Living on Earth

There are some chemicals the Clean Water Act was never set up to manage, but they may be having very real effects on fish. Hosts Steve Curwood and Ashley Ahearn explore the emerging threats to clean water. Then Steve Curwood turns to Katherine Baer of American Rivers for a look at the Clean Water Act in the coming years. (published December 28, 2012)

Why We Have Winter / Calming the Wind / Ant and Bear Dance / Animal Winter Behavior / Playing for Animals and Humans

Judith Black, an award-winning story teller for more than twenty years, relates the ancient Greek myth of the goddess Demeter and her daughter Persephone (per-SEFF-uh-nee), and how their tale explains the persistence of winter. (published December 21, 2012)

Guy Peartree recounts the Siberian legend of Kutora (koo-TOR-uh), Lord of the Wind, and how only a good and obedient young maiden can appease the fierce winter winds. (published December 21, 2012)

Dovie (DUH-vee) Thomason, a Lakota/Kiowa Apache storyteller, spins the tale of the great dance contest between an ant and a bear. It's all about the competition between darkness and light that takes place at this time of year, and why light ultimately wins. (published December 21, 2012)

Guest zoologist Donna Fernandes tells host Steve Curwood about some of the various ways animals prepare for, adapt to and spend the cold, dark winter months. (published December 21, 2012)

Musician Stan Strickland has played his saxophone for animals at the zoo, and for humans in many clubs. He tells host Steve Curwood about how gorillas respond to jazz, and leads the audience in an African chant to call back the light. (published December 21, 2012)

The Farm Bill and the Fiscal Cliff / Machine Tenderized Beef / Turtle Rescue / Oil Spills in Nigeria / BirdNote ® Spruce Grouse / Birthright / The Place Where You Live

Congress and the White House are scrambling to find savings big enough to avert the broad cuts mandated by Congress, known as the Fiscal Cliff. Substantial savings could possibly come from the Farm Bill, as both House and Senate Agriculture Committees have proposed legislation that they claim would save billions. But critics on the left and right say it would cost more than it would save. Host Ste...

To make cheaper cuts of beef less tough, processors mechanically tenderize it with small needles or blades. Sarah Klein from the Center for Science in the Public Interest worries that the practice can insert dangerous pathogens like E-coli into the interior of the meat. But Auburn University professor of meat science, Christy Bratcher tells host Steve Curwood that mechanically tenderized beef is s...

Every fall, hundreds of hypothermic sea turtles wash up on Cape Cod beaches, caught by tides, winds and cold water. This year more turtles have been stranded then ever before, though scientists aren’t sure why. But thanks to volunteers at the Massachusetts Audubon society and the New England Aquarium, many threatened turtles will be rescued, rehabilitated, and released. Living on Earth’s Emmett Fi...

The West African country of Nigeria is one of the top oil producing countries in the world. Reuters reporter Tim Cocks tells host Steve Curwood that oil theft and lack of enforcement of environmental laws have resulted in ongoing oil pollution and frequent spills, including a recent spill by Exxon Mobil that is 20 miles long and affecting fishing. (published December 14, 2012)

A chicken-like bird living in the boreal forest south of the arctic, the Spruce Grouse, survives the cold winter by eating nothing but pine needles. Michael Stein reports. (published December 14, 2012)

Though many people now live in an urban environment, Dr. Stephen Kellert says it’s essential to human wellbeing to make sure we still incorporate nature into our everyday lives. Steve Curwood talks with Stephen Kellert, Professor Emeritus of Social Ecology and a Senior Research Scholar at the Yale University School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, about his new book, Birthright. (published D...

Writer Linda Hasselstrom lives and writes on the South Dakota Prarie. It's a beautiful place that commands deep respect when the winter cold and snow arrive. (published December 14, 2012)

UN Climate Talks in Doha / Moving for Divestment / Trouble for the King of Beasts / Reindeer Populations in Decline / BirdNote ® Spoon-billed Sandpiper / Oil Dispersants and the Ecology of the Gulf / Predicting the End of the World

Delegates from more than 190 nations meet in Doha, Qatar to negotiate limits on climate-changing gas emissions and funding for developing countries for adaptation. Union of Concerned Scientists’ Alden Meyer tells host Steve Curwood about progress made at this year’s talks. (published December 7, 2012)

Bill McKibben maybe the closest thing the environmental movement has to a rock star. In November he took to the road, urging colleges to pull their endowments out of fossil fuel stocks, to pressure the industry to address climate change. Living on Earth's Emmett FitzGerald reports from Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island. (published December 7, 2012)

The lion is now more threatened than ever before. Lion populations have dropped sharply in the last fifty years, largely due to habitat loss and poaching. Host Steve Curwood talks with Stuart Pimm, co-author of a new lion habitat survey and Chair of Conservation Ecology at the Nicholas School of the Environment at Duke University in North Carolina. (published December 7, 2012)

Reindeer, or caribou, are in dramatic decline in the far north. Jeff Flocken of the International Fund for Wildlife explains that changing weather makes food hard to obtain for some caribou. Also indigenous communities depend on the herds for food and as a cultural touchstone. George Rich, an elder of the Innu tribe in northern Canada, tells host Steve Curwood that he doubts his tribe can survive...

Mary McCann reports about the Crested Auklet, which makes its home in the frigid Bering Sea between Alaska and Siberia. (published December 7, 2012)

During the 2010 Gulf Coast oil spill disaster, BP used a chemical called Corexit to disperse the slicks. According to a paper recently published in the journal Environmental Pollution, that decision may have increased the damage to the marine environment. Terry Snell, Chair of the School of Biology at the Georgia Institute of Technology, discusses his findings with host Steve Curwood. (published D...

The Mayan Long Count Calendar comes to the end of its 5125 year cycle this month. New age prophecies, based on the ancient calendar, warn the world will end when the cycle concludes. Living on Earth's Bruce Gellerman travels to the Mayan ruins of Chichen Itza to track down the truth. (published December 7, 2012)

The Obama Administration Axes the CIA’s Climate Change and National Security Center / New Rules for Sharing the Shrinking Colorado River / New Energy for New Bedford / The NAACP Cites Discriminatory Impacts from Coal-Fired Power Plants / Science Note: Monkey Mind Control / Northeastern University Cited As America’s Greenest College / The Place Where You Live

As one of the hottest years on record comes to a close, the CIA has decided to shutter its Center on Climate Change and Security. Joe Romm, senior fellow at the Center for American Progress, discusses the closure of the center and the future of environmental security with host Steve Curwood. (published November 30, 2012)