Microplastics are everywhere scientists have looked for them, from the deepest ocean trenches to mountain peaks; in our air, water, and food, even our own bodies. We’ll take a deep dive into the world of these tiny pollutants laden with thousands of different chemicals and discuss potential solutions.
Also, the world has no time to waste in cutting carbon emissions if we want to avoid the worst impacts of climate change, according to the latest major climate report from the IPCC science agency of the United Nations. What’s at stake for the planet and what’s necessary to keep warming below 1.5 degrees Celsius.
And the namesake of the National Audubon Society was an enslaver, racist and white supremacist, so several local chapters are changing their names in an effort to build a more inclusive birding community. But the leadership of the national group is refusing to change. 
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Announcing our next Living on Earth Book Club event! “Soil: The Story of a Black Mother’s Garden” with Camille T. Dungy, on April 26th at 7 p.m. ET. Learn more and sign up at loe.org/events.
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Microplastics – “A Poison Like No Other,” Climate Scientists Sound the Alarm, Nat’l Audubon Keeps Enslaver’s Name and more

As the planet we call home faces a climate emergency, Living on Earth is your go-to source for the latest coverage of climate change, ecology, and human health. Hosted by Steve Curwood and brought to you by PRX.

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Facing costly climate impacts such as the billion-dollar flood disaster of July 2023, Vermont is seeking to make fossil fuel companies pay for some of those costs with a new “Climate Superfund” bill.
Also, the Mar Menor or “little sea” lagoon on the coast of Spain faces impacts from mining, agriculture, and a booming tourist industry. Teresa Vicente helped pass a 2022 law granting the lagoon legal personhood to give it greater protection. She recently received the 2024 Goldman Environmental Prize for Europe and shares how she led a grassroots movement to protect this beloved lagoon.
Plus, 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. An ecologist explains why more complex sounds appear to indicate healthier soils, and the potential applications of listening for these sounds in the earth.
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Vermont’s “Climate Superfund” Bill, A “Little Sea” With a Big Champion, The Sounds of Soil and more.

2023 was the hottest year on record, at 1.48 degrees Celsius above preindustrial levels. That’s just below the 1.5 C increase that the UN says is the limit to avoid the worst impacts of climate change. As the summer of 2024 approaches in the Northern Hemisphere, climate scientists are raising the alarm on dangerous impacts of ongoing heat waves.
Also Shell’s flagship carbon capture and storage project in Canada generated millions of dollars in carbon credits based on greenhouse gas emission reductions that never took place. According to a study by Greenpeace Canada, the scheme was part of Shell’s billion-dollar Quest carbon capture project. While these phantom credits were legal from 2015 to 2021 under approved carbon tax rules, Shell’s actions raise questions about carbon capture practices in Canada’s lucrative fossil fuel industry.
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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Eco Grief Among Scientists, Phantom Carbon Credits, Animal Self-Medicating, Nature and the Beat, and more.

To replace the Clean Power plan the Obama Administration failed to get past the courts the EPA published new rules for existing coal plants and new gas power plants that tighten standards for mercury emissions, wastewater, and coal ash and also curb coal plant CO2 emissions over time.
Also how the 2024 Goldman environmental prize winner from Asia mobilized his community to protect the Hasdeo Aranya forests in the state of Chhattisgarh from coal mining. As well as how 2024 Goldman Environmental Prize recipient from North America, Andrea Vidaurre led a campaign that convinced the California Air Resources Board to make rules designed to decrease air pollution and lead to zero-emission trucking by 2036. 
And the fourth meeting of UN talks aimed to address plastic pollution took place this April in Ottawa, Canada. The goal is to have a legally binding international agreement on plastics pollution by the end of 2024.
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New Power Plant Rules, Protecting India’s Forests, Fighting Pollution Linked to Online Shopping and Plastic Pollution Treaty Talks

The Biden Administration is helping finance advanced nuclear power reactors and refurbishment of traditional nuclear power stations to promote the generation of zero-emission electricity. Some designs offer more flexibility in power output to an electrical grid where renewable energy is intermittent. 
Also after years congressional battles the EPA is finally banning all uses of asbestos, a highly toxic substance. Maria Doa of the Environmental Defense Fund discusses why it took so long and the anticipated public health benefits of the phaseout.
And despite an international agreement to phase out financing for fossil fuel projects abroad, the Biden administration recently approved a $500 million dollar loan guarantee for an oil and gas drilling project in Bahrain. 
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U.S. Funding Fossil Fuels Abroad, EPA Finally Bans Asbestos, New Era for Nuclear Power? and more.

On Earth Day President Biden announced the official launch of his new climate-focused jobs program, the American Climate Corps. Special Assistant to the President on Climate Maggie Thomas discusses the thousands of jobs the Corps offers in community outreach, biological surveys, invasive species removal and more.
 Also, small towns in Appalachia are being targeted for so-called chemical recycling plants, but residents are pushing back and citing concerns about chemical fires, air pollution, and toxic wastewater polluting local rivers. Opponents in Point Township, Pennsylvania succeeded in canceling a project there, and we discuss two other proposed chemical recycling plants in Ohio and West Virginia.
And lithium is used in electric vehicle batteries and plays a key role in the global shift towards clean transportation, but current extraction methods come with environmental costs. Some companies are exploring an alternative that taps brine water deep in the Earth. We explore how it works and what questions about its impacts remain.
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Microplastics – “A Poison Like No Other,” Climate Scientists Sound the Alarm, Nat’l Audubon Keeps Enslaver’s Name and more

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