Living on Earth

Around a thousand of the firefighters who battled blazes around southern California in January 2025 were incarcerated. They do essentially the same work as other firefighters but are paid as little as around $5 a day. A formerly incarcerated firefighter shares what it was like and how the experience helped him forge a new life after prison as a professional firefighter.

Also, as the water supply in Athens, Greece dwindles and demand surges from residents and tourists alike, the city is looking to antiquity for solutions. One that’s attracting attention is an ancient aqueduct that runs beneath Athens.

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Sounds like the overlapping songs of birds can speak volumes about the biodiversity in an ecosystem, and now scientists are looking to use the tiny sounds made by earthworms, ants, and voles to study the health of soils.

 Also, "depaving parties" of volunteers with sledgehammers are turning paved yards into pollinator havens and green space. That can help reduce climate impacts from extreme heat and flooding.

Plus -- a scientist who rappels down cliffs to hand-pollinate endangered plants. A vine that mimics the leaves of nearby species. Rice that crowds out strangers but leaves room for the roots of relatives. The book “The Light Eaters” tackles big questions of plant intelligence, consciousness, and communication.

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A study from Johns Hopkins researchers found that residents near or on the fence line of polluting enterprises are at higher risk for multiple health problems because of the toxic mix of air they breathe. The lead researcher explains the study.

Also, astronomer Phil Plait wondered what it would be like to walk on Mars, fall into a black hole, or fly through a nebula, so he wrote a book, Under Alien Skies: A Sightseer’s Guide to the Universe. He reveals the strange colors of a sunset on Mars, what it’s like on a planet orbiting binary stars, the unique challenges of landing on an asteroid, and more.

And a paper published in the journal Scientific Reports describes the case study of an orangutan who treated and healed his own wound. Zoologists have long seen behaviors of self-medicating in the animal kingdom, but until now it has rarely if ever been documented in scientific literature.

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Eels play an important ecological role in many rivers and streams, but they’re so eel-usive that even eel scientists have been challenged to observe them mating in the wild. Ellen Ruppel Shell is author of the 2024 book Slippery Beast: A True Crime Natural History, with Eels, and she sheds light on the eel’s murky ecology and path through the seafood industry.

And the relentless heating of the Earth is prompting people to move after climate-related catastrophes and amid more gradual changes. Journalist Abrahm Lustgarten is the author of On the Move: The Overheating Earth and the Uprooting of America, about the northward migration he anticipates as Americans seek to escape punishing heat, fire, and drought.

Also stargazing has profoundly shaped who we are as human beings, and gave rise to science, religion, and origin stories from diverse traditions. Roberto Trotta, the author of the new book Starborn: How the Stars Made Us (And Who We Would Be Without Them) joins us to discuss how studying the night sky shaped science and why satellites now threaten our connection to the stars.

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The US Environmental Protection Agency is shutting down its Office of Research and Development, which represents 50 years of independent scientific research. We explain the impact of this federal decision on both EPA employees and science.

Also, National Parks are undergoing increased layoffs and funding cuts under the second Trump administration stretching staff short. A former NPS employee speaks out.

And Wildfire season is scorching through Canada and a particularly dangerous kind of fire, known as “zombie fire”, can survive through the winter months by smoldering underground.

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Weather forecasting, climate research and climate resilience are being hit with major budget and staffing cuts by the Trump administration, impacting emergency preparedness for floods such as the one that devastated the Texas hill country.

Also,research has long shown that the top two coffee species, Arabica and Robusta, are vulnerable to climate impacts like increased drought and heat. And by 2050 as much as half of coffee producing land could no longer be suitable for these top species. But excitement is brewing over a climate resilient bean called excelsa.

And residents of Reserve, Louisiana in “Cancer Alley” recently received stunning news that Denka Performance Elastomer, which has for years emitted high levels of cancer-causing air pollutants, would indefinitely suspend its operations. Tish Taylor of Concerned Citizens of St. John speaks about illnesses her family has endured, her community’s cautious celebration of the decision and cleaner air, and how her fight against environmental racism continues.

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As the climate crisis brings ever more devastating floods, storms, heat waves and fires, the Republican-led Congress and President Trump have slashed around half a trillion dollars in clean energy tax credits that would have reduced climate pollution and helped America to better adapt to climate change.

Also, catastrophic floods like the one that claimed at least 100 lives in Texas this July are becoming more likely because of climate disruption. A meteorologist joins us to talk about the atmospheric and climate conditions that contribute to flood disasters, and the growing need to be weather aware.

Plus, about a quarter of US homes use private septic systems, which can run you thousands of dollars. And more than a million people in America today are living without indoor plumbing, too often in appalling, unhealthy conditions. Catherine Coleman Flowers is working to change that, and she talks about her work to help rural families across America lead healthier and wealthier lives by improving sanitation.

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19-year-old Eva Lighthiser has experienced climate anxiety for most of her life, as her home state of Montana faces worsening floods, wildfires, and extreme heat. Now she and 20 other young people are suing the Trump administration over its efforts to boost fossil fuels while suppressing climate science and renewable energy.

Also, ten years since nations adopted the historic Paris Agreement, greenhouse gas emissions continue to rise, and hopes are dimming that we can meet the Paris goal of limiting global heating to 1.5 degrees Celsius. As global leaders prepare to meet in Brazil for COP30, with recent preliminary sessions in Bonn, Germany, some say the entire UN climate agreement system is broken.

And in a rare act of public criticism, hundreds of EPA employees published a declaration of dissent from the agency’s policies under the Trump administration, calling out its alleged ignoring of scientific consensus to benefit polluters, undermining of public trust and more.

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This June the US Environmental Protection Agency proposed eliminating regulations that limit climate changing gases from power plants, about a quarter of US emissions. Harvard Law Professor Richard Lazarus speaks about the perils of the broader Trump administration effort to weaken federal environmental protections.

Also, the ugly truth of plastic is that the world produces over 400 million metric tons each year and recycles less than ten percent of it. But artist Erik Jon Olson is transforming unsightly plastic waste into beautiful, quilted works of art which are popping up in galleries and exhibitions across the United States. He shares the meaning and method behind his whimsical and striking artwork.

And in his recent book Just Earth: How a Fairer World Will Save the Planet, Tony Juniper explores how tackling economic inequality within and between countries will go far to solve the climate and biodiversity crises. Tony Juniper has long advised King Charles III on the environment and climate and now chairs Natural England. He discusses the transformation that’s urgently needed to allow planet and people to thrive.

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Just as the enslavement of people was driven by commercial interests, today the enslavement of nature for profit violates a morality that sees value in all living things, according to the Rev. Mariama White-Hammond, pastor of New Roots AME Church in Dorchester, Massachusetts and former Chief of Environment, Energy and Open Spaces for the City of Boston. She joins us to reflect on how overcoming slavery, which is celebrated on Juneteenth, can inspire us to find ways to depend on each other so we can thrive in a world of ecological justice.

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