Living on Earth

Wastes Flood The Carolinas / Science Note: Hurricanes, Lizards and Leafblowers / "Pa'lante": Puerto Rican Resilience After Maria / Beyond The Headlines / Women Climate Scientists Threatened and Harassed / An App For Urban Foraging Hurricane Maria brought great hardship to the residents of Puerto Rico and killed thousands. Now survivors are forging ahead with a spirit of resilience as they prepare for future hurricanes. Also, floods brought by Hurricane Florence inundate hog and poultry farms, spreading infectious animal waste across the Carolinas. And as the fall harvest begins, we share a story about an app that guides urban foragers to fruit for the taking. Those stories and more, in this installment of Living on Earth from PRI. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

California Moves Toward Carbon-Free Economy / Resilience In Puerto Rico's Tropical Forests After Hurricane Maria / Beyond The Headlines / Rising: Dispatches From The New American Shore California commits to 100% carbon-free electricity by 2045, and as the Global Climate Action Summit kicked off, citizens took to the streets to call for swifter action. Also, Hurricane Maria stripped Puerto Rico's trees of their leaves, but forests that evolved in the hurricane belt have ways to cope with the damage and they are re-growing. And we speak with a writer who set out to document the stories of people caught in the rising tides along the American seaboard. Those stories and more, in this installment of Living on Earth from PRI. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Trans Mountain Pipeline Expansion Blocked / Beyond the Headlines / Volunteers Test Drinking Water in Puerto Rico / Crop Pests in a Warmer World / Eager: The Surprising Secret Life of Beavers Canada's Federal Appeals court has ruled that the Trudeau government improperly reviewed the controversial Trans Mountain Pipeline Expansion, likely delaying the project past Canada's elections in 2019. Also, meet the citizen scientists who got to work testing Puerto Rico's water sources for safety in the wake of Hurricane Maria. And we bring you a tale of how the largest rodent in America, once trapped almost to extinction, is being brought back thanks to a "beaver love motel" and a growing cadre of fans. The "beaver believers" and more, in this installment of Living on Earth from PRI. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Gulf Orphans / Sexual Misconduct in the US Forest Service: One Woman's Story / BirdNote®: Blakiston's Fish Owl / Conch at the Edge / The Place Where You Live: Rose-Hill, Mauritius Western wildfires are growing more intense with global warming, and more women are joining the US Forest Service to help fight these fires. But a deep-seated macho culture in the agency means they often face hostility and harassment, and retribution if they complain. Also, a team of rescuers wades through chilly northern waters to save "Gulf Stream orphans," tropical fish babies stranded up north by the Gulf Stream. And down in the Bahamas, "conchservationists" work to save the Queen Conch, a marine mollusk that's in danger of being loved to death. Those stories and more, in this installment of Living on Earth from PRI. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Thousands of Lead-Poisoned Communities / Science Note: The Power of Dust / Obesity and House Dust / Bitcoin, The Energy Hog / Tamed and Untamed: Close Encounters of the Animal Kind Lead is a deadly neurotoxin that's especially harmful to children's brains, and though it's banned in paint and gasoline, it's still found at dangerous levels in many communities. And another danger might be lurking under your bed - in dust bunnies. House dust can include chemicals that trigger the growth of mouse fat cells in the lab, and might be a factor in the obesity epidemic. Also - what are animals thinking? Two best-selling writers muse on the thoughts and emotions of animals, and why some people believe chickens have names for their keepers. Those stories and more, in this installment of Living on Earth from PRI. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Flying Insects Crash / Emerging Science Note: Brazilian Peppertree / Trees On the Move / The Early Bird Breeds Fast / Baby Tern Goes Exploring / The Hidden Life of Trees / The Place Where You Live: Bear Creek, WI and St. Paul, MN Flying insects may plague us in the summer, but they're vital food sources for birds and bats, and they pollinate most of our crops. Yet 75% of them have vanished in the last quarter-century, with potentially disastrous consequences. Also, the big old oak in your backyard may be rooted firmly in place- but its acorns can travel. Now as the planet warms and climates change, trees are on the move, and transforming the species mix in our forests. We also take a look at how trees communicate via a "wood wide web" -- and a forester's conviction that they are far more sentient than we think. The hidden life of trees and more, in this installment of Living on Earth from PRI. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Greening the Military / Solar Eclipsing Coal in Jobs / India's Renewable Energy Revolution / Strangers in Their Own Land: Anger and Mourning on the American Right Renewable energy to the rescue: In the U.S. military, hybrid vehicles and innovations like 'solar blankets' can improve operations, and even save the lives of soldiers. Also, in the U.S., coal still produces far more energy than solar. But solar already employs twice as many people as the coal industry does, and some former coal miners are becoming solar technicians. And India is leading the world in slashing carbon emissions as it undertakes a renewable energy revolution. Those stories and more, in this installment of Living on Earth from PRI. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Global Warming to Worsen Southern Poverty / BirdNote: When the Amazon Floods / Linking Fracking and Radon / 100% Sun Power for Hampshire College / Fossil Fuel Freedom Fighters / Science Note: Nanowire Battery Breakthrough / The Telescope in the Ice: The Hunt for the Ghost Particle A new generation of nature writers is coming of age in America, and grappling with the loss of the pristine landscapes their parents and grandparents enjoyed. Also, rising radon levels in Pennsylvania homes have been linked to fracking, but there's more to the story. And one of the world's most sensitive telescopes is buried deep in Antarctic ice, searching for evidence of elusive neutrinos. Those stories and more, in this installment of Living on Earth from PRI. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

GOP Tax On Global Warming Gases / What The Osprey Overheard: Mark Seth Lender / LED Impacts On Wildlife / Meet the Rare, Shy, and Hungry Humboldt Marten / Science Note: A Moonshot To Save Rhinos / DNA Technology For Rhino Protection / US Tries To Boost Infant Formula A new GOP carbon tax bill promises to fight climate change with a "tax swap" that would fund infrastructure and climate adaptation strategies. Also, LED lights are energy-efficient, but they could be harming wildlife by leading sea turtles astray, and even perplexing the humble housefly. And deep in the coastal forests of California and Oregon, the tiny and voracious Humboldt marten is threatened by habitat loss, trapping, and illegal cannabis farming. Those stories and more, in this installment of Living on Earth from PRI. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

FEMA Unprepared To Help Puerto Rico / Repairing Puerto Rico's Corals / Combat Divers Restore Ocean Health / Beyond the Headlines / CRISPR Gene Tool Could Pinpoint Resilient Corals FEMA admits it failed to adequately prepare for Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico, a disaster that cost thousands of human lives. Maria devastated coral communities, too, so locals and combat diving veterans are coming to the rescue by putting healthy fragments back in place. And as rising temperatures threaten corals across the globe, scientists are using CRISPR to identify which genes make some coral species more heat-tolerant. Those stories and more, in this installment of Living on Earth from PRI. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Pruitt Out, Wheeler In / Fracking On The Rachel Carson Trail / Judge Kavanaugh & Environmental Protection / Beyond The Headlines / BirdNote: Sparrow Sing In Arizona Monsoon / Hospital Farming For Better Health / The Place Where You Live: Anchorage, Alaska Scott Pruitt is gone and his deputy and former coal lobbyist Andrew Wheeler, now acting administrator at the EPA, is expected to carry on Mr. Pruitt's legacy of regulatory rollbacks. Change is also coming to the US Supreme Court , as Justice Kennedy steps down. Nominee Judge Brett Kavanaugh has been tough on environmental regulations in past cases, and could shift the high Court further to the right. And at a major trauma center and teaching hospital in Boston, a rooftop garden is helping patients heal by providing them with fresh, nutritious produce. Those stories and more, in this installment of Living on Earth from PRI. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Conservatives Join Climate Agenda / Beyond The Headlines / The Tide Keeps Rising / Ozone-destroying Chemicals Make A Comeback / An American Eden: The Lost Garden Underneath Rockefeller Center / Mark Seth Lender: Tern About As America celebrated Independence Day, we looked back to the legacy of the generation that followed the "founding fathers," and the pioneering physician who founded America's first botanical garden in the heart of what's now Rockefeller Center. Also, a bipartisan carbon tax and dividend effort seeks to bring both sides of the aisle together for action on climate change, and looks past the 2018 midterm elections. And as politicians work to find common ground on climate change, there's no time to waste in preparing for its impacts, suggests a study from NOAA that forecasts more frequent tidal flooding in the years ahead. Those stories and more, in this installment of Living on Earth from PRI. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Farm Bills Tough on Conservation and Food Stamps / US Relies on Imported Organic Foods / Climate Will Drive Corn Crop Failure / Beyond the Headlines / Central America's Climate Refugees / Audio Postcard: Sounds of São Paulo, Brazil Families say they are migrating from Central America in part because they are feeling climate disruption right now with disastrous storms and searing droughts. And in this episode, we also focus on food. Congress is slashing farm conservation measures and US farmers can't seem to keep up with the growing demand for organic corn and soy. Organic or not, corn seems to be heading for trouble as the world keeps warming, with a much higher risk of crop failures in the future. Those stories and more, in this installment of Living on Earth from PRI. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Seas Rising Faster With Antarctic Melt / Boston's Rising Tide / Humpback Whales Rebound / Beyond The Headlines / The Last Lobster In this episode, we delve into Antarctica's rapid ice loss, which is three times what it was just a decade ago thanks to warmer ocean temperatures that eat away at the icy continent from below. These same warmer waters are also increasing access to food for humpback whales, and their population is booming thanks in part to conservation efforts. But the humpback whale comeback could be short-lived. And up on the coast of Maine the warming ocean is a threat for lobstermen who have enjoyed unprecedented catches in recent years. Those stories and more, in this installment of Living on Earth from PRI. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Tough Climate At The G7 / Canada Buys Tar Sands Oil Pipeline / EPA Dilutes Toxics Law / Beyond the Headlines / BirdNote: Exquisite Thrush Song / Atlas of a Lost World: Travels in Ice Age America / Audio Postcard: A Fisherman Rigging Bait on Nantucket In this episode, we discuss President Trump's refusal to join America's closest allies in discussions to advance the Paris Climate Agreement at the G7 Summit. The Trump Administration is also narrowing regulation of toxic chemicals, even though EPA is tasked with doing so by federal law. And we talk with a writer who followed in the footsteps, and paddle strokes, of the people who journeyed to North America thousands of years ago. Their remarkable ability to adapt could hold lessons for our world today, as we face a rapidly changing climate. Those stories and more, in this installment of Living on Earth from PRI. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Zero Carbon Nuclear Boost For New Jersey / Beyond the Headlines / BirdNote®: Roseate Spoonbill: Hot Pink / Toxic Black Hair Products / Former EPA Chief Gina McCarthy Launches Center for Climate, Health and the Environment At Harvard In this episode, we connect some dots between environmental factors and public health. Black women may be far more exposed than white women to chemicals that disrupt the body's hormone system, research shows. These chemicals can be found in 50% of hair care products marketed to black women, and just 7% of those marketed to white women -- and that may help explain why black women have a higher incidence of early menarche, preterm birth, diabetes, and other hormone-mediated illnesses. Research is also emerging about how climate change can affect public health, with heat waves, wildfires, storms and pathogens, and communicating these complex links to the public can pose a challenge. But former EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy was never one to back down: and she's taking on the twin foes of climate change and public health, with a new initiative at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health called "C-CHANGE" (the Center for Climate, Health and the Global Environment). And since the world needs more carbon-free energy in order to prevent those public health consequences, nuclear energy is getting a PR boost. Some like that it does not emit greenhouse gases like the other baseload power sources of coal, oil and natural gas. Others worry about accidents and the lack of no long-term storage plan for radioactive spent fuel from conventional reactors. The State of New Jersey says the benefits outweigh the concerns and has decided to subsidize two aging nuclear plants that were scheduled to close. Those stories and more, in this installment of Living on Earth from PRI. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Half a Degree Hotter Will Cost $30 Trillion / Beyond The Headlines / A Record Hurricane Disaster in Puerto Rico / Final Generation for the Marshall Islands? / Nooks for Nesting Islands that were once paradise are turning into places of peril, threatened by rising seas and intense hurricanes. This week we discuss Puerto Rico's high mortality in the wake of Hurricane Maria; a new study estimates thousands died as a result of the island's devastated infrastructure, which delayed medical services and cut off access to clean water and electricity. Meanwhile, on the other side of our blue planet, kids as young as age nine share what it's like to see their beloved Marshall Islands, low-lying and far-flung across the Pacific, inundated by rising seas. They fear they may be "The Last Generation" to live there. There's no way to put a price on the loss of lives, or of a homeland. But it is possible to estimate the economic costs of climate change, and a Stanford study finds a whopping $30 Trillion gap in GDP between a 1.5 degrees Celsius versus 2 degrees C rise in global mean temperature. Those stories and more, in this episode of Living on Earth from PRI. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Alaska Acts on Climate / The Most Toxic Town in America / Beyond the Headlines / No Refuge in Wildlife Refuges / Copperheads at Shawangunk / Free the Beaches: Desegregating America's Shoreline Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

FDA Scientist Finds Weed Killer on Many Foods / Beyond the Headlines / Cool Fix for a Hot Planet: Storing CO2 in Rocks / UN Climate Talks Gear Up for December / BirdNote®: Dippers on the Elwha / Nepal's Threatened Wetlands / Saving Kerala's Fresh Water Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Koch Brothers & Trump / Beyond the Headlines / Alaska Youth Sue to Fight Climate Change / Pesticide Peril in Paradise Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Late Spring Imperils Birds / Beyond the Headlines / Champions for Children and Corals / BirdNote®: Whooping Cranes / Kerala's Ambitious Organic Pledge Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Pruitt Under Fire On Capitol Hill / Beyond the Headlines / Science Note: Sea Urchins Eat Rocks / Wasting a Wetland With Trash Ash / American Bittern: Master of Camouflage / Goldman Prize Winners Block Secret Nuclear Plant Deal Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Amazon as Legal Person / Ancient Wisdom for Earth Day / Beyond The Headlines / The Green Berkeley Hills - The Place Where You Live / Valve-Turning Protestors / A Pipeline Eco Engineer Protests Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Making Big Oil Companies Pay for Climate Disruption / Pruitt's EPA Allows Dirtier Air / Leave No Poop Behind / BirdNote®: Sharp-tailed Grouse On a Lek / Spoiled Water for 300,000: What Lies Upstream / Beyond The Headlines / Bald Eagles At Play Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Pruitt Under Fire / Beyond the Headlines / Pruitt Seeks To Double Auto Emissions / Steve in the Sky / Tyler Prize for McCarthy / BirdNote®: Walk Down an Arroyo Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

US Gov't Spending Goes Green / Beyond The Headlines / Note on Emerging Science: Fear Itself / Coal Plants Damage Infant DNA / BirdNote®: Australia's Rainforest Birds / Losing Life on Earth / Nature and the Beat Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

FEMA Flood Maps Miss the Mark / Coastal Republicans Fight 'Drill, Baby, Drill' / Trouble Today for Ancient Fossils / Beyond the Headlines / A Waddle of Penguins / Stealing Dirt: A Thieving Penguin Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Right To A Livable Climate / Sexual Misconduct in the US Forest Service: One Woman's Story / BirdNote®: Blakiston's Fish Owl / Beyond the Headlines / Conch at the Edge Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

'Green' Russian Trolls / Beyond the Headlines / Gulf Orphans / No Northern Right Whale Calves So Far This Year / Ocean Health: Some Hope and Much Peril / Whales at Home in the Caribbean Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Judge Halts Louisiana Pipeline / Beyond the Headlines / Scientist Speaks Out On Perceived Bias in EPA Policy / Taking Stock of Nantucket Crabs / A Taste for the Beautiful: The Evolution of Attraction Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Through the Melting Arctic Seas / Beyond the Headlines / Huge Reserves of Mercury Discovered in Arctic Permafrost / As Sea Levels Rise, Nantucket Shores Up Crumbling Beaches / The Telescope in the Ice: The Hunt for the Ghost Particle / Sea Lions at Play Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Solar Market Takes a Dip / Beyond The Headlines / More Pipelines, Fewer Salamanders / It's Raining Viruses, But Don't Panic / Frog Skin Fights the Flu / The End of Epidemics Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

America's Toxic Schools / Beyond the Headlines / China Rejects US Recyclable Plastic / Plastic Trash to Cash / Children & Environmental Toxins: What Everyone Needs to Know Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

More States Fight Global Warming / Beyond the Headlines / Science Note: Self-Healing Concrete / Pulling the Plug on Mega-Dams / Budweiser Brews Green / Saving Solar Energy With Salt / The Place Where You Live: Rose-Hill, Mauritius Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Extreme Weather Likely to Increase / Extreme Weather an Extreme Risk / Credit-Worthiness in a Changing Climate / Poetic Plea for the Marshall Islands / Atomic Bomb Waste Could Leak into the Sea / Pelicans at Pismo Beach Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Migratory Bird Protections Under Fire / Beyond the Headlines / Making a Bird List and Checking It Twice / Babysitting Arctic Terns / Year of the Bird / BirdNote®: Help Screech-Owls Find Homes Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Costliest Disaster Year Ever / Offshore Drilling Under Fire / Nature, The First Best Teacher / Bitcoin, The Energy Hog / Beyond the Headlines / Saving Trees That Helped Save Dust Bowl America Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Feds OK Wilderness Mining Lease / Heat Drives Migration / African Dams Dry Up Wetlands & Local Jobs / BirdNote®: Dawn 'Round the World / Safer Solutions for Hungry Wolves -- Emerging Science Note / The Headlines & Beyond Previews 2018 / Sounds of Winter Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Nesting Turtles at Home in Suburbia / Turtles Hatch! / Tiny Turtles at School / Wee Turtles Graduate / Painted Turtles and Climate Change / Snapping Turtle: Mark Seth Lender Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Christmas Candles / Mary's New Year's Eve / Superbowl Sundae / A Green Message for the Next Generation / A Mainer's Family Traditions Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Thousands of Lead-Poisoned Communities / Sunshine Heals Hearts / Rx Park / Beyond The Headlines / Spinning Arctic Waters / BirdNote®: Spruce Grouse in the Boreal Forest Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Federal Land Conservation Under Fire / Beyond The Headlines / Feds Move to Dismiss Youth Climate Suit / Dog Lovers Live Longer / The Inner Lives of Fish / A Dinner for Fish Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Congress More Bipartisan on Climate Change / The Tesla Truck / 100% Sun Power for Hampshire College / Beyond The Headlines / Improbable Destinies: Fate, Chance, and the Future of Evolution Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

New Route for Keystone XL / Beyond The Headlines / Meat from Plants / Meat 2.0 / American Seafood: Heritage, Culture & Cookery from Sea to Shining Sea Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

'America's Pledge' to Paris / Moving Forward at COP23 Climate Summit / Trump Pumps Alaskan Gas Deal / Beyond The Headlines / The Rights of Nature: A Legal Revolution That Could Save the World / BirdNote: Birds of Paradise Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

US Hails Atomic Power At Climate COP23 / Zapping the Electric Car Tax Credit / The Antarctic & New York City Floods / Nat Geo's New Exploration of People, Places & Planet / The Earth Is My Witness Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Moving the Paris Climate Deal Forward / Drill, Baby, Drill! / Measuring the Risky Feedback Link Between Soil Carbon and Global Warming / The Living and Dead in Good Company / The Clock Ticks for Daylight Saving Time Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Flying Insects Crash / EPA Toxics Nominee Under Fire / Rising CO2 & Sea Life / Hungry Polar Bear / A Farewell to Ice / BirdNote®: Spooky Shearwaters Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Global Warming Minefield / Puerto Ricans Flee Maria For Florida - Where They Can Vote / Republicans Move to Open Arctic Refuge For Drilling / BirdNote®: Here Come the Merlins / Rough Riding for Wild Horse Country Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Power Plan Sent to the Cleaners / CO2 Boosts Photosynthesis / Tropical Forests Now Add To Global Warming / Ancient Trees Race to the Top / Rise of the Necrofauna Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices