Claim OwnershipLiving on Earth
Subscribed: 2,186Played: 62,735
Subscribe
℗ & © 2021 World Media Foundation
Description
As the planet we call home faces a climate emergency, Living on Earth is your go-to source for the latest coverage of climate change, ecology, and human health. Hosted by Steve Curwood and brought to you by PRX.
1278 Episodes
Reverse
In the federal youth climate case Lighthiser v. Trump, plaintiffs are seeking immediate relief from three executive orders and subsequent actions of the Trump administration that boost fossil fuels. But the federal government maintains that the Lighthiser plaintiffs, like those in the prior case Juliana v. United States, lack standing.
Also, the champion of Fat Bear Week 2025 is officially number 32 - “Chunk”, a big male who overcame a broken jaw to take the prize. Mike Fitz, the resident naturalist at explore.org, launched Fat Bear Week as a ranger at Katmai National Park in Alaska. He explains how this year’s strong salmon run in the Brooks River helped the local grizzlies bulk up.
And in lives full of screens and distraction, it can be hard to truly notice the natural world and the subtle ways that other creatures cross our paths. But author Brooke Williams believes these signs from nature can bring us important insights that are worth paying attention to. He explores these ideas in his book, Encountering Dragonfly: Notes on the Practice of Re-Enchantment.
---
You can help support our free public radio show and podcast, for free, by leaving a review on Apple Podcasts. It’s one of the best ways to help other listeners find Living on Earth!
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Speaking to the UN, President Trump railed against climate science and clean energy, drawing sharp rebukes from other nations, rival politicians and business leaders. Meanwhile, China for the first time ever announced a specific target for reducing its greenhouse gas emissions.
Also, the four-lane Great Highway used to run along the Pacific Ocean on the west side of San Francisco, where it was at risk of erosion from sea level rise. Now it’s been transformed into a park where visitors can bike, walk, skate, and play next to the water.
And the new Vera C. Rubin observatory telescope in Chile features the largest camera ever built, at about the size of a small car, and will soon begin photographing the entire southern sky repeatedly for a full decade. Astronomers hope this new telescope will help advance our understanding of dark matter and reveal hard-to find interstellar objects.
---
You can help support our free public radio show and podcast, for free, by leaving a review on Apple Podcasts. It’s one of the best ways to help other listeners find Living on Earth!
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
New research finds that since 2010 killer heat waves have become 200 times more likely, thanks to greenhouse gas emissions, and the scientists say about half of the increase in heatwaves can be attributed to big coal, big oil, big gas and cement.
Also, while the 2025 Atlantic hurricane season has been relatively quiet, last year damages from three major hurricanes ran to over 200 billion dollars and claims have stressed homeowners and insurance companies alike. We hear about Florida homeowners facing rising premiums and the cancellation of their insurance policies.
And as the air turns crisp in the northern U.S., many of us are heading out for the autumn tradition of apple picking. The fascinating and complex science and history behind the iconic apple.
---
You can help support our free public radio show and podcast, for free, by leaving a review on Apple Podcasts. It’s one of the best ways to help other listeners find Living on Earth!
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
The Trump Administration is putting offshore wind energy on hold by canceling grants, cutting tax credits and revoking permits for projects that are nearly complete. We discuss the economic impacts to port communities and the view that the US is ceding the opportunity to be a global leader in renewable energy.
Also, with the Arctic warming four times as fast as the rest of the globe, and fires now routinely burning large swaths of northern forests, carbon stored in permafrost is rapidly escaping into the atmosphere where it can warm the planet even faster. How Indigenous cultural practices can help protect this vital resource.
And human-made noise is bad for our health, disrupts our natural world, and hinders our ability to connect with one another. The book Clamor: How Noise Took Over the World and How We Can Take It Back explores the hidden costs of unwanted sound and advocates for turning down the volume on human-made noise.
---
You can help support our free public radio show and podcast, for free, by leaving a review on Apple Podcasts. It’s one of the best ways to help other listeners find Living on Earth!
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
New Jersey officials are calling its $2 billion settlement with major manufacturers of PFAS “forever chemicals” the largest environmental settlement ever won by a state. We discuss the legacy of industrial contamination in the state and how the settlement is expected to pay for cleanup as well as restoration of degraded ecosystems.
Also, scientists in the UK were able to use genetically modified bacteria to turn plastic bottles into the common pain reliever acetaminophen, also known as paracetamol and Tylenol. The lead researcher speaks with us about the potential applications of this biotech breakthrough.
And with an unusually short period for public comments the Trump administration is moving to repeal the “Roadless Rule,” which currently protects over 45 million pristine acres of national forests from access roads for logging. A public lands advocate explains the potential consequences for critical habitat, watersheds, carbon storage and recreation if the Roadless Rule is repealed.
---
You can help support our free public radio show and podcast, for free, by leaving a review on Apple Podcasts. It’s one of the best ways to help other listeners find Living on Earth!
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Oysters on the half shell are big business on Nantucket Island, and a local program recycles oyster shells from restaurant waste into habitat for young oysters. These recycled oyster shell reefs are helping to protect the coastline from worsening storms and rising seas.
Also, seventy percent of our planet is covered by the oceans, and in this vast wilderness lawlessness is rampant, with crimes ranging from illegal fishing to slavery at sea. These high crimes on the high seas are the focus of Pulitzer Prize-winning author Ian Urbina’s book, The Outlaw Ocean.
And 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 received the 2024 Goldman Environmental Prize for Europe and shares how she led a grassroots movement to protect this beloved lagoon.
---
You can help support our free public radio show and podcast, for free, by leaving a review on Apple Podcasts. It’s one of the best ways to help other listeners find Living on Earth!
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Around a thousand of the firefighters who battled blazes around southern California in January 2025 were incarcerated. They do essentially the same work as other firefighters but are paid as little as around $5 a day. A formerly incarcerated firefighter shares what it was like and how the experience helped him forge a new life after prison as a professional firefighter.
Also, as the water supply in Athens, Greece dwindles and demand surges from residents and tourists alike, the city is looking to antiquity for solutions. One that’s attracting attention is an ancient aqueduct that runs beneath Athens.
And the many millions of miles of roads that crisscross our planet block everything from bears to beetles from safely moving through habitats. But new wildlife crossings like overpasses and underpasses are helping reconnect animals with the landscape.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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.
Also, "depaving parties" of volunteers with sledgehammers are turning paved yards into pollinator havens and green space. That can help reduce climate impacts from extreme heat and flooding.
Plus -- a scientist who rappels down cliffs to hand-pollinate endangered plants. A vine that mimics the leaves of nearby species. Rice that crowds out strangers but leaves room for the roots of relatives. The book “The Light Eaters” tackles big questions of plant intelligence, consciousness, and communication.
--
Know someone who might be interested in a Living on Earth internship this fall? Visit loe.org/about/jobs to learn more. Apply by August 22nd.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
A study from Johns Hopkins researchers found that residents near or on the fence line of polluting enterprises are at higher risk for multiple health problems because of the toxic mix of air they breathe. The lead researcher explains the study.
Also, astronomer Phil Plait wondered what it would be like to walk on Mars, fall into a black hole, or fly through a nebula, so he wrote a book, Under Alien Skies: A Sightseer’s Guide to the Universe. He reveals the strange colors of a sunset on Mars, what it’s like on a planet orbiting binary stars, the unique challenges of landing on an asteroid, and more.
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
Eels play an important ecological role in many rivers and streams, but they’re so eel-usive that even eel scientists have been challenged to observe them mating in the wild. Ellen Ruppel Shell is author of the 2024 book Slippery Beast: A True Crime Natural History, with Eels, and she sheds light on the eel’s murky ecology and path through the seafood industry.
And the relentless heating of the Earth is prompting people to move after climate-related catastrophes and amid more gradual changes. Journalist Abrahm Lustgarten is the author of On the Move: The Overheating Earth and the Uprooting of America, about the northward migration he anticipates as Americans seek to escape punishing heat, fire, and drought.
Also stargazing has profoundly shaped who we are as human beings, and gave rise to science, religion, and origin stories from diverse traditions. Roberto Trotta, the author of the new book Starborn: How the Stars Made Us (And Who We Would Be Without Them) joins us to discuss how studying the night sky shaped science and why satellites now threaten our connection to the stars.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
The US Environmental Protection Agency is shutting down its Office of Research and Development, which represents 50 years of independent scientific research. We explain the impact of this federal decision on both EPA employees and science.
Also, National Parks are undergoing increased layoffs and funding cuts under the second Trump administration stretching staff short. A former NPS employee speaks out.
And Wildfire season is scorching through Canada and a particularly dangerous kind of fire, known as “zombie fire”, can survive through the winter months by smoldering underground.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Weather forecasting, climate research and climate resilience are being hit with major budget and staffing cuts by the Trump administration, impacting emergency preparedness for floods such as the one that devastated the Texas hill country.
Also,research has long shown that the top two coffee species, Arabica and Robusta, are vulnerable to climate impacts like increased drought and heat. And by 2050 as much as half of coffee producing land could no longer be suitable for these top species. But excitement is brewing over a climate resilient bean called excelsa.
And residents of Reserve, Louisiana in “Cancer Alley” recently received stunning news that Denka Performance Elastomer, which has for years emitted high levels of cancer-causing air pollutants, would indefinitely suspend its operations. Tish Taylor of Concerned Citizens of St. John speaks about illnesses her family has endured, her community’s cautious celebration of the decision and cleaner air, and how her fight against environmental racism continues.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
As the climate crisis brings ever more devastating floods, storms, heat waves and fires, the Republican-led Congress and President Trump have slashed around half a trillion dollars in clean energy tax credits that would have reduced climate pollution and helped America to better adapt to climate change.
Also, catastrophic floods like the one that claimed at least 100 lives in Texas this July are becoming more likely because of climate disruption. A meteorologist joins us to talk about the atmospheric and climate conditions that contribute to flood disasters, and the growing need to be weather aware.
Plus, about a quarter of US homes use private septic systems, which can run you thousands of dollars. And more than a million people in America today are living without indoor plumbing, too often in appalling, unhealthy conditions. Catherine Coleman Flowers is working to change that, and she talks about her work to help rural families across America lead healthier and wealthier lives by improving sanitation.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
19-year-old Eva Lighthiser has experienced climate anxiety for most of her life, as her home state of Montana faces worsening floods, wildfires, and extreme heat. Now she and 20 other young people are suing the Trump administration over its efforts to boost fossil fuels while suppressing climate science and renewable energy.
Also, ten years since nations adopted the historic Paris Agreement, greenhouse gas emissions continue to rise, and hopes are dimming that we can meet the Paris goal of limiting global heating to 1.5 degrees Celsius. As global leaders prepare to meet in Brazil for COP30, with recent preliminary sessions in Bonn, Germany, some say the entire UN climate agreement system is broken.
And in a rare act of public criticism, hundreds of EPA employees published a declaration of dissent from the agency’s policies under the Trump administration, calling out its alleged ignoring of scientific consensus to benefit polluters, undermining of public trust and more.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
This June the US Environmental Protection Agency proposed eliminating regulations that limit climate changing gases from power plants, about a quarter of US emissions. Harvard Law Professor Richard Lazarus speaks about the perils of the broader Trump administration effort to weaken federal environmental protections.
Also, the ugly truth of plastic is that the world produces over 400 million metric tons each year and recycles less than ten percent of it. But artist Erik Jon Olson is transforming unsightly plastic waste into beautiful, quilted works of art which are popping up in galleries and exhibitions across the United States. He shares the meaning and method behind his whimsical and striking artwork.
And in his recent book Just Earth: How a Fairer World Will Save the Planet, Tony Juniper explores how tackling economic inequality within and between countries will go far to solve the climate and biodiversity crises. Tony Juniper has long advised King Charles III on the environment and climate and now chairs Natural England. He discusses the transformation that’s urgently needed to allow planet and people to thrive.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Just as the enslavement of people was driven by commercial interests, today the enslavement of nature for profit violates a morality that sees value in all living things, according to the Rev. Mariama White-Hammond, pastor of New Roots AME Church in Dorchester, Massachusetts and former Chief of Environment, Energy and Open Spaces for the City of Boston. She joins us to reflect on how overcoming slavery, which is celebrated on Juneteenth, can inspire us to find ways to depend on each other so we can thrive in a world of ecological justice.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
One of the development initiatives affected by the Trump Administration’s shutdown of USAID is the Soybean Innovation Lab, which works to improve soybean yields and production in Africa to help boost farmers’ income. Our guest discusses her work with the Soybean Innovation Lab and why helping improve farmers’ yields is so fulfilling.
Also, a recent study finds the Colorado River Basin has lost a tremendous amount of water in the last two decades, in part from thirsty farms pumping groundwater much faster than it can be replenished. We discuss the “Wild West” of unregulated groundwater, potential solutions and why the rapid depletion of ancient groundwater threatens the water supply for future generations.
And the winner of the 2025 Goldman Environmental Prize for Asia was raised as a Mongolian herder and later became an engineer who worked on mining projects in the mineral-rich country. But when he learned that the Mongolian government was planning to mine the sacred Hutag mountain, he sprang into action.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
The 2025 hurricane season is underway, and the U.S. is likely to see higher than average activity. The past couple of years, extremely warm water in the Gulf of Mexico helped storms rapidly intensify to major hurricanes. But cuts to federal weather monitoring and hurricane modeling could leave the U.S. underprepared for strengthening storms.
Also, record-breaking heat in the oceans has led to the most widespread coral bleaching event ever documented, ongoing since January 2023. Bleaching weakens the corals and many end up dying, but others can recover and researchers are finding ways to help corals survive and thrive.
And poor air quality from wildfire smoke and other pollutants can harm cardiovascular health and also make farmworkers more prone to work injuries, according to researchers. But in California, requirements for employers to hand out face masks are often too late to prevent farmworkers from experiencing impacts. We talk about proposals to better protect the people who grow our food from air pollution.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
California’s car culture, trucking industry, and weather contribute to chronically bad air that it’s been gradually improving with its own laws and regulations and the blessing of the EPA. But now under President Trump, the EPA and Republican Congress are taking away California’s ability to clean up its air.
Also, the "One Big Beautiful Bill Act" that passed through the House of Representatives on party lines guts multiple provisions from the Inflation Reduction Act, terminating or reducing tax credits for electric vehicles, clean hydrogen and advanced manufacturing.
Plus, at a former gravel mine in northwestern Pennsylvania, nonprofits are working to plant 70,000 trees as part of a larger project to reforest thousands of acres of degraded mine land in the region.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Last-minute changes in the House budget reconciliation bill included scrapping one of the more controversial amendments that would have sold off public lands in the southwest to private developers. But the overall bill isn’t a complete win for the environment, with even deeper cuts to clean energy tax credits added at the last minute.
Also, a new White House memo instructs federal agencies to disregard the economic impacts of climate change in their regulations and permitting decisions. This metric is known as the “social cost of carbon” and it has been used for decades to guide policy so that it considers the economic realities of our changing climate.
Plus, seagrass is a foundation of marine ecosystems and stores as much as 35 times more carbon than a tropical rainforest, but warming ocean temperatures and other threats are wiping seagrass out. There is hope, though, as a project to “garden” or cultivate more resilient varieties is making waves along the U.S. East Coast.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Download from Google Play
Download from App Store
United States
I worked for TNC for almost 9 years, and I felt this personally. The standard was that the men do the work, and the women do the administrative tasks. I didn't want to, but I left TNC, and I would have loved to stay, but it wasn't sustainable for my own career goals and future plans. I would love to go back to the industry, but I don't know if I would go back to TNC.
Great podcast but I think it would be helpful to distinguish by plant based agriculture and animal agriculture in terms of water use. Animal agriculture is much worse! Nearly half of all the water used in the United States goes to raising animals for food (“The Food Revolution” by John Robbins). It takes more than 2,400 gallons of water to produce 1 pound of meat and only 25 gallons to produce one pound of wheat (“Water Inputs in California Food Production” by Marcia Kreith)
I'm sorry, but these students just chap my hide. There have been thousands of people fighting for action and trying to educate people about the affects of climate change. Just because our current administration and actions are lacking doesn't mean people haven't sacrificed to try and change these outcomes. There are still hundreds of thousands of ADULTS working towards a healthier future for our planet and our children. These students do a disservice to all those great people who have lead on climate action by instilling a belief that no one has done anything before them. Show your respect for the people who have lead the way and marched in the streets and changed laws to encourage this environmental movement. These students are not pioneers, they are walking in the footsteps of some amazing environmentalists that inspired my generation and now my children's generation.