The Blab Lab

ecoRI News reporters Frank Carini and Colleen Cronin take a stab at pronouncing per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances as they discuss their latest reporting on how stricter EPA standards for PFAS, cancer-causing forever chemicals, are throwing some public drinking water supplies out of compliance.

Avast! Trash overboard! In this episode, ecoRI News reporters Frank Carini and Colleen Cronin navigate the dark and enviornmentally deleterious underside of the cruise-ship industry.

Heatwaves! Extreme weather! Wildfire smoke! Rising seas! It can all feel a bit overwhelming. ecoRI News reporters Rob Smith, Colleen Cronin, and Frank Carini share some of their picks for eco-related books that help them lean into (Frank) or escape (Rob and Colleen) the dire climate headlines.

ecoRI News reporters Colleen Cronin and Frank Carini discuss whether environmental coverage is moving the needle on our response to the climate crisis. Or is the media landscape too broken to have an impact?

ecoRI News reporters Colleen Cronin and Rob Smith cut through the haze and discuss why wildfires are becoming more frequent in Rhode Island and what's being done to prevent them.

ecoRI News reporters Colleen Cronin and Frank Carini discuss the impacts of dark money on the local spread of misinformation around the climate crisis. Does the disclosure of this dark money even matter to a society bitterly divided and flooded with disinformation?

ecoRI News reporter Rob Smith speaks with Jim Corwin and Warren Heyman from Rhode Island Schools Recycling Club. The organization helps Rhode Island schools change their food-waste practices from the inside, diverting cafeteria food from the state’s rapidly filling landfill and making sure unused food goes to hungry families instead of the Dumpster.

ecoRI News reporters Colleen Cronin and Frank Carini discuss what is being done to prevent a tragedy like the one that befell East Palestine, Ohio — when a train derailed and fouled the town — from happening in the Port of Providence.

ecoRI News reporter Colleen Cronin and publisher Joanna Detz talk about the original Earth Day, bring in voices of some of that day's attendees, and discuss what the day means now that the climate crisis and its impacts are felt acutely. Has Earth Day lost its punch? Or does it still serve to spur environmental activism?

ecoRI News reporter Colleen Cronin interviews senior reporter Frank Carini about his latest article that brings historical context to how and why Rhode Island's Department of Environmental was defanged by an overzealous state legislature in the 1990s, and how that experience has diminished the agencies capacity to hold polluters to account today.

ecoRI News reporters Frank Carini, Colleen Cronin, and Rob Smith discuss how affordable housing relates to the environment, a common question they get when they report on the issue.

ecoRI News reporters Frank Carini, Rob Smith, and Colleen Cronin discuss some of the big environmental stories they're following this year.