Living on Earth
Living on Earth is a weekly news and information program from PRI about the world's changing environment, ecology, and human health. If there's something new about global warming, climate change, environmental politics or environmental quality and human health, you can count on Host Steve Curwood and the LOE public radio news team to keep you up to date with fair and accurate coverage.
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SUN 4am-5am
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51 min
The Border Wall's Wildlife Impacts, Bipartisan Public Lands Bill, Monarch Butterflies Rebound, and more
Senate Passes Bipartisan Public Lands Bill / Understanding the Green New Deal / Beyond The Headlines / Monarch Butterflies Rebound / The Border Wall's Wildlife Impacts / Refugees Cultivate Healing Through Gardening
In this episode, biologists warn that President Trump's plan to build a wall along the U.S.--Mexico border could have disastrous consequences for rare borderland species like jaguars and pygmy owls.
In other news for cross-border species, biologists are celebrating a boost to eastern monarch butterflies, which overwinter in Mexico; their population grew 144 percent from last year. But it's a different story for the western monarch population, which is on the edge of extinction.
Still, there's something else to celebrate this week: conservation remains a bipartisan priority, as the Senate just passed the most sweeping land conservation bill in a decade. It designates 1.3 million new acres of wilderness and five new national monuments, and permanently authorizes the Land and Water Conservation Fund.
Those stories and more, in this episode of Living on Earth from PRI.
51 min
Toxicants in Diapers and Sanitary Pads, Climate Displacement in Bangladesh, California's Neighborhood Burn Squads, and more
Toxicants in Diapers and Sanitary Pads / A Green New Deal For All / Bangladesh's Climate Migration Crisis / Beyond The Headlines / Neighborhood Burn Squads Fight Fire With Fire
A new study finds that single-use diapers and sanitary pads contain phthalates and volatile organic compounds, chemicals that are known to cause a variety of health complications including birth defects and endocrine disruption.
Also, climate impacts like sea level rise, extreme storms, and droughts are creating a migration crisis. Ground zero for climate migration is Bangladesh, where hundreds of thousands of people have been forced to leave coastal homes.
And some California communities at high risk for catastrophic wildfire are taking steps to prepare for disaster and reduce their risk by conducting controlled burns on their own.
Neighborhood burn squads and more, in this episode of Living on Earth from PRI.
51 min
A 2020 Climate Change Candidate for President, Heat Wave Kills Nature Down Under, The Challenges of Eminent Domain and more
Inslee's Climate-focused White House Bid / Heat Wave Scorches Nature Down Under / BirdNote®: Palm Cockatoo Gets The Girl / Beyond the Headlines / Eminent Domain and the Landowners Who Wouldn't Back Down
Washington Governor Jay Inslee hasn't yet officially announced his candidacy in the 2020 presidential campaign, but he's working to position himself as the climate candidate if he does run. Gov. Inslee joins Living on Earth to discuss pairing economic prosperity with environmental policy.
Also, Australia's plants and animals evolved to withstand a hot climate, but the recent extreme heat is far from normal. In recent weeks about a third of the bat population has died and water sources are becoming oxygen-depleted.
And pipelines, highways, railroads and high-voltage transmission lines tend to require long paths across the landscape. When the government exerts its eminent domain powers, farms and even suburban neighborhoods can be caught in the middle.
The residents who fight back and more, in this episode of Living on Earth from PRI.
51 min
Climate Displacement at Home and Abroad, Food From the Radical Center, and more
Climate Migrant Caravans / Climate and the Majestic Gyrfalcon / Climate Disruption and the Poor / Beyond the Headlines / Healing Our Land and Communities Through the Power of Food / BirdNote®: Where Are They Now?
This week, we delve into the link between climate change and the recent wave of migrant caravans coming from Central America. Many of the migrants are fleeing their homes in the wake of crop failures, the result of a massive drought that has lasted for five years.
Also, without the financial means to adapt or recover from climate impacts, disadvantaged groups here in the U.S. are vulnerable, too. In New Bern, North Carolina, many African-American residents of a public housing complex flooded out by Hurricane Florence are now homeless.
And local food movement pioneer Gary Paul Nabhan joins us to discuss how restoring the health of our lands can improve the health of our communities. He's the author of the new book, Food from the Radical Center: Healing Our Land and Communities.
Displacement and rootedness, in this week's episode of Living on Earth from PRI.
51 min
The Amazon in Peril, Youth Call for Minnesota Green New Deal, World's Oceans Warming Faster and Faster, and more
Defending Public Lands / Beyond the Headlines / Ocean Warming Speeding Up / Youth Activists Call for a Minnesota Green New Deal / Brazil's President Targets Amazon / An Amazon Tribe Turns to Modern Technology to Save Their Trees
In this episode we hear how protections for the Amazon Rainforest and its indigenous peoples are being weakened by Brazil's new president, Jair Bolsonaro.
And new data shows the Earth's oceans are warming much more rapidly than previously reported. That means rising sea levels, stronger storms, and more intense droughts.
Also, youth activists in Minnesota aren't waiting for a national Green New Deal. They're working with the state government on moving the state away from fossil fuels, while creating clean energy jobs and other sustainable economic growth.
The push for a Green New Deal in Minnesota and more, next time on Living on Earth from PRI.
51 min
The Conservation Costs of Shutdowns, Congress Launches Climate Crisis Committee, "Forest Bathing" and more
Capitol Hill Panel on Climate Crisis / Beyond The Headlines / Lead in Newark's Water / 'Forest Bathing' for Health / The Conservation Costs of Shutdowns
Florida Democrat Kathy Castor tells Living on Earth that the House Select Committee on the Climate Crisis she's chairing will press for climate change to be taken into account for all House legislation.
Concerns abound about the impacts of government shutdowns on national parks and forests. Examples range from the National Mall to Joshua Tree, where the lack of services can mean trash cans overflow and visitors off-road in sensitive areas.
Also, a Japanese practice known as "forest bathing" encourages spending time in nature for health benefits - and studies show spending time amongst the trees may in fact be good for human health.
Join us for a walk in the woods and more, in this week's Living on Earth from PRI.
51 min
A Greener Congress, Kerala’s Ambitious Organic Pledge, and more
A Greener U.S. Congress / Kerala's Ambitious Organic Pledge / Pesticide Peril in Paradise
Democrats now hold a majority in the House of Representatives for the first time in nearly a decade. Under Speaker Nancy Pelosi the House leadership now recognizes the science of climate change and has created a new Select Committee on the Climate Crisis.
Also, locals call the lush tropical Indian state of Kerala "God's own country". But food there is laden with chemicals and cancer rates are rising. So the government has called for all organic food by 2020, and residents are pitching in with their own organic gardens on roof tops and terraces.
That's in this week's installment of Living on Earth from PRI.
51 min
Puerto Rico: Rebuilding for Resilience, Repairing Broken Coral, and more
Rebuilding Puerto Rico's Battered Farms / "Pa'lante": Puerto Rican Resilience After Maria / Volunteers Test Drinking Water in Puerto Rico / Repairing Puerto Rico's Corals
Puerto Ricans continue to rebuild their lives in the wake of Hurricane Maria, which killed thousands and wiped out basic services.
Now a new and more resilient Puerto Rico is emerging: from a nascent local food movement, to citizen scientists testing water for safety, to Puerto Ricans restoring their island's coral reefs.
How Puerto Ricans are forging ahead with a spirit of resilience and preparing for future hurricanes, in this installment of Living on Earth from PRI.