Trump on Earth

When President Trump started his tenure he promised to repeal something called the 'Waters of the U.S.' rule. And this week he made good on that promise.

The revised definition of "Waters of the United States" eliminates protections for half of the nations wetlands and nearly a fifth of streams.

On this episode, we spoke with Ariel Wittenberg, who covers the Clean Water Act for E&E News, about the major changes to the Obama-era rule and their implications.

President Donald Trump's performance and policies were front and center in many races across the country--whether candidates were for or against them--and the environment was on the ballot, too...in some cases, literally. A least nine states had ballot initiatives focused on environmental issues from banning offshore drilling to ramping up renewals. To get a post-election take on how the environment played into the midterm elections--and what's next--we talked to George Cahlink, congressional reporter for E&E News.

Historically, polls have shown that environmentalists are terrible at voting. In the 2014 midterm election, more than 15 million environmentalists didn't show up on Election Day. And to be clear, all of them were already registered and already committed to environmental issues. So why are they so bad at voting? And will they turn out in the midterm elections?

We dig into the topic with Nathaniel Stinnett, founder of the non-partisan organization, Environmental Voter Project. He has a plan for getting environmentalists to the polls on November 6th.

President Trump says he'll look into a recent UN Climate Change report that predicted we have 12 years to drastically lower our carbon footprint or else the world will witness catastrophic impacts of climate change. He did this as his EPA is actively scaling back Obama-era regulations that would have cut back on America's carbon pollution. A lot of that work has been done in concert with lobbyists from the fossil fuel industry, including some who now work at the EPA. We know this in part thanks to the work of Eric Lipton an investigative reporter for The New York Times. We caught up with Lipton at the Society of Environmental Journalists annual conference in Flint, Michigan.

You've probably heard by now that, according to a new UN report, the world has just over a decade to get climate change under control before it's too late. And the report says we need a profound transformation to get there.

The report has got us thinking about an episode we aired last year about what life on Earth could look like with the worst case scenario.

David Wallace-Wells wrote an article last summer entitled "The Uninhabitable Earth." It was the most widely read article in the online history of New York Magazine. Its imagined future was so grim, it spawned response articles like "Are we as doomed as that New York Magazine Article Says?" in the Atlantic Magazine.

On this episode, we talk to Wallace-Wells, to find out -- is it really as bad as all that?

Today we're bring you an episode of a podcast we've been enjoying lately. Democracy Works, produced by Penn State's McCourtney Institute for Democracy, aims to rise above the daily news grind and take a broader look at issues impacting democracy — which can be just about anything. If you're looking for partisan bickering or hot takes on the news, this is not the podcast for you.

This episode is an interview with one of the most famous and vocal climate scientists. Michael Mann was on one of our earliest Trump on Earth episodes, but this conversation with him is a different take. We hope you enjoy it.

You can learn more about their podcast at democracyworkspodcast.com or search "Democracy Works" wherever you get your podcasts.

This administration is hell bent on dismantling environmental and human health protections, but judges are pushing back on Trump's deregulatory agenda in sometimes rapid fire succession.

People of faith are joining the ranks of the People Climate Movement, which takes to the streets this weekend demanding action. One religious leader tells us why climate change is becoming a top priority.

Fletcher Harper is an Episcopal priest and the executive director of GreenFaith, a member organization of the People's Climate Movement.

Coal was the engine of the Industrial Revolution and employed nearly 1.2 million people in Britain at its height. But the UK has gone more than 1,000 hours without using coal to generate electricity this year - the longest streak since Thomas Edison opened the country's first coal power station in 1882. How did they do it? Our guest is Carolyn Beeler who covered this story for PRI's The World.

Less than a week after the announcement that Justice Anthony Kennedy would retire, President Trump nominated DC Circuit Judge Brett Kavanaugh as Kennedy's replacement. In this episode, we learn more about Kavanaugh's environmental record and what cases he'd be weighing in on if confirmed. Our guest is Melissa Powers, a law professor and director of the Green Energy Institute at Lewis & Clark Law School in Oregon.

Professor Powers also talks about Justice Kennedy's environmental legacy.Kennedy was the swing vote in Massachusetts v. EPA, considered the most consequential ruling on climate change. Without his vote, we might still be fighting to have CO2 recognized as a pollutant at all.