Environment

'The Great Fish Swap': How America Is Downgrading Its Seafood Supply

3:13pm July 17, 2015

One-third of the seafood Americans catch is sold abroad, but most of the seafood we eat is imported and often of lower quality. Author Paul Greenberg explains why. Originally broadcast July 1, 2014.

Queue Listen Now

Workers pull out plastic and trash from a conveyor belt of paper at a recycling plant in Elkridge, Md. The plant processes 1,000 tons of recyclable materials every day.

Reduce, Reuse, Remove The Cellophane: Recycling Demystified

10:29am July 17, 2015

by NPR Staff

Are plastic bags recyclable? Why are Christmas lights a no-go? A recycling plant operations manager takes readers' questions about the process.

Queue Listen Now

Mamie Parker, a fish and wildlife biologist with a doctorate in ecology, remembers a janitor at work once telling her: "No African-American woman has been in here except to clean this office."

From Fishing With Mom To Becoming A Top Fisheries Official

9:47am July 17, 2015

by Michel Martin

For NPR's series #RaceOnTech, we are meeting the diverse men and women who work in America's tech and science fields, like Mamie Parker, a fish and wildlife biologist who's a pioneer in her field.

Queue Listen Now

"Our degree of oil dependency is our degree of vulnerability."--Rob Hopkins

What Can A Small Town In England Teach Us About Resilience?

9:30am July 17, 2015

by NPR/TED Staff

Community organizer Rob Hopkins argues that individuals, towns and communities have a large role to play in lowering our dependence on fossil fuels.

Queue Listen Now

"There's a saying in Suriname that I dearly love: 'The rainforests hold answers to questions we have yet to ask.' But as you all know, it's rapidly disappearing."--Mark Plotkin

What's Disappearing From the Amazon — Even Faster Than Wildlife?

9:30am July 17, 2015

by NPR/TED Staff

The isolated tribes of the Amazon are getting dispersed or dying out. Ethnobotanist Mark Plotkin describes what we'll lose if their culture and collective wisdom vanish with them.

Queue Listen Now

"We've under-priced water, we've over-exploited it, we don't regulate how people pump groundwater out of the ground.... we just use too much."--Jonathan Foley

Will Our Demand For Food Threaten Our Supply of Water?

9:30am July 17, 2015

by NPR/TED Staff

Ecologist Jon Foley says agriculture is the "most powerful force unleashed on this planet since the end of the ice age." He says we're using too much to irrigate and we have to rethink how we farm.

Queue Listen Now

On July 9, 2013, heavy floodwaters swept through Beichuan in southwest China's Sichuan province.

How Air Pollution May Have Caused Catastrophic Flooding In China

6:45am July 17, 2015

by Jessie Rack

Scientists believe soot that hangs over the mountains of Sichuan Basin — a byproduct of factories and cars — brought about the floods that devastated the region in 2013.

Florida Sea Turtles Stage Amazing Comeback

11:21pm July 15, 2015

by Amy Green

When scientists first started counting the nests of green sea turtles in one area in the 1980s, they found fewer than 40 nests. In their last check, they counted almost 12,000.

Queue Listen Now

A wildfire raced through the neighborhood of Broadview in Wenatchee, Wash., destroying numerous homes and apple-processing facilities. Fire managers are worried that parts of Washington state are years behind other places in the West when it comes to fire

Wildfire Worries Rage In Typically 'Wet' Washington State

8:01pm July 15, 2015

by Kirk Siegler

Exceptionally dry conditions are fueling major blazes across the Pacific Northwest. A drought and rapid development in Washington mean the state may not be prepared to deal with a long, hot summer.

Queue Listen Now

Shark Attacks Still Haunt Residents Of Reunion

8:33pm July 13, 2015

by Emma Jacobs

Four years after a spike in shark attacks at the French island of Reunion, residents are looking for ways to restore their sense of safety. This story originally aired May 25 on All Things Considered.

Queue Listen Now