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The Law and Environmental Justice
The National Academy of Sciences has found black people are exposed to 66 percent more pollution than they produce, while white people are exposed to 17 percent less pollution than they create. In honor of Black History Month Special we highlight some of the voices that stood up against environmental injustice including Civil rights activist the Rev. Dr. Ben Chavis, and Dr. Robert Bullard who’s been deemed the “Father of Environmental Justice,” And in a conversation with Living on Earth’s Paloma Beltran we also look back and look forward at prospects for breaking the chains of environmental racism with long time environmental lawyer and activist Monique Harden. a trail blazer in addressing problems of people and pollution in Louisiana’s “Cancer Alley”.
The Power of Black History
The burial of a nine-year-old enslaved girl on a plantation in Louisiana may halt construction of a new petrochemical plant on that land in the state’s “Cancer Alley.” Many descendants of enslaved people in the region already live with health problems from exposure to industry and are looking to their ancestors to stop further expansion. Lenora Gobert, a genealogist for the Louisiana Bucket Brigade shares how looking at ancestry can help Cancer Alley’s quest for environmental justice.
The Quest for Env. Justice in Shiloh
For black history month we bring you a cautionary tale brought to us by the Center for Climate and Environmental Justice Media or CEJM. CEJM helps people of color learn how to tell their own stories in the face of environmental injustice and the climate emergency. Melissa Williams is a storyteller for CEJM and she shares her community efforts and concerns as they seek justice from the State of Alabama after highway construction flooded their homes in Shiloh Alabama.
Hot Prospects for Geothermal Energy
As geothermal heating and cooling slowly spreads in the U.S., some communities and utilities are looking to grow small pilot projects into much larger networks of pipes and heat pumps that extract and store heat in the earth to warm and cool homes and businesses as needed. We hear about a large geothermal HVAC system that demonstrates the possibilities and benefits of scaling up.
Do Aliens Speak Physics?
Classic science fiction tends to assume that if aliens visit Earth, they will have done so thanks to using math and science that’s like our own. But physicist Daniel Whiteson and cartoonist Andy Warner aren’t so sure. They’re the authors of the book Do Aliens Speak Physics? And Other Questions About Science and the Nature of Reality.
Global Health Under Trump
The current Trump administration has in its first year cut off the World Health Organization, dismantled the United States Agency for International Development or USAID, and overhauled vaccination recommendations, just to name a few decisions impacting health and claiming lives across the globe.
US Leaves Top Climate Science Body
The Trump Administration is withdrawing the US from the scientific Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change or IPCC, which reports agreement about the basic scientific facts of global warming and the impact of core technologies to address it. A lead author of the IPCC fourth assessment report in 2007 explains how the fossil fuel industry has long pushed for such an action.
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Hot Prospects for Geothermal Energy
As geothermal heating and cooling slowly spreads in the U.S., some communities and utilities are looking to grow small pilot projects into much larger networks of pipes and heat pumps that extract and store heat in the earth to warm and cool homes and businesses as needed. We hear about a large geothermal HVAC system that demonstrates the possibilities and benefits of scaling up.
Do Aliens Speak Physics?
Classic science fiction tends to assume that if aliens visit Earth, they will have done so thanks to using math and science that’s like our own. But physicist Daniel Whiteson and cartoonist Andy Warner aren’t so sure. They’re the authors of the book Do Aliens Speak Physics? And Other Questions About Science and the Nature of Reality.
Global Health Under Trump
The current Trump administration has in its first year cut off the World Health Organization, dismantled the United States Agency for International Development or USAID, and overhauled vaccination recommendations, just to name a few decisions impacting health and claiming lives across the globe.
This Week’s Show
January 30, 2026
listen / download
Hot Prospects for Geothermal Energy
listen / download
As geothermal heating and cooling slowly spreads in the U.S., some communities and utilities are looking to grow small pilot projects into much larger networks of pipes and heat pumps that extract and store heat in the earth to warm and cool homes and businesses as needed. We hear about a large geothermal HVAC system that demonstrates the possibilities and benefits of scaling up.
Punxsutawney Phil and Earlier Springtimes
listen / download
While Punxsutawney Phil of Groundhog Day correctly predicts when spring will come only around 40% of the time, he has been predicting earlier springs more often in recent decades, trending with the reality of climate change.
Do Aliens Speak Physics?
listen / download
Classic science fiction tends to assume that if aliens visit Earth, they will have done so thanks to using math and science that’s like our own. But physicist Daniel Whiteson and cartoonist Andy Warner aren’t so sure. They’re the authors of the book Do Aliens Speak Physics? And Other Questions About Science and the Nature of Reality.
Global Health Under Trump
listen / download
The current Trump administration has in its first year cut off the World Health Organization, dismantled the United States Agency for International Development or USAID, and overhauled vaccination recommendations, just to name a few decisions impacting health and claiming lives across the globe.
Special Features
Field Note: "After the Storm"
Living on Earth's Explorer-in-Residence, Mark Seth Lender, ruminates on the storm as it meets the shore.
Blog Series: Mark Seth Lender Field Notes
Field Note: "Countermeasures"
Living on Earth's Explorer-in-Residence, Mark Seth Lender, shares observations about shorebirds in flight.
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.
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