Episodes

California is first in the nation to establish a comprehensive, producer-funded take-back program to provide safe and convenient disposal options for both home-generated pharmaceutical drugs and sharps waste. Manufacturers of sharps, prescriptions, and over-the-counter medications will be required to create, fund, and participate in a statewide take-back system. Tune in as we talk with Heidi Sanborn, Senior Advisor and former Executive Director of the California Product Stewardship Council (CPSC...

Natural Habitat Adventures is spearheading the world’s first zero waste trip—a travel-industry first. On the July 6-12, 2019 departure of Safari America: Yellowstone Country, 14 travelers will join this pioneering endeavor in which Nat Hab’s goal is to divert (refuse, recycle, compost, upcycle, or re-use) 99 percent or more of all waste produced as part of Nat Hab-sponsored trip operations. With the World’s First Zero Waste Adventure, Nat Hab aims to fit all waste produced on the trip into a sin...

The levels of lead in Newark, New Jersey’s drinking water are some of the highest recently recorded by a large water system in the United States. Experts agree that there is no safe level of lead exposure. Pregnant women and children are most at risk: Even low lead levels are associated with serious, irreversible damage to developing brains and nervous systems. For years, the city has had the greatest number of lead-poisoned children in New Jersey. This likely stems from a variety of exposures t...

The CW has just launched a new Saturday morning show called, Ready, Set, Pet, hosted by Phil Torres. Phil has appeared on shows like Animal Planet and Discovery Channel, and has been published in Wired, BBC, National Geographic, WSJ, MSNBC, and more. Ready, Set, Pet will educate and inform teens and their families about pet adoption, responsible pet ownership, and the importance of a green space for pets. Each episode, Phil will guide a family through the pet adoption process after a careful loo...

Recycling programs as we know it are at risk, because China, as one of the world’s biggest recycled goods buyers, has increased their standards for the recycled goods they will import. Standards have gotten so tough that even one dirty pizza box can contaminate tons of recyclable material and send them to the landfill. According to Republic Services, as much as 30% of the materials in the recycling stream are currently contaminated. So, what’s the solution? In the long-term, companies are improv...

Disenchanted with the mainstream environmental movement, a new, more radical kind of environmental activist emerged in the 1980s. Radical environmentalists used direct action, from blockades and tree-sits to industrial sabotage, to save a wild nature that they believed to be in a state of crisis. In The Ecocentrists, Keith Makoto Woodhouse offers a nuanced history of radical environmental thought and action in the late-twentieth-century United States. Focusing especially on the group Earth First...

In his new book, WAGING JUSTICE, Dr. Paul Zeitz pens a searing memoir that takes the reader from his early years in Philadelphia as the son of a hard-working (and belligerent) hoagie-shop owner, through his journey rising up the ranks in government. We learn how he spearheaded a global charge against AIDS and climate change. Zeitz’s journey shows how personal transformation leads to global activism and acts like a much needed blueprint for our times. On today’s episode he’ll discuss his experien...

This September 2018, policymakers from across the U.S. and around the world will gather in San Francisco, California, for the Global Climate Action Summit (GCAS). The Summit's stated goals are to encourage more action to achieve the aims of the Paris Climate Accord. The Women’s Earth and Climate Action Network (WECAN) International, will be on the ground in-action and in solidarity with diverse allies from the global movement for climate justice throughout the week leading up to and during the G...

The area surrounding the Salton Sea is home to more than 650,000 people. As the water levels in the sea recede, the exposed lakebed dries up and the toxic dust blows across the vicinity, which has some of the highest asthma rates in the United States. In addition to the public health implications, shrinking water levels result in a higher salinity, which kills fish that many migratory birds depend on to fuel their migrations along the Pacific Flyway. In June 2018, California voters passed Propos...

Is bringing up a vegan baby unhealthy? The Smart Parent's Guide to Raising Vegan Kids is the ultimate vegan parenting manifesto that takes on this myth and answers all the other questions you’ve always wondered about—the vegan way. Raising ethically vegan children, in fact, lays the groundwork for a lifetime of excellent health for your child, the animals, and the planet. In this practical and tongue-in-cheek guide, Eric C. Lindstrom dishes the real talk and shares the unique challenges vegans f...

Virtually every American city and town has an insurmountable backlog of infrastructure maintenance and replacement. In addition, cities from coast to coast are grappling with the worsening effects of climate change, such as stronger storms and greater temperature and precipitation extremes. After the unexpected devastation of Superstorm Sandy in October 2012, the popular notion took hold that cities needed to build their resilience—specifically, to be able to “bounce back” from the future impact...

Asheville, North Carolina declared the week of June 4-10 as the nation's first city-proclaimed seven-day vegan challenge. Mayor Esther Manheimer signed a proclamation encouraging “all citizens, businesses and institutions to participate in the 7-Day Vegan Challenge to promote good health, Animal Justice, Social Justice, Environmental Justice and Climate Justice.” The challenge was organized by the City of Asheville, regional hospital, Mission Health, and no-kill shelter, Brother Wolf Animal Resc...

Food production depends on natural resources that are linked to climate and weather. Understanding the global food system can connect the dots between personal choices about food and climate change; by talking about food, we can demonstrate why climate change matters to all of us. The Center for Ecoliteracy has just launched two new resources that address this issue: • Understanding Food and Climate Change: An Interactive Guide uses video, photography, text, and interactive experiences to help e...

Americans have lowered their energy consumption significantly in recent years, largely because of an increase in working from home. Remote work creates more environmentally sustainable workplaces by reducing congestion, lowering fuel consumption, minimizing construction, lessening pollution emissions, reducing the strain on transportation systems, and improving air quality. According to findings from FlexJobs and Global Workplace Analytics’ State of Telecommuting Report, the collective environme...

Today we’ll be talking with an innovative CEO that is looking to change the way glass is recycled in the U.S. George Valiotis is the Founder and CEO of Pace Glass Recycling. They will soon have the largest facility for recycled glass in the world and are making great strides to revise a very outdated business model. Pace Glass has found ways to recycle glass that most others cannot, such as colored or dirty glass, and they have set a goal to recover, process and reuse every shard of glass availa...

10 BILLION - WHAT’S ON YOUR PLATE?, a new film by Valentin Thurn, and Winner of the Social Justice Award for Documentary at the Santa Barbara Film Festival. In 2050, the population of the world is set to hit a staggering 10 billion. This is a huge increase on today’s figure of seven billion, and according to a range of experts and the food industry, it will contribute to serious food shortages. In his search for solutions to this acute problem, filmmaker, bestselling author and self-proclaimed “...

In her new book, Simple Acts to Save Our Planet, Michelle Neff shows us how to be more active in saving our planet every day by performing some “Simple Acts of Kindness”—for the Earth. Treat the environment with kindness with these easy, manageable activities that range from simple home updates, to gardening basics, to supporting the local community. You’ll learn simple techniques to help protect the planet every day, like starting a compost pile to reduce food waste, utilizing travel mugs and r...

On March 20, 2018, the U.S. Green Building Council Northern California community held the annual Water Conservation Showcase to discuss how builders, researchers, business leaders, product manufacturers, scientists and government officials can address California’s most pressing water issues. Today we will be joined by three of the subject matter experts involved in the Water Conservation Showcase: Dr. Joe McBride, Professor Emeritus at UC Berkeley; Erica Ross, of PAE Engineers; and Marc Heisterk...

We have a worldwide trash epidemic. The average American disposes of 4.4 pounds of garbage per day, and our landfills hold 254 million tons of waste. What if there were a simple—and fun—way for you to make a difference? What if you could take charge of your own waste, reduce your carbon footprint, and make an individual impact on an already fragile environment? A zero waste lifestyle is the answer—and Shia Su is living it. Every single piece of unrecyclable garbage Shia has produced in one year ...

A one-of-a-kind gathering of leaders in the Green Schools movement is about to take place in Denver. The Green Schools Conference & Expo is the only national event to bring together all the players involved in making green schools a reality: people who lead, operate, build and teach in U.S. schools. In today’s episode we’ll be joined by the hosts of the event, Dr. Jenny Seydel, Executive Director of the Green Schools National Network, and Anisa Heming, Director of the Center for Green Schools. T...

On November 13-14, 2017, the Aquarium of the Pacific and the Honda Marine Science Foundation convened and facilitated a forum on "Sato-umi in the Anthropocene." The forum was designed to explore a number of approaches to "integrated" coastal management, in particular those that cross the land-sea boundary, some of which have been practiced for thousands of years, to see if lessons could be extracted to elevate awareness and stimulate action to reduce vulnerability in the "new normal" of rising s...

The challenges facing American fishermen, ranging from declining quotas to disputed science to fleet consolidation, are highlighted in a new Netflix documentary series. Rotten, “travels deep into the heart of the food supply chain to reveal unsavory truths and expose hidden forces that shape what we eat.” The series’ sixth and final episode, “Cod is Dead,” focuses on the domestic seafood industry, and the business and regulatory climate that has made it increasingly difficult for fishermen to ma...

Post Carbon Institute recently released a report authored by earth scientist J. David Hughes raising critical doubts about the U.S. Energy Information Administration’s (EIA) projections for domestic oil and shale gas production. The report, “Shale Reality Check: Drilling Into the U.S. Government’s Rosy Projections for Shale Gas & Tight Oil Production Through 2050,” takes aim at the veracity of forecasts found in the Annual Energy Outlook 2017 (AEO2017), in advance of the planned release of the E...

Recycling in the U.S. is highly dependent on the ability to export our recycling overseas. In California alone, 62 percent of the states’ recycling is exported to China. However, in July 2017, China announced a policy called National Sword, which limits the import of contaminated recyclable commodities and increases inspections of recyclable commodity imports. Tune in as we speak with Zoe Heller, Assistant Director for Policy Development at the California Department of Resources Recycling, about...