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Healthy People Equal Healthy Forests
Gunung Palung National Park on the island of Borneo is beloved by the people who live on the Indonesian island, but like many people who live near tropical forests, they have at times had to resort to illegal logging to pay for healthcare. Now the nonprofit Health in Harmony is providing healthcare that patients can pay for with a simple trade of labor, seedlings or manure, so that no one ever has to log to pay cash for essential health services. Founder Kinari Webb and Bobby Bascomb discuss the importance of listening to what forest communities say they need in order to stop logging.
Cloning Giant Sequoias
The 3000-year-old Giant Sequoias and Coast Redwood trees of the Pacific Northwest are some of the biggest and oldest individual living things on our planet. Sadly, all but a few have been cut down for lumber. Led by Co-Founder David Milarch, the non-profit Archangel Ancient Tree Archive is helping to restore these majestic, carbon-sequestering trees by cloning their DNA.
'Forest Bathing' for Health
The Japanese practice of ‘shinrin-yoku’, or ‘forest bathing’ is gaining international popularity as a form of nature therapy. As Allegheny Front’s Kara Holsopple reports, a walk in the woods may be just what your health care provider ordered.
Funding the National Parks, Finally
For years national parks and public lands in the United States have been severely underfunded. The Great American Outdoors Act is set to help turn that around, with billions of dollars to address maintenance backlogs and support new conservation. Linda Bilmes, Senior Lecturer in Public Policy at Harvard University and author of Valuing U.S. National Parks and Programs: America's Best Investment, joined Steve Curwood to talk about what this legislation means.
Fishing Fleet Threatens the Galapagos
Ecuador is on alert after discovering a fleet of more than 200 Chinese fishing vessels near the Galapagos Islands. The famous islands, which helped inspire Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution, are home to the second largest marine reserve in the world. But Ecuadorian officials worry that the fleet’s activity poses a danger to those delicate ecosystems. Ecuador’s former Minister of the Environment Yolanda Kakabadse joins Aynsley O’Neill to discuss the situation.
Healthy Buildings Boost Productivity
Most of us spend 90% of our time indoors, where carbon dioxide levels and ambient chemicals can significantly impact our productivity and cognitive function. Organizations should take note and can see major dividends from improving office air quality, says Joe Allen, Director of the Healthy Buildings Program at Harvard University and author of the book, “Healthy Buildings: How Indoor Spaces Drive Performance and Productivity”. Joe Allen joined Steve Curwood at a live online Good Reads on Earth event.
Cape Wind in Doubt
Wind turbines in the Irish Sea. The United States has yet to establish offshore wind, but countries in Europe have taken the plunge (photo: Andy Dingley)
Prairie Rattlesnake
A few months ago writer Mark Seth Lender met his first Prairie Rattlesnake up close and personal, and found the snake fascinating, and though venomous, not a threat.
Beyond the Headlines
Peter Dykstra of the Daily Climate and Environmental Health News brings us some far-flung environmental stories from this past week that didn’t make the headlines. This week: salt intrusion in Bangladesh and rare earth mining in Greenland.
Kamala Harris and Environmental Justice
Former Vice President Joe Biden’s choice of Senator Kamala Harris as his running mate made history and highlighted the campaign’s focus on environmental justice. Tiernan Sittenfeld of the League of Conservation Voters joined Jenni Doering to talk about Senator Harris’s environmental record and the ambition of the Biden--Harris campaign on climate change.
Healthy People Equal Healthy Forests
Gunung Palung National Park on the island of Borneo is beloved by the people who live on the Indonesian island, but like many people who live near tropical forests, they have at times had to resort to illegal logging to pay for healthcare. Now the nonprofit Health in Harmony is providing healthcare that patients can pay for with a simple trade of labor, seedlings or manure, so that no one ever has to log to pay cash for essential health services. Founder Kinari Webb and Bobby Bascomb discuss the importance of listening to what forest communities say they need in order to stop logging.
Cloning Giant Sequoias
The 3000-year-old Giant Sequoias and Coast Redwood trees of the Pacific Northwest are some of the biggest and oldest individual living things on our planet. Sadly, all but a few have been cut down for lumber. Led by Co-Founder David Milarch, the non-profit Archangel Ancient Tree Archive is helping to restore these majestic, carbon-sequestering trees by cloning their DNA.
This Week’s Show
August 14, 2020
listen / download
Kamala Harris and Environmental Justice
listen / download
Former Vice President Joe Biden’s choice of Senator Kamala Harris as his running mate made history and highlighted the campaign’s focus on environmental justice. Tiernan Sittenfeld of the League of Conservation Voters joined Jenni Doering to talk about Senator Harris’s environmental record and the ambition of the Biden--Harris campaign on climate change.
Healthy People Equal Healthy Forests
listen / download
Gunung Palung National Park on the island of Borneo is beloved by the people who live on the Indonesian island, but like many people who live near tropical forests, they have at times had to resort to illegal logging to pay for healthcare. Now the nonprofit Health in Harmony is providing healthcare that patients can pay for with a simple trade of labor, seedlings or manure, so that no one ever has to log to pay cash for essential health services. Founder Kinari Webb and Bobby Bascomb discuss the importance of listening to what forest communities say they need in order to stop logging.
Forests of Rain
listen / download
In the rainforests of Costa Rica, Living on Earth’s Explorer in Residence Mark Seth Lender encounters a chestnut-mandibled toucan and a scarlet macaw while traveling through the Osa Peninsula.
Note on Emerging Science: Plastic-Eating Mushrooms
listen / download
Around 300 million tons of plastic is produced annually, and only a tiny fraction of that plastic is recycled. Since most plastic will take about 400 years to decompose, plastic pollution poses a huge threat to the environment. But, as Don Lyman explains, the discovery of a mushroom species that feeds on polyurethane might change all that.
Cloning Giant Sequoias
listen / download
The 3000-year-old Giant Sequoias and Coast Redwood trees of the Pacific Northwest are some of the biggest and oldest individual living things on our planet. Sadly, all but a few have been cut down for lumber. Led by Co-Founder David Milarch, the non-profit Archangel Ancient Tree Archive is helping to restore these majestic, carbon-sequestering trees by cloning their DNA.
'Forest Bathing' for Health
listen / download
The Japanese practice of ‘shinrin-yoku’, or ‘forest bathing’ is gaining international popularity as a form of nature therapy. As Allegheny Front’s Kara Holsopple reports, a walk in the woods may be just what your health care provider ordered.
Special Features
Extended Version: The Sirens of Mars
listen / download
The search for life elsewhere in the Universe is focused now on Mars, our closest planetary neighbor, with the Perseverance mission planned to launch sometime between the end of July and the middle of August. Astrobiologist Sarah Stewart Johnson is a Georgetown associate professor and NASA scientist who has spent her career searching for answers to these questions. Her book Sirens of Mars: Searching for Life on Another World captures the intersection between planetary science and her life's journey, and she joins Host Steve Curwood to explore the big questions that define space exploration and the human species’ fascination with Mars.
Blog Series: The Podcast from Living On Earth
Field Note: Crab-Eater Seals Take a Break
Living on Earth's Mark Seth Lender shares a brief reflection about the crab-eater seals he observed enjoying a well-deserved rest.
Blog Series: Mark Seth Lender Field Notes
Extended Version: Jane Goodall on 60+ Years of Conservation and Research
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The iconic Jane Goodall has spent her life advocating for the conservation of the natural world. Sixty years ago on July 14th, 1960, Jane arrived in what is now Gombe National Park, Tanzania, to begin her groundbreaking research on chimpanzees. In this extended interview version, Jane Goodall joins Steve Curwood to discuss her career studying chimps, the work her organization is doing now, what we can learn about our relationship with the natural world from the current pandemic, and much more.
Blog Series: The Podcast from Living On Earth
The LOE Newsletter
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...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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