Episodios

  • Trump Canceling Climate Regs, Stormy Weather for Climate Science, Bluetooth Butterfly Tracking and more.

    Trump Canceling Climate Regs, Stormy Weather for Climate Science, Bluetooth Butterfly Tracking and more.
    Feb 20 2026
    After a landmark Supreme Court case that directed EPA to determine whether carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases endanger public health, the agency found in 2009 that indeed they do. Now, the Trump EPA is attempting to revoke that endangerment finding to unravel all subsequent regulations on tailpipes, smokestacks and more, setting up what looks to be a long legal fight. The Trump administration has also declared scientists at places like the National Center for Atmospheric Research are promoting ‘climate hysteria’ by overstating the risks to public health and safety, so it’s moving to cut off funds for NCAR. We discuss the important climate and weather modeling NCAR does and how the loss of funding could impact this research. And monarch butterflies can travel thousands of miles each year between Mexico and North America in an epic relay race of multiple generations. Thanks to new technology, our phones and other Bluetooth devices can now tell us what paths these brave little insects take on this journey. --- Join us for the next Living on Earth Book Club event! On Thursday, Feb. 26th at 6:30 p.m. Eastern, Terry Tempest Williams will join us live on Zoom to discuss her new book The Glorians: Visitations from the Holy Ordinary. Go to loe.org/events to learn more and register for this free conversation about finding glimmers of hope in the natural world. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
    Más Menos
    52 m
  • US Losing Economic and Energy Edge to China, Wind Power Headwinds, Daisy Rewilds and more.

    US Losing Economic and Energy Edge to China, Wind Power Headwinds, Daisy Rewilds and more.
    Feb 13 2026
    The ongoing efforts of the Trump Administration to walk back climate policy and clean energy development may be handing over the health of the US economy to our chief economic rival. China is outpacing US economic growth by supplying the world with the clean technologies vital today and in the future, including electric vehicles and critical minerals, while the Trump Administration tries to revive a dying coal industry. Also, onshore wind in the US is hitting a cliff, even in the most wind-powered state, Iowa, which generates about 2/3 of its electricity from wind. A combination of local opposition, anti-wind rhetoric and tax credit phaseouts has led to a steep decline in new wind projects. And the young hero of children’s book Daisy Rewilds not only likes nature, but she also wants to become nature. Daisy refuses to take baths and reverts the manicured lawn of her family home back into the wild, all with a bit of hilarity. Weeds and worms show her family and neighbors the true beauty in nature, chaotic as it can be. --- Save the date for the next Living on Earth Book Club event! On Thursday, Feb. 26th at 6:30 p.m. Eastern, Terry Tempest Williams will join us live on Zoom to discuss her new book The Glorians: Visitations from the Holy Ordinary. Go to loe.org/events to learn more and register for this free conversation about finding glimmers of hope in the natural world. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
    Más Menos
    53 m
  • The Law and Environmental Justice, The Power of Black history, The Quest for Env. Justice in Shiloh and more.

    The Law and Environmental Justice, The Power of Black history, The Quest for Env. Justice in Shiloh and more.
    Feb 6 2026
    In honor of Black History Month Special we highlight some of the voices that stood up against environmental injustice including Civil rights activist the Rev. Dr. Ben Chavis, Dr. Robert Bullard who’s been deemed the “Father of Environmental Justice”, and Louisiana attorney and human rights advocate Monique Harden. Also, Lenora Gobert, a genealogist for the Louisiana Bucket Brigade shares how looking at ancestry can help Cancer Alley’s quest for environmental justice. And, Melissa Williams a storyteller for the Center for Climate and Environmental Justice Media or CEJM shares her community’s efforts and concerns as they seek justice from the State of Alabama after highway construction flooded their homes in Shiloh Alabama. ----- Save the date for the next Living on Earth Book Club event! On Thursday, Feb. 26th at 6:30 p.m. Eastern, Terry Tempest Williams will join us live on Zoom to discuss her new book The Glorians: Visitations from the Holy Ordinary. Go to loe.org/events to learn more and register for this free conversation about finding glimmers of hope in the natural world. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
    Más Menos
    52 m
  • Hot Prospects for Geothermal Energy, Do Aliens Speak Physics? Global Health Under Trump and more.

    Hot Prospects for Geothermal Energy, Do Aliens Speak Physics? Global Health Under Trump and more.
    Jan 30 2026
    As geothermal heating and cooling slowly spreads in the U.S., some communities and utilities are looking to grow small pilot projects into much larger networks of pipes and heat pumps that extract and store heat in the earth to warm and cool homes and businesses as needed. We hear about a large geothermal HVAC system that demonstrates the possibilities and benefits of scaling up. Also, classic science fiction tends to assume that if aliens visit Earth, they will have done so thanks to using math and science that’s like our own. But physicist Daniel Whiteson and cartoonist Andy Warner aren’t so sure. They’re the authors of the book Do Aliens Speak Physics? And Other Questions About Science and the Nature of Reality. And the current Trump administration has in its first year cut off the World Health Organization, dismantled the United States Agency for International Development or USAID, and overhauled vaccination recommendations, just to name a few decisions impacting health and claiming lives across the globe. --- Save the date for the next Living on Earth Book Club event! On Thursday, Feb. 26th at 6:30 p.m. Eastern, Terry Tempest Williams will join us live on Zoom to discuss her new book The Glorians: Visitations from the Holy Ordinary. Go to loe.org/events to learn more and register for this free conversation about finding glimmers of hope in the natural world. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
    Más Menos
    53 m
  • US Leaves Top Climate Science Body, Health and Economic Costs of Fossil Fuels, Gardening for Special Needs and more.

    US Leaves Top Climate Science Body, Health and Economic Costs of Fossil Fuels, Gardening for Special Needs and more.
    Jan 23 2026
    The Trump Administration is withdrawing the US from the scientific Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change or IPCC, which reports agreement about the basic scientific facts of global warming and the impact of core technologies to address it. A lead author of the IPCC fourth assessment report in 2007 explains how the fossil fuel industry has long pushed for such an action. Also, the burning of fossil fuels is linked to some 300,000 deaths in America every year, not to mention the related carbon emissions that promote global warming. We discuss the major health and economic costs linked to pollution. And for people with developmental or physical disabilities, growing plants in a garden may offer personal growth opportunities that unlock new possibilities outside of the garden too. An avid gardener and occupational therapist speaks about her book Nurturing Nature: A Guide to Gardening for Special Needs. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
    Más Menos
    53 m
  • Trump Ices Climate Diplomacy, Western Water Crisis Boiling Over, Fungi and Climate Resilience, and more.

    Trump Ices Climate Diplomacy, Western Water Crisis Boiling Over, Fungi and Climate Resilience, and more.
    Jan 16 2026
    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 what this decision could mean for global climate progress. Also, the Colorado River provides water to seven western states, and there is not enough to go around. Recently the federal government ordered the states to agree on a plan on how to share what's left amid a worsening drought. Luke Runyon co-directs The Water Desk at the University of Colorado-Boulder’s Center for Environmental Journalism and he joins us to discuss the challenges of allocating water resources when demand continues to outstrip supply. And mycorrhizal fungi form intricate and vital partnerships with plants through enormous underground networks that could help ecosystems and agriculture withstand climate impacts. But these fungi are threatened by habitat loss, nitrogen pollution and more. 2025 MacArthur Fellow Toby Kiers is leading fungi research and conservation efforts; he shares the wonders of fungi and why they’re worth protecting. —---- If you’re not yet signed up for the Living on Earth newsletter, the start of the new year is a great time to join! Don’t miss out on our weekly exclusive content and notes behind the stories you hear on Living on Earth. Just go to loe.org/newsletter to get started. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
    Más Menos
    52 m
  • Environment and Rule of Law Under Trump, Sea of Grass and the Disappearing Prairie, An Indigenous Bison Harvest and more.

    Environment and Rule of Law Under Trump, Sea of Grass and the Disappearing Prairie, An Indigenous Bison Harvest and more.
    Jan 9 2026
    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 prairie is one of the most biodiverse ecosystems in the world, but today just one percent of eastern tallgrass prairie remains, and western shortgrass prairie is disappearing at a rate of more than a million acres a year. The author of Sea of Grass: The Conquest, Ruin, and Redemption of Nature on the American Prairie joins us to discuss. And efforts to bring back bison that once roamed those plains are helping to revive Indigenous culture on lands across the US West, including in the city of Denver. --- If you’re not yet signed up for the Living on Earth newsletter, the start of the new year is a great time to join! Don’t miss out on our weekly exclusive content and notes behind the stories you hear on Living on Earth. Just go to loe.org/newsletter to get started. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
    Más Menos
    53 m
  • A City on Mars and the Perils of Settling Space; and Out-of-this-World Discoveries from 2025

    A City on Mars and the Perils of Settling Space; and Out-of-this-World Discoveries from 2025
    Jan 2 2026
    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 exciting extraterrestrial scientific discoveries, including new evidence about the Martian environment and the possibility of past life on Mars, the discovery of important building blocks of life in samples from the asteroid Bennu, and observations of the third interstellar object that’s been documented in our solar system. --- If you’re not yet signed up for the Living on Earth newsletter, the start of the new year is a great time to join! Don’t miss out on our weekly exclusive content and notes behind the stories you hear on Living on Earth. Just go to loe.org/newsletter to get started. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
    Más Menos
    52 m