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Environmental Audio Clips - Archive

NOTES:

This page is an archive of older environmental audio clips. You can also see     - current environmental news audio

This page has general environmental audio clips. Additional clips in related categories can be found on these pages
    - Food/Nutrition/Organics/GMOs audio
    - Health audio
    - Nuclear Issues audio
    - Energy/Peak Oil/Resilience audio
    - 2010 Gulf Oil Spill Audio (archive)

Quirks & Quarks

Persistent Pollutants Still Plague Gulls — 30 Nov 2013 — The glaucous gull is a large, omnivorous top predator in its particular food web in Arctic regions around the world. Recent research by toxicologists has found that persistent chemical pollutants like DDT and PCB, which were banned in the 1970s, still persist in the frigid Arctic and are still harming gull health. Similarly, some flame retardants that were banned years ago still show up in the birds. However, scientists were surprised to find evidence of six new flame retardants in the gulls as well.
Go to page  |  Download/Listen   8:28

NPR

If China and India Punt, Why Should the US Stay on the CO2-Reduction Playing Field? — 26 Nov 2013 — In the coming decades, carbon dioxide emissions from China, India, and other populous, rapidly developing countries are expected to rise substantially. China and India have said they won't commit to controlling their carbon dioxide emissions. If that's the case, why should the US bother controlling its emissions?
Go to page  |  Download/Listen   3:29

(GP comment:  The argument is made that there will come a point when everyone on the planet realizes that climate action MUST happen, and those who buy in now will be better positioned for the new era. That seems highly dubious to me—it's much more likely that the current dawdling will continue until climate feedback loops enter runaway mode and make any effort spent on GHG reduction pointless.)

Living On Earth

G-20 Pledges to Eliminate Fossil Fuel Subsidies — 08 Nov 2013 — A new report from the Overseas Development Institute finds more than $500 billion in direct subsidies go to fossil fuel industries world wide each year, despite pledges to phase them out. Public policy analyst Joe Aldy says that the amount is even higher if one counts indirect subsidies like externalized health and environmental costs.
Go to page  |  Download/Listen   5:32

(GP comment:  Two comments: (a) Promises are cheap. (b) Nuclear is fossil fuel energy and should have been talked about here. )

Nutrition Diva

Ways to Reduce Food Waste — 05 Nov 2013 — The production and distribution of food is significant source of environmental pollution and resource usage. Reducing food waste helps reduce these impacts. The Diva offers numerous tips for reducing food waste, including: plan meals before you go grocery shopping; and strategize ways to easily identify and eat leftovers in the fridge.
Go to page  |  Download/Listen   9:09

(GP comment:  She also identifies composting as a way to get value out of unusable food, but she should have mentioned growing more of your own food, too.)

Living on Earth

Eight States Unite to Boost Electric Cars — 01 Nov 2013 — Eight states, including Massachusetts, California, and New York, have agreed to work together to increase the number of electric vehicles on roads. Massachusetts Environmental Protection Minister Ken Kimmel says his state will use several strategies—from better charging stations to free parking—to reach their ambitious targets.
Go to page  |  Download/Listen   6:50

Radio EcoShock

Crops and Climate — 29 Oct 2013 — Environmental engineer Sharon Gourdji reviews the likely impacts of climate change on food production around the world. Her latest co-authored paper was published in Environmental Research Letters. Topics include heat and yield; insect populations and pollination; rainfall and soil erosion.
Go to page  |  Download/Listen   17:38

Living on Earth

Climate and the FIRE Sector — 25 Oct 2013 — ProPublica reporter Theo Meyer recently discovered that last year Congress passed a transportation bill with a clause that directed FEMA to take climate change into account for flood insurance. But Meyer says FEMA hasn't made much progress. ~~ The Securities and Exchange Commission requires that publicly traded companies file annual reports that disclose potential risks to the company's bottom line. But citizen researcher Lawrence Taylor says that more than 70% of businesses fail to mention the possible effects of climate change. Those who do tend to be in industries related to fossil fuels, real estate, and insurance.
Part 1:  Go to page  |  Download/Listen   7:49
Part 2:  Go to page  |  Download/Listen   6:38

Food Sleuth Radio

Jay Feldman of Beyond Pesticides — 24 Oct 2013 — Jay Feldman, executive director of Beyond Pesticides and member of the National Organic Standards Board, describes the unintended consequences of chemical pesticides and herbicide-resistant genetically engineered crops. He also talks about ways to protect vulnerable populations, pollinators and the integrity of the organic food label.
Go to page  |  Download/Listen   28:15

Resistance Radio

Why Traditional Environmental Approaches Must Be Abandoned — 20 Oct 2013 — Thomas Linzey of the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund explains why true environmental progress via traditional avenues has become impossible—"success" under such approaches only means the environment is destroyed more slowly. More creative measures are necessary, such as local legal initiatives that take on the national and state power structures that foster environmental insanity.
Download/Listen   43:43

Quirks & Quarks

Climate Impacts Finally Reach the "Arctic Refugia" — 12 Oct 2013 — While climate change has been raising temperatures and transforming ecosystems in the North for decades, a few areas held out against the changes. These were known as the Arctic refugia, where local conditions resisted temperature rises. In Canada, they were centered around the Hudson's Bay lowlands, as well as parts of Northern Quebec and Labrador. However, new research shows that these areas have begun to succumb to climate change as well.
Go to page  |  Download/Listen   9:05

Between the Lines

Study Exposes Environmental Cost of Mountaintop Removal Coal — 12 Oct 2013 — Coal production from mountaintop removal mining is especially destructive, as it destroys Appalachian ridges, buries streams under tons of rocks and dirt, and taints local air and groundwater. These effects have been implicated in human health issues. In September, researchers released data comparing environmental damage from mountaintop removal mining to the amount of energy produced across the central Appalachian region. Brian Lutz, assistant professor of biogeochemistry at Kent State University and lead author of the study, summarizes the findings.
Go to page  |  Download/Listen   7:24

Living On Earth

The Spongy Secret of Coral Reefs — 18 Oct 2013 — Since Darwin's day, scientists have wondered how vibrant coral reefs thrive in the nutrient-poor waters of the tropics. Jasper de Goeij of the University of Amsterdam in the Netherlands says that the humble sponge is the key.
Go to page  |  Download/Listen   6:28

Quirks & Quarks

Improving the Plight of Chimpanzees — 12 Oct 2013 — When veterinarian Sheri Speed first witnessed chimpanzees chained up in small cages for the amusement of hotel guests in Cameroon, it changed her life. The chimps were malnourished and unhappy; some had been orphaned by the illegal bush meat trade; and one had been captive for 40 years. Speed promised herself she would change their lives; and she did. She discusses overcoming obstacles and resistance to establish a chimpanzee sanctuary in Cameroon.
Go to page  |  Download/Listen   16:49

Living On Earth

Calculating Climate Departure Dates — 11 Oct 2013 — Scientists at the University of Hawaii have figured out a way to pinpoint when weather extremes at a given location will move outside the range of anything we've known in modern times. Geographer Abby Frazier, a co-author on the paper in Nature, says the transition dates are typically just a few decades from now.
Go to page  |  Download/Listen   6:15

Living On Earth

CWD/Mad Cow Type Prions Found in Plants — 04 Oct 2013 — Prions are misshapen, infectious proteins that cause a number of fatal diseases, including mad cow disease, characterized by holes in the brain matter. The US deer and elk herd is infected with another prion illness, Chronic Wasting Disease. New research shows that prions can also persist in soil and be absorbed by plants.
Go to page  |  Download/Listen   7:26

NPR

Whatever Happened To The Deal To Save The Everglades? — 10 Oct 2013 — In 2008, Florida announced that it would buy and protect hundreds of miles of Everglades land owned by US Sugar. But due to the economic downturn, only a small fraction was acquired. Now, environmental groups are lobbying for the deal's revival before a contract giving the state an exclusive option to buy expires.
Go to page  |  Download/Listen   4:37

Living On Earth

The Hockey Stick and the Climate Wars — 27 Sep 2013— In a 2009 incident that came to be known as "Climategate," several climate scientists had their emails hacked and quoted out of context in an bid to discredit the researchers, their work, and climate science in general. Meteorological scientist Michael Mann, who was a target of the attacks, recounts the facts of the experience discusses it in the context of current climate science. He thinks the climate deniers' tactic has backfired because it's helped make obvious the level of chicanery in the climate denial industry.
Go to page  |  Download/Listen   12:51

Living On Earth

A Climate Challenge for Coal — 27 Sep 2013 — The EPA has revised proposed regulations for greenhouse gas emissions from new power plants. UCLA environmental law professor Ann Carlson says that coal plant developers may find it tough to meet the new standard, and novel approaches will be needed to successfully regulate existing coal power stations.
Go to page  |  Download/Listen   6:10

NPR

Murky Waters Causing Manatee Deaths — 26 Sep 2013 — Over the past year, record numbers of dolphins, manatees and pelicans have turned up dead in the 150-mile-long estuary that runs along Florida's Atlantic Coast. Bouts of algal blooms have flourished in the waters. All signs point to an ecosystem that is seriously out of balance, largely due to the way humans have changed the flow of water in the area.
Go to page  |  Download/Listen   5:51

Democracy Now

As IPCC Releases New Climate Warning, Politicians Gamble with Future of Planet — 26 Sep 2013 — The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has issued its strongest warning yet that climate change is caused by humans, and that the world will see more heat waves, droughts, and floods unless there is action to drastically reduce emissions of greenhouse gases. IPCC reports are released every six years and are a scientific consensus—read "lowest common denominator"—incorporating the key findings from thousands of articles published in scientific journals. This report concludes with at least 95 percent certainty that human activities have caused most of Earth's temperature rise since 1950, and will continue to do so in the future. Guests here are Jeff Masters, director of meteorology at the Weather Underground; and Kumi Naidoo, Greenpeace International Executive Director.
Watch  |  Download/Listen   22:56

Lifeboat Hour

Climate Chaos—On the Planet and in Our Heads — 22 Sep 2013 — Mike Ruppert and Guy McPherson briefly discuss how the planet's climate feedback loops are all headed in the wrong direction as the climate smokescreeners continue with easily defeated but ever-popular claims like "Antarctic ice is actually increasing." The larger topic here is, if it's really game over for the climate, at least to the extent that it can support civilization as we know it, how do we adjust our psychology to such a predicament?
Download/Listen   58:04

Radio EcoShock

Growing in a Hotter Drier World — 17 Sep 2013 — How can we feed ourselves as the climate becomes unstable? Research scientist Gary P. Nabhan talks about adapting growing practices to a hotter, drier world.
Go to page  |  Download/Listen   20:41

Quirks & Quarks

Greenland's Grand Canyon Helping Keeping Ice Sheet in Place — 07 Sep 2013 — A team of researchers has announced the discovery of a huge canyon—on the scale of the Grand Canyon—cutting through the northern part of Greenland. Though the canyon had remained undiscovered because it lies under the Greenland Ice Cap, its presence may help explain why Greenland's ice cap has remained so firmly attached to the land. The canyon helps drain out meltwater that might otherwise lubricate the base of the ice and cause the whole sheet to slide off the land.
Go to page  |  Download/Listen   8:09

Quirks & Quarks

Cultured Meat—Flesh or Fantasy? — 07 Sep 2013 — A scientist created a burger made entirely of meat cells grown in a laboratory, and then he had the burger cooked by a chef and tasted by two food critics—all to much fanfare. But cultured meat—meat grown without animals—is still a long way from supermarket shelves, given that this particular burger cost a couple hundred thousand dollars to produce. Does lab meat really have the potential to supplant normal meat and thereby reduce the animal welfare impact of our diets?
Go to page  |  Download/Listen   24:53

Quirks & Quarks

Happy Sea Otters Means Healthy Sea Grass and Ecosystems — 14 Sep 2013— Sea grass is found in many coastal regions around the world, but it is becoming increasingly threatened by chemicals found in agricultural and urban run-off, which create algal blooms that degrade the sea grass. But in one estuary off California's Monterey Bay, the sea grass is thriving in spite of the chemicals. Ecologist Brent Hughes explains how the sea otters there are a key factor in a food-chain effect that counterbalances the effect of nutrient runoff.
Go to page  |  Download/Listen   8:10

Living On Earth

Data Gaps For Chemical Safety — 09 Sep 2013 — After an explosion at a chemical fertilizer plant in West, Texas killed or injured over 165 people earlier this year, Daniel Lathrop, a staff reporter for the Dallas Morning News, tried to get the official figures on how often these sort of chemical accidents happen. But he couldn't find out because nobody's keeping track, and that appears to be a deliberate strategy—one favored by the chemical lobby.
Go to page  |  Download/Listen   6:49

Living on Earth

EPA Scraps Chemical Safety Rules — 13 Sep 2013 — Blocked for years by the White House Office of Management and Budget, two chemical safety rules have now been dropped altogether by the EPA. The Environmental Defense Fund's Richard Denison explains why this is bad news for public health.
Go to page  |  Download/Listen   6:48

(GP comment:  Anyone out there still thinking Obama is a good guy?)

Living On Earth

Why Fish Have Different Amounts of Mercury — 09 Sep 2013— Deep sea fish tend to accumulate more mercury than those that swim in shallower waters. A recent study from the University of Michigan explains that sunlight plays a major role in mitigating the mercury pollution that otherwise will find its way into fish tissue. Lead author Joel Blum explains.
Go to page  |  Download/Listen   5:10

Unwelcome Guests

The Transportation Conspiracy — 31 Aug 2013 — This is a radio adaptation of Taken For A Ride, a 1996 documentary on how the logic of predatory capitalism drove the destruction of urban mass transit in the US—most notably streetcars—in favor of a more resource intensive method, automobiles.
Go to page  |  Download/Listen   1:00:00

NPR

The Strange Case of How Acid Rain Is Making Waterways Too Alkaline — 13 Sep 2013 — Decades ago, because of acid rain, the pH of many fresh water rivers and lakes in the US became too acidic, thus degrading ecosystems and killing species. But these days, researchers are finding that acid rain has leached enough minerals out of the earth and put them into solution in waterways that many rivers are now too alkaline, which also is causing problems.
Go to page  |  Download/Listen   5:18

C-Realm Podcast

Derrick Jensen:  Remember and Imagine — 04 Sep 2013 — Derrick Jensen explains how the mainstream media serves to normalize oppression and convince us that the insanity of our civilization is natural and the only way to live.
Go to page  |  Download/Listen   1:00:00

(GP comment:  Jensen has been much more cogent in other interviews, but this is still worth a listen. He remains one of the most (brutally) honest commentators on what ails us.)

ExtraEnvironmentalist

Restoring Function — 01 Sep 2013 — The fundamentally flawed logic of capitalist economics compels the consumption of ecosystems until they enter terminal dysfunction. John D. Liu discusses the amazing restoration of China's Loess Plateau from desertified disaster to fully recovered ecosystem. More broadly, he talks about the broken logic of how people act at the meta level—a sort of collective insanity that, strangely, is largely absent at the individual level. How do we recover from this behavioral paradox that threatens the future of our planet and ourselves?
Go to page  |  Download/Listen   1:58:51

The Lifeboat Hour

Guy McPherson on Climate Feedback Loops — 11 Aug 2013 — Guy McPherson explains why the multiple climate feedback loops that are on the verge of starting—or have already begun—mean the planet is headed for a new climate regime that will be very, very bad for humans. Also discussed in the program is the meltdown scenario at Fukushima, where inundation of the fuel rods would spell disaster on a previously unknown scale.
Download/Listen   57:52

Living on Earth

Mercury Hot Spots Around the World — 16 Aug 2013— A new report finds hotspots of unsafe mercury levels worldwide. David Evers, chief scientist at the Biodiversity Research Center, says that millions of people rely on fish with unsafe mercury levels as their principle source of protein.
Go to page  |  Download/Listen   6:35

Unwelcome Guests

Geoengineering for Fun and Profit — 27 Jul 2013— Clive Hamilton lays out the various climate techno-fixes that have been proposed, from seeding the atmosphere with sulfur particles to putting giant sun-blocking mirrors in the sky. He explains why climate engineering, even if successful in technical terms, would be disastrous without a cut in carbon emissions. He concludes his presentation as follows: "Within the next decade, we will be compelled to take a stance on geoengineering.... Just how confident are we that we can use technology to take control of and regulate the biggest and most complex ecosystem of them all?"
Go to page  |  Download/Listen   59:30

(GP comment:  Greenhouse gas reduction will not happen because it is not profitable. The same cannot be said for geoengineering, regardless of how ill-advised it is.)

Against the Grain

Only A Shift in Popular Opinion Can Prevent a Shift in the Climate — 10 Jul 2013— In the face of catastrophic climate change and ecosystem destruction, the question of environmentalism's power (or lack thereof) becomes ever more urgent. Current politics-oriented approaches are failing. Why? Andrew Ross, Mark Engler, and Charles Callaway presented at a recent Left Forum session dedicated to that topic.
Go to page  |  Download/Listen   53:01

Sea Change Radio

Green America—Taking on the Finance/Food/Energy Challenge — 09 Jul 2013 — The world's problems—environmental and otherwise—are manifold and seemingly unsolvable. But Alisa Gravitz of Green America explains that if we take action to reform three key sectors—finance, food, and energy—the rest of the problems will solve themselves. She offers concrete steps that will allow people to become part of the solution.
Go to page  |  Download/Listen   30:00

Making Contact

Scorched Earth—The Legacy of Agent Orange — 07 Aug 2013— This show reviews the multigenerational legacy of Agent Orange, the toxic defoliant used by the US military in the Vietnam War. Not only was the chemical used to reduce the Vietcong's ability to hide under jungle foliage, it was used strategically to destroy crops in North Vietnam. The health of adults on both sides of the conflict was affected, but the impact to Vietnamese newborns and children of that era is most heartbreaking.
Go to page  |  Download/Listen   30:00

NH Making Waves

Post-Landfill Action Network—The Next Generation of Green Action — 03 Aug 2013— Alex Freid of the Post-Landfill Action Network discusses how his group was able to start a number of successful green initiative at their college, including programs to reduce waste on campus. The nonprofit is now gearing up to go nationwide with its model.
Go to page  |  Download/Listen   16:00

Living on Earth

Pollutants Implicated in ADHD — 16 Aug 2013 — About one in every ten children in the United States has been diagnosed with ADHD. Now scientists at Laval University in Quebec say environmental lead and mercury pollution increases the incidence of attention problems. Dr. Gina Muckle explains.
Go to page  |  Download/Listen   6:46

NPR

Once Resilient, Trees in the West Now More Vulnerable to Fires — 29 Jul 2013 — Every few decades, nature cleans house in the forest. It burns the understory and brush—the "ladder fuels" that might carry a fire up into the tree canopy if they accumulate too much. Excessive fuel buildup can lead to the kind of fire that kills forests. But scientists are discovering that some trees in the West that previously would survive and thrive with small fires are now losing their ability to do so.
Go to page  |  Download/Listen   3:25

Counterspin

Obama's Climate Speech — 28 Jun 2013 — Barack Obama gave a major address on climate change, but what it actually signaled is very much up for debate. As usual, the fossil fuel industry is claiming to be unhappy, which the media widely reported. But almost entirely missing from media reports were any environmental critiques of the proposed policy. Public Citizen's Tyson Slocum offers a greener—and more sobering—assessment of Obama's not-so-green climate plan.
Go to page  |  Download/Listen   9:22

(GP comment:  True climate action would require the near-term cessation of industrial activity on the planet, which is not going to happen. Thus, any climate plan that is not immediately laughed out of the room is more about generating tax revenue than it is about solving the problem.)

Quirks & Quarks

Fish Swimming in a Pharmaceutical Soup — 22 Jun 2013 — Pharmaceuticals make their way into our waterways after passing through our bodies. The problem is so severe that some lakes and rivers have been described as a 'chemical soup'. Some pharmaceuticals have been proven to damage the reproductive systems of aquatic species, like fish and frogs. A new study looks at the multiplying effect of two common pharma chemicals—estrogen and Prozac—together in the water. In goldfish, additional reproductive damage was observed and metabolism was disrupted. This study also raises concerns about human consumption of fish and water polluted with such pharmaceuticals.
Go to page  |  Download/Listen   8:32

Living On Earth

Arkansas Tar Sands Oil Spill Update — 21 Jun 2013 — On March 29, 2013, an Exxon oil pipeline ruptured in the community of Mayflower, Arkansas, sending 5,000 barrels of diluted bitumen into the community's yards, homes, and waterways. Arkansas Attorney General Dustin McDaniel explains Exxon's subsequent illegal activities and discusses the lawsuit his office and the federal government have filed for violation of the Clean Water Act and the illegal storage of hazardous waste. He also discusses the implications of the case for the Keystone XL pipeline.
Go to page  |  Download/Listen   7:14

One Radio Network

Is Monsanto's RoundUp Herbicide the Cause of Honeybees' Colony Collapse Disorder? — 28 May 2013 — Terrence Ingram, an Illinois beekeeper with five decades of experience, explains the evidence that has convinced him that Monsanto's herbicide RoundUp is a key factor in colony collapse disorder. Also rather shocking in the story is the ineptitude and duplicity of the Illinois Department of Agriculture, which destroyed his bees after they falsely claimed his colony's were diseased. Ingram suspects the raid had more to do with his 15 years of research into how Roundup kills bees than with any actual concerns about his hives.
Go to page  |  Download/Listen   1:03:39

Living On Earth

Climate Action, REDD, and the Congo Basin — 31 May 2013 — REDD—a scheme that aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from deforestation—could be the fastest, least expensive way to stall global warming AND preserve the Congo Basin's trees and ecosystems. Alex Chadwick and producer Christopher Johnson traveled to the Congo Basin to investigate the high stakes of protecting the carbon-rich forest, the wildlife, and people who live there.
Go to page  |  Download/Listen   49:00

NPR

Food-Waste Composting Heats Up in New York City — 27 Jun 2013 — New York wants to capture and recycle more of the city's food waste—even in high-rises. NYC's experiment with high-rise composting is already underway in a handful of Manhattan apartment buildings, and officials say they plan to reach 70 buildings in the coming year.
Go to page  |  Download/Listen   4:12

NPR

Rule Would List All Chimps As Endangered, Even Lab Animals — 14 Jun 2013 — The US Fish and Wildlife Service has proposed a new rule that would extend endangered species protection to chimpanzees held in captivity. Nearly half of all the chimps in the US live in research facilities, and the new rule would make it more difficult to use these animals in medical experiments.
Go to page  |  Download/Listen   3:47

(GP comment:  Interesting that we are still debating such things mostly on the technical, economic, and species-numbers merits, not on the moral merits. )

Against The Grain

Stuart Newman on Inheritable Genetic Engineering of Human DNA — 12 Jun 2013 — Scientists are increasingly pursuing the genetic modification of humans by altering DNA sequences so preferred traits can be passed by parents to offspring. But according to Stuart Newman, "inheritable genetic engineering" is deeply problematic. He argues that new humans spawned from such techniques will always be experimental and therefore inappropriate. Moreover, he thinks the proponents of inheritable genetic engineering misunderstand the nature of living things and the process of human evolution.
Go to page  |  Download/Listen   53:00

Against the Grain

Animal Rights and We the People — Paul Waldau discuses many facets of animal welfare and rights, including... the legal basis vs. the moral basis for animal rights; the long history of civilizations having deep respect for animals; the problem of food animals in industrial agriculture; pets as a special category in modern life; animals used in lab testing; the difference between the concepts of animal welfare and animal rights; the intersection of human rights and animal rights.— 29 May 2013
Go to page  |  Download/Listen   52:00

Radio EcoShock

Will Climate Drive the Next Financial Implosion? — 15 May 2013 — Two new reports say climate change could cause the next financial crisis. If the world decides that carbon emissions must be drastically curtailed to avoid a climate apocalypse—as scientists advise—the sudden capital flight from fossil-fuel-based companies could bring on a financial meltdown.
Go to page  |  Download/Listen   1:00:00

(GP comment:  Nice try. But the insane financial markets brought us to this point—and they control the world's political systems—so the postulations here are rather silly.)

Quirks & Quarks

Wings Hold Key in Bats' White-Nose Syndrome — 01 Jun 2013 — The bat population in North America is in serious decline as a result of an infectious fungal disease known as White-Nose Syndrome. It is an infection that only affects the skin of the bat, and is so named because it appears as a white mark on the bat's nose. But a new study has focused on the bat's wings, where the infection results in lesions similar to burns. The resulting skin damage causes dehydration, which causes the bat to warm up too often during hibernation and use up fat reserves too quickly.
Go to page  |  Download/Listen   10:10

Quirks & Quarks

Malaria's Malign Modification of Mosquitoes — 01 Jun 2013 — The malaria parasite is one of the world's most fearsome diseases, causing 200 million infections every year worldwide, with nearly 1 million deaths. Part of the parasite's strategy seems to be giving superpowers to the mosquitoes that carry it. Researchers have found that mosquitoes infected with malaria are far better at finding human hosts than normal mosquitoes. They suspect that somehow the parasite is enhancing the mosquito's ability to smell human odors.
Go to page  |  Download/Listen   9:19

NPR

Big-Mouthed Toucans Key To Forest Evolution — 31 May 2013 — The jucara, the dominant palm tree in the Brazilian Atlantic rainforest, is dependent on the toucan—a bird with an almost comically giant bill that can be half as long as its body—to disperse its large seeds. But as more humans have moved into Brazil's Atlantic coastal forests, the increased hunting, logging, and farming have taken a toll on the number of toucans. Now scientists have discovered that the drop-off in birds is reshaping the forest as well—and that's not a good thing.
Go to page  |  Download/Listen   3:20

NPR

The Political and Economic Barriers to Solving China's Air Pollution Problem — 24 May 2013 — The state-run newspaper China Daily has called most of China's major cities "barely suitable for living." Such unusually blunt language from the Chinese government's English-language mouthpiece is a sign of just how bad conditions have become. Researchers say environmental technology is available to solve the problem, but political and economic interests stand in the way.
Go to page  |  Download/Listen   5:00

NPR

Battling Deforestation In Indonesia, One Firm At A Time — 31 May 2013 — Environmentalists are trying to stop big corporations from cutting down rainforests to create paper products. With help from some unlikely characters, they've scored a success against one of the world's largest paper companies.
Go to page  |  Download/Listen   5:09

NPR

New York, Chicago, and San Francisco Launching Bike-Share Programs — 01 Jun 2013 — New York kicked off a new bike-sharing program this week, with Chicago and San Francisco expected to launch similar systems this summer. The sharing programs are all check-in, check-out systems, with automated stations spread throughout the city, designed for point-to-point trips.
Go to page  |  Download/Listen   6:19

Unwelcome Guests

Deep Green Resistance and the "Earth At Risk" Conference — 04 May 2013 — The environmental movement has become trapped in a system of laws and regulations that is of, for, and by corporations and their wealthy elite owners. Environmental iconoclasts Thomas Linzey, Derrick Jensen, and Aric McBay explain how true environmental progress will only come when we disempower corporations and level the legal playing between elites and the rest of us. They review a number of examples of how municipalities are doing just that.
Ref page:  Go to page
Part 1:  Download/Listen   59:30
Part 2:  Download/Listen   59:30

(GP comment:  This conference happened in 2011 but everything being discussed here is still 100% relevant today—and critical to true environmental progress.)

Radio EcoShock

Oil Companies Know Tar Sands Pipelines Will Break — 24 Apr 2013 — John Bolenbaugh, an insider who recognized the lies of the corporations and government regulators that manage the pipeline systems now being used to carry tar sands slurries, decided he had to fight with every thing he had—literally. He exposes the duplicity of those who run the show and tells his story of fighting back.
Go to page  |  Download/Listen   26:43

Political Analysis

Criminalizing Dissent—Corporations Increasingly Using Legal Cover to Quash Challenges to Pollution — 07 May 2013— Dan Howells of Greenpeace USA discusses the dirty legal maneuvers oil companies and other polluters are taking to suppress protests and other forms of free speech when they threaten company bottom lines. Also discussed is the wave of oil companies suspending plans to drill in the Arctic.
Download/Listen   55:51

NPR

Increased Carbon Dioxide Levels Damage Coral Reefs — 17 Apr 2013 — Scientists have been worried about coral reefs for years, since realizing that rising temperatures and rising ocean acidity are hard on organisms that build their skeletons from calcium carbonate. Researchers on Australia's Great Barrier Reef are conducting an experiment that demonstrates just how much corals could suffer in the coming decades. ~~ In the second clip, a climate scientist from California has been conducting an experiment to see whether antacid can boost coral growth.
Part 1:  Go to page  |  Download/Listen   6:05
Part 2:  Go to page  |  Download/Listen   7:47

Radio EcoShock

Fracking and the Sacrifice Zones of the American West — 08 May 2013 — Everyday, gas flares burn over the dry lands of the western United States. There is a fracking boom in Colorado, North Dakota, Montana, and Wyoming. Villages become overnight towns, big trucks fill small roads, natural gas fumes float over prairie and foothills, and the last waters in great rivers, reservoirs, and aquifers are poisoned. Alex Smith and guests review to disaster that is fracking in the US West.
Go to page  |  Download/Listen   1:00:00

Progressive Commentary Hour

The General Problem of Industrial Civilization — 22 Apr 2013— Gary Null, Derrick Jensen, and Guy McPherson present the bald truth of the state of the environment and the largely clueless humans that exist within it. Gary observes that the average person seems to have a shockingly poor understanding of environmental issues, with no personal investment in the problems, assuming they are something for government to solve. Derrick Jensen observers that local species are fast disappearing, indicating a subtle but massive slide going on in our ecosystems. It is insane to think all solutions to planetary sustainability problems must be suggested within the current exploitative, infinite-growth economic model that caused the problems in the first place. Guy McPherson agrees, but notes that people embedded within and dependent on industrial civilization are unlikely to solve the general problem of industrial civilization.
Download/Listen   55:27

The Gary Null Show

Jane Goodall and Vandana Shiva on the State of the Earth — 22 Apr 2013 — Jane Goodall discusses the importance of getting young people motivated to address the world's worsening problems—environmental and otherwise. The planet needs to them to get cracking, not be paralyzed by hopelessness or anger at the mess the two preceding generations have left them. ~~ Vandana Shiva discusses corporate domination of the planet's operating procedures and what me must do to fight it.
Go to page  |  Download/Listen   1:00:00

Living On Earth

Denis Hayes on Earth Day — 19 Apr 2013 — April 22, 1970 was the very first Earth Day. Denis Hayes, its coordinator, talks about what Earth Day achieved in the early days, and how it might recreate that success in the face of today's environmental challenges. Hayes says the days of belching smokestacks on thickly polluted rivers are gone, but remaining are many less obvious problems—pollution that cannot be seen but is nonetheless a serious threat, and sustainability issues that challenge our core behaviors.
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Living On Earth

The World's Greenest Commercial Building — 19 Apr 2013— The Bullitt Center is a "deep green" eco building—a self-sufficient building designed to emulate a living organism, reusing available resources, and minimizing the need for external inputs. Reporter Ross Reynolds visits the Center with the man who dreamed it up, Denis Hayes.
Go to page  |  Download/Listen   10:03

On The Media

Undercover in an Industrial Slaughterhouse — 19 Apr 2013 — In the May issue of Harper's, Ted Conover, a longtime undercover journalist, details his undercover job as an federal meat inspector at an industrial slaughterhouse. Conover talks about meat safety, going undercover, and why it's necessary to bring a hidden world to light. The bottom line here is that not all slaughterhouses are full of profit-mad sadists, but all have their issues.
Go to page  |  Download/Listen   9:45

Progressive Commentary Hour

Plight of the Honey Bee — 15 Apr 2013— This is a panel discussion on the current status of the honeybee industry. Pesticides and other factors are continuing to foster the decline of these important pollinators. Gary Null's guests are Larissa Walker of the Center for Food Safety; Dr. Neil Carman, who researches and assesses the evidence of genetic engineering's impact upon the environment and animal and plant life; and Steve Ellis, a commercial beekeeper and one of the plaintiffs in a lawsuit asserting that the EPA is failing to protect America's bee population.
Download/Listen   56:00

Food Sleuth Radio

The Politics of Lawn Chemicals—How Canadians Beat the 2,4-D Bunch — 21 Mar 2013 — Paul Tukey of SafeLawns.org talks about his latest effort, a documentary film called Chemical Reaction, which charts the fight to ban lawn pesticides in Hudson, Quebec. It all started with one determined Hudson physician repeatedly petitioning the local council; it ended up with 85% of Canada banning cosmetic lawn pesticides. Tukey also reviews how lawn chemicals affect the health of humans and pets.
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Radio EcoShock

US Population and Immigration—The Unspoken Environmental Issue — 03 Apr 2013— Former Earth First! leader Dave Foremen discusses the importance of addressing the population issue in the US and globally. Since the equation for environmental impact is roughly population times standard of living, an increasing population, whether from increased birthrates or immigration, means increasing environmental problems. Foreman reviews many facets of the issue and the politics that keep it buried, even among most environmental groups.
Go to page  |  Download/Listen   28:13

Living On Earth

Arkansas Pipeline Break Highlights Lack of Regulations on Tar Sands Transfers — 05 Apr 2013 — A pipeline that links Canada's tar sands with the US Gulf Coast recently ruptured in the rural community of Mayflower, Arkansas. Resident Becky Naylor discusses the spill and the clean up effort. ~~ The US EPA is overseeing the Mayflower oil spill cleanup, but media inquiries are being funneled through Exxon. Reporter Lisa Song explains the challenges of reporting on the spill. ~~ The pipeline was carrying bitumen from Canada's tar sands, which has the consistency of peanut butter. It's physically far different than petroleum. Jim Murphy from National Wildlife Federation discusses a petition before the EPA requesting a moratorium on new or expanded bitumen pipelines until there are tighter regulations for transporting the substance.
Part 1:  Go to page  |  Download/Listen   5:42
Part 2:  Go to page  |  Download/Listen   2:42
Part 3:  Go to page  |  Download/Listen   6:56

C-Realm Podcast

Climate Change—Rapid, Unpredictable, and Non-Linear Responses — 20 Mar 2013 — Guy McPherson joins KMO to discuss the prospect of runaway climate feedback loops. McPherson reviews ten major feedback loops and explains why nine of them are already set to enter runaway mode, regardless of any future reductions in manmade greenhouse gases. The sum of these effects will cause a massive climate shift and lead him to believe that human extinction is a real possibility in the not-so-distant future.
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Radio EcoShock

How Pre-Fab and Modular Technologies Can Foster Green Building — 03 Apr 2013— Super-tight, low-energy homes cannot be built using standard construction on site. They need to be build on jigs, with factory-level standards to make everything fit seamlessly. Plus, there is less waste in the factory production method. But don't get the idea that the resulting homes are cheesy—they can be anything but. Sheri Koones, author or Prefabulous and Almost Off the Grid explains.
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Living On Earth

Environmental Regs Disappearing into Bureaucratic Black Hole — 12 Apr 2013 — The line-level rule makers at the US Environmental Protection Agency have increasingly seen their newly proposed rules fall into the abyss of the White House's internal review process—which is managed by political appointees—never to return. Is this a case of politics trumping science? Georgetown law professor Lisa Heinzerling discusses this increasingly problematic barrier to environmental regulation.
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Democracy Now

As Video Footage Brings Animal Abuse to Light (and Prosecution), Ag Gag Bills Loom — 09 Apr 2013 — An animal rights investigator details how he has spent over a decade secretly filming animal abuse—much of which led to prosecutions for violations of animal-cruelty and farm-animal-abuse laws—and why that work is now imperiled by the wave of "Ag Gag" laws sweeping the country. ~~ Then a debate on the merits of the so-called "Ag Gag" bills, featuring Emily Meredith of the Animal Agriculture Alliance, an industry group, and independent journalist Will Potter.
Watch 1  |  Watch 2  |  Download/Listen   46:42

Living On Earth

Murders of Eco Activists on the Rise — 22 Mar 2013— As natural resources around the world grow scarce and the actions of those who would exploit them grow bolder and more desperate, environmental activists in countries like Brazil, Cambodia and the Philippines face increasing threats. UK journalist Fred Pearce discusses how this past year may have been the worst ever for violence against environmentalists.
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Living on Earth

Reclassifying Plastic as Hazardous Waste — 08 Mar 2013— In a recent piece in Nature, a group of scientists called for reclassifying plastic as a hazardous waste. This would give environmental agencies more tools and funding to clean up plastic in ecosystems around the world. One of the authors, Chelsea Rochman, a marine ecologist at UC Davis, discusses the dangerous pollutants in many plastic products.
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NPR

Light Pollution—The Why, the Health Effects, the Solutions — 03 Mar 2013— Electric lighting is ubiquitous in most urban and suburban neighborhoods, as well as gas stations, stores, and parking lots. Is our overly bright world about safety? About marketing? Is all this wattage is causing health issues?
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Fresh Air

Frankenstein's Cat—Bioengineering The Animals Of The Future — 11 Mar 2013 — Science journalist Emily Anthes talks about how the landscape of bioengineering has expanded since Dolly the Sheep was cloned in 1996. Scientists, she says, are now working to create pigs that can grow organs for human transplant, goats that produce anti-pathogen milk, and cockroaches that could potentially serve as tiny scouts in military danger zones.
Go to page  |  Download/Listen   37:06

(GP comment:  Anthes offers some caution along with the laundry list of (freakish) research programs, though not nearly enough. And it's mystifying how this conversation misses two noteworthy recent items: (1) the US FDA's approval of GM salmon, the first direct-consumption food animal to be approved for genetic engineering; and (2) market rejection of milk containing genetically engineered RBGH. )

Quirks & Quarks

Oceans of Plastic — 16 Feb 2013 — Plastic appears in myriad products because it so versatile and durable. But that also makes it one of the most persistent and widespread environmental problems on the planet. Plastic waste is everywhere, littering our parks and beaches and mountain trails, filling our garbage dumps—and perhaps most alarmingly, polluting our oceans. Plastic has been found in every single part of the seven seas, from the floor of the Arctic Ocean to the farthest reaches of the Pacific. And it's not going away. Every single piece of plastic that entered our oceans over the past 60 years is still there. Science writer Alanna Mitchell explains how countless microscopic pieces of plastic now blanket our seven seas, disturbing the delicate ecological balance, and inserting uncertainties into a formerly predictable system.
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Science Friday

How Wood Smoke is Dirtying Alaska's Air — 22 Feb 2013 — In Fairbanks, Alaska, many residents use wood stoves to heat their homes during the frigid winter months. But smoke created by inefficient wood burners contributes to some of the worst air pollution in the country. Chemistry professor Cathy Cahill of the University of Alaska explains why the wood-smoke problem is particularly bad in Fairbanks and discusses efforts to get people to move to cleaner heating solutions—from installing better-built wood stoves to switching to natural gas..
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Diet Science

Replacement for BPA—BPS—Also a Problem — 18 Feb 2013 — Industry is finally moving away from Bis-Phenol-A (BPA) and its well publicized health risks. It has used a substitute, a sister chemical called Bis-Phenol-S (BPS). Guess what! It's a problem too! Who could have guessed that a nearly-identical compound would also be an endocrine disruptor?!!? Worse still, BPS is active at VERY low concentrations and is found in many common items, including US currency.
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Living on Earth

As More Polar Ice Melts, More Polar Bears Starve — 15 Feb 2013 — Polar Bears have long been the poster species for the problem of climate change. As the polar ices becomes less and less each year, the habitat for polar bears and their seal prey shrinks. A new paper in Conservation Letters argues that supplemental feeding may be necessary to prevent polar bear populations from going extinct. Polar bear expert Andrew Derocher explains.
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Radio EcoShock

Thomas Lovejoy on Climate-Driven Biodiversity Loss — 13 Feb 2013 — Dr. Thomas Lovejoy has great creds when it comes to biological diversity—he coined the term. Here he discusses endangered ecosystems in the context of climate change. Lovejoy includes this warning: Two degrees of warming is NOT safe. Even then, we lose the coral reefs, and all kinds of species around the world.
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All Together Now

Moving Beyond Products that "Don't Do Harm" to Products that Actively Help — 21 Feb 2013 — Michael Braungart, coauthor of Cradle to Cradle: Rethinking the Way We Make Things, discusses how our modern world can move beyond merely "doing less damage" to designing and making products, buildings, and systems that are "eco-effective" and enhance the users' surroundings. Some companies are "getting it" and are successfully selling Cradle-to-Cradle compliant products; but others are stuck in the old pollute-and-profit mentality. In the end, to be sustainable, all outputs must be useful inputs to other natural or industrial processes.
Download/Listen   55:00

Sierra Club Radio

Campaign to Get PVC Out of Kids' Environment — 16 Feb 2013 — Mike Schade from the Center for Health, Environment, and Justice talks about CHEJ's campaign to get PVC plastics out of New York City's schools. Is vinyl the same thing as PVC? What types of products contain PVC? Why is it so bad? What's it doing in schools and children's products?
Page to download whole show  |  Download/listen to this segment   14:28

Sierra Club Radio

Is a Zero Waste Lifestyle Possible within the Current Consumer Matrix? — 16 Feb 2013— We all produce a lot of trash, and we all know if we spent more time on composting, recycling, reuse, and better product choices, we could reduce this level of trash considerably. But just how little trash could we get down to? What in our lives would have to change? Amy Korst, author of The Zero Waste Lifestyle, explains how she got down to one shoebox of trash for an entire year.
Page to download whole show  |  Download/listen to this segment   12:04

NPR

Wisconsin's Scott Walker: "I Am Iron Man" — 25 Feb 2013 — Plagued by a stagnant economy, Wisconsin governor Scott Walker is pushing a rewrite of state mining laws to clear the way for a massive open-pit iron mine. Although it's been mostly dormant for more than 50 years, proponents hope reopening the mine will rejuvenate an industry that helped build Wisconsin generations ago. But the proposal's sweeping changes to environmental protections have met fierce opposition.
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Talk of the Nation

Seeking Revenge in the Underworld of Stolen Bikes — 18 Feb 2013 — According to the FBI and the National Bike Registry, the annual value of stolen bikes is as much as $350 million. In 2006, thieves stole writer Patrick Symmes' bike in broad daylight on a crowded, New York City street. This inspired Symmes to set out to catch a bike thief—any bike thief. He tells the tale of GPS trackers, police stakeouts, and undercover stings in what Symmes describes as "the dangerous underworld of vanished bicycles."
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C-Realm Podcast

Paul Kingsnorth:  Dark Ecology — 06 Feb 2013— Paul Kingsnorth, co-founder of the Dark Mountain project, discusses the themes in his recent Orion article, "Dark Ecology: Searching for Truth in a Post-Green World." Paul is critical of neo-environmentalists—environmental activists who have made peace with the logic of capitalism and the infinite growth paradigm. They see environmental stresses as technical problems which are best addressed with technological remedies, and they agree that anything that is real and worthy of consideration can be quantified by science and priced by the market. Kingsnorth refutes this position.
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Food Sleuth Radio

BPA—The Dose Doesn't Make the Poison, a Single Molecule Does — 07 Feb 2013 — Fred vom Saal, professor of biology at the University of Missouri, talks about his decades-long investigation into Bisphenol-A (BPA). He explains that while the standard toxicology maxim "the dose makes the poison" does apply to many chemicals, it does not apply to endocrine-disrupting chemicals. BPA is one of these, and even an ultra-low level of these molecules in our bodies is a negative. A major source of exposure is canned food, with coconut milk and soup among the most contaminated products. Alternatives to BPA exist and have been implemented in Japan and Europe, but the US canning industry has resisted pressure to do the same.
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The Wringer

Chemicals Used in Fracking and Their Health Effects — 01 Feb 2013— Thomas Shelly, chemical safety and hazardous materials specialist, reviews the chemicals used in oil and gas fracking operations. He also discusses the negative health effects of the chemicals. For chemicals that are endocrine disruptors, the effects manifest at very low levels and may be more severe at low levels (where the body undergoes a hormonal response) than at higher levels (where it undergoes a toxicity response).
Go to page  |  Download/Listen   27:19

Food Chain Radio

Nano Here, Nano There, Nano Nano Everywhere — 02 Feb 2013 — Journalist Heather Millar discusses nano particles, which are finding widespread use in consumer products and industrial applications. But nano particle's effects on human health and ecosystems are poorly understood. Even though some studies have shown clear negative effects, nano remains largely unregulated.
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NPR

In Second Inaugural, Obama Makes Climate A Priority — 22 Jan 2013 — President Obama pulled out a surprise in the inaugural address for his second term: After barely mentioning climate change in his campaign, he put it on his short list of priorities for his second term. Climate activists and the electric-power industry seem to agree on one thing—that this means the fight over coal is on.
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Science Friday

Hydrogen Vehicles—Is there Hope? — 09 Feb 2013 — With major automakers forming alliances to work on fuel cell cars, is the future for hydrogen vehicles getting brighter? What obstacles still stand in the way? Jennifer Kurtz of NREL discusses the current state of hydrogen vehicle technology and infrastructure.
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(GP comment:  Repeat after me: "Hydrogen is not an energy source.")

NPR

Is Sustainable-Labeled Seafood Really Sustainable? — 11 Feb 2013 — The Marine Stewardship Council's "sustainably caught" label is supposed to guarantee that the fish you buy is not a part of an overfishing operation. But as Walmart and other big retailers have jumped onto the sustainable-seafood bandwagon, demand has skyrocketed and the MSC's standards have slipped.
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Food Chain Radio

The Lone Wolf of California — 26 Jan 2013 — After being collared and released into the wilds of northeast Oregon, wolf OR-7 trekked 3,000 miles, finally ending up in northern California—the first wolf to naturally find himself there in quite a while. Topics include why wolves were re-introduced into the American West; how the conflict between those who want wolves to run free and those who do not is mediated; and the impact of wolves on ecosystems and commerce.
Go to page  |  Download/Listen   41:30

Living On Earth

Three Years Later, Gulf Oil Spill Impact Still a Problem — 25 Jan 2013 — More than 1,000 scientists and government officials recently met in New Orleans to share the latest research on the effects of the 2010 BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Reporter Mark Schleifstein summarizes what scientists have learned since the largest oil spill in US history. He notes the extra toxicity imparted by the use of Corexit and questions the safety of Gulf seafood, despite official proclamations that all is well.
Go to page  |  Download/Listen   6:36

Radio Ecoshock

Can We Avoid a Collapse? — 22 Jan 2013 — Paul Ehrlich's latest Royal Society Paper asks "Can a collapse of global civilization be avoided?" Our abuse of the environment that sustains us is so enormous and our delusions about our technograndiosity so thorough, he estimates our chances at about 10%. He notes, though, that perhaps he's being too optimistic, given that the corrupt, brainless leadership of the planet and the clueless lemming masses are racing towards the cliff together.
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Radio Ecoshock

US Pushing Risky Oil Leases in the Arctic — 22 Jan 2013— John Talberth is an economist at the Center for Sustainable Economy, which is suing the US Government over risky ocean oil leases in the Arctic. He reviews both the environmental stupidity and procedural illegality of the leases.
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Living On Earth

America's Bats on the Brink — 25 Jan 2013 — Bats should be hibernating this time of year, but winter visitors to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park have spotted them flying around in the middle of the day. Scientists suspect their odd behavior may be caused by white nose syndrome, a disease that is devastating the US bat population. Katie Gillies of Bat Conservation International discusses the state of bats in the United States, warning that we are witnessing an extinction event on an unparalleled scale, and the impact on their natural pest-control services is likely to affect humans bigtime.
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Living On Earth

Can Prairie Dogs Save Mexico's Prairie From the Desert? — 25 Jan 2013 — There were once an estimated 32 billion black-tailed prairie dogs across the prairies of the US West and Mexico. Today, only 1-2 million remain, the rest having been largely wiped out by ranchers in a long-term extermination effort. But ironically, the lack of prairie dogs changed the ecosystems in a way that eventually made the areas unusable for grazing. Now activists in Mexico are working to bring back the prairie dogs and help restore the prairie as well.
Go to page  |  Download/Listen   6:06

Quirks & Quarks

Counting the Bugs in a Rainforest — 19 Jan 2013 — Most species of insects and arachnids are found in tropical rainforests. Over 100 scientists from 21 countries recently set out to explore arthropod diversity by way of a detailed headcount in a small area of Panamanian rainforest. Dr. Neville Winchester reviews the findings.
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Science Friday

E-Waste—2.5 Million Tons/Year in the US Alone — 11 Jan 2013 — With only one in ten cell phones being recycled—and cell phones are just one of the many categories of e-waste—discarded electronics are a serious problem. Old batteries and circuit boards cause water pollution, and valuable resources are not being recaptured. Why is our culture still so throw-away oriented?
Go to page  |  Download/Listen   4:18

NPR

Texas Man Makes Last Stand Against Keystone XL Pipeline — 25 Dec 2012 — David Daniel, an east Texas landowner, was determined to block the Keystone XL pipeline from coming through his forest. So he built an elaborate network of treehouses eight stories above the ground. With the help of some tree-sitting friends, he saved his patch of trees. But the pipeline marched on with a slightly different path...
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Living on Earth

Threats to Clean Water, Yesterday and Today — 28 Dec 2012— Forty years ago, when rivers caught fire and fish were washing up dead by the thousands, Americans demanded swimmable, fishable waterways. In 1972, the creation of the Clean Water Act changed the way water pollution is managed in America. In part 1, William Ruckelshaus comments on the initial implementation of the Clean Water Act. Then, a discussion of challenges to clean water today, including crumbling infrastructure, stormwater overflows, agricultural runoff, personal care products, and lack of enforcement.
Part 1:  Go to page  |  Download/Listen   15:34
Part 2:  Go to page  |  Download/Listen   17:38

Radio EcoShock

Feedback Between Economic Activity and Climate Change—A Lose-Lose Proposition — 05 Dec 2012 — Guy McPherson gives a speech on climate change feedback loops—rapid, unpredictable, and non-linear responses—which, at this point, almost guarantee a massive climate shift that will result in an economic collapse. Unless, of course, the economy collapses first. He also explains why the goals proposed by 350.org are ridiculous. ~~ Other segments include Daphne Wysham on the coal addiction of the World Bank.
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Democracy Now

Doha Climate Talks—More About Profits Than Solutions — 07 Dec 2012 — Claudia Salerno, Venezuelan climate negotiator, says her main concern at the UN Climate Change Conference in Doha is that new commitments to the Kyoto Protocol, the only legally binding international climate agreement, will be meaningless because economic preferences are trumping environmental dictates. ~~ Speaking on behalf of youth organizations, Munira Sibai gives a fiery speech on the utter failure of world leaders—not only their complete absence of vision, but also an active effort by some to move backwards.
Watch  |  Download/Listen   12:44

Living on Earth

Oil Pollutes On in Nigeria — 14 Dec 2012 — Nigeria is one of the top oil producing countries in the world. Reuters reporter Tim Cocks explains why oil pollution and frequent spills remain a problem in this West African country.
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Living On Earth

Gold Mining Boom Rocks Peru — 04 Jan 2013 — As the price of gold continues to rise, mining smaller deposits can be very lucrative. Bat as On Earth writer George Black explains, in developing countries like Peru, rules are lax and environmentally destruction comes hand-in-hand with gold extraction. Some in the affected areas are demonstrating their anger over the situation.
Go to page  |  Download/Listen   7:22

Living On Earth

Corexit—A 50-Fold Increase in Toxicity in the Gulf of Mexico — 07 Dec 2012 — To keep the Deepwater Horizon oil spill from looking so bad at the surface—big oil slicks make bad press, after all—the EPA and BP conspired to apply the oil dispersant Corexit, which broke the oil into microscopic globules that (mostly) did not float on the surface. That may have been good PR, but it was very bad ecological strategy. A new study shows that the oil-Corexit combination is 50 times more toxic to planktonic species than either the oil or Corexit alone.
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Sea Change Radio

Coping With the Rising Seas — 04 Dec 2012 — The idea that our planet's oceans are rising is no longer the purview of pessimistic doomsayers—higher sea levels (and worse storm surges) are the new reality. Oceanographer John Englander provides a roadmap for readjusting our fiscal, social, and political expectations in a world with significant sea level change. ~~ Then David Hedman describes a new heat-based, non-toxic mold remediation technology.
Go to page  |  Download/Listen   29:59

Food Sleuth Radio

Greatest Threats to Clean Water and Strategies to Enact Policy Changes — 22 Nov 2012 — Activist Brady Russell talks about his work with Clean Water Action in Philadelphia, the greatest threats to clean water, and which environmental strategies work and which don't. In particular, he thinks grassroots action towards politicians is doomed to failure because of the nature of politicians. Direct action against polluting companies has a much better chance of success.
Go to page  |  Download/Listen   28:15

NPR

Conflicts, Errors Revealed In Positive Fracking Studies — 07 Dec 2012 — A report that put fracking in a favorable light is at the center of a controversy at the University of Texas. The head of the school's Energy Institute has stepped down and another professor has retired after an investigation found numerous errors in the report and undisclosed conflicts of interest. And this study is not the only one under fire.
Go to page  |  Download/Listen   2:09

(GP comment:  Industry-friendly shills in academia are getting fracked by their lubricity. :-)

Food Sleuth

The Impact of Fracking on People and Communities — 29 Nov 2012— Jill Kriesky talks about the effects of fracking on water quality and people's quality of life, as well as the specious argument that fracking creates lots of local, high-paying jobs.
Download/Listen   28:15

Living On Earth

Trouble for the King of Beasts — 07 Dec 2012 — Africa's "king of beasts" is now more threatened than ever before. Lion populations have dropped sharply in the last fifty years, largely due to habitat loss and poaching. Conservationist Stuart Pimm discusses a new lion habitat survey.
Go to page  |  Download/Listen   7:20

Political Analysis

The Legislative Effort to Stop Mountaintop Removal Coal Mining — 04 Dec 2012 — Bo Webb of Coal River Mountain Watch and Dr. Michael Hendryx of the West Virginia Rural Health Research Center discuss a new legislative effort to stop the devastating practice of mountaintop removal (MTR) coal mining. It's called the Appalachian Community Health Emergency Act. Dr. Hendryx also discusses some of the studies that have shown health problems and higher death rates for people living in areas affected by MTR mining.
Download/Listen   56:51

Expanding Mind

Dark Green Religion—Nature, Spirituality, and the Planetary Future — 02 Dec 2012— Professor Bron Taylor discusses the nature of the sacred and environmentalism as a fusion of science and spirit. Have you had your nature epiphany?
Download/Listen   57:30

NPR

AAA Calls For Suspension of New 15% Ethanol Fuel — 04 Dec 2012 — The Environmental Protection Agency has certified that all vehicles from the 2001 model year on can run on E15, the new 15%-ethanol gasoline blend. But the American Automobile Association, based on auto manufacturers' concerns, has warned that the new blend could damage some engines.
Go to page  |  Download/Listen   3:12

Radio EcoShock

Overload—From Overpopulation to Tar Sands Pollution — 21 Nov 2012 — Filmmaker Mike Freedman says we've hit critical mass in the slide towards extinction by overpopulation. ~~ Bill McKibben explains why everybody in the world needs to battle the Tar Sands. ~~ Council of Canadians founder Maude Barlow exposes the link between dirty energy and dirty politics. ~~ Native leader Caleb Behn discusses the disaster that fracking is imparting to his people's land and explains how folks around the world can join in the fight against this scourge.
Go to page  |  Download/Listen   1:00:00

Radio EcoShock

Climate Change—Official Plans and Lies — 14 Nov 2012 — Well, it turns out the leading speechifiers on climate change—at least the political ones—have been lying. Um, no, not lying in ways that would confirm climate skeptics' assertions that climate change is a hoax; rather, lying in ways that underestimate the coming impact and lock us into climate "solutions" that are too weak to work. The math says that climate mitigation at this point is unachievable, and worse still, that climate adaptation is also unachievable. So says climate guru Kevin Anderson. Urk! Why are our leaders sweeping the bad news under the rug? And what can we do?
Go to page  |  Download/Listen   1:00:00

Living on Earth

Superstorms and Climate Change — 02 Nov 2012 — Sandy combined with a western storm to become a superstorm, which hit the Eastern US with a powerful punch. In part 1, Kevin Trenberth of the National Center for Atmospheric Research discusses how climate change contributed to the storm's power. In part 2, former insurance mogul Steve Dishart explains why insurance companies are paying attention to climate change, why rates will rise, and why some properties will be uninsurable in the future.
Part 1:  Go to page  |  Download/Listen   6:23
Part 2:  Go to page  |  Download/Listen   6:02

NPR

'Erin Brockovich' Town Faces New Threat — 22 Nov 2012 — Hinkley, California, is the small town that battled toxic groundwater and inspired the 2000 film Erin Brockovich. Now residents say they are experiencing a sequel to their story. Residents have been developing strange rashes, and Pacific Gas & Electric—the company blamed for the town's groundwater pollution—has begun once again offering to buy homes, this time in areas previously believed to be unaffected by the contamination.
Go to page  |  Download/Listen   5:23

Food Chain Radio

Suburban Wildlife—An Important Connection with Nature or Just a Nuisance? — 17 Nov 2012 — James Sterba, author of Nature Wars, discusses the modern wild animal, which lives fearlessly in the tame plains of suburbia. En mass, these animals can be nuisances and can cause property damage and personal injury. Topics include why so many wild animals now live in cities and suburbs; why cities are so inviting to wild animals; innovative ideas for using the meat from culls; and how the management, or lack thereof, of city wildlife is now sparking "nature wars" throughout neighborhoods.
Go to page  |  Download/Listen   42:53

Quirks & Quarks

Whales for the Killing — 27 Oct 2012 — Commercial whaling was banned by international agreement in 1986. But even outside of the hunting that nations like Japan and Norway continue to pursue, human activity is still killing whales in large numbers. Canadian marine biologist Julie van der Hoop explains the data on whale mortality from a studied area of the North Atlantic coast. The data showed a significant number of whale deaths from causes such as ship strikes and fishing-gear entanglement.
Go to page  |  Download/Listen   8:38

Radio EcoShock

Storms in the Emergency Room — 31 Oct 2012 — Daphne Wysham reports on whether Sandy can be tied to climate change. ~~ Georgina Woods discusses the huge coal expansion going on in Australia. ~~ Canada is planning to dump nuclear waste right next to Lake Huron.
Go to page  |  Download/Listen   1:00:00

Radio EcoShock

Ravaging Tide or Renewable World? — 07 Nov 2012 — Can big cities like New York or Washington protect against storm surge and rising seas? Alex Smith discusses the topic with Mike Tidwell, author of The Ravaging Tide: Strange Weather, Future Katrinas, and the Coming Death of America's Coastal Cities. Then J. Court Stevenson of the University of Maryland discusses city surge defenses around the world. Finally, Daphne Wysham interviews German Green Parliamentarian Hermann Ott on leading the way to renewables before climate collapse.
Go to page  |  Download/Listen   59:59

NPR

Why Is Antarctic Ice Surging While Arctic Sea-Ice Levels Hit Record Lows? — 08 Oct 2012 — The ice covering the Arctic Ocean hit a record low this summer, in keeping with a sharp warming trend in the far north. At the same time, the amount of the ocean around Antarctica covered by sea ice hit a record high. Sure, it's winter in Antarctica when it's summer in the Arctic, but why in a warming world is wintertime ice growing anywhere?
Go to page  |  Download/Listen   4:28

Unwelcome Guests

The 6th Mass Extinction — 24 Nov 2012 — So, how is the life on earth faring under corporate globalization? Well, not so good. The first segment of the two hours is a radio adaptation of the video Call of Life, which focuses on the mass extinction already under way, the 6th in earth's history, and the greatest for at least 65,000,000 years. Then an excerpt from Meet Your Meat describes the suffering inflicted on animals by the agribusiness industry. The concluding segment is a radio adaptation of the parable The Man Who Planted Trees, which tells the enchanting story of a French shepherd determined to re-forest a desolate valley.
Ref Page:  Go to page
Part 1:  Download/Listen   59:30
Part 2:  Download/Listen   59:30

Referenced video:
Watch free:  The Man Who Planted Trees

If You Love This Planet

The Potential for Biomimicry to Create More Efficient Technologies — 09 Nov 2012_— Entrepreneur and inventor Jay Harman has had a lifelong fascination with natural systems and has applied those principles when designing innovative products that range from a prize-winning watercraft to a non-invasive technology for measuring blood glucose. Harman discusses the ways in which the designs of nature—perfected over millions of years—can be applied to the design of industrial and consumer products.
Go to page  |  Download/Listen   59:00

(GP comment:  Fascinating stuff, though he appears to be an agnostic on the ills of the infinite-growth paradigm, efficient or otherwise.)

Sierra Club Radio

EVs Electrify the 2013 Model Year — 27 Oct 2012 — Reed McManus of Sierra Magazine discusses some of the new electric cars on the market as well as the EV driving experience. Reed's article Plugged In compares feature and mileage for some of the more popular models.
Page to download whole show  |  Download/listen to this segment   12:54

Food Sleuth Radio

Chemicals and Health — 18 Oct 2012 — Theo Colborn, who has advocated for improved chemical safety for three decades, discusses how chemicals can disrupt endocrine functions and affect human health and behavior, even at ultra-low concentration levels. Adding to the problem is that most chemical testing still relies on the "LD50/toxicity/cancer" model, whereas more modern knowledge understands that endocrine disruption often occurs at much lower concentrations of the chemicals (and possibly not at all at higher levels).
Go to page  |  Download/Listen   28:15

If You Love This Planet

Talking Green, Going Brown — 12 Oct 2012 — David Freeman discusses the near collapse of the environmental movement. Yes, there are still many people working on issues, but traditional political allies now mostly "talk green and act brown." He says the large eco NGOs have almost all capitulated to accepting small victories at the expense of winning the war to save the planet and ourselves. He focuses on nuclear power as perhaps the most insane unaddressed activity. ("Anyone who would substitute plutonium for carbon is an idiot.") Freeman does not advise giving up, though—he promotes a massive grassroots pushback to promote solar and wind power and demote coal, oil, gas, and nuclear.
Go to page  |  Download/Listen   59:00

(GP comment:  Aptly framed. I suspect Freeman actually does understand that the political system is corrupt beyond salvage, but still feels the need to offer hope.)

Living On Earth

Challenging Expansion of Canada's Tar Sands — 26 Oct 2012— Canada's tar sands cover an area the size of New York State. Now, Shell Canada wants to expand its Jackpine tar sands mining operations. But several First Nations communities who live there are fiercely protesting the plans. Chelsea Flook of the Sierra Club Prairie Chapter explains the environmental and social ramifications of the proposed expansion.
Go to page  |  Download/Listen   6:26

Sea Change Radio

Clean Coal, Threats to Mining Jobs, and Other Myths — 16 Oct 2012 — As candidates hurl accusations of being either pro-coal or anti-coal—depending on which state they're in—the mountain-destroying juggernaut known as the coal industry continues blasting away. Matt Wasson, an advocate against mountaintop removal mining, reviews the facts about coal and mining, countering industry propaganda and explaining why a coal-free energy future is both possible and desirable for the US.
Go to page  |  Download/Listen   29:59

Political Analysis

Tar Sands Oil Extraction—The Dirty Truth — 17 Oct 2012 — This show features excerpts from the documentary Tar Sands Oil Extraction—The Dirty Truth, which exposes the destruction and pollution associated with the world's largest extraction operation, Canada's Tar Sands project. ~~ The program also features excerpts from Chris Hedges' speech, "How Corporations Destroyed America," in which Hedges talks about the ravages of unlimited corporate power and how consumers have internalized corporate values to the extent that we barely know who we are.
Download/Listen   55:35

NPR

Nitrogen Runoff—A Marsh Killer — 18 Oct 2012 — Marshes along streams and estuaries protect land from storm surges. But they're disappearing fast and scientists have now confirmed the role of a suspected marsh killer—runoff pollution. Nitrogen from fertilizers and sewage is carried via rain runoff to marshes. This makes plants grow faster on the top, but their roots don't keep up and can't adequately grip the soil. The soil banks collapse and the marsh turns to mud.
Go to page  |  Download/Listen   3:34

Living on Earth

The Dance of Life — 19 Oct 2012 — There is an intricate relationship between plants and their environments—climate, pest levels, and other factors. Biologist Anurag Agrawal explains how plants can evolve and adapt in near-real time to changing pest threats and other emergent conditions.
Go to page  |  Download/Listen   7:11

Turning Point

Derrick Jensen on Power, Psychosis, and Environmental Insanity — 01 Oct 2012 — Derrick Jensen discusses the power of the corporatocracy, the mass psychosis that society in general suffers from, and the delusion of hopefulness that environmentalists in particular suffer from. No real progress can be made without taking on power and psychopathy, and that will not happen until we're willing to take the first step—naming our enemies.
Download/Listen   57:43

Radio EcoShock

The Food Crunch ... and Revolution — 08 Oct 2012 — Rob Stewart's first hit movie was Sharkwater; now he's out with a more comprehensive film: Revolution. Four years in the making, Revolution finds humanity ignoring dying oceans—at our own peril. ~~ Lester Brown of the Earth Policy Institute describes how food issues affect political stability around the world. His latest books is Full Planet, Empty Plates, reflective of the disconnect between rising population and falling agricultural productivity.
Go to page  |  Download/Listen   1:00:00

Making Contact

The Burning Issue—America's War on Fire — 18 Sep 2012 — Every summer, wildfires torch thousands of acres of land; some years more than others. For every fire, the National Forest Service rushes to the rescue—to save lives, homes, and communities. But is the agency's approach to fire doing more harm than good? Ecologists say yes, and even some firefighters are starting to agree. But the issue is far from settled.
Go to page  |  Download/Listen   28:56

Living on Earth

"Silent Spring" Turns 50 — 21 Sep 2012 — Rachel Carson's book Silent Spring—a seminal work on the harmful nature of chemical pesticides—came out 50 years ago this month. Clip 1 looks back at some of her personal correspondence, giving insight into the genesis of Silent Spring. In clip 2, a review of pesticide use over the last half-century shows that use of dangerous chemicals has increased, not decreased.
Part 1:  Go to page  |  Download/Listen   10:41
Part 2:  Go to page  |  Download/Listen   5:48

NPR

The Climate Change Threat to "Plankton Services" — 30 Sep 2012 — Plankton—tiny ocean organisms—are vital to life on Earth, generating enough oxygen to account for every other breath you take. As climate change alters the temperature and acidity of our waters, these mysterious ocean creatures may be in jeopardy.
Go to page  |  Download/Listen   3:27

Radio EcoShock

Heading to Air Conditioned Hell — 19 Sep 2012 — As the world warms due to greenhouse gas increases, people will crank up the air conditioning. But greater use of energy and refrigerants will release more greenhouse gases—a classic feedback loop. Discussion from Stan Cox, author of Losing Our Cool, Guus Velders, an expert on ozone and climate, and Michael Sivak of the Michigan Transportation Research Institute.
Go to page  |  Download/Listen   1:00:00

Radio EcoShock

Arctic Meltdown—Scientists Speak Out — 12 Sep 2012 — In 2012, the Arctic sea ice hit a stunning new record low. Rutgers scientist Jennifer Francis explains how this will change the weather for billions of people in the Northern Hemisphere. ~~ Then Mark Serreze, director of the Snow and Ice Data Center, discusses the record melting and what it means. ~~ Finally, polar scientist Jennifer Bitz offers analysis.
Go to page  |  Download/Listen   1:00:00

TUC Radio

Biotechnology, Chemicals, and the Price of Truth — 28 Aug 2012 — This program is about academic freedom and independent thinking; corporate intervention into science and the buying of academia; the collusion of regulatory agencies with the very corporations they are supposed to oversee; and, maybe most frightening of all, the invasion of our bodily systems by hormone-disrupting chemicals and rogue DNA from GMOs.
Part 1:  Go to page  |  Download/Listen   29:00
Part 2:  Go to page  |  Download/Listen   29:00

(GP comment:  The speeches are from years past, but the issues—health effects of chemicals and GMOs, suppression of information, and punishment of whistleblowers—are still among today's most important issues, which makes this worth a listen. )

Corbett Report

Portland vs. Fluoride — 11 Aug 2012 — Dr. Paul Connett of the Fluoride Action Network and Kimberly Kaminski of Oregon Citizens for Safe Drinking Water discuss the politically motivated drive to add fluoride to the drinking water in Portland. Topics include the political background of this initiative and the adverse health effects of water fluoridation.
Go to page  |  Download/Listen   45:28

NPR

As Temps Rise, Cities Combat Heat Island Effect — 04 Sep 2012 — Because of cities' high ratio of concrete, blacktop, and roofs to plant matter, cities suffer higher temperatures relative to rural area. As global warming proceeds, cities are expected to heat twice as fast. Adding more green space, trees, and green roofs can help reduce the effect, cutting summertime power consumption, improving residents' comfort levels, and rebalancing urban carbon input-output ratios.
Go to page  |  Download/Listen   7:46

C-Realm Podcast

Sandra Steingraber on the "Well-Informed Futility" Syndrome — 05 Sep 2012 — KMO and Sandra Steingraber discuss the array of environmental and social challenges facing civilization. They start with fracking, which may be the ultimate bad tradeoff—ostensibly "clean" natural gas whose extraction results in pollution of known-to-be-clean groundwater. But rather than trying to motivate people to "environmental action," she thinks approaching sustainability issues from a social, human-rights perspective is likely to be more fruitful. And to those environmentalists who believe that the problems are too overwhelming to attack or that compromise is unavoidable, she encourages adoption of the morally correct position for the 21st century: that we must reject and replace the fossil fuel economy. Go to page  |  Download/Listen   58:57

Food Chain Radio

Animal Rights & Wrongs — 08 Sep 2012 — Matt Rice of Mercy For Animals and Kay Johnson Smith of Animal Agriculture Alliance discuss the state of farm-animal welfare, using as a jumping-off point the recently released video showing downer cows being slaughtered inhumanely and leading to the federal government closing the abattoir. Topics include the rights given animals in agriculture; who gives those rights to the animals; and whether the animals can be treated humanely enough to satisfy the people who advocate for them.
Go to page  |  Download/Listen   42:34

C-Realm Podcast

Fracked Natural Gas No Answer to US Energy Future — 22 Aug 2012 — The US fracking boom may have produced a temporary abundance of domestic natural gas, but it's becoming clear that pollution of groundwater is a major side effect. Anti-fracking activists Jim Weiss and Joe Heath explain why natural gas fracking is neither clean nor affordable, they expose the industry propaganda about freeing America from dependence on foreign sources of energy, they talk about the tangle of intricacies related to lawyeristic gas drilling leases, and they report on how citizens are pushing back against fracking,.
Go to page  |  Download/Listen   59:23

Radio EcoShock

Looking for an End — 05 Sep 2012 — Gareth Renowden "The Climate Show" reviews the big climate stories. ~~ From Beijing, Li Yan of Greenpeace East Asia discusses China's emissions and coal dependence. ~~ Plus "Tip of the Iceberg News" points you to important blog posts and audio you may have missed.
Go to page  |  Download/Listen   1:00:00

Science Friday

Forget About the Climate Change Debate—Just Do the Resource-Smart Things — 24 Aug 2012 — Peter Blyck of the film Carbon Nation explains how we can tackle climate change by ignoring it. That is, forget about the hopelessly deadlocked, politically driven climate debate. The right things to do for climate change are also the right things to do to run economically smart businesses and households.
Go to page  |  Download/Listen   12:12

Diet Science

How to Avoid BPA — 13 Aug 2012 — The chemical BPA has just been banned in baby bottles and sippy cups. That's good for the health of babies and toddlers. But with 90% of adults having BPA in their systems—and with BPA being an endocrine disruptor—why not figure out how everyone in the family can avoid getting contaminated?
Go to page  |  Download/Listen   6:44

Progressive Commentary Hour

Hydrofracking—Not the Right Answer on Any Level — 13 Jul 2012 — Gary Null interviews three people in the thick of the fight against fracking. (1) Anthony Dwight Baum outlines the environmental risks of hydrofracking and explains why the greenhouse gases from natural gas are just as bad as those from coal if you examine full life-cycle emissions. (2) Jennifer Krill of Earthworks discusses natural gas ordinances and legislation. (3) Local New York council member Dominic Frangillo discusses the political fight against fracking in his state.
Download/Listen   1:07:36

Uprising

"Catch Shares"—A Model for Sustainable Fishing? — 22 Aug 2012 — Catch Shares are fishery management systems that dedicate a secure privilege to harvest a specific area or percentage of a fishery's total allowable catch to individuals, communities or associations. Hundreds of such programs have been implemented worldwide. A new study assesses which ones are successful and why.
Go to page  |  Download/Listen   13:05

Sea Change Radio

Climate Science, Policy, and Regional Progress — 07 Aug 2012— Richard Phillips discusses his recently published study on how much trees actually do (or don't) mitigate carbon emissions. His findings will help ensure more accurate calculations for CO2 emissions from countries like the United States that rely on forests to offset their high rates of pollution. ~~ Seth Berry discusses the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, also known as ReGGIe, a cap-and-trade system for carbon emissions from power plants with nine participating US states and some parts of eastern Canada.
Go to page  |  Download/Listen   29:59

(GP comment:  Any anti-CO2 scheme that gives the money to statehouses or Washington instead of the people is just another tax and is doomed—i.e. tax SHIFTING is the only approach that has any chance of working.)

NPR

Greenland Ice Sheet Melting At Abnormally High Rate — 25 Jul 2012 — Each summer, historically, about half of the surface of the Greenland ice sheet melts. This summer, an estimated 97 percent of the ice sheet's surface was in melt mode. NASA scientist Tom Wagner discusses the unusually fast rate of melting.
Go to page  |  Download/Listen   3:24

Democracy Now

Major Climate Skeptic Admits Global Warming Real, Human-Caused — 02 Aug 2012 — In the 2000s, physicist Richard Muller offered a loud litany of complaints about climate data and methodologies. He subsequently undertook his own review of the data and, surprise!, he now thinks that the planet is indeed warming, that it is a problem, and that it is largely human-caused. He discusses his conversion from climate skepticism. ~~ Then Bill McKibben comments, congratulating Muller on catching up to what was known 20 years ago and stating that the science is now so indisputable that even industry-funded climate change deniers can't refute that the planet is warming.
Video:  Watch 1  |  Watch 2
Audio:  Download/Listen All   28:56

(GP comment:  Beware—Muller promotes the idiotic "run everything on natural gas" approach as the solution. Anyone want to bet on whether he'll support nuclear too?)

Sierra Club Radio

How Smart Birds Behave Like Humans — 25 Aug 2012 — John Marzluff, author of Gifts of the Crow: How Perception, Emotion, and Thought Allow Smart Birds to Behave Like Humans discusses evidence of intelligence in birds, including facial recognition and grieving.
Page to download entire show  |  Download/listen to this segment   14:52

Science Friday

Bloody Tourists!  Literally? — 03 Aug 2012 — Andrew Blackwell has toured some of the most polluted places on earth, including polluted rivers in India, the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, and the oil refinery areas of Port Arthur, Texas. In his book Visit Sunny Chernobyl: And Other Adventures In The World's Most Polluted Places, Blackwell describes traveling to the world's most contaminated destinations.
Go to page  |  Download/Listen   34:46

Living on Earth

Caffeine in the Water — 10 Aug 2012 — Like many other chemicals of modern life, caffeine is not fully filtered out by treatment systems. A certain amount of caffeine remains in the water, and some aquatic species—including some that humans eat—concentrate the chemical.
Go to page  |  Download/Listen   5:36

(GP comment:  Some good info here, but the researcher's assertion that septic systems are more of a problem than the 30-40% of unfiltered caffeine from urban treatment plants is statistically laughable.)

Living On Earth

Marine Reserves Protect Coastal Biodiversity and Ocean Vitality — 03 Aug 2012 — Marine reserves are sanctuaries in oceans and coastal waters where no fishing is allowed, and often no hunting of any kind. More countries are setting aside these areas, but economic pressures often limit the size of the reserves to less than optimal effectiveness.
Part 1:  Go to page  |  Download/Listen   6:44
Part 2:  Go to page  |  Download/Listen   6:55

NPR

No Space, Mate—Koalas' Habitat Under Threat — 04 Aug 2012 — Earlier this year, the Australian government added the koala to the country's list of endangered species. By some counts, only about 100,000 remain in the wild in a country that once boasted a population in the millions. But many conservationists say the listing doesn't go far enough.
Go to page  |  Download/Listen   5:28

ExtraEnvironmentalist

Giving Environmentalism a Reality Check — 28 Jul 2012 — Paul Kingsnorth explains why the mainstream environmental movement has become hopelessly mired in panglossian, technoutopic ideas that offer a positive but unrealistic vision of a green future. Then, Michael M'Gonigle talks about why liberal environmentalism is no longer useful in creating laws to protect our environment. He instead emphasizes local solutions and decentralization of power.
Download/Listen   2:22:18

(GP comment:  Until you change the way money works (take control back from the banksters) and until you kill the infinite growth paradigm (which is impossible on a finite planet), all environmental victories will be temporary. (Thank you, Michael Ruppert.))

NPR

Ford's High-Mileage Three-Cylinder Engine Hits US in 2013 — 24 Jul 2012 — Ford's new three-cylinder EcoBoost engine—which offers gas mileage of 45-50 mpg—will hit the US market next year. Will car buyers pay a little bit more for the high-tech, high-mileage motor?
Go to page  |  Download/Listen   4:44

(GP comment:  Congratulations to Ford for getting to where the Europeans and Japanese were three decades ago.)

NPR

Heat and Drought—This is Your Future on Climate Change — 20 Jul 2012 — While Texas and some other drought-plagued areas of the US have received rain recently, a devastating drought has taken over areas of the Rocky Mountains and Midwest. William DeBuys discusses the number of new high temperature records in the context of climate change.
Go to page  |  Download/Listen   5:00

Radio EcoShock

Climate—Burn Down the House or Go All-Out for the Techno-Fix? — 01 Jul 2012 — Alex Smith summarizes the latest news on climate change, including rampant forest fires and the failure of the mainstream media to report on the relationship between global warming, changing rainfall patterns, and worsening wildfires. ~~ Daniel Rirdan explains how we might avert a global collapse through intelligent use of alternative energy technologies and economic incentives. ~~ Brita Belli talks about her E Magazine article "This Is Your Ocean on Acid"—about the largely unreported acidification of the oceans, a major climate-related problem.
Go to page  |  Download/Listen   1:00:00

NPR

Companies Skirt Black-Lung Rules, By Design — 10 Jul 2012 — An investigation has revealed widespread and persistent gaming of the system that's designed to measure and control the coal mine dust that causes black lung.
Go to page  |  Download/Listen   7:56

Living on Earth

Chemicals—The Evidence Against Keeps Mounting — 13 Jul 2012 — There are tens of thousands of chemicals in everyday products. Only a fraction of these have been tested for toxicity and health effects in the US. Richard Denison, a senior scientist at the Environmental Defense Fund, discusses several news studies that raise troubling health questions.
Go to page  |  Download/Listen   10:10

Connect The Dots

Getting More Buy-In on the Impacts of Chemicals — 18 Jul 2012 — Ted Schettler and Elise Miller of the Collaborative on Health and Environment discuss ways that the well established but mostly ignored impacts of chemicals can be better presented to stakeholder groups that may not even be aware they are stakeholders.
Download/Listen   55:36

Living on Earth

The Fight Against Highway Herbicides — 13 Jul 2012 — Highway departments across the nation put time, energy and resources into maintaining the side of the road, often preferring to keep it devoid of plants. But in Oregon, some residents don't want chemicals used to keep the highway shoulders bare.
Go to page  |  Download/Listen   8:10

(GP comment:  Just another of the unnecessary and egregious insults we hurl at ecosystems in the name of modernity.)

Exploration

Green, Greener, Greenest — 12 Jul 2012 — Lori Bongiorno offer tips on way to be greener, within your budget and commitment level.
Download/Listen   59:21

(GP comment:  Good ideas all, and well presented. But "greenest" would really look like a complete reformation of the destructive plutocratic oligopoly, not just an improvement in consumerism.)

Living on Earth

Worst-Ever US River Spill, Revisited — 06 Jul 2012 — In July 2010, a pipeline carrying Canadian heavy oil cracked open in Michigan, leading to the biggest pipeline spill since records have been kept. To make matters worse, the corporate operator kept quiet about the sludgy nature of the pipeline's contents, seriously hampering the cleanup. A court has now levied a record fine.
Go to page  |  Download/Listen   7:22

Sea Change Radio

The New, Biosphere-Centric Economics — 17 Jul 2012 — John Fullerton, a former Wall Street bigwig, discusses a financial system transformation that will focus on sustainable and regenerative land use, food, and water.
Go to page  |  Download/Listen   29:59

(GP comment:  Yada yada—the approach here still offers investing—albeit green—as the solution. By any name or flavor, investing is part of the parasitic money paradigm. Ingenuity and hard work should be that path to prosperity, not clever deployment of accumulated (and often ill-gotten) wealth— especially in a system where the 1% of the 1% control the monetary system.)

Democracy Now

David Suzuki on Our Failure to Find a Sustainable Path — 25 Jun 2012 — David Suzuki laments two decades worth of governments failing to agree on meaningful climate and sustainability solutions, saying that if we can't change the trend, we are doomed. But it's not just the politicians that are the problem—all people must start to see the earth as the place that nurtures and sustains them, not a thing to be exploited. Until then, we will keep heading towards the cliff.
Watch  |  Download/Listen   35:40

(GP comment:  Generally excellent, though Suzuki cuts Obama way too much slack. Obama is a corporatist, not an environmentalist "trapped by the system.")

Sea Change Radio

Josh Fox on Hydraulic Fracturing Propaganda — 26 Jun 2012 — Josh Fox's film Gasland brought to public attention the groundwater contamination that seems to be an inevitable side effect of using hydraulic fracturing to get at tough natural gas resources. Gasland also stirred up a mighty counter-campaign by the fracking industry, which took a page from the playbook of tobacco firms and climate deniers. The more confusion they can create about the actual facts, the better the chance that they can keep pumping and polluting. Fox's expose, The Sky Is Pink, explains what's been happening.
Go to page  |  Download/Listen   29:44

Living On Earth

Gulf Oil Disaster Adds New Facet to Gulf of Mexico's Woes — 29 Jun 2012 — Even before five million barrels of oil entered the Gulf of Mexico from BP's Deepwater Horizon project, the marshes off Louisiana's coast were struggling under the weight of changed water flow patterns, thanks to levees, canals, dams, and rising sea levels. Marine biologist Brian Silliman explains why the Louisiana wetlands now have to work even harder to deal with the oil spill.
Go to page  |  Download/Listen   5:55

Radio EcoShock

Climate Change—A Planetary Shift with No Return? — 27 Jun 2012 — Twenty one scientists say Earth may be approaching a "state shift"—the ecosphere may change rapidly, never to return. Are we heading for a dramatic climate shift that cannot be undone? ~~ Australian green home builder John Morgan discusses the technologies in his low-footprint, low-cost home.
Go to page  |  Download/Listen   1:00:00

Living On Earth

American Coastal Regions Where Sea Levels Are Rising Fastest — 29 Jun 2012 — A new survey of American coastal regions shows the hot spots where sea levels are rising fastest. Ben Strauss, director of the program on Sea Level Rise at Climate Central, explains how much of the Eastern seaboard will see future coastal flooding.
Go to page  |  Download/Listen   5:33

On Point

Bill McKibben on the Climate Battle — 15 Jun 2012 — Environmental champion Bill McKibben wrote nearly a quarter century ago about what he called "the end of nature"—the end of the untouched wild. He didn't think he was writing about the end of the world. But climate change trends since then have made this a possibility. McKibben discusses 350.org, on-the-streets activism, climate politics, the Keystone XL pipeline, and more.
Go to page  |  Download/Listen   47:37

Living On Earth

Study Models How Climate Change Stokes Wildfires — 15 Jun 2012 — According to a new modeling study, within a generation, climate change will increase the frequency of wild fires across most of the globe. Atmospheric scientist Katharine Hayhoe explains how hotter temperatures, drought, and changing rain patterns will increase wildfires on 80% of the planet.
Go to page  |  Download/Listen   6:49

Sea Change Radio

The Geopolitics of Energy and Environment in the Melting Arctic — 05 Jun 2012 — In part 1, David Fairhall talks about the environmental, economic, and political ramifications of a new, thawed Arctic, and discusses whether the last best hope for ecological preservation in the Arctic lies in the hands of the scientific community. ~~ In part 2, Bob Reiss discusses the complex balancing act between native communities' economic and environmental needs as they are affected by oil drilling in northern Alaska.
Part 1:  Go to page  |  Download/Listen   29:30
Part 2:  Go to page  |  Download/Listen   29:59

Living On Earth

Removing Dams, Healing Rivers, Helping Species — 15 Jun 2012 — Archaic dams are coming down across the United States, giving new life to river ecosystems and a new chance for fish and other native species. John Catena of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration explains why dam removal not only clears the way for migrating fish, but also benefits local communities.
Go to page  |  Download/Listen   5:59

Living On Earth

Body Burden Studies Suggest Need to Ban Toxic Chemicals — 15 Jun 2012 — Three generations of Laura Turner Seydel's family underwent a body burden survey to see what chemicals each individual was harboring. The results were fascinating and troubling, putting her on a campaign to rid the family diets and households of chemicals.
Go to page  |  Download/Listen   8:39

Living On Earth

Poor Old Charlie, Still Stuck on the MTA — 15 Jun 2012 — Business is booming for mass transit in general, but for some cities it could be the end of the line. In Boston, public transportation is facing fare hikes and service cuts, but even that won't close the operating loss.
Go to page  |  Download/Listen   15:18

Living On Earth

Obesogens—Chemicals That Make You Fat — 01 Jun 2012 — Just as estrogen mimicking chemicals can wreak havoc with hormonal system, research is now showing that exposure to some chemicals can predispose people to being fatter. Scientist Bruce Blumberg explains.
Go to page  |  Download/Listen   7:00

Radio EcoShock

What If All of the Permafrost Thaws? — 30 May 2012— There is more carbon frozen in far north of the planet than in all living things and the atmosphere. It has begun to thaw. What is the long-term impact to the climate? In the shorter term, permafrost thaw is already wreaking havoc. Gas pipelines in Siberia are rising out of the ground, while in Alaska oil pipelines sag. Houses and factories built on permafrost are tipping and roads reroute themselves or crumble. Evergreens are slanting in so-called "drunken forests". Under the whole north, land is becoming unstable as the climate warms.
Go to page  |  Download/Listen   1:00:00

Sea Change Radio

Low-Carbon Living—Sweating The Right Stuff — 15 May 2012 — Brenda Ekwurzel of the Union of Concerned Scientists discusses a new guide that makes it easier to reduce your carbon footprint by 20%. The idea is to focus on things that truly matter and not get trapped in side channels that don't amount to much energy savings or CO2 reduction.
Go to page  |  Download/Listen   29:30

Radio EcoShock

It's Wrong to Wreck the World — 02 May 2012 — Kathleen Dean Moore delivers an excellent talk about the side effects of our boneheaded approach to living on the planet---that we are wrecking nature, particularly the stable climate. She argues that we adults have a moral obligation to the future to do something about it. She offers insights into the contradictions most of us find in our heads and gives a few suggestions on how we might tackle the climate problem before it's too late.
Go to page  |  Download/Listen   1:00:00

ExtraEnvironmentalist

Ronald Wright on Surviving Progress — 27 May 2012 — The complexity of modern civilization has obscured an ecological crisis through a finely crafted system of markets and trade. Local environmental problems can be exported across the world with modern technologies while placing the global economic ladder on ever shakier ground. Is our species capable of sparking a widespread and intelligent discussion of our trajectory as a species before the problems of social inequity and ecological collapse take civilization down?
Download/Listen   1:51:44

Unwelcome Guests

The Superior Human... Or Not — 02 Jun 2012 — Most humans, whether due to religious doctrine or intellectual conclusion, think humans are obviously the superior species on the planet. But is this just speciesism? This radio adaptation of the 2012 film The Superior Human examines the various reasons people think humans are somehow special and superior to other life forms. The most obvious characteristics that make humans superior turn out to be not-so-obvious on deeper examination.
Ref Page:  Go to page
Part 1:  Download/Listen   59:30
Part 2:  Download/Listen   59:30

Sea Change Radio

The Growth Problem and New Economic Horizons — 29 May 2012 — Gus Speth points out that economic growth is not the solution to our society's problems. In the last few decades, we've had tons of growth, yet the average person's economic status has fallen and general unhappiness has risen. ~~ Will Raap discusses the resource-footprint limitations of earth and how, at this point, we are overharvesting resources, stealing them from the future. ~~ Both men advocate completely reworking how the economy works.
Go to page  |  Download/Listen   29:59

Connect the Dots

Fracking Fluids and the Food Supply — 30 May 2012 — Dr. Michelle Bamberger and Professor Robert Oswald discuss their research showing how fracking fluids migrate into the food supply, causing health impacts for animals and humans.
Download/Listen   54:00

Radio Ecoshock

Why are Forests Dying Around the World? — 16 May 2012 — Forests around the world are dying from insects, fungus, drought, and heat. But the underlying drivers are climate change and ozone pollution. Activist Gail Zawacki explains how ground-level ozone is damaging trees and crops—and our lungs.
Go to page  |  Download/Listen   1:00:00

Living On Earth

Brazil's New Forest Code Under Fire — 11 May 2012 — A new proposed law to reduce Amazon deforestation in Brazil would pay landowners to reforest land, rather than fining them. But environmentalists say the bill will simply codify the profitability of deforestation.
Go to page  |  Download/Listen   8:33

Sierra Club Radio

Jim Robbins on Preserving Important Tree Species — 12 May 2012 — Jim Robbins talks about the reasons we need to be preserving the genetics of important tree species. He is author of The Man Who Planted Trees—Lost Groves, Champion Trees, and an Urgent Plan to Save the Planet.
Download/listen to this segment   8:16
Page to get full show

Related movie:
The Man Who Planted Trees  (watch free)

NPR

Fight Over Flame Retardants In Furniture Heats Up — 23 May 2012 — Almost all sofas and armchairs sold in the US have had the foam in their cushions treated with flame-retardant chemicals, thanks to a decades-old California law on fire safety. Some experts say the chemicals do little to prevent fires; still worse, the compounds are linked to health problems.
Go to page  |  Download/Listen   3:56

(GP comment:  It's almost shocking that there isn't anything here about the lack of in-depth testing of widely used chemicals, and especially the lack of low-dose testing for hormone disruption with chemicals like the flame retardants. Then again, it's NPR.)

Living On Earth

Methods for Encouraging Biking and Walking — 18 May 2012 — If you build bicycle trails, will they come? A pilot program doled out millions of dollars so four communities could bulk up their cycling infrastructure. Marianne Fowler of Rails to Trails talks about the results. In the second clip, Mikael Colville-Andersen discusses Copenhagen, one of the most bicycle-friendly cities in the world.
Part 1:  Go to page  |  Download/Listen   7:34
Part 2:  Go to page  |  Download/Listen   13:45

Radio EcoShock

Is It Too Late for Climate Action? — 09 May 2012 — Robert Rapier explains that the economic and political trends in the world strongly suggest that energy needs and demands for economic growth will continue to trump effective climate action. More broadly, Michael M'Gonigle explains his "Exit Environmentalism" concept, saying that we must recognize the environmental approaches that saw successes in the 1970s and 1980s have been stalled for two decades, and they will remain stalled until we address how money and power work.
Go to page  |  Download/Listen   1:00:00

Electric Politics

Ocean Acidification—Current State of Science — 13 Apr 2012 — Barbel Honisch is co-author of the scientific paper "The Geological Record of Ocean Acidification," published in Science. The paper shows that the rate of change of ocean acidification is greater today, by at least an order of magnitude, than it has ever been during any period over the past 300,000,000 years. Rate of change, not absolute pH level, is what matters for species and ecosystem health.
Go to page  |  Download/Listen   49:49

The Lifeboat Hour

Guy McPherson:  Walking Away From the Climate-Wrecking Juggernaut — 15 Apr 2012 — Guy McPherson left his tenured college teaching position. Once he realized the enormity of the climate challenge, he felt that he could not in good conscience keep teaching students how to be good gears in the machine that is destroying the planet. McPherson explains why industrial civilization and infinite growth must end immediately for humans to survive.
Download/Listen   56:46

Referenced books   (on Amazon.com)
-- Walking Away From Empire

Quirks & Quarks

Hot Coral—Making the Best of a Bad Situation — 14 Apr 2012 — In recent years, there have been increased reports of coral reefs, exposed to unusually warm water temperatures, suffering episodes of "bleaching." Dr. Simon Donner explains the bleaching process, why it's ultimately fatal for coral, and what the demise of the a coral reef can mean for a local ecosystem. He also discusses strategies for maximizing the amount of coral retained in a warmer world.
Go to page  |  Download/Listen   10:35

Living on Earth

Clearcutting and Chemicals — 04 May 2012 — After clearcutting, timber companies in Oregon spray the land with herbicides to prevent growth of unwanted species---that is, anything but the single tree species they will replant for the next clearcutting cycle. Though companies target the pesticides to their owned acreage, wind drift and water contamination make it inevitable that these chemicals find their way to neighboring land. Residents are worried that the chemicals are affecting their health.
Go to page  |  Download/Listen   15:51

Sea Change Radio

In the Shadow of the Smokestacks — 24 Apr 2012 — Richmond, California is one of the many communities in America where economic and environmental injustice intersect. The Chevron Richmond Refinery saddles the area with chemical leaks and warnings for residents not to leave their homes. Greg Karras describes the local environment and the fight against the refinery's unnecessarily polluting practices.
Go to page  |  Download/Listen   30:00

NPR

Texas Battling Pollution From Poultry Production — 02 May 2012 — Texas has become the sixth biggest state in poultry production, with some operations processing a million chickens per week. But more chickens and processing mean more waste and pollution.
Go to page  |  Download/Listen   3:42

Red Ice Radio

Matthew Stein:  How We Got Into This Mess — 19 Apr 2012 — Mat Stein is best know as a guru of doom prepdom and for his warnings of big-ticket collapse scenarios like solar EMPs. But here he gives a very clear-headed summary of how we arrived at this ecological precipice: Fundamentally, the system incentivizes corporations (and politicians and the populace) towards environmental destruction. The logic of the trap is inescapable.
Go to page  |  Download/Listen   59:30

Beyond 50

Bryan Welch:  Beautiful, Abundant, Fair, and Contagious — 12 Apr 2012 — Welch, the head guy at Mother Earth News and a number of other media projects, discusses his thoughts on the best way to go about building the world we want. He notes that the traditional scare tactics of the environmental movement—however well grounded in facts—has not worked. Get people excited about innovative solutions is the only way to make it happen.
Go to page  |  Download/Listen   33:49

NPR

Polar Bears, Melting Ice, and Species Preservation — 03 Apr 2012 — Polar bears depend on sea ice, but that habitat is slowly disintegrating. The bears do sometimes hunt on land but cannot feed themselves sufficiently in that environment alone. Zoos are trying to figure out the best way to keep a number of them in captivity—to preserve the gene pool.
Go to page  |  Download/Listen   5:09

Sierra Club Radio

Additional Panther Habitat Protected — 07 Apr 2012 — There are only 100-150 Florida panthers left. A new multi-party agreement will help protect panther habitat and extend their available range of movement.
Download/listen to this segment   6:14
Page to get full show

Living On Earth

The Continuing Plight of the Sage Grouse — 13 Apr 2012 — An update to a story about the Sage Grouse and how an unlikely alliance has come together to protect the bird, without putting it on the federal endangered species list.
Go to page  |  Download/Listen   9:18

Radio EcoShock

The Scandal of the Tar Sands — 10 Apr 2012 — David Schindler, an internationally renowned scientist working in Canada, talks about his team's research into pollution from the tar sands in Canada. Topics include increases in cancer in local Native peoples; heavy metals and toxic polycarbonates being spewed from smoke stacks; and tar-sands companies spending 100 times more on green-sounding marketing than they are on environmental protection.
Go to page  |  Download/Listen   31:00

NPR

New Anti-Lice Machine Swaps Hot Air for Pesticides — 09 Apr 2012 — An expert on lice has come up with a new machine that gives a 30-minute treatment of hot air and kills both lice and eggs, avoiding the need for nasty treatments with chemical pesticides.
Go to page  |  Download/Listen   5:03

Living On Earth

Autism—What Portion Genetic, What Portion Environmental? — 06 Apr 2012 — New research has identified genetic risk factors for children to develop autism. But that still leaves the question of what triggers the onset. Other research suggests a correlation between exposure to chemicals and pollution.
Go to page  |  Download/Listen   9:19

CounterSpin

Don't Fracking Believe It — 06 Apr 2012 — You've heard the gas industry PR—their ads are all over television and public radio. And the message—that gas drilling is a safe, affordable path to energy independence—is being echoed by some pundits. Anti-fracking activists think otherwise, and they're challenging the media-industry line.
Download/listen to this segment   8:02

Living On Earth

Mining Leads to Personal Poisonings — 13 Apr 2012 — Mining often causes water and air pollution that affects surrounding communities. But there is also a direct pollution component that can affect miners directly, from lead exposure for gold miners in Nigeria to silicosis for miners in South Africa.
Part 1:  Go to page  |  Download/Listen   6:18
Part 2:  Go to page  |  Download/Listen   6:44

NPR

Mining the Ocean Floor — 02 Apr 2012 — Nautilus Minerals of Australia hopes to develop and expand undersea mining by extracting copper, gold, silver and zinc from the seafloor. Environmentalists are, um, less enthusiastic.
Go to page  |  Download/Listen   4:50

(GP comment:  Gotta love the specious "better than mining it on land" argument.)

NPR

Rising Fuel Prices Driving FedEx to EVs, Biofuels, and NatGas — 02 Apr 2012 — FedEx burns 1.5 billion gallons a year of petroleum-based fuels, which means its bottom line is sensitive to oil price swings. This has the company looking hard at a future of all-electric in-city vehicles, long-haul trucks that run on natural gas, and planes flying on algal fuels.
Go to page  |  Download/Listen   5:32

(GP comment:  Yada yada. This is typical green-energy utopian thinking that cannot succeed in the long run.)

You Bet Your Garden

Rain Gardens Improve Water Management and Add Beauty — 07 Apr 2012 — Lynn Steiner talks about how to incorporate rain gardens into your yard to improve water management, reduce runoff pollution, and add beauty to your property. Her book is Rain Gardens—Sustainable Landscaping for a Beautiful Yard and a Healthy World. ~~ Other topics in this show include: volunteer fruit trees from the compost pile; using reeaally old manure; understanding mushroom compost; the toxic problem of "tire mulch."
Download/Listen   52:15
More YBYG

NPR

Pollution Playing A Major Role In Sea Temperatures — 04 Apr 2012 — Tiny particles from power plants and fires—that is, air pollution—reflect sun energy back into space, resulting in less incident energy on the earth's surface. A recent study details the effect on sea-surface temperatures and regional weather.
Go to page  |  Download/Listen   3:09

(GP comment:  Kind of old news, but perhaps part of new memering, a la the need for geoengineering to solve climate change.)

Radio EcoShock

Summer in March — 28 Mar 2012 — North America seems to be having not only an early spring, but almost summer without spring at all. Can this one-year event be tied to global warming? Isn't that conflating weather with climate? Yes and no...
Go to page  |  Download/Listen 59:59

Corbett Report

Genetic Engineering, Bioethics, and Scientific Hucksterism — 03 Apr 2012 — Jon Rappoport of NoMoreFakeNews.com discusses the academic discipline of bioethics, particularly as it pertains to genetic engineering. Themes include the false debate about money as a determinative tool in life and death situations, the roots of these problems in the eugenics mindset, and the brave new world of genetic pre-selection—for those who can pay.
Go to page  |  Download/Listen   31:50

Living On Earth

The Battle Over Antibiotic Use on the Farm — 06 Apr 2012 — Eighty percent of all antibiotics in the US are being used for continual low-dosing of non-sick farm animals. This is helping create super-bugs that taint food and is partly to blame for reduced effectiveness of similar drugs in humans.
Go to page  |  Download/Listen   8:19

Uprising

The Link Between Low-Dose Chemical Exposure and Ill Health — 28 Mar 2012 — Elizabeth Grossman, author of Chasing Molecules: Poisonous Products, Human Health, gives an excellent short summary of the status of chemicals in consumer products, with a focus on endocrine-disrupting chemicals that can have negative effects at doses lower than classic toxicological tests indicate are not harmful. She covers regulations, labeling, and how to avoid chemicals in your life.
Go to page  |  Download/Listen   15:52

Connect the Dots

Silent Spring in Your Home—Chemicals in Everyday Consumer Products — 14 Mar 2012 — Robin E. Dodson, a research scientist with the Silent Spring Institute, discusses a new study that reviews the chemical components of everyday consumer products like shampoos, sunscreens, laundry detergents, and cleaners. Many of these products contain hormone disruptors and chemicals linked to asthma.
Download/Listen   54:42

Nutrition Diva

Are Chemicals and Pollution Making Us Fat? — 21 Mar 2012 — Monica Reinagel examines the role that pollution, chemicals, and other environmental toxins are playing in the struggle to keep body weight at healthy levels.
Go to page  |  Download/Listen   6:20

Uprising

How Big-Name Conservation Groups Are Selling Out to Corporations — 28 Mar 2012 — Bio-scientist Jonathan Latham delves deeper into the issue of greenwashing among some of the best known groups working on conservation of species and habitat. Are ties to major corporations like Coca Cola, Bank of America, and Monsanto undermining the stated principles of groups like the World Wildlife Fund?
Go to page  |  Download/Listen   15:59

You Bet Your Garden

Update on Bats — 24 Mar 2012 — Hazel Barton discusses bats—their voracious pest eating, the latest on white-nose fungus and bat numbers, and how you can help bats by building bat houses. ~~ Other topics in the show include ideas for a basic garden for beginners; solarizing to kill a patch of tough weeds; and tips for growing great carrots.
Download/Listen   52:14
More YBYG

NPR

EPA Plan Targets New Coal-Fired Plants — 27 Mar 2012 — New standard-design coal-fired power plants cannot meet new EPA emissions targets for carbon dioxide (and this will not be built). Many electric companies have already moved on anyway, jumping on the natural gas trend in the US.
Go to page  |  Download/Listen   4:01

(GP comment:  The story should have mentioned that there's lots more wrong with coal other than just CO2, and that not everyone is convinced the natural gas boom in the US has legs.)

Science Friday

The Street Fight Over Climate Science — 02 Mar 2012 — Michael Mann, author of The Hockey Stick And The Climate Wars, talks about how climate deniers attack climate science with unscientific methods. "Climate scientists have to stop bringing a knife to a gun fight."
Download/Listen   18:13

Referenced book:   (on Amazon.com)
The Hockey Stick And The Climate Wars

Living On Earth

The World's Largest Wildlife Conservation Area — 30 Mar 2012 — Eleven countries in the Sahel region of Africa have an initiative to plant a 4,300-mile-long "wall of trees" across the continent, aiming to hold back the sands of the Sahara.
Go to page  |  Download/Listen   7:22

Living On Earth

Packaging Materials from Mushrooms — 23 Mar 2012 — A company is using the roots from mushrooms grown in agricultural waste to grow environmentally friendly packaging material—at a lower cost than petroleum-based packing materials like polystyrene, the recycler's nightmare.
Go to page  |  Download/Listen   8:09

NPR

Process Converts Waste Plastic Into Oil — 19 Mar 2012 — Only 7 percent of plastic waste in the United States is recycled each year. A startup company in Niagara Falls says it can increase that amount and add some domestic oil production back into the US energy mix.
Go to page  |  Download/Listen   3:45

NPR

Native Alaskans Divided On State's Oil Drilling Debate — 20 Mar 2012 — Shell Oil plans to explore for oil off Alaska's north coast this summer. The native people of Alaska have a big stake in both oil revenue and environmental protection—and that is a source of internal conflict.
Go to page  |  Download/Listen   3:47

(GP comment:  And the lesson here is that it's very hard to get off the oil-banking-warfare teat, even for eco-minded individuals.)

Science Friday

Electric Vehicle Update — 23 Mar 2012 — Though the Chevy Volt and Nissan Leaf entered the market to fanfare, the battery-powered cars haven't been selling as quickly as hybrid models such as the Toyota Prius. Several industry experts discuss the state of electric car technology, from batteries to charging stations, and what it might take to encourage drivers to make the shift.
Download/Listen   30:21

A Better World

Green Power Roundtable — 05 Mar 2012 — An interesting discussion among energy systems innovators who are using novel, super-high-efficiency components to achieve efficiencies of 90% in wind power.
Audio no longer available.

(GP comment:  But will it all integrate and scale? My advice: Hope for the clean-power techno-utopia but prepare for the polluted, constrained-energy future.)

GroAction

WasteFarmers—Transforming City Food Waste into Compost and Profit — 05 Mar 2012 — John-Paul Maxfield of WasteFarmers explains how he created a thriving business by turning food scraps into soil.
Go to page  |  Download/Listen   30:22

Living On Earth

Urban Tree Cover Declining — 09 Mar 2012 — A new US Forest Service study shows tree cover in 20 US cities is declining rapidly.
Go to page  |  Download/Listen   6:38

Living On Earth

More Rainforest Falling to Hydro Power — 16 Mar 2012 — The Brazilian government has proposed to re-map the Amazon, removing protection for more than 200,000 acres of rainforest to make way for hydroelectric dams.
Go to page  |  Download/Listen   8:30

Living On Earth

Using Cameras Drones to Fight Deforestation, Poaching, and Habitat Destruction — 16 Mar 2012 — Drones armed with cameras are a new weapon to fight deforestation, animal poaching and habitat destruction. Scientist Lian Pin Koh explains the conservation value of these miniature observation platforms.
Go to page  |  Download/Listen   7:18

TED Talks

Atrazine, Chemicals, and The Toxic Baby — Feb 2012 — Filmmaker Penelope Jagessar Chaffer and scientist Tyrone Hayes discuss the human and species effects of Atrazine, one of the most commonly used agricultural herbicides, which has pronounced hormone-disrupting effects. The evidence of serious problems from just this one chemical—let alone the tens of thousands of other legally registered chemicals used in consumer products, industrial processes, and food production—should have us banging heads.
Watch  |  Download/Listen   17:47

Unwelcome Guests

Anima Mundi — 18 Feb 2012 — The major part of this episode is a radio adaptation of the film Anima Mundi, a film that explores the systemic crisis we face—we know the system is broken and will eventually fail, but we are so depended on it, we think we cannot get rid of it. Meanwhile, the planet's life support systems continue changing in a way that will not be good for humans (and many other species). The remainder of the episode features a Wendell Berry essay on land use and the fallacy of modern farming as a triumph, as well as a short reading from David Graeber's Debt: The First 5000 Years.
REF PAGE:  Go to page
PART 1:  Download/Listen   59:30
PART 2:  Download/Listen   59:30

NPR

Massey Officials Charged In 2010 Coal Mine Blast — 22 Feb 2012 — Federal prosecutors have unveiled more criminal charges in the West Virginia explosion that killed 29 workers. The new charges involve officials at former mine owner Massey Energy who were directly responsible for managing the Upper Big Branch mine.
Go to page  |  Download/Listen   3:57

(GP comment:  We'll see if the prosecutorial push really goes all the way to Don Blankenship, or whether TPTB will decide they've found a fall guy at level that will satisfy the public's sense of justice.)

Living on Earth

Reducing Short-Lived Air Pollutants—A Win-Win — 24 Feb 2012 — New measures to reduce methane, soot, and other short-lived air pollutants could sharply limit global temperature increase—and improve overall air quality.
Go to page  |  Download/Listen   5:50

Radio EcoShock

Hot Earth—Science and Anti-Science — 22 Feb 2012 — James Hansen, head of the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies, warns it isn't enough to reduce our emissions. We must actually take carbon dioxide back out of the air to avoid entering a new and dangerous age of greenhouse living. ~~ Chris Mooney says scientists fail to communicate the danger of climate change, because they wrongly believe mere facts will convince the public.
Go to page  |  Download/Listen   59:59

Radio EcoShock

Arctic Emergency—A Global Threat — 15 Feb 2012 — New science shows seven of thirteen major feed-back mechanisms—the forces that create climate tipping points—are found in the Arctic. Scientist Carlos Duarte discusses whether the rapid rise in Arctic temperatures and the disappearance of summer sea ice may trigger a runaway climate change and drive a global mass extinction event.
Go to page  |  Download/Listen   59:59

NPR

Good News/Bad News Bears — 20 Feb 2012 — The good news for black bears is that they have healthy populations that continue to expand in the US. The bad news is that not everyone is happy about bears in the back yard.
Go to page  |  Download/Listen   3:44

Sierra Club Radio

The Caring Vegan vs. The Mindful Carnivore — 18 Feb 2012 — Is it possible that there is a strategy for eating meat that is better for the environment and animal welfare than vegetarianism? Tovar Cerulli, a former vegan, makes the case.
Page to download whole show  |  Listen/download this segment   10:26

Sea Change Radio

Marvels and Miseries—Public Transportation vs. Individual Driving — 14 Feb 2012 — Tom Vanderbilt examines mass transit options and personal vehicles from various angles—convenience, time efficiency, cost efficiency, and enjoyment. There are some surprising observations, and the personal auto does not always come out on top.
Go to page  |  Download/Listen   30:00

NPR

When Does an Environmentalist Become a Terrorist? — 21 Feb 2012 — Marshall Curry, director of the documentary If A Tree Falls—A Story of the Earth Liberation Front, discusses the film and the case of an ELF member who is now in prison. More generally, he discusses how terrorism laws and punishment regimes are being applied to cases of property destruction even though by intention no humans were threatened or harmed.
Go to page  |  Download/Listen   13:34

Sea Change Radio

Walmart—Green or Greed? — 07 Feb 2012 — Does Walmart deserve its reputation as a poor employer whose ultra-globalized model is bad for workers and the environment? Or is Walmart turning itself around with recent initiatives to improve its environmental impact by cutting back on energy use and reducing packaging? In part 1, environmental writer Stacy Mitchell offers the negative view of Walmart's sustainability efforts, and in part 2, reporter Marc Gunther opines that the world's problems will have to be solved with corporate giants like Walmart as partners, and their efforts to date are a good start.
PART 1:  Go to page  |  Download/Listen   30:00
PART 2:  Go to page  |  Download/Listen   29:45

Sierra Club Radio

Obama Protects Grand Canyon Area — 04 Feb 2012 — Fran Hunt from the Sierra Club's Resilient Habitats campaign discusses Obama's decision to protect more than a million acres around the Grand Canyon from mining and other development activities. ~~ Tacked onto the end of this clip are short pieces about clean energy awareness on campus, green cleaning tips, and using kale in winter meals.
Go to page  |  Download/Listen   14:22

Living on Earth

Chemicals and Health — 17 Feb 2012 — There are tens of thousands of chemicals in everyday products. Only a fraction of these have been tested for toxicity and health effects in the US. Richard Denison of the Environmental Defense Fund discusses news studies that raise troubling health questions.
Go to page  |  Download/Listen   10:04

C-Realm Podcast

"No More Fake News" on Health Issues — 15 Feb 2012 — Jon Rappoport of NoMoreFakeNews discusses the institution of medicine as the religion of the modern age. During 30 years of investigative journalism, Jon has asked questions that few journalists dare to ask. ~~ KMO concludes with a reading of the essay "Introducing the Cultural Psychopomp."
Go to page  |  Download/Listen   1:00:00

Democracy Now

The Politics of Fracking and Water Contamination — 02 Feb 2012 — As citizens in areas affected by natural gas fracking find more and more water contamination, both the president and a majority in congress seem intent on still more fracking. Interviewees here include Gasland filmmaker Josh Fox, who was handcuffed and arrested in early February as he attempted to film a congressional hearing on the controversial drilling technique, as well as Wyoming farmer John Fenton, who already has more than two dozen gas wells on his property.
Watch  |  Download/Listen   27:07

NPR

Upstart Car Service Butts Heads With D.C.'s Taxis — 31 Jan 2012 — A new service called Uber lets you request a car from a mobile phone and pay for it by credit card. It's available in several cities, including D.C. But the service is finding a roadblock to success—the D.C. cab commission.
Go to page  |  Download/Listen   4:10

WNYC / The Leonard Lopate Show

The State of Fresh Water Around the Globe — 25 Jan 2012 — Upmanu Lall of the Columbia Water Center and Sandra Postel of the Global Water Policy Project discuss the state of fresh water around the globe. Topics include desalination, regional differences in freshwater availability, energy's relationship to water, and externalized costs of water use.
Go to page  |  Download/Listen   40:15

NPR

Pythons Blamed For Everglade's Disappearing Animals — 31 Jan 2012 — The Florida Everglades are infested with Burmese pythons, which are not native to the area. Scientists have discovered the pythons are having a devastating impact on the populations of local wildlife.
Go to page  |  Download/Listen   3:30

Living On Earth

New Transportation Bill—Trying to Sustain the Unsustainable — 03 Feb 2012 — The proposed US legislation would encourage private companies to build toll roads alongside federal highways, cut Amtrak subsidies and pay for infrastructure with money from new oil drilling. Past transportation bills have supported bicycling and walking infrastructure, but this one threatens both.
Part 1:  Go to page  |  Download/Listen   7:06
Part 2:  Go to page  |  Download/Listen   8:27

GP comment:  Apparently they did not get the memo—The Auto Age has peaked.

Sea Change Radio

The US Chamber of Commerce—The Nation's Top Pollution Advocacy Group — 17 Jan 2012 — What is the United States Chamber of Commerce? Many Americans hold the misconception that it's a government agency. It's not. Rather, it's the most significant lobbying group in the United States, and it's almost always a formidable foe of environmental protections. Environmental ethicist Philip Cafaro explains the role that the Chamber plays in promoting constant growth, and how that premise inherently contradicts environmental sustainability.
Go to page  |  Download/Listen   30:00

NPR

Cleaner Air in L.A. Port Comes at a Cost To Truckers — 18 Jan 2012 — Big rigs coming into the port of Los Angeles have been one of the most significant sources of air pollution in California for many years. But now new emissions standards have cut down on air pollution from the trucks. But truckers aren't happy with how much of the cost has been put on them.
Go to page  |  Download/Listen   3:57

New Recycling Company Springs From Old Mattresses — 18 Jan 2012 — Old mattresses are among the worst kinds of household waste—most recycling companies won't touch them, and landfills would rather not have them either. But a new business in Nashville that started as a college project hopes to move mattress recycling into the mainstream.
Go to page  |  Download/Listen   3:48

Sea Change Radio

Simplicity on the Other Side of Complexity — 11 Jan 2012 — Ecologist Eric Berlow discusses how understanding the complexity of a system can point to a simple key that will unlock a solution to fixing a problem in the system. This can apply to many things in the world, including ecosystems.
Go to page  |  Download/Listen   29:59

Living On Earth

Hybrids—Future Cars or Marginal Players? — 20 Jan 2012 — US hybrid sales have been lackluster. As public policies shift toward higher fuel economy standards—for all vehicles in the fleet—hybrids are seeing their edge over standard internal-combustion-engine vehicles decline.
Go to page  |  Download/Listen   5:19

NPR

Labs Size Up New Guidelines For Rodent Cages — 16 Jan 2012 — Scientists do experiments with millions of rats and mice each year, to study everything from heart disease to cancer and diabetes. Recently, some new recommendations about how to house female lab rodents and their babies caused an uproar.
Go to page  |  Download/Listen   7:47

(GP comment:  True to form, NPR avoids any discussion of the real animal welfare issue—whether it is moral for us to use other species in a way that inflicts intentional, chronic harm on them.)

NPR

Fracking Fingered in Ohio Earthquakes — 03 Jan 2012 — Seismologist John Armbruster explains the evidence that natural-gas fracking in Ohio has led to the earthquakes there. He says the injection of waste water from the fracking process created pressure on nearby faults, and he expects the quakes to continue—even after the process is stopped.
Go to page  |  Download/Listen   4:21

Living On Earth

Fracking Wastewater Found in Pennsylvania Rivers — 06 Jan 2012 — Bromide has been found in Pennsylvania rivers, a likely side-effect of hydraulic fracturing during natural gas operations in the Marcellus Shale.
Go to page  |  Download/Listen   8:33

New Recommendations for Lead Levels in Children — 06 Jan 2012 — An advisory panel to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has recommended a substantially lower standard for blood lead levels in children.
Go to page  |  Download/Listen   8:33

Quirks and Quarks

Polar Bears and Sea Ice — 17 Dec 2011 — The greatest symbol of the Arctic is the polar bear. Its sheer size, its power, and its majestic bearing are emblems of the vastness, remoteness, and ruggedness of the frozen north. But the polar bear is in trouble—serious trouble. Dr. Ian Stirling discusses the iconic animal's habits, hunting techniques, and habitat, and ponders polar bears' uncertain future in a warming world.
Go to page  |  Download/Listen   18:25

Quirks and Quarks

Anti-Mosquito Bedding—From Waaaaaay Long Ago — 10 Dec 2011 — The oldest known bedding used by humans was recently found by archaeologists at a site north of Durban in South Africa. The bedding is 77,000 years old and comprised of stems and leaves of sedges, rushes and grasses that have insecticidal properties.
Go to page  |  Download/Listen   8:24

You Not-So-Dirty Rat — 10 Dec 2011 — A new study suggests that it's time to re-evaluate our prejudices against the rat. It turns out they are empathetic, sensitive, and altruistic—at least to other rats.
Go to page  |  Download/Listen   10:06

Living On Earth

Feeding a Growing Population — 21 Oct 2011 — As the world's population closes in on 7 billion, Janet Ranganathan of the World Resources Institute discusses strategies to sustainably feed the growing number of hungry humans. Her three-step plan is: reestablish agro-forestry practices in developing countries, improve degraded land, and reduce food waste. Her solutions do not include high dependence on chemical inputs or patented high-tech seeds.
Go to page  |  Download/Listen   7:36

Radio EcoShock

7 Billion + Energy Workshop — 19 Oct 2011 — (1) Robert Walker of the Population Institute discusses the world with 7 billion people. When we hit 6 billion people—just 12 years ago in 1999!—the economy and hopes for climate action were much brighter. ~~ (2) Bill Kemp offers an audio version of a home energy workshop.
Download/Listen   1:00:00

Oil and the Dirty Lying Bastards — 12 Oct 2011 — Topics include... Resistance to gas fracking ~~ An unreported panic expedition to the Arctic to measure "methane torches" ~~ A new film calls the oil industry "Dirty Lying Bastards" ~~ Peter F. Sale on coral collapse and the current mass extinction of species.
Download/Listen   1:00:00
Get more Radio EcoShock here

Coast To Coast / KSFO

Peter F. Sale:  Our Dying Planet and the Shootout at the Not-OK Coral — 12 Sep 2011 — Sale discusses the converging ecological and resource crises that will combine to change life as we know it. He gives an in-depth review of the problems affecting coral, a poster child for global ecological abuses.
C2C REF PAGE: Go to Page
HOUR 1: Download/Listen   1:00:00
HOUR 2: Download/Listen   1:00:00

NPR

Energy Dept. Panel Wants Answers On Fracking — 11 Aug 2011 — A US Department of Energy panel hopes new recommendations—if implemented—will restore the public's trust in hydraulic fracturing or "fracking" for natural gas.  (GP comment:  The role of DOE and EPA these days is largely that of protecting and promoting industry, not regulating it—hence the effort here to convince the public there's no problem rather than going after an extraction technology that obviously pollutes groundwater. Both agencies are captured.
Go to page  |  Download/Listen   3:35

NPR

Water Wars at Lake Tahoe — 26 Jul 2011 — California, Nevada, developers, and environmentalists are at odds on how to best protect the pristine waters of Lake Tahoe.  (Who would have every guessed?!! --GP)
Go to page  |  Download/Listen   4:17

Radio EcoShock

Stop Signs—Cars and Capitalism on the Road to Economic, Social, and Ecological Decay — 06 Jul 2011 — Yves Engler discusses the North American addiction to private automobiles, how this has been fostered at every turn by the "car bunch," and how we can move towards transportation solutions that are sustainable and that will heal the psycho-social damage wrought be the Auto Age.
Download/Listen   1:00:00
Get more Radio EcoShock here

Living On Earth

War's Toll on Afghanistan's Environment — 08 Jul 2011 — From the Soviet occupation to the US invasion, 30 years of war in Afghanistan have devastated the country's environment and infrastructure, from the water canals to the air quality to the latent radiation from US munitions.
Go to page  |  Download/Listen   8:42

Sierra Club Radio

The Yes Men:  Coal Cares (Uh Huh) — 28 May 2011 — Activist group The Yes Men recently set up a spoof web site to bring light to the human health impacts wrought by the mining and processing operations of Peabody Coal. When the company complained that they were being singled out, The Yes Men did the only logical thing—they expanded the focus of truth on all coal companies.
Download/listen to this segment   18:44
Page to get full show

Guns and Butter

Forward to Energy Breakthroughs or Down the Energy Rabbit Hole? — 08 Jun 2011 — Dr. Steven Jones discusses scientific research into instances of man-made earthquakes; HAARP; fusion-based energy technologies; new kinds of dynamic energy.
Go to page  |  Download/Listen   59:53

Living On Earth

Plusses and Minuses of Canada's oil Pipeline — 10 Jun 2011 — Canada has oil reserves second in size only to Saudi Arabia. But obtaining this oil—mostly from dirty tar sands—and then transporting it to the US can cause numerous environmental problems.
Go to page  |  Download/Listen   6:24

Germany Says No to Nuclear Power — 03 Jun 2011 — Germany plans to be free of nuclear power by the end of the decade. This would make them the biggest world power commit to such a goal. The country hopes to make up the energy gap through efficiency and renewables, but it also could make them more dependent on fossil fuels.
Go to page  |  Download/Listen   6:05

Radio EcoShock

Fracking Myths and Climate Capitalism — 20 May 2011 — (1) Richard Heinberg sticks a pin in the fracking natural gas bubble. (2) In Climate Capitalism, Hunter Lovins offers a new business approach to climate change.
Download/Listen   1:00:00
Get more Radio EcoShock here

Earthbeat Radio

Chevron (Texaco) Found Guilt on Ecuador Legacy Pollution — 20 May 2011 — An Ecuadorian court has found Chevron-Texaco guilt of massive, health-damaging pollution, but the company has stated that it will never pay.
Download/Listen   17:01

Farm Pollution and Erosion, Fence-to-Fence — 20 May 2011 — Ethanol mandates are driving US farmers to plan fence-to-fence. That's putting corn in a lot of areas that are unsuitable, leading to erosion and pollution issues.
Download/Listen   7:31

Coast To Coast

Can We Power the Planet with 100% Renewable Energy? — 07 May 2011 — Can our energy supply be 100% renewables by 2050? Mark Jacobson lays out the case that wind, solar, hydro, and other renewable energy technologies—combined with conversion of the vehicle fleet to plug-in electric—can do the job.
HOUR 1: Download/Listen   1:00:00
HOUR 2: Download/Listen   1:00:00

Notes:
(1) MP3s mirror KSFO's full hours; meat typically runs from 10:00-29:00 and 38:00-58:00.
(2) C2C pages:  this show  |  latest shows

Science Friday

Revenge of the Electric Car — 29 Apr 2011 — In 2006, Chris Paine made the documentary Who Killed the Electric Car? to expose the shortsightedness and corruption at the heart of Detroit's move away from electric vehicles. But oil prices, the Prius, public interest, and the successes of plug-in start-ups like Tesla Motors have caused a resurgence in the fortunes of electric vehicles. Paine talks about his new film, Revenge of the Electric Car.
Download/Listen   17:30

Fresh Air

Our 'Toxic' Love-Hate Relationship With Plastics — 22 Apr 2011 — Plastic has become ubiquitous in modern industrial society—in far more than just the obvious ways. Though this has provided many benefits in terms of product selection, cost reduction, and convenience, it has also given rise to a flood of toxic chemicals in the environment and in us.
Go to page  |  Download/Listen   29:37

Living On Earth

Humanure in Haiti — 08 Apr 2011 — Even before the devastating earthquake, many Haitians "did their business" in unsanitary latrines. Composting toilets are now being installed in a pilot program, eliminating the smell, the danger of pathogens, the water pollution, and in the long run creating a fertilizer that, once made sanitary through the high-temperature composting process, can be applied to crops.  (GP comment:  While most Westerners shrink at the thought of deficating in anything but a flush toilet, a properly built and managed composting toilet is a fine solution that can be integrated into a house at whatever level of aesthetics you desire. I know this from personal experience! --Mark)
Go to page  |  Download/Listen   6:13

Related GP articles:
-- The Resilient Household, pt1
-- The Resilient Household, pt2

Earthbeat Radio

Fukushima Information Fiasco + Obama's Nuclear Connections + The Billionaire Push for Coal in Wyoming + A Halt to Cap and Trade? — 29 Mar 2011 — The US Nuclear Regulatory Commission has quietly doubled what it considers "safe" exposure levels to nuclear radiation, and the US EPA has begun testing milk for radiation contamination.. ~~ How is spent fuel handled in the US? Are safety claims for nuclear energy bogus? ~~ Some of President Obama's closest advisers, staffers, and fundraisers have close ties to the nuclear industry. ~~ The US has opened up huge swaths of public land in Wyoming to coal mining in a deal for billionaires. ~~ A California court has put the kibosh on cap and trade in the state.
No longer available   57:00

Nuke Debate + New Gulf Oil Spill + Stronger Coal Regs — 22 Mar 2011 — The quantities of spent nuclear fuel stored at power plants in the US is even greater than at the Fukushima plant. ~~ Greg Palast reveals that TEPCO has been contracted to help build two nuclear power plants in Texas. ~~ A debate over America's nuclear industry between Arjun Makhijani and a nuclear industry defender. ~~ The US Coast Guard is investigating reports of new oil slicks in the Gulf of Mexico from a spill about 30 miles offshore. ~~ The EPA is setting a national standard for mercury pollution from power plants.
No longer available   57:00

TED

Weird Science—"The Island of Dr. Moreau" is No Longer Fiction — Mar 2011 — Paul Root Wolpe says it's time to question bioengineering, citing numerous ethical and moral quandaries that are largely being ignored as scientists delve ever deeper into the realm of engineered animal hybrids and cybernetic control of animals.
(GP comment:  (1) Just because we can doesn't mean we should. (2) Though the visuals for this program do help, the audio is sufficient to give you an idea of just what a circus freak show university science has become.)
Watch  |  Download/Listen   19:57

One Radio Network

Why You Should Think More About the Water You Drink — 10 Mar 2011 — Winston Kao discusses the importance of proper water biochemistry to health; issues with standard municipal treated water; how to maintain proper pH and mineral balance in your water and food intake; and which water filters and brand-name waters meet his exacting standards.
PART 1:  Download/Listen   59:05
PART 2:  Download/Listen   1:07:11

Living On Earth

Chemical Review — 11 Mar 2011 — Thousands of scientists from various disciplines have written an open letter in the journal Science calling for tougher reviews of endocrine disrupting chemicals. Mere toxicology testing is no longer adequate to assess the human health impacts of these chemicals.
Go to page  |  Download/Listen   7:35

Sierra Club Radio

Moby Duck:  Just sit right back and you'll hear a tale... — 05 Mar 2011 — Donovan Hohn talks about how a lost cargo of plastic bath toys helped oceanographers understand more about ocean currents—and how plastic pollutes the seas.
Download/listen to this segment   12:27
Page to get full show

Referenced books:   (on Amazon.com)
Moby-Duck:  The True Story of 28,800 Bath Toys Lost at Sea ... and of the beachcombers, oceanographers, environmentalists, and fools who went in search of them

Radio EcoShock

Wicked Problems — 03 Mar 2011 — Problems like climate, energy, and economy cannot be solved by normal science. Guest voices include Thomas Homer-Dixon, Jerome Ravetz, and Valerie Brown, Eben Moglen.
Download/Listen   1:00:00

Peak Trouble — 25 Feb 2011 — News of unstable oil supplies, climate chaos, banking, and teetering regimes brings the question: Are we ready, personally, for difficult times? Jeremy Leggett comments on Saudi supplies, EU dependency on Libyan oil, connections to arms trade, world energy, and the solar future. ~~ Carolyn Baker discusses her new book Navigating the Coming Chaos—A Handbook for Inner Transition.
Download/Listen   1:00:00
Get more Radio EcoShock here

On the Green Front

An Environmentalist Wakes Up to Peak Oil — 09 Feb 2011 — After hearing two presentations on peak oil, green media maven Betsy Rosenberg finds herself shocked into the realization that energy issues are not just about building more solar panels and hybrid cars. She interviews Asher Miller, executive director of The Post Carbon Institute, who talks about the twin national debts—in money and energy.
Download/Listen   55:00

An Environmentalist Wakes Up to Peak Oil, Part 2 — 16 Feb 2011 — Andre Angelantoni, president of Post Peak Living Institute, shares his views about the coming eco shock and why he believes we should all be preparing for a tougher future NOW. Author John De Graaf generally agrees but stresses the importance of downtime.
Download/Listen   1:00:00

Radio EcoShock

Population Overload — 11 Feb 2011 — Three voices with solutions for the population crisis:  Lisa Hymas of Grist.org on GINKs—Green-Inclined, No Kids. ~~ Clinical psychologist Ellen Walker—the good and the bad of going child-free. ~~ Plus the grand-daddy of the whole population movement, Paul Erhlich, author of the classic book The Population Bomb.
Download/Listen   1:00:00
Get more Radio EcoShock here

Radio EcoShock

Rapid Population Decline—or Bust! — 04 Feb 2011 — The population of Egypt doubled since 1980. Mexico, India too. Dr. Jack Alpert says it is time for extreme measures, before civilization falls. With three responses by Rex Weyler of Greenpeace fame, Dr. Bill Rees (co-inventor of the "ecological footprint"), and ecologist Vandy Savage.
Download/Listen   1:00:00
Get more Radio EcoShock here

Science Friday

The Grid—First Repair, Then a Brain Transplant — 14 Jan 2011 — A recent article in IEEE Spectrum claims that our electrical grid has been getting less reliable. What can be done to make it better?  (GP comment:  A pretty good overall analysis, but he laughably suggests that a new "public-private partnership" is the solution. Good god, man—that's what we were supposed to get under deregulation. Instead, the shareholders got rich, grid upgrades and maintenance got ignored, and the public got a sub-par grid. It's time to identify the privatization hawkers as the snake-oil salesmen they truly are.)
Download/Listen   12:31

Science Friday

The Earth's Magnetic Poles Are Shifting — 14 Jan 2011 — A somewhat wonky discussion of the science of magnetic pole shifts—without the apocalyptic pole-shift predictions sometimes offered.
Download/Listen   17:33

Living On Earth

Do Environmental Regulations Really Kill Jobs? — 21 Jan 2011 — Should the phrase "tough environmental regulations" just be rewritten as "job-killing bureaucratic burden"?
      (GP comment:  Perhaps having more red tape is not even the right question. What if we just make the penalties under current regulations far more odious than they are now? If a company flout the law, then zero its shareholders' profits for three years. Or if a company really screws up, then put it out of business. Such penalties are applied to people; why not corporations? The current approach to federal regulatory enforcement often sees a company get fined, say, $5 million when it made $10 million in profits doing the bad thing. The ridiculousness and corrupt collusion of such an arrangement should be obvious to everyone.)
Go to page  |  Download/Listen   6:47

The Visionary Activist Show

The United States of Gasland — 27 Jan 2011 — Josh Fox, producer/director of the Academy Award nominated documentary GasLand, discusses the pandemic of "fracking" for natural gas that is ruining water supplies across the nation.  (Fox is the first half of the MP3.)
Go to page  |  Download/Listen   59:49

Related resources:
-- GaslandGasLand DVD  (on Amazon.com)
-- GasLand trailer

The Colbert Report

Sherry Turkle's Tweet:  "Give Technology the Bird!" — 17 Jan 2011 — Sherry Turkle doesn't want to get rid of technology, but she thinks it's time to put it in its place. She says we're investing ourselves so deeply in technological communications that we're forgetting the benefits of interpersonal communication and suffering from techno-overload. Stephen Colbert just wants another free iPhone.
Watch  |  Download/Listen   6:41

Referenced books:   (on Amazon.com)
Alone Together:  Why We Expect More from Technology and Less from Each Other

Living On Earth

A Low-Energy Technology To Boost Desalination Efficiency — 14 Jan 2011 — A new method of using waste heat from power plants can make desalination more cost-effective.  (GP comment:  Good report, except that it fails to compare costs for this process vs. normal fresh water generation, and it does not discuss the local dead zones caused by salty discharges.)
Go to page  |  Download/Listen   5:55

Living On Earth

WikiLeaks Green — 07 Jan 2011 — The WikiLeaks documents offer insights into the corrupt inner workings of he US government on issues like GMOs, climate change, and whaling. All this has inspired a new "Enviro-WikiLeaks" operation.
Go to page  |  Download/Listen   6:16

TED Women

Naomi Klein:  Addicted to Risk — Jan 2011 — Klein draws a careful thread through Rachel Carson's message about pesticides, the Gulf disaster, the ludicrous bank bailouts, our collective desire to dominate nature, our delusional denial of tough issues like peak oil and climate change, and the general tendency to take on excessive risk.
Watch  |  Download/Listen   19:50

Earthbeat Radio

Can Obama Out-Clever Bush? — 25 Jan 2011 — The Obama administration has offered a seemingly positive step on scientific integrity, but are they just trying to outclever the public and continue the repressive Bush-era policies? ~~ Debate:  Is carbon capture an area worth exploring, or is it just a delaying tactic to promote more coal burning? ~~ Learn how some everyday food and household products could be contributing to rainforest destruction.
No longer available   57:00

Gary Null Show

Health News and Update on Deepwater Horizon — 26 Jan 2011 — Gary's health news covers natural solutions to PMS; the impact of particulate pollution on health; and the importance of eating TWELVE servings of fruits and vegetables a day. ~~ Oil industry insider Bob Cavnar summarizes the lessons learned form the Deepwater Horizon disaster—only to inform us that those lessons learned are being ignored by those in charge.
Download/Listen   1:01:33

Fresh Air

Techno-Waste—A Global E-tastrophe — 21 Dec 2010 — When old TVs, computers, cell phones, iPods and other electronics end up in landfills, the toxic metals and flame retardants they contain can cause environmental problems. But e-waste recycling is usually far less green than is sounds.
Go to page  |  Download/Listen   36:20

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