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Climate change
 
 
Wednesday, July 1, 2009 at 12:35 pm

The passage of the House climate bill – discussed in our first hour today – has been greeted with enthusiasm in many quarters. But in some ways, the real question is whether a global framework can be established in Copenhagen in December, when countries will negotiate a new international treaty to curb greenhouse gases.

Comments [1]
 
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Wednesday, July 1, 2009 at 10:00 am

Barack Obama came to Washington promising serious action on climate change. The climate bill that passed the House last Friday is hailed as an historic first step. We’ll look at what’s in it, what it’s up against, and whether it’s enough.

Comments [23]
 
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Friday, April 17, 2009 at 11:00 am

Writer and naturalist Bernd Heinrich takes us deep into the heart of summer to see what plants, animals, and all of nature are up to during the longest days.

Comments [5]
 
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Tuesday, November 25, 2008 at 10:00 am

The green economy in the midst of meltdown. Obama talks a green game. Can he now deliver?

Comments [39]
 
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Monday, July 7, 2008 at 10:08 am

What you and your community can do to curb carbon emissions. We talk with The New Yorker’s Elizabeth Kolbert about direct action on the big problem of climate change.

 
Thursday, June 5, 2008 at 10:00 am

The Senate debates a global warming bill this week — and its backers say it’s made to save the planet.
It is huge legislation that would cap CO2 emissions and — to fight climate change — would radically reshape the US economy and energy use.
No one thinks it’s going to pass this year. But Barack Obama [...]

 
Tuesday, May 13, 2008 at 10:00 am

The Irrawaddy delta in Myanmar is underwater, thousands dead, and environmentalists say it’s global warming. Monster tornadoes are plaguing the U.S. — last weekend in Missouri, Oklahoma and Georgia.
Meanwhile, far away, on the west coast of Alaska, the tiny fishing village of Kivalina is falling into the sea. And its attorneys are suing 24 oil, [...]

 
Tuesday, April 22, 2008 at 10:00 am

Warming in last decades has pushed spring forward — cherry blossom and lilac festivals across the country now celebrated days earlier than ever before. It also means birds are laying eggs earlier than before, or — sometimes — not at all.
It’s this kind of subtle mistiming that could spell disaster for our environment, jeopardizing the [...]

 
Friday, March 28, 2008 at 11:00 am

A thousand years ago, from the pueblos of the American southwest to what’s now Cambodia to the wheat fields of northern Europe, the world was in the midst of a great warming.
The years from around 800 to 1300 were a balmy time for some. The Vikings roamed the seas. Europe had lovely long summers.
But for [...]

 
Thursday, March 6, 2008 at 10:00 am

Last week, in the frozen north of Norway, the seeds began to pour into the Global Seed Vault — the “doomsday vault,” some have called it. Five hundred feet of a super-secure cave in an Arctic mountainside is filling now with millions of seeds from all over the world.
As climate change and genetic engineering put [...]

 
Thursday, February 7, 2008 at 10:00 am

Half of all electricity in America is generated from coal. As oil wanes and world energy demand grows, coal’s role is destined to only grow bigger.
The problem is, coal is dirty. Carbon dioxide emissions from coal-fired power plants are a major contributor to global warming.
Five years ago, the Bush administration announced what it called one [...]

 
Tuesday, January 22, 2008 at 11:00 am

As stock markets around Asia and the world headed south today, India’s finance minister tried to calm the selling: “Look,” he said, “India’s economy is headed for a booming 9 percent growth this year.” So he hopes.
And what will Indians spend that plenty on? India’s industrial giant Tata hopes they will soon be spending it [...]

 
Tuesday, December 4, 2007 at 10:00 am

Climate change is on the table this week at the world conference in Bali, Indonesia, and on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C.
But as the politicians haggle over much-needed climate policy, scientists and venture capitalists, students and inventors, are looking to give us an extreme energy makeover: pursuing breakthroughs in everything from biofuels to green buildings, [...]

 
Monday, November 5, 2007 at 11:00 am

Since before history, man and bear have shared hunting grounds and homes: in the caves of Europe, the bamboo forests of China, the mountains and woods of North America. Bears are woven deep in human mythology. Bears as friends, enemies, gods, entertainers, even lovers.
Now, with human populations and appetites so vast and climate change rolling [...]

 
Monday, October 15, 2007 at 10:00 am

Last week’s Nobel Prize for Al Gore on climate change has lit up the issue again globally, including on the American campaign trail in the ‘08 race for the White House.
As in no other election cycle in American history, candidates are being aggressively buttonholed on what they would do about global warming. The range of [...]

 
On Point Today
Hour 2
Chemicals in Our Bodies
Monday, July 6, 2009 image

Scientists report that widely used chemicals — endocrine disruptors — are causing serious health problems in humans. We ask what the government is, and is not, doing about it.

Comments [31]
 
Hour 1
Sarah Palin’s Surprise
Monday, July 6, 2009 image

Alaksa Governor Sarah Palin’s out-of-the-blue resignation. We ask what it means for her future — and for the GOP.

Comments [55]

Recent Shows
Crooked Still
Friday, July 3, 2009 image

Tunes from old Appalachia with a new bluegrass twist. The hit folk band “Crooked Still” plays for us in our studio.

Comments [6]
 
Week in the News
Friday, July 3, 2009 image

A U.S. offensive in Afghanistan. Al Franken heads to the Senate. Mark Sanford keeps talking. And unemployment keeps rising. Our weekly news roundtable goes behind the headlines.

Comments [25]
On Point Blog
India, China and the Climate

The passage of the House climate bill – discussed in our first hour today – has been greeted with enthusiasm in many quarters. But in some ways, the real question is whether a global framework can be established in Copenhagen in December, when countries will negotiate a new international treaty to curb greenhouse gases.

More » | Comments [1]
 
Michael, Ed, and Farrah

The week-in-the-news roundtable always involves tough choices on sound clips – what to include, what to leave out. Amid all the pressing hard news, we often give a nod to a notable person who’s passed away. But this week brought, well, a ridiculous range of choices.

More » | Comments [2]
 
Planet Money, On Point — Your Questions!

On Wednesday night, June 24, On Point will tape a show before an audience in Boston with two stars of NPR’s “Planet Money,” Adam Davidson and David Kestenbaum. We need your online questions to put to them — about anything from the roots of the economic crisis to NPR’s coverage.

More » | Comments [18]