In 2015 ,the Ocean Conservancy’s annual coastal cleanup found a total of 2,127,666 cigarette butts, over twice as many as the next most common form of litter. About half of these cigarette butts were picked up in the U.S., showing that while the problem is global, much of it is concentrated in the U.S.. Rachel • Read More »
Report on last summer’s forest fires in British Columbia, Canada, as well as a rebroadcast of an interview with solar and wind expert Chris Bley. Find out what’s new in the wind turbine industry that could be scaled up even farther and why this clean energy source could help solve some of our problems. Original • Read More »
Rebroadcast of our interview with Will Travis, expert on environmental policy implications of sea level rise due to out-of-control climate. Former California Coastal Commissioner and sea-level-rise expert Will Travis talks about revolutionary ways cities can adapt to rising sea levels. Thinking outside the box of permanent buildings, he suggests radical re-thinking on how city planning • Read More »
#KidsGetIt ! Today, July 1, 2018, on Planet Watch, our guest is Ruby Rorty who, at age 14, founded the Santa Cruz Environmental Alliance http://santacruzenvironme.wixsite.com/scea a youth-led organization with the goal of empowering young people as ocean defenders capable of addressing coastal plastic pollution. One of Ruby’s initiatives, #NoMoreMermaidTears , raises awareness about small pieces of glass • Read More »
At the University of California, students and faculty are engaged in a campaign to get one of the country’s largest public university systems to divest their financial interests in fossil fuel companies on moral grounds and with the argument supporting polluting industries that contribute to global warming is contrary to the values of the institution.They • Read More »
An interview with NASA scientist Carol Stoker, an expert on Mars, the Red Planet. Carol Stoker is a staff planetary scientist at NASA Ames Research Center. Her most recent work is focused on developing instruments and robotic systems for space exploration and testing them in terrestrial analog environments. She has led field experiments in the Antarctic, • Read More »
Stan Sokolow trained and practiced as an orthodontist most of his life. But his interest in solving the world’s transportation problems became an obsession when he got inspired by reading about successes in other countries with this innovative solution. Find out which cities are already using this method of people moving and which are about • Read More »
Ever thought of making your own electricity in a nearby stream? We’ll talk with Don Harris, world-class guru on micro-hydropower and inventor of the Harris Hydroelectric Permanent Magnet Turbine about his experiences with these low-cost, high-return devices. Don lives up in the hills in the off-grid community of “Last Chance”, north of Santa Cruz, but • Read More »
A conversation with David Orr, writer and professor emeritus of environmental studies and political science from Oberlin College about the future of American democracy. What do we do to repair the damage being done to our basic institutions by the current administration? What happens after 2018, 2020, and next week if there is a constitutional • Read More »
Jonathan Fortney is a planet hunter. His job as head of UC Santa Cruz’s Astronomy Department is to look for exoplanets, planets orbiting other solar systems. He talks about what it would mean to find life, any life, elsewhere and how that ties in to our own stewardship of our own living planet.