Living On Earth

Wed. 1/28 8a: 2015 is a vital year for international climate negotiators. Jennifer Morgan, Global Director of the Climate Program at the World Resources Institute, discusses the reasons and the difficulties with host Steve Curwood, in light of last year’s Lima Climate Talks, and the need to agree to a strong new treaty at the Paris summit in December. (12:10)

This and more on Living on Earth.

Wed. 01/14 8a: Each morning, the conservationist Aldo Leopold took meticulous notes of the dawn bird chorus heard at his Wisconsin cabin. A team from the University of Wisconsin have used Leopold’s journals to recreate the soundscape that Leopold heard in 1940. Professor Stanley Temple talks about the project and Leopold’s influence on the environmental movement.

This and more featured on the show.

  Wed. 5/14 8a: Stanford University has given the divestment movement a huge boost by promising to pull their 18 billion dollar endowment from coal companies. Student activist Michael Peñuelas tells host Steve Curwood that he’s proud of his University, but the students will keep pushing for divestment from all fossil fuels.

Wed. 4/10 8a: President Obama is having trouble enforcing environmental and other regulations as vacancies continue on the second most important federal court in the country, the DC Circuit Court of Appeals. 

Wed. 4/3 8a: A coalition of beekeepers and environmental organizations are suing the EPA to ban certain uses of a group of chemicals called neonicotinoids.

Wed. 3/20 8a: India is developing rapidly, and much of that growth is fueled by one of the dirtiest energy sources, coal.

Wed. 2/27 8a: Unless there's a last minute deal between Congress and the White House, draconian spending cuts will take effect across the federal government on March 1st. 

Wed. 2/20 8a: Polar Bears have long been the poster species for the problem of climate change.

Wed. 2/6 8a: UNESCO is threatening to take the Great Barrier Reef off its list of World Heritage sites in the wake of Australia’s decision to build new coal transport facilities on the Queensland coast.

Wed. 12/5 8a: As one of the hottest years on record comes to a close, the CIA has decided to shutter its Center on Climate Change and Security.

Wed. 11/28 8a: He's an astrophysicist extraordinaire, and director of the Hayden Planetarium in New York City.

Wed. 11/21 8a: Republican pundits often speak skeptically about climate change, just as they chose to ignore the mathematics projecting that their candidate would lose.

Wed. 10/31 8a: 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 fiercely protest the plans. 

Wed. 9/19 8:00a: Amtrak's ridership is up and subsidies from the government are down. Yet many in Congress and Presidential hopeful, Mitt Romney, are calling to end federal funding for the national train system. Living on Earth’s Steve Curwood talks with Amtrak representative Steven Kulm.

Wed. 7/18 8a:  The hairs on bats’ wings bend in the breeze and trigger super-sensitive cells that help them register the speed and direction of the wind. Researchers want to use this information to improve wind sensors on airplanes.   This and more on Living on Earth.

Wed. 4/4 8a: The Environmental Protection Agency has proposed the first national standards to limit CO2 emissions from new power plants. Eric Schaeffer heads the watchdog group, the Environmental Integrity Project. He tells host Bruce Gellerman that the EPA’s rules have some loopholes but could be a big tool in fighting climate change.

Wed. 01/18 8:30a: Interior Secretary Ken Salazar recently signed a 20 year moratorium on mining for uranium near the Grand Canyon National Park. Jane Danowitz of the Pew Environment Group tells host Bruce Gellerman that it would protect close to the park but surrounding lands are still under threat.

Wed. 12/21 8a: Reindeer – also called caribou – are ubiquitous in the world’s northern latitudes, but the populations closest to the North Pole are dwindling because of climate change. Now there is a push to list the large deer as endangered.

Wed. 12/14 8a: Middlebury College student Abigail Borah interrupted a talk by Todd Stern, the chief U.S. negotiator at the climate summit, with a impassioned plea for a fair and legally binding treaty.

Wed. 6/1 at 8am: From pollution-induced asthma to arsenic embedded in playground equipment, the state of the environment is threatening the health of children. Author Sandra Steingraber talks about the challenges of parenting in a world with a changing climate. This and more environmental news, Wednesday morning at 8.

Also in this week's show: