Living on Earth

Clouds of diesel fumes clog the air in Beirut, Lebanon where the virtual collapse of the power grid has led residents to rely on diesel generators. The city’s air is now so badly polluted researchers at the American University of Beirut are linking it to a startling 30% spike in cancer cases. Also, Isaias Hernandez is an environmental activist and social media creative who uses the handle @QueerBrownVegan on Instagram, TikTok and YouTube. His topics include environmental racism, mushroom foraging, and queer ecology. Isaias joined us during Pride Month to talk about intersectionality, “rainbow-washing”, and more. And hair care products marketed to Black women today often include cancer-causing formaldehyde and hormone disrupting chemicals. But back in the early 1900s, an enterprising Black woman named Madam C. J. Walker used mostly natural ingredients in her hair products to empower Black women and become the first female American self-made millionaire. Her great-great granddaughter shares Madam Walker’s story. -- What issues are you most interested in having Living on Earth cover in the 2024 election season? Let us know by sending us a written or audio message at [email protected]. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Streams in northern Alaska are turning a cloudy orange, and scientists think the cause is metals like iron leaching from melting permafrost as the Arctic rapidly warms. Also, summer has barely begun in the Northern Hemisphere but extreme heat is already baking Pakistan, where climate disruption is also bringing frequent catastrophic floods. What it’s like to be in Lahore right now, how people are trying to cope and why these climate disasters are compounding Pakistan’s economic and security challenges. And Claudia Sheinbaum, the first woman to be elected President of Mexico, has a background in climate and energy, having co-authored two IPCC climate reports and later implemented clean transportation projects while mayor of Mexico City. She has pledged to boost renewable energy in Mexico but her political links with the current oil-friendly administration could present challenges to reaching green goals. -- One of the best ways you can support our journalism is by sharing Living on Earth with a friend! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Amid extreme drought affecting Rio Grande tributaries, Mexico is struggling to make water deliveries to Texas as required by a treaty. How the situation is linked to climate change and farmer livelihoods in both the US and Mexico. Also, carbon-intensive industries like steel and chemical manufacturing require a lot of heat to operate, most of which comes from burning fossil fuels. Now engineers are working on turning electricity from renewable sources into heat with something called a thermal battery. And in 2021 the “Wild Coast” of eastern South Africa was targeted by Shell for oil exploration, raising concerns for the local Mpondo people about impacts to wildlife and possible contamination of land and water. Environmental activists Nonhle Mbuthuma and Sinegugu Zukulu mounted a campaign and secured a victory from the High Court revoking Shell’s permit. They shared the 2024 Goldman Environmental Prize for Africa. -- We rely on support from listeners like you to keep our journalism strong. You can donate at loe.org – any amount is appreciated! – and thank you for your support. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Facing costly climate impacts such as the billion-dollar flood disaster of July 2023, Vermont is seeking to make fossil fuel companies pay for some of those costs with a new “Climate Superfund” bill. Also, the Mar Menor or “little sea” lagoon on the coast of Spain faces impacts from mining, agriculture, and a booming tourist industry. Teresa Vicente helped pass a 2022 law granting the lagoon legal personhood to give it greater protection. She recently received the 2024 Goldman Environmental Prize for Europe and shares how she led a grassroots movement to protect this beloved lagoon. Plus, 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. An ecologist explains why more complex sounds appear to indicate healthier soils, and the potential applications of listening for these sounds in the earth. -- We rely on support from listeners like you to keep our journalism strong. You can donate at loe.org – any amount is appreciated! – and thank you for your support. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

2023 was the hottest year on record, at 1.48 degrees Celsius above preindustrial levels. That’s just below the 1.5 C increase that the UN says is the limit to avoid the worst impacts of climate change. As the summer of 2024 approaches in the Northern Hemisphere, climate scientists are raising the alarm on dangerous impacts of ongoing heat waves. Also Shell’s flagship carbon capture and storage project in Canada generated millions of dollars in carbon credits based on greenhouse gas emission reductions that never took place. According to a study by Greenpeace Canada, the scheme was part of Shell’s billion-dollar Quest carbon capture project. While these phantom credits were legal from 2015 to 2021 under approved carbon tax rules, Shell’s actions raise questions about carbon capture practices in Canada’s lucrative fossil fuel industry. And a paper published in the journal Scientific Reports describes the case study of an orangutan who treated and healed his own wound. Zoologists have long seen behaviors of self-medicating in the animal kingdom, but until now it has rarely if ever been documented in scientific literature. — We rely on support from listeners like you to keep our journalism strong. You can donate at loe.org – any amount is appreciated! – and thank you for your support. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

To replace the Clean Power plan the Obama Administration failed to get past the courts the EPA published new rules for existing coal plants and new gas power plants that tighten standards for mercury emissions, wastewater, and coal ash and also curb coal plant CO2 emissions over time. Also how the 2024 Goldman environmental prize winner from Asia mobilized his community to protect the Hasdeo Aranya forests in the state of Chhattisgarh from coal mining. As well as how 2024 Goldman Environmental Prize recipient from North America, Andrea Vidaurre led a campaign that convinced the California Air Resources Board to make rules designed to decrease air pollution and lead to zero-emission trucking by 2036. And the fourth meeting of UN talks aimed to address plastic pollution took place this April in Ottawa, Canada. The goal is to have a legally binding international agreement on plastics pollution by the end of 2024. — We rely on support from listeners like you to keep our journalism strong. You can donate at loe.org – any amount is appreciated! – and thank you for your support. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Biden Administration is helping finance advanced nuclear power reactors and refurbishment of traditional nuclear power stations to promote the generation of zero-emission electricity. Some designs offer more flexibility in power output to an electrical grid where renewable energy is intermittent. Also after years congressional battles the EPA is finally banning all uses of asbestos, a highly toxic substance. Maria Doa of the Environmental Defense Fund discusses why it took so long and the anticipated public health benefits of the phaseout. And despite an international agreement to phase out financing for fossil fuel projects abroad, the Biden administration recently approved a $500 million dollar loan guarantee for an oil and gas drilling project in Bahrain. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On Earth Day President Biden announced the official launch of his new climate-focused jobs program, the American Climate Corps. Special Assistant to the President on Climate Maggie Thomas discusses the thousands of jobs the Corps offers in community outreach, biological surveys, invasive species removal and more. Also, small towns in Appalachia are being targeted for so-called chemical recycling plants, but residents are pushing back and citing concerns about chemical fires, air pollution, and toxic wastewater polluting local rivers. Opponents in Point Township, Pennsylvania succeeded in canceling a project there, and we discuss two other proposed chemical recycling plants in Ohio and West Virginia. And lithium is used in electric vehicle batteries and plays a key role in the global shift towards clean transportation, but current extraction methods come with environmental costs. Some companies are exploring an alternative that taps brine water deep in the Earth. We explore how it works and what questions about its impacts remain. -- We rely on support from listeners like you to keep our journalism strong. You can donate at loe.org – any amount is appreciated! – and thank you for your support. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Our Earth Day special examines this decisive moment for the human species and our challenging relationship with our planet. We meet people who envision a future reshaped by an emerging energy system and new power structures, as we wean off of fossil fuels. Next we take a big-picture view of Earth as a complex and sustaining organism known as Gaia. Over billions of years life has interacted with the elements of this planet in cycles of constant change and adaptation. With the help of deep ecologists, children, an astronaut and more, we survey our place on this ever-evolving living planet. And while science and policy are vital in building a more sustainable world, they can't convey the values we need as we strive for ecological harmony. Indigenous stories, holy scriptures, East Asian cosmologies, papal encyclicals and divine revelation all shed light on our duties and relationship to each other and to our common home. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Some scientists are predicting this year’s Atlantic hurricane season will be extremely active as a La Niña develops amid ocean warmth linked to global warming. We discuss the science behind these factors and how people along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts can stay safe. Also, the Biden Administration EPA recently awarded $20 billion to organizations who will turn around and offer low-interest loans to help communities participate in the clean energy transition. The program is catalyzing far more private capital and will help fund projects like insulating homes and replacing gas heating and cooking with heat pumps and induction stoves. And in her poems, Catherine Pierce grapples with unfolding climate disaster and other 21st century perils, and the ways they reframe parenting. She shares poems from her books Danger Days and The Tornado Is the World and reflects on finding beauty and calls to action during the Anthropocene. -- We rely on support from listeners like you to keep our journalism strong. You can donate at loe.org – any amount is appreciated! – and thank you for your support. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The razor-thin majority Democrats hold in the Senate could be crucial to passing more climate legislation under a second term for President Biden, and in the event former President Trump is re-elected, could prevent the total unraveling of President Biden’s climate agenda. One of the key Senate races to watch in 2024 is the Ohio contest between incumbent Democratic Senator Sherrod Brown and Trump-endorsed Republican Bernie Moreno. Also, on the northern California coast the Yurok tribe is getting 125 acres of its stolen land back thanks to an historic partnership between the National Park Service, California State Parks, and Save the Redwoods League. Chairman of the Yurok Tribe Joseph L James describes how the land will help nurture Yurok cultural traditions. And in the 2020 novel Migrations set in the future, polar bears are extinct. So are chimpanzees and wolves and big cats. For the novel’s protagonist, this mass extinction is personal. So, she does the first thing that comes to mind: she makes her way onto a fishing boat to follow what might be the very last migration of the Arctic Tern from pole to pole. -- We rely on support from listeners like you to keep our journalism strong. You can donate at loe.org – any amount is appreciated! – and thank you for your support. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

China’s electric car sales are in the fast lane and lead the world while the U.S. EV industry lags. Although Biden administration policies are designed to jumpstart EVs, a partisan divide on EVs is slowing adoption. What’s going on with the U.S. EV industry and why the future looks bright. Also, millions of acres of cropland in the U.S. may be contaminated from PFAS-tainted sewage sludge spread on fields as fertilizer. These “forever chemicals” are taken up by plants and then consumed by livestock and people, making them sick. And some say EPA has failed its mission to protect the public. Plus, an international team of astronomers recently reported the discovery of a 13 billion-year-old black hole, the oldest ever observed, thanks to the powerful James Webb Space Telescope. Lead author Dr. Roberto Maiolino explores new questions about how these mysterious, extremely dense objects form and grow. -- Check out the full transcript we provide for every show, with pictures and links to more information, at the Living on Earth website, loe dot org. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A recent study of 1500 women in China found links between personal care product use and in-vitro fertilization problems, including slower embryo development and miscarriage. We discuss the findings and the growing evidence linking hormone disrupting chemicals to pregnancy difficulties for people using IVF. Also, climate disasters, adaptation costs and market shifts threaten the value of public companies that are inadequately prepared for climate change. So, the Democratic majority US Securities and Exchange Commission recently approved a rule that will require public companies to inform investors about their greenhouse gas emissions and climate risks. But the rule was immediately met with pushback from industry and several Republican-led states. And the handful of astronauts and cosmonauts on board the International Space Station float in a strange paradox, with the Earth constantly in view, but always out of reach. A new novel called Orbital explores the splendor of planet Earth as seen from orbit through a day in the life of six astronauts up on the ISS. -- Check out the full transcript we provide for every show, with pictures and links to more information, at the Living on Earth website, loe dot org. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A new satellite recently blasted off into Earth orbit with the important mission of tracking methane emissions from oil and gas infrastructure across the globe. Free public access to the data from MethaneSAT is a game-changer for holding oil and gas companies accountable for climate pollution. Also, since 2001 the Mars Society has run over 270 simulated missions at a remote site in the high desert of Utah, to study the effect of extra-vehicular activity or EVA on the human body and mimic field research people might run on Mars one day, such as looking for fossilized life. What a day in the life of a participant looks like and why some believe we should send humans to Mars. And on April 8th millions across North America will have the opportunity to experience a total solar eclipse, when the moon briefly blocks out the sun. How our ancestors reacted to this strange, otherworldly phenomenon, and how you too can safely witness it. -- We rely on support from listeners like you to keep our journalism strong. You can donate at loe.org – any amount is appreciated! -- and thank you for your support. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As the climate crisis intensifies, a vital ocean current that includes the Gulf Stream seems to be falling apart, and thus could fail its mission to moderate the climate by bringing heat north from the tropics and cold back south. We explain the latest research and the potentially disastrous shutdown of this current. Also, a decade ago California became the first US state to ban single-use plastic bags, and eleven states followed suit. But some 18 other states have gone in the opposite direction and even blocked local cities and towns from prohibiting single use plastic bags. We cover successes and setbacks for efforts to minimize plastic bag waste. And poet and essayist Ross Gay is back with a follow up to his 2019 Book of Delights, loaded with moments of good that sprout amid our troubles. He shares readings from his new Book of (More) Delights celebrating simple joys such as clothes on a clothesline, garlic sprouting, and dandelion abundance. -- We rely on support from listeners like you to keep our journalism strong. You can donate at loe.org – any amount is appreciated! -- and thank you for your support. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Ohio, Indiana, and West Virginia have challenged the Environmental Protection Agency’s “Good Neighbor” rule in the Supreme Court. The regulation is designed to keep one state’s ozone emissions from spilling downwind and pushing another state out of compliance. Michael Burger from the Sabin Center for Climate Change Law at Columbia University explores what this challenge means for the environmental regulation landscape. Also, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has announced new measures to reduce the allowable amount of fine particulate pollution in the air. Former EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy discusses these new standards, as well as the Inflation Reduction Act and the role of women in the environmental movement. To kick off Women’s History Month, we dive into the legacy of women outdoors in America. From abolitionist Harriet Tubman to novelist Louisa May Alcott, some of the country’s most important women trailblazers shared a connection with the natural world in their girlhood. Tiya Miles shares their stories in her book Wild Girls: How the Outdoors Shaped the Women Who Challenged a Nation. -- We rely on support from listeners like you to keep our journalism strong. You can donate at loe.org – any amount is appreciated! -- and thank you for your support. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this Black History Month special, “father of environmental justice” Dr. Robert Bullard is calling for justice for the community of Shiloh, Alabama, which has suffered repeated flooding ever since a highway was widened and elevated in 2018, causing destruction to homes that Black landowners have proudly kept since the Reconstruction era. Also, Katherine Johnson was an African American trailblazer who while living under Jim Crow in the south worked at NASA as a mathematician and helped put a man on the moon. Her daughter Katherine Moore shares her mother's story. And poet Camille Dungy transformed her sterile lawn in white Fort Collins, Colorado into a pollinator haven teeming with native plants and the wildlife they attract. Her book Soil: The Story of a Black Mother’s Garden recounts that journey alongside a world in turmoil amid the coronavirus pandemic, police violence and wildfires. -- We rely on support from listeners like you to keep our journalism strong. You can donate at loe.org – any amount is appreciated! -- and thank you for your support. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hormone-disrupting chemicals in plastics take a yearly economic toll in the hundreds of billions of dollars in the U.S. alone, according to a recent study. Pediatrician Leonardo Trasande discusses the research and explains why PFAS, phthalates, BPA and flame retardants in plastics are so harmful to human health. We also examine the lax regulations around chemicals and plastics and explore ways that people can individually and collectively reduce plastic use and exposure. Also, ExxonMobil recently sued activist investors in federal court in Texas for a repeated effort to bring a climate resolution to a vote at the company’s annual shareholder meeting. The company has persisted even though the activists have withdrawn the petition, raising concerns about a chilling effect on investor engagement. And to raise awareness about the threats facing coral reefs, crafters everywhere are picking up their crochet hooks and contributing to a worldwide “Crochet Coral Reef.” The curator of the Pittsburgh Satellite Reef at the Carnegie Museum of Art describes what it’s like to stand inside the exhibit and how it came together. -- We rely on support from listeners like you to keep our journalism strong. You can donate at loe.org – any amount is appreciated! -- and thank you for your support. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

To help address the climate crisis the city of Boston is piloting the replacement of natural gas with ground-source heat pumps in a public housing project. The technology also brings clean air, cooling and heating to historically disadvantaged tenants, advancing environmental justice. Also, the warmer winters of climate disruption are bringing shorter and shorter skating seasons on the Rideau Canal in Ottawa, Canada. We head into the Living on Earth archives for a taste of days gone by, when reporter Bob Carty hit the ice to meet locals enjoying the serenity of a skate along the canal. And the oceans cover 70 percent of our “blue planet” yet remain largely unexplored because of the intense pressures at depth. But there are some intrepid few who have descended into this “underworld” and lived to tell of its marvels. -- We rely on support from listeners like you to keep our journalism strong. You can donate at loe.org – any amount is appreciated! -- and thank you for your support. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Biden Administration has paused new export permits of liquefied natural gas over concerns that these enormous facilities would emit millions of tons of greenhouse gases every year. We discuss why LNG exports have been rising in recent years and the impact they are having on the Gulf Coast and the global climate. Also, China surged ahead of other countries in 2023 to add 66% more wind power than it had before and bringing online as much solar energy as the entire world had developed in 2022. We examine the geopolitical and economic implications of China’s dominance in the renewable energy sector. And Thwaites Glacier in Antarctica holds enough ice that its melting could raise sea levels worldwide by 2 feet, but it’s so remote that until recently no one had ever approached where it meets the sea. Elizabeth Rush was a writer-in-residence on board the first research icebreaker to visit Thwaites and chronicles the journey and witnessing the glacier’s unraveling in her new book The Quickening: Creation and Community at the Ends of the Earth. -- We rely on support from listeners like you to keep our journalism strong. You can donate at loe.org – any amount is appreciated! -- and thank you for your support. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Two cases in front of the Supreme Court are looking to restrict federal agency power by overturning the longstanding Chevron Doctrine. Environmentalists fear this could limit the ability of federal agencies to set strong environment and climate regulations. Also, a recent report finds that social media platforms like YouTube are amplifying and sometimes profiting from new forms of climate denial that falsely claim it’s too late to act on the climate crisis. We explore how climate disinformation has evolved from attacking science to attacking solutions. And nearly all the tall coast redwoods in California’s Big Basin Redwoods State Park burned in a 2020 wildfire. But within a few months the charred trunks had grown a fuzz of healthy green shoots. A new paper documents how the trees were able to regenerate using energy reserves stored for many decades. -- We rely on support from listeners like you to keep our journalism strong. You can donate at loe.org – any amount is appreciated! -- and thank you for your support. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The U.S. Department of Transportation recently granted more than $600 million to states and communities across the country to roll out new EV charging stations and tune up existing ones. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg joins us to discuss the connections between EV charging access, environmental justice, and economic growth. Also, when scientists began to warn in the later half of the twentieth century that burning oil, gas, and coal could bring severe consequences for our planet, they touched a nerve in the powerful fossil fuel industry. In this second installment of our series on climate change disinformation, we dive into how the fossil fuel industry infiltrated the political sphere and scientific community to block climate action. And a potential third-party presidential run by West Virginia Democratic Senator Joe Manchin could influence the outcome of the 2024 election. Inside Climate News reporter Phil McKenna is back on the campaign trail in New Hampshire with this report about Senator Manchin’s support of fossil fuels and the climate concerns of New Hampshire voters. -- We rely on support from listeners like you to keep our journalism strong. You can donate at loe.org – any amount is appreciated! -- and thank you for your support. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley sends mixed signals on climate change, acknowledging that it’s real and human-caused while also touting her role in pulling the U.S. out of the Paris Agreement. Also, the electric vehicle industry is undergoing a transformation as US sales lag slightly behind production surges. Domestic manufacturing and sourcing requirements mean that fewer models currently qualify for the $7500 federal tax credit, but the forecast for the long-term future of EVs is bright. And the fossil fuel industry has known its products would cause dangerous warming for decades but chose to deceive the public to stall climate progress around the globe, says history professor Naomi Oreskes. Plus - fierce and fuzzy wolverines are in decline, especially in the Lower 48 states where they were recently listed as a Threatened species due to disappearing snow and habitat. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The climate emergency is creating a public health emergency by increasing risks for heat stress, vector-borne diseases, and traumatic injuries as well as disrupting healthcare access. Also, 2023 saw some notable environmental decisions in U.S. federal and state courts, from the Supreme Court’s removal of some wetlands protections to the landmark win for youth plaintiffs in a Montana climate case. And 2023 is likely to go down in history as the hottest year ever seen by humans. But we still have a chance to rein in global warming before it runs too hot for our civilization, says UPenn Professor Michael Mann, whose latest book is Our Fragile Moment: How Lessons from Earth’s Past Can Help Us Survive the Climate Crisis. -- As a non-profit media organization we could not produce high-quality journalism that educates and inspires you to be fully informed about climate change and environmental issues without your help. Please consider making a donation by going to LoE.org and clicking on donate at the top of the page. Thank you for your support! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

From one woman’s dream of swimming with marine iguanas, to uncommon encounters with common rabbits, to a Native American tale of how the dog came to be our loyal companion, and much more, this Living on Earth holiday storytelling special features stories of how other species on this Earth touch human lives. “Wildly Magical: Stories of Animal Encounters”, a storytelling special from PRX. -- As a non-profit media organization we could not produce high-quality journalism that educates and inspires you to be fully informed about climate change and environmental issues without your help. If you haven’t yet contributed to Living on Earth this giving season, please consider making a donation by going to LoE.org and clicking on donate at the top of the page. Thank you for your support! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Power Of Stories / Native American Tales / Stories of the Night Sky and an English Wassail Native American myths and tales help us endure or even enjoy the short days and long nights of winter. Living on Earth's annual celebration of stories helps connect people with the natural world, and includes an Iroquois explanation of why the constellation Pleiades twinkles overhead and an Abenaki custom that asks forgiveness for any wrongs of the previous year. Seasonal stories and more, in this holiday special from Living on Earth from PRX. -- As a non-profit media organization we could not produce high-quality journalism that educates and inspires you to be fully informed about climate change and environmental issues without your help. If you haven’t yet contributed to Living on Earth this giving season, please consider making a donation by going to LoE.org and clicking on donate at the top of the page. Thank you for your support! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Nearly 200 nations attending the COP28 UN climate summit in Dubai came to a consensus to declare fossil fuels are on their way out, marking a breakthrough after three decades of climate summits. But much more is needed to turn the words into action. Also, author and animal whisperer Sy Montgomery’s latest book, Of Time and Turtles: Mending the World, Shell by Shattered Shell features miraculous stories of recovery at a hospital for gravely injured turtles. Sy joined us to share these stories and discuss how these long-lived, ancient beings help illuminate the nature of time itself. And a new law updates cosmetics regulations at the Food and Drug Administration for the first time in 85 years. But gaping loopholes remain for ingredient disclosure and safety testing, amid the continued presence of carcinogens, hormone disruptors and other harmful chemicals in cosmetics. -- As a non-profit media organization we could not produce high-quality journalism that educates and inspires you to be fully informed about climate change and environmental issues without your help. If you haven’t yet contributed to Living on Earth this giving season, please consider making a donation by going to LoE.org and clicking on donate at the top of the page. Thank you for your support! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The very first bill that Speaker Mike Johnson passed through the House would gut many energy and climate projects financed by the Inflation Reduction Act, even though Republican states are massively benefiting from this funding. The repeal would also block environmental justice efforts and deny a “just transition” for disadvantaged communities. Also, even if the world’s nations soon come together to keep temperatures from rising beyond 1.5 degrees, we face a troubling and uncertain future. David Gessner’s 2023 book A Traveler’s Guide to the End of the World: Tales of Fire, Wind, and Water grapples with a complicated relationship with hope amid a warming world. And a lifeboat is offered to the tiny island nation of Tuvalu, which faces inundation from rising seas. A new treaty would allow a limited number of its citizens to study, work or live in Australia under a climate-related visa program with geopolitical implications. -- As a non-profit media organization we could not produce high-quality journalism that educates and inspires you to be fully informed about climate change and environmental issues without your help. If you haven’t yet contributed to Living on Earth this giving season, please consider donating by going to LoE.org and clicking on donate at the top of the page. Thank you for your support! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Leaked documents from the team leading the COP28 climate talks now underway in Dubai point to corporate coopting of the UN climate negotiations. COP28 President Sultan Al Jaber is also CEO of the UAE national oil company Adnoc, which according to the documents has used the COP process to try to cut oil and gas deals with companies and countries. Also, in North Birmingham, Alabama, racist zoning practices and industrial coke production have plagued Black communities for decades. Despite a growing focus on environmental justice from the federal government, it’s yet to be clear how new funds will help the communities in North Birmingham. And scientists are turning to high tech solutions to preserve genetic diversity of endangered species, including biobanking in which cells and living tissues are frozen. A new project aims to biobank 24 endangered mammals to start, and we explore the science of using biobanked material to restore healthy populations of black-footed ferrets, Mexican wolves and more. -- As a non-profit media organization we could not produce high-quality journalism that educates and inspires you to be fully informed about climate change and environmental issues without your help. If you haven’t yet contributed to Living on Earth this giving season, please consider making a donation by going to LoE.org and clicking on donate at the top of the page. Thank you for your support! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Many of the chemicals used in fracking for natural gas are hazardous to human health, but loopholes in disclosure laws mean that companies can keep them secret. Pennsylvania’s Governor is moving to change that. Also, the world is way off track from the Paris Agreement goal to limit warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius. A new joint statement on fighting the climate crisis from the world’s two biggest emitters, China and the United States, offers a glimmer of hope. And as solar energy costs fall and installations of solar panels rise, some are raising concerns about the materials they’re made from and are promoting disinformation about the safety of recycling these modules. A team at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory clarified this waste from solar panels. -- As a non-profit media organization we could not produce high-quality journalism that educates and inspires you to be fully informed about climate change and environmental issues without your help. In honor of Giving Tuesday please consider making a donation to Living on Earth by going to LoE.org and clicking on donate at the top of the page. Thank you for your support! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The “Three Sisters” of corn, beans, and squash all grow together in a symbiotic planting relationship. A Chickasaw chef shares recipes and the significance of these crops to many Native American cultures. Also, the story of the “first Thanksgiving” that persists in American culture often stereotypes Native peoples and sanitizes what happened to them as white settlers dispossessed them of their lands. A picture book written and illustrated by Indigenous authors offers a new story of the “first Thanksgiving” that centers the Three Sisters crops. And some like ‘em and others don’t but oysters can be eaten in many ways beyond the half-shell, and farmed correctly they nourish shallow waters. From his coastal Maine kitchen celebrity chef Barton Seaver talks about how oyster farming supports local economies and ecosystems, and whips up an oyster-flavored Thanksgiving stuffing. -- A special thanks to our sponsor this week, MIT’s award-winning podcast, Today I Learned: Climate, or TILclimate. It features 15-minute episodes focused on how real scientists and experts think about the science, technologies, and policies behind climate change. Also as a non-profit media organization we could not produce high-quality journalism that educates and inspires you to be fully informed about climate change and environmental issues without your help. In honor of Giving Tuesday please consider making a donation to Living on Earth by going to LoE.org and clicking on donate at the top of the page. Thank you for your support! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The man leading the upcoming UN climate talks in Dubai heads the United Arab Emirates’ state oil company. Sultan Al Jaber is the climate envoy for the UAE and has led the state renewable energy company, but his critics question the substance of his green credentials. Inside the public relations campaign to green Al Jaber’s image and install an oil CEO at the heart of the UN climate process. Also, Antarctica’s ice shelves block glaciers from flowing into the sea, but a recent study found that these ice shelves lost 8.3 trillion tons of ice in the last 25 years raising the risk of sea level rise. A geoscientist sheds light on future ice loss in Antarctica. And a dinosaur fossil discovered in Egypt in the 70s gathered dust in museums for decades and now it finally has a name as a new species, Igai semkhu. A paleontologist explains why fossils from the end of the Age of Dinosaurs are relatively rare in Africa and what this “titanosaur” specimen can reveal about the distant past. -- We’re an independent, non-profit organization and depend on your support to keep us going. Please consider pitching in to ensure we can keep bringing you quality environmental stories. Just go to loe.org and click on “Donate” at the top of the page. Thank you for your contribution in any amount! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Exceptionally warm waters in the Eastern North Pacific off Acapulco, Mexico appear to have fed the rapid strengthening of Hurricane Otis into a deadly Category 5 storm that weather forecasters failed to understand in time to warn the public. We learn about the science behind the storm and how needed improvements in weather forecasting can help communities better prepare for extreme storms. Also, the new House Speaker, Republican Mike Johnson of Louisiana, has voted for legislation on the environment and some key social issues just 2% of the time, from the perspective of the League of Conservation Voters. He’s also expressed climate skepticism, received generous oil and gas industry campaign contributions, and is already trying to repeal President Biden’s signature climate law. And striking auto workers won higher wages, better benefits, and more ability to unionize electric vehicle battery plants that supply the “Big Three” US automakers. We unpack what the strike’s outcome could mean for the growing electric vehicle industry, its workers, and the public. -- We’re an independent, non-profit organization and depend on your support to keep us going. Please consider pitching in to ensure we can keep bringing you quality environmental stories. Just go to loe.org and click on “Donate” at the top of the page. Thank you for your contribution in any amount! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Wealthy nations have agreed to pay low-income countries for some of the loss and damage caused by the climate crisis. But rich and poor nations are divided on key elements of the fund. Also, on November 7th voters in the state of Maine will be able to choose if they want to replace the state’s two existing for-profit electric utilities with a non-profit utility largely governed by an elected board. How the new utility could help the state decarbonize its electricity sector. And the Biden Administration recently announced the recipients of up to $7 billion in grants for seven hydrogen technology “hubs” across the country to help move away from fossil fuels. But any climate benefits depend on the sources of hydrogen. -- We’re an independent, non-profit organization and depend on your support to keep us going. Please consider pitching in to ensure we can keep bringing you quality environmental stories. Just go to loe.org and click on “Donate” at the top of the page. Thank you for your contribution in any amount! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Biden administration is invoking special powers to waive more than 20 environmental laws so it can fast-track a new section of border wall. The administration claims it is compelled to spend funds appropriated by Congress, but opponents of the barrier say there could be severe environmental consequences. Also, when a wildfire powered by extreme heat and drought nears a neighborhood, all it takes is a single spark to send homes up in flames. We share some steps homeowners and renters alike can take to reduce that risk. And a study finds that giraffes, zebras, warthogs and impalas are far more afraid of human conversation than even the growls of lions. The research provides new insights into the “ecology of fear.” -- We’re an independent, non-profit organization and depend on your support to keep us going. Please consider pitching in to ensure we can keep bringing you quality environmental stories. Just go to loe.org and click on “Donate” at the top of the page. Thank you for your contribution in any amount! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Eight years after the encyclical Laudato Si’ Pope Francis published a new text “Laudate Deum” which condemns climate denial and urges the world to act swiftly to avert climate disaster. Also six young plaintiffs from Portugal are suing over 30 European countries they say have violated their rights to life by failing to act on climate change. Patrick Parenteau is an emeritus professor at Vermont Law School and joined us to recap the recent hearing in front of a “Grand Chamber” of judges in the European Court of Human Rights and discuss what it could mean for climate action. And the 20-year U.S. war in Afghanistan brought tens of thousands of direct casualties but also dangerous pollutants that survivors are still living among. Reporter Lynzy Billing describes the hazards and health problems some Afghans link to the war. — To learn more about these stories check out our website loe.org for a full transcript, photos, and links to further reading. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As the 2024 campaign season heats up, some young Republicans want their party to move on from climate denial and offer solutions. We discuss policies that align with the environmental roots of the party. Also, the spacecraft OSIRIS-REx has successfully delivered a sample from the asteroid Bennu to Earth. Scientists are eager to study the rocky material and see if it can unveil anything about the origins of our solar system. And when a cougar on the Olympic Peninsula in Washington State makes a meal out of someone’s goat or chicken, it can end up with a bounty on its head. But there are non-lethal methods to deter cougars from taking livestock and pets. -- We’re an independent, non-profit organization and depend on your support to keep us going. Please consider pitching in to ensure we can keep bringing you quality environmental stories. Just go to loe.org and click on “Donate” at the top of the page. Thank you for your contribution in any amount! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Ninety years after the creation of the Civilian Conservation Corps, the Biden administration is mobilizing a national workforce to tackle today’s crisis of climate disruption. The American Climate Corps aims to train 20,000 young people in its first year for jobs in clean energy, climate resilience, and land restoration. Also, governments are increasingly touting clean and renewable energy as the way of the future. But if you follow the money, you’d find that fossil fuels are receiving massive subsidies, worth around $7 trillion dollars each year, according to a recent report from the International Monetary Fund. And with a few tools and a fresh log, you can grow delicious mushrooms in your backyard that will come back year after year. The Living on Earth crew teams up to inoculate a log with shiitake mushroom spawn. -- Want to dig deeper on these stories? Check out our website loe.org for a full transcript, photos, and links to further reading. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

At the UN Climate Ambition Summit in New York, some developed nations promised more money to help vulnerable countries adapt, but biggest emitting countries including the US and China had no new plans to put on the table. Also, microorganisms can generate carbon-rich soil and help plants grow, but too often our food comes from industrial farms that limit beneficial microbes by depleting the soil with tillage and toxic chemicals. Farmer and author Dorn Cox joins us to describe his collaborative high-tech vision of harnessing the power of microbes in the fight against climate disruption. And hunted and trapped for centuries, wolves had all but disappeared from the contiguous US by 1960, but thanks to Endangered Species Act protections they’re bouncing back. A new pack with four pups was recently discovered further south in California in places where wolves hadn’t been seen for a century. -- Want to dig deeper on these stories? Check out our website loe.org for a full transcript, photos, and links to further reading. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In 2022 the US EPA opened a civil rights investigation into whether the State of Louisiana overburdens Black communities along “Cancer Alley” with toxic industries. But the agency abruptly closed the inquiry when the Louisiana attorney general filed a suit charging reverse discrimination. Also, Africa has emitted a tiny fraction of global greenhouse gas emissions but is experiencing catastrophic impacts with little ability to adapt. So, climate finance was a focus of the recent Africa Climate Summit, which took place in advance of the Climate Ambition Summit that UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres is convening in New York on September 20th. And overfishing, warming oceans, invasive species and unsustainable tourism threaten the rich marine life in the Mediterranean. So, a Turkish civil engineer and diver got together with local fishermen to pilot a community-run Marine Protected Area that led to expanded marine conservation in Turkey, and he was recognized with the 2023 Goldman Environmental Prize for Asia. -- Want to dig deeper on these stories? Check out our website loe.org for a full transcript, photos, and links to further reading. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As extreme heat linked to climate disruption becomes more common during the school year, many U.S. schools lack adequate cooling and ventilation systems to keep kids safe and focused on learning. And temperature and air quality affect learning outcomes for low-income kids and students of color the most. Also, the wildfires that killed more than 100 people and displaced thousands on the Hawaiian island of Maui left in their wake a toxic mess of melted and charred metals, plastics and more. How testing air, water, and soil can keep communities safe from contamination as they rebuild. And if you combine hydrogen and oxygen in a fuel cell, you get water and clean, green electricity. This chemical reaction is fueling visions of future, carbon free flights to change voyages of fantasy into reality. -- Join us on September 14th for a Living on Earth Book Club event with author Dorn Cox about regenerative agriculture! Find out more at loe dot org/events. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Because of its unique geography, the United States is particularly vulnerable to nearly every kind of natural disaster: tornadoes, hurricanes, wildfires, blizzards, and more. And these natural disasters are getting an unnatural boost with climate change. Also, some Florida sugarcane growers near the Everglades still use the archaic method of burning fields to remove the tops and leaves before harvesting the sweet cane stalks. Communities of color nearby assert they bear a disproportionate burden of the smoke and ash pollution with adverse health effects. And over the past four decades, sperm levels among men in Western countries have dropped by more than 50%, and female fertility is also declining. Some chemicals that disrupt hormones are key culprits, including those found in plastics, cosmetics and fracking solutions. -- Join us on September 14th for a Living on Earth Book Club event with author Dorn Cox about regenerative agriculture! Find out more at loe dot org/events. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

New York state has adopted a law aimed at using federal funds to boost public power from renewables and shut down six polluting “peaker” gas power plants. Advocates say this will bring huge benefits for public health, environmental justice, and energy access. Also, unhoused residents help keep California clean by collecting recyclables. But many unhoused people say the state has rarely engaged with them and can even make it more difficult for them to do their work. And in her book The Hawk’s Way, author Sy Montgomery takes a deep dive into the world of hawks and falconry. -- Join us on September 14th for a Living on Earth Book Club event with author Dorn Cox about regenerative agriculture! Find out more at loe dot org/events. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Sixteen young plaintiffs have won their suit against the state of Montana over its refusal to protect them from climate change. We explain the unprecedented ruling and where the case could head next. Also, children and adolescents are facing increasing health risks from extreme heat, and a study that looked at heat and pediatric emergency department visits found that black and brown children are especially impacted. And koalas begin life naked and tiny as a jellybean with none of the fur that makes them look so darn cuddly later. The natural history and uncertain future of the beloved koala. -- We offer a full transcript for each show along with photos and links to learn more. Check it out at loe.org. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Climate change is already making some places across the country unlivable and seems likely to uproot millions of Americans in the coming decades. The author of “The Great Displacement: Climate Change and the Next American Migration” collected the stories of people across the U.S. who have been driven out by fires, floods, droughts, and extreme heat. Plus -- when a whale dies, it eventually sinks to the ocean floor. And although that whale’s life is over, that’s when a whole new circle of life kicks off, with thousands of organisms including hagfish, zombie worms, and octopuses feeding off this “whale fall” for 50 or more years. And every animal species experiences the world in a totally unique way. Mantis shrimp can filter polarized light, and star-nosed moles can smell under water. Sensory marvels and more, this week on Living on Earth. -- We offer a full transcript for each show along with photos and links to learn more. Check it out at loe.org. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Congo Basin in Central Africa is a critical biodiversity hotspot and linchpin in the fight against climate disruption. But will the world make good on its promises to protect biodiversity in the Congo and around the world? Also, the hit Netflix movie “Don’t Look Up” uses humor and the metaphor of an impending, Earth-obliterating comet to satirize climate denial, the political obstacles to climate action and the false promises of future technological fixes. And in nature, some animals live far longer than humans, and some don’t appear to age at all. One species of jellyfish can continually revert back to a juvenile stage, making it essentially immortal. Unlocking nature’s secrets to longevity and how humans can live longer. -- We offer a full transcript for each show along with photos and links to learn more. Check it out at loe.org. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The summer of 2023 has seen extreme heat waves around the world. From Texas, how heatwaves have proven particularly dangerous for inmates in prisons that lack air conditioning. Meanwhile the UAE has increased its climate ambition targets under the Paris Agreement following criticism around their choice of a top oil executive to lead this year’s UN climate talks. But environmental activists say the UAE is unlikely to meet its climate targets given its plans to boost oil and gas production. Also. parts of the deep ocean floor are covered with manganese nodules that contain minerals that could be extremely useful for renewable energy resources. But scientists say that mining these nodules could prove hazardous for deep ocean biodiversity. -- Our team works hard to bring you the most important and compelling environmental news every single week. And we’re counting on you to help! If you can, please pitch in to support the work we do here at Living on Earth. Just go to loe.org and click on Donate. Thank you for supporting nonprofit environmental media. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Earth is choked by too much carbon in the atmosphere and running a fever that is only bound to get worse if we fail to restore its balance. How soaking up that excess carbon with the help of trees and plants is vitally important to life on Earth as we know it. Meanwhile, the financial sector isn’t taking likely climate impacts like sea level rise into account when it calculates risks to assets, according to a report. That leaves retirement accounts and pensions vulnerable in a warming world. Also, the California legislature is considering measures that would require large businesses to publicly disclose carbon emissions and verify claimed offsets. How the bills could help California meet its ambitious climate goals. -- Our team works hard to bring you the most important and compelling environmental news every single week. And we’re counting on you to help! If you can, please pitch in to support the work we do here at Living on Earth. Just go to loe.org and click on Donate. Thank you for supporting nonprofit environmental media Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The chasing arrow symbol that many consumers think means a plastic product is recyclable often doesn’t mean that in practice, since most plastics are of little to no economic value. Why revising the use of the recycling symbol could reduce consumer confusion. Meanwhile, so-called ‘chemical recycling’ of plastics is a highly inefficient process that releases large amounts of carbon emissions and hazardous pollutants. And at the Brightmark chemical recycling plant in Indiana, health and safety problems have kept the plant from operating at full capacity. Also, extensive draining and channeling of the Everglades ecosystem has led to toxic algae blooms and land loss in Florida, so now a huge restoration effort is attempting to reverse some of those human caused consequences. But environmental groups have raised concerns about the design of the sixteen square mile reservoir at the heart of the project. -- Our team works hard to bring you the most important and compelling environmental news every single week. And we’re counting on you to help! If you can, please pitch in to support the work we do here at Living on Earth. Just go to loe.org and click on Donate. Thank you for supporting nonprofit environmental media. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The first constitutional climate suit in the U.S. has made it to trial. Sixteen youthful plaintiffs allege that the state of Montana has violated their constitutional right to a “clean and healthful environment” by promoting fossil fuel extraction in the face of intensifying climate disruption. Also, global warming is slowing deep ocean currents near Antarctica that transport heat, carbon, and nutrients around the globe. Why this may spell trouble for the entire climate system. With two thirds of all cancer cases linked to environmental factors, many are calling for stronger chemical regulations as a means of cancer prevention. Treatments for cancer are better than ever, but cases continue to rise and cancer is still the second leading cause of death in the US. -- We offer a full transcript for each show along with photos and links to learn more. Check it out at loe.org. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices