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Searching for Life on Mars
After a spaceflight of over 200 days, NASA’s Perseverance rover has landed safely on Mars. Perseverance is the first part of a three-phase mission designed to find signs of ancient life on the red planet, and return samples to Earth by the 2030s. Sarah Stewart Johnson, a planetary scientist at Georgetown University who has worked on the Opportunity, Spirit, and Curiosity rover missions, joins Host Steve Curwood for an update.
A Civilian Climate Corps
President Biden has directed the federal government to plan a Civilian Climate Corps loosely styled on the New Deal CCC that put millions to work building trails and park facilities during the Great Depression. Washington Governor Jay Inslee joins Host Steve Curwood to share a vision for how a climate corps could aid conservation, combat climate disaster, and help save energy while harnessing the energy of youth volunteers in America.
Bottlenose Whales in the Arctic
Living on Earth’s Explorer-in-Residence Mark Seth Lender describes a pod of bottlenose whales as they swim through Hudson Strait above the Arctic Circle, and his impulse to join them.
Teddy Roosevelt’s Conservation Legacy
President Theodore Roosevelt’s famous rallying cry to “Leave it as it is” upon seeing the Grand Canyon for the first time continues to inspire conservation today. But his racism casts a shadow over his legacy in a time when conservation is being reimagined with more diversity and inclusivity. In his 2020 book Leave It As It Is: A Journey Through Theodore Roosevelt’s American Wilderness, author David Gessner reevaluates TR’s vision for today, and joins Host Jenni Doering to discuss.
Vista: A Break in the Storm
Living on Earth’s Explorer in Residence, Mark Seth Lender, takes us to the edge of the Antarctic Peninsula as dramatic storm clouds part.
Biden Reverses Trump Rollbacks
Hours after taking the oath of office, President Biden signed executive orders restoring several environmental protections removed by his predecessor. Hosts Steve Curwood and Bobby Bascomb take stock of his first executive actions and put them in context. And with narrow Democratic control of Congress, President Biden and his party could also make use of the Congressional Review Act to quickly undo recent Trump administration rules. Romany Webb of the Sabin Center for Climate Change Law at Columbia University joins Host Steve Curwood to discuss the appeal and perils of using this tool.
Turkish Development Threatens Marine Life
Recent protests in Turkey were sparked by the government's plans to pave over a public park. Journalist Sulmaan Khan joins host Steve Curwood to explain how rapid development in Turkey is causing a host of environmental problems. (photo: bigstockphoto.com)
Russia Nixes Antarctic Marine Reserve
Negotiators from 25 countries met in Germany recently in a bid to create a massive marine reserve in the seas around Antarctica. But at the last minute, Russia backed out of the deal.
No Power For The People In Texas
The most frigid days in Texas since 2011 killed dozens as it crippled the state’s power grid, led to acute water shortages and underscored the risks of extreme deregulation. Gretchen Bakke, a cultural anthropologist and author of The Grid: The Fraying Wires Between Americans and Our Energy Future joins Host Steve Curwood to discuss the recent catastrophic outages in Texas and how America’s electric power system has grown more unstable in recent decades.
A Civilian Climate Corps
President Biden has directed the federal government to plan a Civilian Climate Corps loosely styled on the New Deal CCC that put millions to work building trails and park facilities during the Great Depression. Washington Governor Jay Inslee joins Host Steve Curwood to share a vision for how a climate corps could aid conservation, combat climate disaster, and help save energy while harnessing the energy of youth volunteers in America.
Searching for Life on Mars
After a spaceflight of over 200 days, NASA’s Perseverance rover has landed safely on Mars. Perseverance is the first part of a three-phase mission designed to find signs of ancient life on the red planet, and return samples to Earth by the 2030s. Sarah Stewart Johnson, a planetary scientist at Georgetown University who has worked on the Opportunity, Spirit, and Curiosity rover missions, joins Host Steve Curwood for an update.
This Week’s Show
February 26, 2021
listen / download
No Power For The People In Texas
listen / download
The most frigid days in Texas since 2011 killed dozens as it crippled the state’s power grid, led to acute water shortages and underscored the risks of extreme deregulation. Gretchen Bakke, a cultural anthropologist and author of The Grid: The Fraying Wires Between Americans and Our Energy Future joins Host Steve Curwood to discuss the recent catastrophic outages in Texas and how America’s electric power system has grown more unstable in recent decades.
Beyond the Headlines
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In this week's Beyond the Headlines segment, Environmental Health News Editor Peter Dykstra and Host Steve Curwood discuss the first successful cloning of a US endangered species, the black-footed ferret. Next, they unpack the double-trouble of drilling for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR), and the role of the Porcupine caribou herd to trim vegetation and maintain a bright albedo. Finally, they travel back in history to March 1, 1954, the day that the US detonated a massive hydrogen bomb at Bikini Atoll.
Note on Emerging Science: Wild Bees a Boost to Crops
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For this week’s note on emerging science, Living on Earth’s Don Lyman discusses a recent study on the importance of native wild bees in agriculture. Native pollinators boosted yields for every crop studied, even on farms that use managed honeybees.
A Civilian Climate Corps
listen / download
President Biden has directed the federal government to plan a Civilian Climate Corps loosely styled on the New Deal CCC that put millions to work building trails and park facilities during the Great Depression. Washington Governor Jay Inslee joins Host Steve Curwood to share a vision for how a climate corps could aid conservation, combat climate disaster, and help save energy while harnessing the energy of youth volunteers in America.
Searching for Life on Mars
listen / download
After a spaceflight of over 200 days, NASA’s Perseverance rover has landed safely on Mars. Perseverance is the first part of a three-phase mission designed to find signs of ancient life on the red planet, and return samples to Earth by the 2030s. Sarah Stewart Johnson, a planetary scientist at Georgetown University who has worked on the Opportunity, Spirit, and Curiosity rover missions, joins Host Steve Curwood for an update.
Special Features
Field Note: Bottlenose Whales in the Arctic
Living on Earth's Explorer-in Residence Mark Seth Lender ponders the big questions that might be shared by species beyond our own.
Blog Series: Mark Seth Lender Field Notes
Field Note: Vista - A Break in the Storm
Living on Earth's Explorer-in-Residence Mark Seth Lender elaborates on the emotional impact of witnessing the dramatic light playing upon the Antarctic Peninsula as a storm breaks.
Blog Series: Mark Seth Lender Field Notes
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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