its electricity from burning coal and is the largest carbon emitter in Africa. What international aid means for South Africa's energy transition. Also, tropical forests are a treasure trove of biodiversity and contain vast stores of carbon that threat...
Nov 12, 2021•53 min
As the UN climate talks called COP26 continue in Glasgow, Scotland, all eyes are on world leaders and negotiators as they face challenges to ramp up ambition and commit to substantial climate finance. Also, new EPA rules would strengthen requirements for the oil and gas industry to prevent, identify, and repair methane leaks. Why tackling methane emissions now is key to limiting global warming. And people who live near tropical forests sometimes resort to illegally logging the trees they treasur...
Nov 05, 2021•52 min
Roughly 20 Chinese provinces are enduring rolling electricity blackouts amid a coal and natural gas shortage. How the current energy crunch intersects with China’s long-term climate commitments and the prospects for China’s influence at the UN climate talks. Also, fast food could be even more unhealthy than we knew – laden with phthalates, chemicals that are linked to serious health problems and even early death. And greenhouse gas emissions from plastic production in the United States are on tr...
Oct 29, 2021•52 min
More than 170 major companies have pledged to become carbon neutral by 2050, with many counting on carbon offsets to help them reach that goal. But critics say these offsets are often hard to verify and can give these companies a license to continue to pollute. Also, a conversation with Ugandan climate activist Vanessa Nakate about how the climate crisis is impacting Africa and the discrimination she’s faced in speaking up. And critically endangered North Atlantic right whales are struggling to ...
Oct 22, 2021•52 min
The multi trillion dollar budget reconciliation bill working through Congress includes billions of dollars to mitigate climate change, improve drinking water safety, and improve resiliency for coastal communities. Also, a new study finds an association between high levels of phthalate in blood and premature death. These “everywhere chemicals” are linked to elevated risk for cardiovascular deaths for middle-aged Americans. And Pulitzer Prize winning author Richard Powers on his new book, Bewilder...
Oct 15, 2021•51 min
For Indigenous People’s Day we take a look at the “Land Back” movement that seeks to return land like the Black Hills in South Dakota to its original inhabitants and restore a meaningful connection to the land. Also, with the changing climate, polar bears are moving south in search of food, and grizzly bears are moving north in search of cooler climes. In some cases, the two have mated and created a hybrid animal known as a "pizzly" bear. And until recently landfills in America were often sited ...
Oct 08, 2021•52 min
If nations adopt new air quality guidelines from the World Health Organization millions of lives could be saved every year from deadly air pollution. Also, for gardeners in the northern hemisphere, now is the time to take stock of this year’s successes and failures. Find out what you can do now to build fertile soil for next spring. And as the harvest season picks up, we share preservation tips and tricks for keeping the bounty and preventing fresh produce from ending up in landfills. Join us on...
Oct 01, 2021•52 min
Industry and the US federal government have long worked in tandem to sideline climate concerns and continue to promote Earth-warming fossil fuels. Now the US House Oversight and Reform Committee has summoned top executives from Exxon, Shell, BP and Chevron and two affiliated lobbying groups to testify in front of a committee hearing in October, as part of an ongoing investigation into the fossil fuel industry's promotion of climate disinformation. Also, for the past 50 years, the US government h...
Sep 24, 2021•51 min
As COVID-19 spread continues and vaccine access remains limited in some of the countries most vulnerable to climate impacts, civil society is warning of a “vaccine apartheid” and calling for a delay of the upcoming UN climate talks. Also, how solar power can produce up to 40% of the nation's electricity by 2035 to meet President Biden’s goal of decarbonizing the grid by then. And Harvard University announced that it will no longer invest in fossil fuel companies, following years of refusal amid ...
Sep 17, 2021•51 min
Hurricane Ida left people in the Louisiana region known as ‘Cancer Alley’ with destroyed homes, no electricity, and polluted water. That’s on top of the toxic air they breathe every day because of some 150 petrochemical plants in the area. We hear from grassroots activist Sharon Lavigne, a 2021 Goldman Prize recipient, about what it’s like living through these disasters and what drives her to keep fighting yet another plastics plant. Also, hummingbirds are truly superlative creatures -- relative...
Sep 10, 2021•51 min
As Living on Earth celebrates 30 years on the air, we examine this decisive moment for the human species and our challenging relationship with our planet. We meet people who envision a future reshaped by an emerging energy system and new power structures, as we wean off of fossil fuels. Next we take a big-picture view of Earth as a complex and sustaining organism known as Gaia. Over billions of years life has interacted with the elements of this planet in cycles of constant change and adaptation...
Sep 03, 2021•52 min
A major Alaska drilling project to tap 600 million barrels of oil has been blocked. A federal judge ruled in favor of Indigenous and environmental groups, finding that the permitting process has yet to fully consider impacts on the climate and polar bears. Also, higher levels of the hormones estrogen and progesterone lead to a greater risk of breast cancer. Researchers at the Silent Spring Institute have shed new light on how chemical exposure can raise those hormone levels in women, and found t...
Aug 27, 2021•52 min
Scientists are once again sounding the alarm about the climate emergency, with a new UN climate report. Hundreds of experts collaborated to bring together the best science on past, present, and future climate change. Also, the $1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill includes some green measures to address and invest in crumbling American infrastructure. But climate and environmental justice advocates say much more is needed now from a much larger budget reconciliation package that’s in the ...
Aug 20, 2021•52 min
Earth’s complex, interconnected climate system means that changes in one part of the world can impact atmospheric moisture and the climate thousands of miles away. Research shows that when trees die in California from drought, wildfires, and bark beetles, that can hinder plant growth all the way across the continent in Eastern North America. Also, every year, several hundred intrepid hikers walk all the way from Mexico to Canada, along the Pacific Crest Trail. At more than twenty-six hundred mil...
Aug 13, 2021•51 min
Small particulates from fossil fuels are linked to as many as 300,000 excess deaths in the United States each year. And these small, PM 2.5 particulates may also be harming the mental health of children and teens by worsening depression, anxiety, suicidality and more. Also, the Colorado River that carved the Grand Canyon and now quenches the thirst of much of the American West is parched in a “megadrought.” Two key reservoirs are expected to drop to record low levels this year and trigger a form...
Aug 06, 2021•52 min
As a slew of extreme weather events hits the headlines, the evidence mounts we are headed for dangerous thresholds of climate disruption beyond the reach of adaptation to cope. Why sea level rise could be counted in the dozens of feet by 2100, and how an unchecked climate emergency imperils human civilization. Also, the Biden Administration has now rolled out details of its environmental justice plan called Justice40, which aims to share at least 40% of benefits from federal climate and infrastr...
Jul 30, 2021•51 min
New research confirms that the damaged Amazon rainforest is now a net contributor to climate change overall, and parts of the Amazon are showing signs of nearing a crucial “tipping point”. But there is hope for protecting the forest: Indigenous people have taken care of these forests for millennia, and now with the help of a nonprofit they’re using GPS data to take a stand against illegal deforestation. Also, many of us are fixated on the now, and in fact much of the environmental damage we are ...
Jul 23, 2021•52 min
Over the past four decades, sperm counts have dropped by more than 50% in the US, and female fertility is also declining. Some chemicals that disrupt hormones are key culprits, including those found in plastics, cosmetics and fracking solutions. Why this looming fertility crisis hits vulnerable communities especially hard. Also, a recent study finds the toxic class of chemicals called PFAS, also known as “forever chemicals”, is widespread in lipstick, mascara, and other cosmetics. The ugly truth...
Jul 16, 2021•52 min
Recent data show the Earth’s oceans are warming much more rapidly than previously reported. That means rising sea levels, stronger storms, and more intense droughts. Also, fertilizer runoff can create massive algae blooms in water that suck up oxygen and create dead zones for most other forms of life. The Chesapeake Bay is particularly vulnerable but restaurants in Pittsburgh are pitching in to help. And a documentary miniseries seeks to unravel the secrets of whale behavior and understand whale...
Jul 09, 2021•52 min
Roughly 1.3 million species have been identified and recorded, but that’s just a fraction of life on our planet. A recent advancement known as DNA barcoding samples small but key parts of genomes to ID species. Also, the U.S. is extremely divided in many ways, from politics to race to wealth. But for a model of unity, we might look to the African concept of Ubuntu as a way to heal the many broken relationships in America. And insects far outnumber us on this planet, and they’ve shaped the course...
Jul 02, 2021•52 min
