Living on Earth

Slippery Beast: A True Crime Natural History, with Eels, Uprooted By Climate, Starborn: How the Stars Made Us and more.

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. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

EPA Cuts Scientific Research, Censorship in US National Parks, Zombie Fires in Canada and more.

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. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Weakening Disaster Prep, Climate-Resilient Coffee, Clearing Air in Cancer Alley, and more.

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. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Congress Busts Carbon Budget, Climate Disruption Worsens Flood Risks, and America’s Rural Sanitation Crisis.

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. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Trump Faces Youth Climate Lawsuit, Tempered Hope for COP30, EPA Employees Speak Out and more

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. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices