This Green Earth

Anna Robertson and Luke Curtain provide a comprehensive recap of Mountain Towns 2030.

Roger Thurow a former Wall Street Journal reporter who wrote a series of stories on famine in Africa that was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in International Reporting. His reporting on humanitarian and development issues was also honored by the United Nations. He also recently penned the book, "Against the Grain." This week Thurow is speaking at Canvas 2025 in Salt Lake City. A conference covering innovation and emerging leaders in agronomy, crops, and soil sciences. Then, renowned anthropologist Dr. Shirley Strum joins the show to share more on her life’s work with baboons. Dr. Strum is a professor of anthropology at the University of California, San Diego and the Director of the Uaso Ngiro Baboon Project in Kenya. She has just written a new book titled, "Echos of Our Origins: Baboons, Humans, and Nature."

Abby Ellis the director of a new film about the plight of the Great Salt Lake called “Terminal,” explains more about the fight currently being waged to save the largest saltwater lake in the Western Hemisphere. Then, conservationist and author Thor Hanson discusses his book, “Hurricane Lizards and Plastic Squid: The Fraught and Fascinating Biology of Climate Change.”

Walt Meier, senior research scientist at the National Snow and Ice Data Center explains how and why Arctic sea ice has been receding for years and the global ramifications of this loss. Then Ronda Carnegie, executive director and co-founder of Project Dandelion an organization calling on the women of the world to unite for a climate safe world, talks about their campaign for women with smallholder farms.

National Geographic Explorer Dr. Lisa Briggs, an underwater archaeologist, archaeological scientist and documentary filmmaker is best known for her work excavating shipwrecks. Dr. Briggs discusses her scientific analysis on artifacts recovered from some of the world's most important underwater archaeological sites including Blackbeard's flagship, the Queen Anne's Revenge. Then biologist and author Karen Lloyd breaks down her firsthand account of the hunt for life beneath Earth’s surface.

Peter Kuper is an award-winning cartoonist who shares a visually immersive work of graphic nonfiction with his new book "INSECTOPOLIS: A Natural History." In the book, Kuper layers history and science with color and design, to tell the remarkable tales of dung beetles navigating by the stars, hawk-size prehistoric dragonflies hunting prey and mosquitoes changing the course of human history. Then, Bridget Lyons, a traveler, explorer, and former wilderness guide talks about her new book, "Entwined: Dispatches from the Intersection of Species." Lyons takes readers everywhere from Alaska to California and Honduras to Mexico, braiding stories of animals and plants with careful observation, scientific research and wonder.

Science journalist Cara Giaimo dives into the ocean’s abyss to learn new approaches to life from some of the oceans most interesting creatures. In her latest book, "Leaving the Ocean Was a Mistake: Life Lessons from Sixty Sea Creatures," Giaimo uses the bizarre and fascinating adaptations of sixty marine creatures to offer humorous and insightful advice for living on land. Award-winning author Gary Ferguson has written for a variety of national publications and and has penned twenty-seven books on nature and science, including his latest book: "The Twilight Forest: An Elegy for Ponderosa in a Changing West."

Journalist Kevin Fedarko chronicles an ambitious and transformative journey with National Geographic photographer Pete McBride as they attempted a full traverse of the Grand Canyon on foot — a grueling 750-mile trek. Then, award-winning photojournalist Pete McBride tells the story of the Colorado River through photography, essays and a book titled, "The Colorado River: Chasing Water."

Author, conservationist and Utah resident, Brooke Williams, talks about his life of adventure and wilderness exploration and his new book, "Encountering Dragonfly." Then, Dr. Tom Smith from Brigham Young University's Wildlife and Wildlands Conservation Program shares more on Utah’s Rocky Mountain big horn sheep and efforts to keep their population thriving.

This Green Earth takes you on a journey to discover the fascinating world of Orcas with Naomi Rose, marine mammal scientist for the Animal Welfare Institute in Washington, DC. Dr. Rose talks about everything from how orcas create their pods to the reason some teenage whales have become a challenge for boaters. Then, traveling from the Amazon to Hawaii, Kenya to Georgia, journalist Kelsey Zimmerman talks to our world's farmers, indigenous leaders, and activists who are working with nature rather than against it to build a better tomorrow for us all.