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AI Power Demand and the Climate
Artificial intelligence or AI’s huge appetite for power is reviving demand for older and dirtier fossil fuel energy. We talk about the massive data centers that power AI, community pushback, and how the AI trend could put vital climate targets out of reach.
MAHA and MAGA Divide Over Pesticides
The Make America Healthy Again or MAHA movement has pinpointed some health concerns backed up by credible research, including concerns about pesticides such as the probable carcinogen glyphosate, the key ingredient in Monsanto’s Roundup. But after agribusiness lobbying the Trump Administration erased pesticides from its MAHA Commission report.
Robin Wall Kimmerer on The Serviceberry
Braiding Sweetgrass author Robin Wall Kimmerer is also the author of a 2024 book that continues her explorations of gift economies. She shares insights from The Serviceberry: Abundance and Reciprocity in the Natural World and how gift economies can offer an alternative to overconsumption.
Deadly Toll of Wildfire Smoke
Wildfire smoke is fouling air quality across the US with increasing regularity, and it carries a heavy toll. A September 2025 study published in the journal Nature found that every year around 40,000 Americans are dying from wildfire smoke, with more on the way as the planet warms. Air filters, face masks and low-intensity prescribed burning can help protect the public from this growing threat.
Underpaid Incarcerated Firefighters Get a Big Raise
Around a third of the firefighters who battle wildfires in California are incarcerated, and until recently they were paid just $5 to $10 a day. Under a state law enacted in October 2025, incarcerated firefighters are now paid at least $7.25 per hour while actively fighting fires.
Wildfire Trauma and Recovery
Wildfires can take a huge mental toll and people who live in wildfire-impacted communities may experience post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety, and depression. Jenni Doering tells Aynsley O’Neill about her frightening childhood experience of the 2003 Cedar Fire in San Diego and we discuss emotional resilience strategies.
"Good Fire": How Cultural Burning Heals Land and People
Around the world, Indigenous people have been using fire on the landscape for thousands of years. One such practice comes from the Métis tradition in Western Canada. A Cree-Métis scientist shares with us how this low-intensity “good fire” helps rekindle cultural traditions and cultivate healthier ecosystems.
Join the Living on Earth Book Club on October 13th!
Bestselling science journalist Ed Yong joins us to talk about his new book. Click here to learn more and register!
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Celebrating 30 years of Living on Earth!
Host Steve Curwood in the Living on Earth studio
AI Power Demand and the Climate
Artificial intelligence or AI’s huge appetite for power is reviving demand for older and dirtier fossil fuel energy. We talk about the massive data centers that power AI, community pushback, and how the AI trend could put vital climate targets out of reach.
MAHA and MAGA Divide Over Pesticides
The Make America Healthy Again or MAHA movement has pinpointed some health concerns backed up by credible research, including concerns about pesticides such as the probable carcinogen glyphosate, the key ingredient in Monsanto’s Roundup. But after agribusiness lobbying the Trump Administration erased pesticides from its MAHA Commission report.
Robin Wall Kimmerer on The Serviceberry
Braiding Sweetgrass author Robin Wall Kimmerer is also the author of a 2024 book that continues her explorations of gift economies. She shares insights from The Serviceberry: Abundance and Reciprocity in the Natural World and how gift economies can offer an alternative to overconsumption.
This Week’s Show
December 5, 2025
listen / download
AI Power Demand and the Climate
listen / download
Artificial intelligence or AI’s huge appetite for power is reviving demand for older and dirtier fossil fuel energy. We talk about the massive data centers that power AI, community pushback, and how the AI trend could put vital climate targets out of reach.
MAHA and MAGA Divide Over Pesticides
listen / download
The Make America Healthy Again or MAHA movement has pinpointed some health concerns backed up by credible research, including concerns about pesticides such as the probable carcinogen glyphosate, the key ingredient in Monsanto’s Roundup. But after agribusiness lobbying the Trump Administration erased pesticides from its MAHA Commission report.
Robin Wall Kimmerer on The Serviceberry
listen / download
Braiding Sweetgrass author Robin Wall Kimmerer is also the author of a 2024 book that continues her explorations of gift economies. She shares insights from The Serviceberry: Abundance and Reciprocity in the Natural World and how gift economies can offer an alternative to overconsumption.
Earth Prayer
listen / download
Nulhegan Abenaki storyteller Joe Bruchac delivers his poem of gratitude for the gifts of the Earth, called “Earth Prayer.”
Special Features
Field Note: "After the Storm"
Living on Earth's Explorer-in-Residence, Mark Seth Lender, ruminates on the storm as it meets the shore.
Blog Series: Mark Seth Lender Field Notes
Field Note: "Countermeasures"
Living on Earth's Explorer-in-Residence, Mark Seth Lender, shares observations about shorebirds in flight.
Blog Series: Mark Seth Lender Field Notes
...Ultimately, if we are going prevent large parts of this Earth from becoming not only inhospitable but uninhabitable in our lifetimes, we are going to have to keep some fossil fuels in the ground rather than burn them...
-- President Barack Obama, November 6, 2015 on why he declined to approve the Keystone XL Pipeline.
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