Living on Earth: Public Radio's Environmental News Magazine

Public Radio's Environmental News Magazine (follow us on Google News)

Insects Need More Protection

Roughly three quarters of the world’s insect species are inadequately protected, even in conservation areas. To help insects, which are important pollinators and the base of many food chains, even small areas of protected habitat can make a big difference.

Mapping the Seafloor to Predict Coastal Flooding

The topography of the coastal seafloor has a lot to do with how much flooding coastal areas will experience during hurricanes. A team of scientists is working on a new technology to create more accurate seafloor maps in the Gulf of Mexico.

Broken Promise for the Arctic

A massive new oil drilling project in the Arctic just got the green light from President Biden despite his promises for no new drilling on federal lands. Environmental law expert Pat Parenteau explains the climate contradictions within the White House and what could happen next.

Saving the Second Lung of the Planet

The Congo Basin in Central Africa is a critical biodiversity hotspot and linchpin in the fight against climate disruption. Conservationist Irene Wabiwa discusses the urgent need to turn the United Nations’ recent promises to protect biodiversity into reality in the Congo and around the world.

Jane Goodall on Helping People to Help Nature

Jane Goodall is on a mission to protect habitat worldwide by empowering local communities to develop sustainably. And it all started when she was just ten years old and dreamed of studying wild animals in Africa.

Indonesia Squelching Biodiversity Research

Indonesia has one of the world’s largest tropical forests and touts itself as a global leader in conservation. But researchers from outside Indonesia say the government is blocking data to assess conservation progress and local scientists fear reprisals if they publish data that doesn’t fit the government’s optimistic narrative, explains environmental journalist Fred Pearce.

The Human Toll of Pollinator Loss

A study conducted by Harvard’s T.H. Chan School of Public Health shows the decline of pollinators is contributing to the deaths of an estimated half a million people a year worldwide. That’s because yields of nutritious foods like most fruits, vegetables, and nuts are falling as the pollinators they depend on disappear. Dr. Sam Myers, the study’s lead researcher, discusses how this falling yield is linked to more preventable deaths from ailments such as heart disease and diabetes.

Celebrating 30 years of Living on Earth!

Host Steve Curwood in the Living on Earth studio

Join the Living on Earth Book Club on October 13th!

Bestselling science journalist Ed Yong joins us to talk about his new book. Click here to learn more and register!

Saving Salamanders

In Texas, a rare salamander is threatened with extinction but is caught between federal and state regulations for protection. Janet Heimlich reports from Barton Springs in Austin, Texas.

This Week’s Show
January 17, 1997
listen / download

Saving Salamanders

listen / download
In Texas, a rare salamander is threatened with extinction but is caught between federal and state regulations for protection. Janet Heimlich reports from Barton Springs in Austin, Texas.

Wes Jackson: Prairie Revolutionary

listen / download
Steve Curwood talks with prairie and agriculture expert Wes Jackson about his recent book Becoming Native to This Place published by Counterpoint Press. Nature doesn't grow her plants in rows, and this leading agricultural thinker says that to get better long-term results, farmers shouldn't plant them that way either. Jackson is the founder of the Land Institute in Salina, Kansas.

Death of the Family Farm

listen / download
Author Victor Davis Hansen comments on the decline of the family farm. Hansen hails from his family farm in Selma, California, and his most recent book is Fields Without Dreams: Defending the Agrarian Idea.

The Living on Earth Almanac

listen / download
Facts about... Thomas Alva Edison.

Antarctica Series: Part 4 - An Ice Journal

listen / download
In his final installment, reporter Terry FitzPatrick shares a personal audio journal of his experiences and impressions while traveling to Antarctica for Living on Earth on a National Science Foundation grant. Encore broadcast.

Cleaning Europe's East

listen / download
New businesses are booming in the Czech Republic; consisting of technology to clean up the legacy of the Cold War's Soviet military pollution. Mark Huntley reports from Prague where the clean-up work has been progressing.

Organic Garden Spot

listen / download
In this final annual installment of the Green Garden Spot with Evelyn Tully Costa, Evelyn provides a winter reading list on gardening.

Special Features

Field Note: Cliff Hanger
Explorer-in-Residence Mark Seth Lender expands on his essay about cormorants and explains how the remnants of war can create refuges for wildlife where no humans will venture.
Blog Series: Mark Seth Lender Field Notes

Field Note: I’ll Take Menhaden
Menhaden fish once gathered in schools several miles long and were a common food for predators like sharks, sea birds, and bass. But after humans turned them into everything from supplements to fertilizer their numbers plummeted by roughly 90 percent. In Long Island Sound they’re finally bouncing back and Explorer in Residence Mark Seth Lender, witnesses their return.
Blog Series: Mark Seth Lender Field Notes

...Ultimately, if we are going prevent large parts of this Earth from becoming not only inhospitable but uninhabitable in our lifetimes, we are going to have to keep some fossil fuels in the ground rather than burn them...

-- President Barack Obama, November 6, 2015 on why he declined to approve the Keystone XL Pipeline.

Donate to Living on Earth!
Living on Earth is an independent media program and relies entirely on contributions from listeners and institutions supporting public service. Please donate now to preserve an independent environmental voice.

Newsletter
Living on Earth offers a weekly delivery of the show's rundown to your mailbox. Sign up for our newsletter today!

Sailors For The Sea: Be the change you want to sea.

Creating positive outcomes for future generations.

Innovating to make the world a better, more sustainable place to live. Listen to the race to 9 billion

The Grantham Foundation for the Protection of the Environment: Committed to protecting and improving the health of the global environment.

Energy Foundation: Serving the public interest by helping to build a strong, clean energy economy.

Contribute to Living on Earth and receive, as our gift to you, an archival print of one of Mark Seth Lender's extraordinary wildlife photographs. Follow the link to see Mark's current collection of photographs.

Buy a signed copy of Mark Seth Lender's book Smeagull the Seagull & support Living on Earth