Living on Earth

The Climate For Wildfires / Beyond The Headlines / Beyond Gas For Cooking / A Tasty Vegan Thanksgiving / Rewilding The English Countryside Fueled in part by climate change, California's 2018 wildfire season is the most deadly on record. And mega-fires are becoming increasingly common in California and elsewhere. Also, a vegan Thanksgiving feast may not have turkey or gravy, but meat and dairy subs...

Democratic Wins And The Environment / A Blue-Green Wave / Trump Boosts Offshore Wind Power / The Place Where You Live: Glacier National Park / How To Be A Good Creature / BirdNote®: How Free Is A Free-Range Chicken? The Democratic Party has regained control of the House of Representatives, and environmental advocates see the chamber as a crucible for oversight of President Trump's environmental ro...

Your Health And Fluoride / Getting Hormones Out Of Wastewater / Beyond The Headlines / Brazil To Increase Amazon Deforestation / The Red-Tailed Hunter / Exxon Mobil Sued For Fraud / Investigative Reporting In Coal Country / Birdnote®: Two Phoebes Share The American West Most cities in the United States add fluoride to the water supply in an attempt to prevent tooth decay. But recent studies show a...

More Organics, Less Cancer / Beyond The Headlines / Gaza Water Crisis / Acquitted For Climate Convictions / BirdNote®: Saw-whet Owls Hoot And Hoot A major study finds a significant reduction in the risk of cancer among high consumers of organic food. Also, 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 c...

Red Tide Boosts Blue Wave / Beyond The Headlines / A Warmer World Supercharged Hurricane Michael / Fly-fishing Saved From Pollution / Barbara Kingsolver, Unsheltered / Vegan Generation Gap A surge of toxic red and green algae blooms is fueling anger at Florida Republican Governor and Senate Candidate Rick Scott and could affect the November election outcomes. Also, how unusually warm waters in the...

Kavanaugh On Environmental Law / Beyond The Headlines / Global Warming Is Heating Up / Bringing Back Butternut Trees / Night Moves / BirdNote®: Starlings Say It With Flowers / John Kerry: 'Respect Democracy - By Going Out And Voting' After being confirmed by a narrow margin, Brett Kavanaugh is now a Supreme Court Justice. We take a look at why he's likely to shift SCOTUS towards narrower interpret...

EPA Raises Risks To Children's Health? / Beyond The Headlines / Cool Fix For A Hot Planet: A Tiny, Carbon-Sucking Fern / Failed Tsunami Warnings / Walrus Changes His Mind / Hemlock Trees On Hospice / John Kerry Looks Back - And Ahead / BirdNote®: Chipping Sparrows: Song Learning Starts Early John Kerry is on a mission to get out the vote. As America and the world face pressing issues like climate...

Billion Dollar Losses Related to Roundup / Beyond the Headlines / Birdnote®: The Cuban Tody, A Caribbean Jewel / Rebuilding Puerto Rico's Battered Farms / The Tangled Tree Even before Hurricane Maria, Puerto Rico imported nearly all of its food. Now, as locals rebuild their lives, an agricultural revival is bringing fresh fruits and veggies back to the island. Also, Bayer faces billions of dollars...

Wastes Flood The Carolinas / Science Note: Hurricanes, Lizards and Leafblowers / "Pa'lante": Puerto Rican Resilience After Maria / Beyond The Headlines / Women Climate Scientists Threatened and Harassed / An App For Urban Foraging Hurricane Maria brought great hardship to the residents of Puerto Rico and killed thousands. Now survivors are forging ahead with a spirit of resilience as they prepare...

California Moves Toward Carbon-Free Economy / Resilience In Puerto Rico's Tropical Forests After Hurricane Maria / Beyond The Headlines / Rising: Dispatches From The New American Shore California commits to 100% carbon-free electricity by 2045, and as the Global Climate Action Summit kicked off, citizens took to the streets to call for swifter action. Also, Hurricane Maria stripped Puerto Rico's t...

Trans Mountain Pipeline Expansion Blocked / Beyond the Headlines / Volunteers Test Drinking Water in Puerto Rico / Crop Pests in a Warmer World / Eager: The Surprising Secret Life of Beavers Canada's Federal Appeals court has ruled that the Trudeau government improperly reviewed the controversial Trans Mountain Pipeline Expansion, likely delaying the project past Canada's elections in 2019. Also,...

Gulf Orphans / Sexual Misconduct in the US Forest Service: One Woman's Story / BirdNote®: Blakiston's Fish Owl / Conch at the Edge / The Place Where You Live: Rose-Hill, Mauritius Western wildfires are growing more intense with global warming, and more women are joining the US Forest Service to help fight these fires. But a deep-seated macho culture in the agency means they often face hostility an...

Thousands of Lead-Poisoned Communities / Science Note: The Power of Dust / Obesity and House Dust / Bitcoin, The Energy Hog / Tamed and Untamed: Close Encounters of the Animal Kind Lead is a deadly neurotoxin that's especially harmful to children's brains, and though it's banned in paint and gasoline, it's still found at dangerous levels in many communities. And another danger might be lurking und...

Flying Insects Crash / Emerging Science Note: Brazilian Peppertree / Trees On the Move / The Early Bird Breeds Fast / Baby Tern Goes Exploring / The Hidden Life of Trees / The Place Where You Live: Bear Creek, WI and St. Paul, MN Flying insects may plague us in the summer, but they're vital food sources for birds and bats, and they pollinate most of our crops. Yet 75% of them have vanished in the...

Greening the Military / Solar Eclipsing Coal in Jobs / India's Renewable Energy Revolution / Strangers in Their Own Land: Anger and Mourning on the American Right Renewable energy to the rescue: In the U.S. military, hybrid vehicles and innovations like 'solar blankets' can improve operations, and even save the lives of soldiers. Also, in the U.S., coal still produces far more energy than solar. B...

Global Warming to Worsen Southern Poverty / BirdNote: When the Amazon Floods / Linking Fracking and Radon / 100% Sun Power for Hampshire College / Fossil Fuel Freedom Fighters / Science Note: Nanowire Battery Breakthrough / The Telescope in the Ice: The Hunt for the Ghost Particle A new generation of nature writers is coming of age in America, and grappling with the loss of the pristine landscapes...

GOP Tax On Global Warming Gases / What The Osprey Overheard: Mark Seth Lender / LED Impacts On Wildlife / Meet the Rare, Shy, and Hungry Humboldt Marten / Science Note: A Moonshot To Save Rhinos / DNA Technology For Rhino Protection / US Tries To Boost Infant Formula A new GOP carbon tax bill promises to fight climate change with a "tax swap" that would fund infrastructure and climate adaptation s...

FEMA Unprepared To Help Puerto Rico / Repairing Puerto Rico's Corals / Combat Divers Restore Ocean Health / Beyond the Headlines / CRISPR Gene Tool Could Pinpoint Resilient Corals FEMA admits it failed to adequately prepare for Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico, a disaster that cost thousands of human lives. Maria devastated coral communities, too, so locals and combat diving veterans are coming to t...

Pruitt Out, Wheeler In / Fracking On The Rachel Carson Trail / Judge Kavanaugh & Environmental Protection / Beyond The Headlines / BirdNote: Sparrow Sing In Arizona Monsoon / Hospital Farming For Better Health / The Place Where You Live: Anchorage, Alaska Scott Pruitt is gone and his deputy and former coal lobbyist Andrew Wheeler, now acting administrator at the EPA, is expected to carry on Mr. Pr...

Conservatives Join Climate Agenda / Beyond The Headlines / The Tide Keeps Rising / Ozone-destroying Chemicals Make A Comeback / An American Eden: The Lost Garden Underneath Rockefeller Center / Mark Seth Lender: Tern About As America celebrated Independence Day, we looked back to the legacy of the generation that followed the "founding fathers," and the pioneering physician who founded America's f...

Farm Bills Tough on Conservation and Food Stamps / US Relies on Imported Organic Foods / Climate Will Drive Corn Crop Failure / Beyond the Headlines / Central America's Climate Refugees / Audio Postcard: Sounds of São Paulo, Brazil Families say they are migrating from Central America in part because they are feeling climate disruption right now with disastrous storms and searing droughts. And in t...

Seas Rising Faster With Antarctic Melt / Boston's Rising Tide / Humpback Whales Rebound / Beyond The Headlines / The Last Lobster In this episode, we delve into Antarctica's rapid ice loss, which is three times what it was just a decade ago thanks to warmer ocean temperatures that eat away at the icy continent from below. These same warmer waters are also increasing access to food for humpback wha...

Tough Climate At The G7 / Canada Buys Tar Sands Oil Pipeline / EPA Dilutes Toxics Law / Beyond the Headlines / BirdNote: Exquisite Thrush Song / Atlas of a Lost World: Travels in Ice Age America / Audio Postcard: A Fisherman Rigging Bait on Nantucket In this episode, we discuss President Trump's refusal to join America's closest allies in discussions to advance the Paris Climate Agreement at the G...

Zero Carbon Nuclear Boost For New Jersey / Beyond the Headlines / BirdNote®: Roseate Spoonbill: Hot Pink / Toxic Black Hair Products / Former EPA Chief Gina McCarthy Launches Center for Climate, Health and the Environment At Harvard In this episode, we connect some dots between environmental factors and public health. Black women may be far more exposed than white women to chemicals that disrupt t...

Half a Degree Hotter Will Cost $30 Trillion / Beyond The Headlines / A Record Hurricane Disaster in Puerto Rico / Final Generation for the Marshall Islands? / Nooks for Nesting Islands that were once paradise are turning into places of peril, threatened by rising seas and intense hurricanes. This week we discuss Puerto Rico's high mortality in the wake of Hurricane Maria; a new study estimates tho...