Living on Earth

The Trump Administration recently announced plans to withdraw the United States from dozens of United Nations treaties and organizations including the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, a treaty that was ratified by the US Senate in 1992 and is the key international forum for addressing the climate crisis. Marianne Lavelle, the Washington Bureau Chief for Inside Climate News, speaks about...

In its first year, the second Trump Administration slashed environmental regulations and programs, overstepping its executive authority in the eyes of some environmental advocates. But the judicial and legislative branches appear unable or unwilling to provide a check on what legal expert Pat Parenteau sees is abusive executive power threatening the health of people and planet. Also, the American...

As a new space race heats up, private companies and sovereign nations alike have their sights on setting up permanent human settlements in space – but huge technological, medical and legal challenges remain. Kelly and Zach Weinersmith join us to talk about their book A City on Mars: Can We Settle Space, Should We Settle Space, and Have We Really Thought This Through?  And 2025 brought some excitin...

At this coldest, darkest time of year, draw near the fire and the radio, join with family and friends, and savor the warmth and joy of good company, good food, and good stories.  Master storyteller Jay O’Callahan shares some tales, including one about his community’s tradition of Christmas caroling and how it brought hope to his mother in a time of darkness and for Christmases to come. Also, Tem B...

In many cultures, stories passed down through the generations explain how the world got to be the way it is. The Haudenosaunee people of Northeastern North America have a story about how the star cluster known as the Pleiades came to be, told by Perry Ground, Turtle Clan member of the Onondaga Nation of the Haudenosaunee. Also, a Cherokee myth, told here by storyteller Diane Edgecomb, explains why...

Climate activist Bill McKibben, who authored The End of Nature nearly 40 years ago, is back with Here Comes the Sun: A Last Chance for the Climate and a Fresh Chance for Civilization. He joins us for a wide-ranging discussion on the stunning growth of renewable energy from the sun and wind, led in part by China, even as the fossil fuel industry digs in. Living on Earth’s Explorer-in-Residence, Mar...

Artificial intelligence or AI’s huge appetite for power is reviving demand for older and dirtier fossil fuel energy. We talk about the massive data centers that power AI, community pushback, and how AI seems to be putting vital climate targets out of reach.  Also, the Make America Healthy Again or MAHA movement has pinpointed some health concerns backed up by credible research, including concerns...

This Giving Tuesday, we've put together some favorite stories into a special bonus episode! Please enjoy, and don't forget to head to loe.org and click on Donate at the top of the page. Thank you so much for helping Living on Earth keep going strong. In this bonus episode you'll hear: Author and naturalist Sy Montgomery has trekked across the world to write about pink dolphins in the Amazon and ti...

Wildfire smoke is fouling air quality across the US with increasing regularity, and it carries a heavy toll. A September 2025 study published in the journal Nature found that every year around 40,000 Americans are dying from wildfire smoke, with more on the way as the planet warms. Air filters, face masks and low-intensity prescribed burning can help protect the public from this growing threat. Al...

As the host of this year’s UN climate treaty negotiations and home to most of the Amazon tropical rainforest, Brazil led a major advance for forests and their indigenous inhabitants. The new $125 billion fund, with guarantees for investors, will send its profits to countries with documented forest preservation, including some cash going directly to indigenous and local populations.  Also, we now k...

November’s elections brought victories across the country for state and local Democratic candidates who pledged to address rising energy costs. The challenges of meeting those promises the incoming Governors of Virginia and New Jersey, and Mayor of New York, will likely face. Also, a recent report warns that the European Alps, Rockies of the Western U.S. and Canada, Iceland, and Scandinavia would...

The biggest climate negotiations of the year, COP30, are kicking off in Belem in the Brazilian Amazon. Longtime COP observer Jennifer Morgan joins us to preview COP30 and discuss the focus on closing the gap between current greenhouse gas reduction policies and what’s needed to limit warming to a safer level. Also, King Charles III, who leads the Anglican Church, and Pope Leo XIV, who leads the Ro...

Hurricane Melissa, the strongest storm to hit the Caribbean in modern times, left a wake of destruction in Jamaica, Cuba and Haiti that will take years to recover from. A Jamaican climate physics professor describes the toll of this climate catastrophe, and a meteorologist joins us to explain how the storm grew so ferocious in the blink of a hurricane’s eye.   Also, Gwich’in Alaska Natives, which...

A recent Human Rights Watch report found that illegal cattle ranching and clearing of the Amazon rainforest has led to the forced eviction of small farmers and indigenous people in the state of Pará, Brazil. We discuss the stakes for the planet and people, as well as possible solutions.  Also, meat is the biggest single source of carbon emissions from the food system, which is itself responsible f...

Facing lost jobs and higher energy prices after the Trump EPA canceled $7 billion in low-income solar grants, a coalition of labor, green and anti-poverty groups is teaming up to fight in court for clean energy jobs and save “Solar for All.”  Also, one of the most frightening aspects of Halloween is the monstrous amounts of waste it can generate. We share ideas for making Halloween a little more s...

China has for the first time committed to an absolute target to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, by 7 to 10 percent by 2035. We discuss China’s growing dominance in the global clean energy transition while the current US administration doubles down on fossil fuels. Also, compared to traditional rooftop solar, “balcony solar” offers renters, apartment dwellers and folks on a tighter budget a much l...

In the federal youth climate case Lighthiser v. Trump, plaintiffs are seeking immediate relief from three executive orders and subsequent actions of the Trump administration that boost fossil fuels. But the federal government maintains that the Lighthiser plaintiffs, like those in the prior case Juliana v. United States, lack standing. Also, the champion of Fat Bear Week 2025 is officially number...

Speaking to the UN, President Trump railed against climate science and clean energy, drawing sharp rebukes from other nations, rival politicians and business leaders. Meanwhile, China for the first time ever announced a specific target for reducing its greenhouse gas emissions. Also, the four-lane Great Highway used to run along the Pacific Ocean on the west side of San Francisco, where it was at...

New research finds that since 2010 killer heat waves have become 200 times more likely, thanks to greenhouse gas emissions, and the scientists say about half of the increase in heatwaves can be attributed to big coal, big oil, big gas and cement. Also, while the 2025 Atlantic hurricane season has been relatively quiet, last year damages from three major hurricanes ran to over 200 billion dollars a...

The Trump Administration is putting offshore wind energy on hold by canceling grants, cutting tax credits and revoking permits for projects that are nearly complete. We discuss the economic impacts to port communities and the view that the US is ceding the opportunity to be a global leader in renewable energy. Also, with the Arctic warming four times as fast as the rest of the globe, and fires now...

New Jersey officials are calling its $2 billion settlement with major manufacturers of PFAS “forever chemicals” the largest environmental settlement ever won by a state. We discuss the legacy of industrial contamination in the state and how the settlement is expected to pay for cleanup as well as restoration of degraded ecosystems. Also, scientists in the UK were able to use genetically modified b...

Oysters on the half shell are big business on Nantucket Island, and a local program recycles oyster shells from restaurant waste into habitat for young oysters. These recycled oyster shell reefs are helping to protect the coastline from worsening storms and rising seas. Also, seventy percent of our planet is covered by the oceans, and in this vast wilderness lawlessness is rampant, with crimes ran...

Around a thousand of the firefighters who battled blazes around southern California in January 2025 were incarcerated. They do essentially the same work as other firefighters but are paid as little as around $5 a day. A formerly incarcerated firefighter shares what it was like and how the experience helped him forge a new life after prison as a professional firefighter. Also, as the water supply i...

Sounds like the overlapping songs of birds can speak volumes about the biodiversity in an ecosystem, and now scientists are looking to use the tiny sounds made by earthworms, ants, and voles to study the health of soils.  Also, "depaving parties" of volunteers with sledgehammers are turning paved yards into pollinator havens and green space. That can help reduce climate impacts from extreme heat a...

A study from Johns Hopkins researchers found that residents near or on the fence line of polluting enterprises are at higher risk for multiple health problems because of the toxic mix of air they breathe. The lead researcher explains the study. Also, astronomer Phil Plait wondered what it would be like to walk on Mars, fall into a black hole, or fly through a nebula, so he wrote a book, Under Alie...