Pri: Living On Earth

Your Health And Fluoride / Getting Hormones Out Of Wastewater / Beyond The Headlines / Brazil To Increase Amazon Deforestation / The Red-Tailed Hunter / Exxon Mobil Sued For Fraud / Investigative Reporting In Coal Country / Birdnote®: Two Phoebes Share The American West Most cities in the United States add fluoride to the water supply in an attempt to prevent tooth decay. But recent studies show a correlation between drinking water containing fluoride and health issues such as weight gain, fatigue and ADHD. Also, after a three-year investigation, the New York Attorney General has sued ExxonMobil for allegedly misleading its shareholders on the risks climate change regulations could pose to its business. And investigative reporter Ken Ward, who has spent decades doggedly unveiling corruption within the coal industry, is a 2018 MacArthur Fellow. Fluoride, Exxon, investigative reporting in coal country and more, in this installment of Living on Earth from PRI. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megapho

More Organics, Less Cancer / Beyond The Headlines / Gaza Water Crisis / Acquitted For Climate Convictions / BirdNote®: Saw-whet Owls Hoot And Hoot A major study finds a significant reduction in the risk of cancer among high consumers of organic food. Also, in the Gaza Strip, where every three out of four people are refugees, clean water is scarce, and there's a worsening health crisis for Gaza's children. And two recently acquitted protestors who temporarily shut down oil pipelines call for more civil disobedience, saying time is running out to save a livable climate. Fighting cancer, climate apathy and more, in this installment of Living on Earth from PRI. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Red Tide Boosts Blue Wave / Beyond The Headlines / A Warmer World Supercharged Hurricane Michael / Fly-fishing Saved From Pollution / Barbara Kingsolver, Unsheltered / Vegan Generation Gap A surge of toxic red and green algae blooms is fueling anger at Florida Republican Governor and Senate Candidate Rick Scott and could affect the November election outcomes. Also, how unusually warm waters in the Gulf of Mexico fed Hurricane Michael's rapid intensification and essentially doubled its destructiveness. And writer Barbara Kingsolver's new novel, "Unsheltered," explores two families dealing with economic crises and the denial of science - living a century apart. Slime, climate change, hurricanes and more, in this installment of Living on Earth from PRI. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Kavanaugh On Environmental Law / Beyond The Headlines / Global Warming Is Heating Up / Bringing Back Butternut Trees / Night Moves / BirdNote®: Starlings Say It With Flowers / John Kerry: 'Respect Democracy - By Going Out And Voting' After being confirmed by a narrow margin, Brett Kavanaugh is now a Supreme Court Justice. We take a look at why he's likely to shift SCOTUS towards narrower interpretations of environmental law, which would limit the government's authority to regulate pollutants like climate-warming gases. Speaking of - a new UN climate report points to dire consequences if the world fails to quickly curb greenhouse gases. Earth's average surface temperature is already on track to rise by much more than the key threshold of 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial temperatures. And we wrap up our conversation with John Kerry about his memoir, Every Day Is Extra - and why respecting democracy means going to the polls on Election Day. Those stories, our weekly segment catching up with Peter Dy

EPA Raises Risks To Children's Health? / Beyond The Headlines / Cool Fix For A Hot Planet: A Tiny, Carbon-Sucking Fern / Failed Tsunami Warnings / Walrus Changes His Mind / Hemlock Trees On Hospice / John Kerry Looks Back - And Ahead / BirdNote®: Chipping Sparrows: Song Learning Starts Early John Kerry is on a mission to get out the vote. As America and the world face pressing issues like climate change, he says there's a dire need for elected officials who are willing to face the future head-on. His call to action comes as the Environmental Protection Agency is rolling back regulations on mercury and is reportedly preparing to shutter its Office of Children's Health Protection. Also, an artist and ecologist team up to communicate the story of the dying eastern Hemlock tree. "Hemlock Hospice" and more, in this installment of Living on Earth from PRI. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Billion Dollar Losses Related to Roundup / Beyond the Headlines / Birdnote®: The Cuban Tody, A Caribbean Jewel / Rebuilding Puerto Rico's Battered Farms / The Tangled Tree Even before Hurricane Maria, Puerto Rico imported nearly all of its food. Now, as locals rebuild their lives, an agricultural revival is bringing fresh fruits and veggies back to the island. Also, Bayer faces billions of dollars in potential court damages, after a jury finds Bayer-owned Monsanto knowingly sold a cancer-causing herbicides without warning consumers. And a discussion with science writer David Quammen on how new discoveries go beyond Darwin's "tree of life". New secrets of life and more, in this episode of Living on Earth from PRI. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Wastes Flood The Carolinas / Science Note: Hurricanes, Lizards and Leafblowers / "Pa'lante": Puerto Rican Resilience After Maria / Beyond The Headlines / Women Climate Scientists Threatened and Harassed / An App For Urban Foraging Hurricane Maria brought great hardship to the residents of Puerto Rico and killed thousands. Now survivors are forging ahead with a spirit of resilience as they prepare for future hurricanes. Also, floods brought by Hurricane Florence inundate hog and poultry farms, spreading infectious animal waste across the Carolinas. And as the fall harvest begins, we share a story about an app that guides urban foragers to fruit for the taking. Those stories and more, in this installment of Living on Earth from PRI. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

California Moves Toward Carbon-Free Economy / Resilience In Puerto Rico's Tropical Forests After Hurricane Maria / Beyond The Headlines / Rising: Dispatches From The New American Shore California commits to 100% carbon-free electricity by 2045, and as the Global Climate Action Summit kicked off, citizens took to the streets to call for swifter action. Also, Hurricane Maria stripped Puerto Rico's trees of their leaves, but forests that evolved in the hurricane belt have ways to cope with the damage and they are re-growing. And we speak with a writer who set out to document the stories of people caught in the rising tides along the American seaboard. Those stories and more, in this installment of Living on Earth from PRI. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Trans Mountain Pipeline Expansion Blocked / Beyond the Headlines / Volunteers Test Drinking Water in Puerto Rico / Crop Pests in a Warmer World / Eager: The Surprising Secret Life of Beavers Canada's Federal Appeals court has ruled that the Trudeau government improperly reviewed the controversial Trans Mountain Pipeline Expansion, likely delaying the project past Canada's elections in 2019. Also, meet the citizen scientists who got to work testing Puerto Rico's water sources for safety in the wake of Hurricane Maria. And we bring you a tale of how the largest rodent in America, once trapped almost to extinction, is being brought back thanks to a "beaver love motel" and a growing cadre of fans. The "beaver believers" and more, in this installment of Living on Earth from PRI. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Gulf Orphans / Sexual Misconduct in the US Forest Service: One Woman's Story / BirdNote®: Blakiston's Fish Owl / Conch at the Edge / The Place Where You Live: Rose-Hill, Mauritius Western wildfires are growing more intense with global warming, and more women are joining the US Forest Service to help fight these fires. But a deep-seated macho culture in the agency means they often face hostility and harassment, and retribution if they complain. Also, a team of rescuers wades through chilly northern waters to save "Gulf Stream orphans," tropical fish babies stranded up north by the Gulf Stream. And down in the Bahamas, "conchservationists" work to save the Queen Conch, a marine mollusk that's in danger of being loved to death. Those stories and more, in this installment of Living on Earth from PRI. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Thousands of Lead-Poisoned Communities / Science Note: The Power of Dust / Obesity and House Dust / Bitcoin, The Energy Hog / Tamed and Untamed: Close Encounters of the Animal Kind Lead is a deadly neurotoxin that's especially harmful to children's brains, and though it's banned in paint and gasoline, it's still found at dangerous levels in many communities. And another danger might be lurking under your bed - in dust bunnies. House dust can include chemicals that trigger the growth of mouse fat cells in the lab, and might be a factor in the obesity epidemic. Also - what are animals thinking? Two best-selling writers muse on the thoughts and emotions of animals, and why some people believe chickens have names for their keepers. Those stories and more, in this installment of Living on Earth from PRI. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Flying Insects Crash / Emerging Science Note: Brazilian Peppertree / Trees On the Move / The Early Bird Breeds Fast / Baby Tern Goes Exploring / The Hidden Life of Trees / The Place Where You Live: Bear Creek, WI and St. Paul, MN Flying insects may plague us in the summer, but they're vital food sources for birds and bats, and they pollinate most of our crops. Yet 75% of them have vanished in the last quarter-century, with potentially disastrous consequences. Also, the big old oak in your backyard may be rooted firmly in place- but its acorns can travel. Now as the planet warms and climates change, trees are on the move, and transforming the species mix in our forests. We also take a look at how trees communicate via a "wood wide web" -- and a forester's conviction that they are far more sentient than we think. The hidden life of trees and more, in this installment of Living on Earth from PRI. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Greening the Military / Solar Eclipsing Coal in Jobs / India's Renewable Energy Revolution / Strangers in Their Own Land: Anger and Mourning on the American Right Renewable energy to the rescue: In the U.S. military, hybrid vehicles and innovations like 'solar blankets' can improve operations, and even save the lives of soldiers. Also, in the U.S., coal still produces far more energy than solar. But solar already employs twice as many people as the coal industry does, and some former coal miners are becoming solar technicians. And India is leading the world in slashing carbon emissions as it undertakes a renewable energy revolution. Those stories and more, in this installment of Living on Earth from PRI. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Global Warming to Worsen Southern Poverty / BirdNote: When the Amazon Floods / Linking Fracking and Radon / 100% Sun Power for Hampshire College / Fossil Fuel Freedom Fighters / Science Note: Nanowire Battery Breakthrough / The Telescope in the Ice: The Hunt for the Ghost Particle A new generation of nature writers is coming of age in America, and grappling with the loss of the pristine landscapes their parents and grandparents enjoyed. Also, rising radon levels in Pennsylvania homes have been linked to fracking, but there's more to the story. And one of the world's most sensitive telescopes is buried deep in Antarctic ice, searching for evidence of elusive neutrinos. Those stories and more, in this installment of Living on Earth from PRI. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

GOP Tax On Global Warming Gases / What The Osprey Overheard: Mark Seth Lender / LED Impacts On Wildlife / Meet the Rare, Shy, and Hungry Humboldt Marten / Science Note: A Moonshot To Save Rhinos / DNA Technology For Rhino Protection / US Tries To Boost Infant Formula A new GOP carbon tax bill promises to fight climate change with a "tax swap" that would fund infrastructure and climate adaptation strategies. Also, LED lights are energy-efficient, but they could be harming wildlife by leading sea turtles astray, and even perplexing the humble housefly. And deep in the coastal forests of California and Oregon, the tiny and voracious Humboldt marten is threatened by habitat loss, trapping, and illegal cannabis farming. Those stories and more, in this installment of Living on Earth from PRI. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

FEMA Unprepared To Help Puerto Rico / Repairing Puerto Rico's Corals / Combat Divers Restore Ocean Health / Beyond the Headlines / CRISPR Gene Tool Could Pinpoint Resilient Corals FEMA admits it failed to adequately prepare for Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico, a disaster that cost thousands of human lives. Maria devastated coral communities, too, so locals and combat diving veterans are coming to the rescue by putting healthy fragments back in place. And as rising temperatures threaten corals across the globe, scientists are using CRISPR to identify which genes make some coral species more heat-tolerant. Those stories and more, in this installment of Living on Earth from PRI. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Pruitt Out, Wheeler In / Fracking On The Rachel Carson Trail / Judge Kavanaugh & Environmental Protection / Beyond The Headlines / BirdNote: Sparrow Sing In Arizona Monsoon / Hospital Farming For Better Health / The Place Where You Live: Anchorage, Alaska Scott Pruitt is gone and his deputy and former coal lobbyist Andrew Wheeler, now acting administrator at the EPA, is expected to carry on Mr. Pruitt's legacy of regulatory rollbacks. Change is also coming to the US Supreme Court , as Justice Kennedy steps down. Nominee Judge Brett Kavanaugh has been tough on environmental regulations in past cases, and could shift the high Court further to the right. And at a major trauma center and teaching hospital in Boston, a rooftop garden is helping patients heal by providing them with fresh, nutritious produce. Those stories and more, in this installment of Living on Earth from PRI. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Conservatives Join Climate Agenda / Beyond The Headlines / The Tide Keeps Rising / Ozone-destroying Chemicals Make A Comeback / An American Eden: The Lost Garden Underneath Rockefeller Center / Mark Seth Lender: Tern About As America celebrated Independence Day, we looked back to the legacy of the generation that followed the "founding fathers," and the pioneering physician who founded America's first botanical garden in the heart of what's now Rockefeller Center. Also, a bipartisan carbon tax and dividend effort seeks to bring both sides of the aisle together for action on climate change, and looks past the 2018 midterm elections. And as politicians work to find common ground on climate change, there's no time to waste in preparing for its impacts, suggests a study from NOAA that forecasts more frequent tidal flooding in the years ahead. Those stories and more, in this installment of Living on Earth from PRI. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Farm Bills Tough on Conservation and Food Stamps / US Relies on Imported Organic Foods / Climate Will Drive Corn Crop Failure / Beyond the Headlines / Central America's Climate Refugees / Audio Postcard: Sounds of São Paulo, Brazil Families say they are migrating from Central America in part because they are feeling climate disruption right now with disastrous storms and searing droughts. And in this episode, we also focus on food. Congress is slashing farm conservation measures and US farmers can't seem to keep up with the growing demand for organic corn and soy. Organic or not, corn seems to be heading for trouble as the world keeps warming, with a much higher risk of crop failures in the future. Those stories and more, in this installment of Living on Earth from PRI. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Seas Rising Faster With Antarctic Melt / Boston's Rising Tide / Humpback Whales Rebound / Beyond The Headlines / The Last Lobster In this episode, we delve into Antarctica's rapid ice loss, which is three times what it was just a decade ago thanks to warmer ocean temperatures that eat away at the icy continent from below. These same warmer waters are also increasing access to food for humpback whales, and their population is booming thanks in part to conservation efforts. But the humpback whale comeback could be short-lived. And up on the coast of Maine the warming ocean is a threat for lobstermen who have enjoyed unprecedented catches in recent years. Those stories and more, in this installment of Living on Earth from PRI. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices