Wildfires & Smokey Skies

credit: Maeve Conran. The Flatirons in Boulder shrouded in wildfire smoke on Wednesday, July 24, 2024. The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment issued an air quality alert due to particle pollution and ozone levels.

Wildfire smoke has marred the Front Range in recent weeks, due to Megafires that are likely to become more frequent.  And more smoke is likely.

Fire Weather: A True Story from a Hotter World (Starts 00:00) Beth Bennett speaks with author John Vaillant about the Canadian firestorm that forced 100,000 people to run for their lives . . . and why firestorms like this are becoming more common.  (For extended version, go here)

Smokey Skies (Starts 15:00) The Front Range is getting eye-stinging smoke from wildfires over 1,000 miles away . . . last week, from Canada, and this week, likely from California, according to the Colorado Smoke Blog.  University of Utah Atmospheric Scientist Dr. Derek Mallia speaks with Rocky Mountain Community Radio Director, Maeve Conran, about why wildfire smoke travels so far, and how people can protect themselves from its toxic effects.

Host/Producer: Shelley Schlender
Additional Contributions: Beth Bennett and Maeve Conran
Executive Producer: Susan Moran

 

Play

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 26:59 — 37.1MB)

Subscribe: RSS

Curious Patterns of Chickadees

Photo credit: Jeff Mitton

Clever Chickadees on the Front Range (start time: 4:20) Many of us wake up these days to a chorus of songbirds, including mountain and black-capped chickadees. Host Susan Moran interviews Scott Taylor, an ecologist at CU Boulder and director of the Mountain Research Station near the Continental Divide, about a multi-year study, the Boulder Chickadee Study, in which the Taylor Lab team is learning about the interbreeding and food-storing behaviors of these two closely related species.

Hosts: Susan Moran, Joel Parker
Show Producer: Susan Moran
Engineer: Joel Parker
Executive Producer: Susan Moran

Listen to the show here:

Play

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 29:14 — 16.7MB)

Subscribe: RSS

Rangeland Restoration – A Science Moab Show

On this week’s How on Earth we’re airing a show produced by Science Moab‘s Peggy Hodgkins. She speaks with Professor Kari Veblen, who is currently a professor of rangeland ecology at Utah State University. Her research focuses on the ecology and management of rangelands, including questions related to restoration, plant community dynamics, grazing and unraveling livestock vs. wildlife effects on their environment. Her research takes place predominantly on multi-use rangelands that are managed simultaneously for livestock production and wildlife conservation. She works closely with both public and private land managers, as well as interdisciplinary teams of scientists, to find ways to improve restoration and other management practices.

Executive Producer: Susan Moran
Show Producer:Beth Bennett
Headline: Joel Parker
Engineer: Jackie Sedley

Listen to the Show:

Play

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 27:41 — 24.1MB)

Subscribe: RSS

Our Moon

In this episode, we talk with journalist and author Rebecca Boyle about her book Our Moon – How Earth’s Celestial Companion Transformed the Planet, Guided Evolution, and Made Us Who We Are. We discuss how the Moon impacts all aspects of our lives including the creation of life. It is a key component to philosophy and religion, culture and agriculture, art and science, sense of time, and sense of our place in the universe.

Producer/Engineer: Joel Parker
Executive Producer: Susan Moran

Listen to the show here:

Play

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 36:51 — 50.6MB)

Subscribe: RSS

“Compostable” Product Truths & Lies

Making “Compostable” Products Truly Compostable (start time: 0:56)  You’ve probably wracked your brain at some point trying to figure out whether the compostable-labelled clamshell or the green-tinted plastic cup you got at a restaurant is truly compostable.  Many products contain misleading and outright false claims, leaving consumers confused about how to do good by the planet.  Indeed, tons of food and yard waste, as well as organic food-packaging products, end up in landfills, where they decompose under anaerobic conditions and generate methane, a greenhouse gas far more potent, if shorter-lasting, than carbon dioxide. Organic waste from landfills and wastewater is the third largest source of human-related methane emissions, after livestock and oil and gas emissions, according to the Rocky Mountain Institute.
On this week’s show, host Susan Moran interviews Dan Matsch, the director of the Compost Department at Eco-Cycle in Boulder; and Nora Goldstein, editor and publisher of BioCycle, about a new  product-labeling law in Colorado and other efforts to hold product manufacturers accountable, and to clean up the waste stream.
(Click here for the Compostable Labeling Complaint Form in Colorado. And listen to our recent “The Dirt on Composting” show.)

Host/ Show Producer: Susan Moran
Engineers: Jackie Sedley, Greta Kerkhoff
Executive Producer: Susan Moran

Listen to the show here:

Play

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 26:24 — 36.3MB)

Subscribe: RSS

The Ins and Outs of Cheese

This week on How on Earth, Beth talks with author and cheesemaker extraordinaire and author, David Asher, about his book Milk Into Cheese: The Foundations of Natural Cheesemaking. The science and art of cheese.
David Asher has a long career as an educator, activist, and celebrated natural cheesemaker. In our conversation, you’ll hear about the cultures and processes underlying the making of some cheeses, the role of agricultural practices in making cheese, the biological evolution of cheese, and the transformation of milk into cheese through fermentation. Also an update on Long Covid – possible causes and treatments.

Executive Producer: Shelley Schlender
Show Producer: Beth Bennett
Engineer: Sam Fuqua

Listen to the Show:

Play

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 26:50 — 37.3MB)

Subscribe: RSS

Green Power for when the Power Goes Out

c Wiki Media from Olympus Digital Camera

Matt Johnson of Namaste Solar and Stu Cummings of Go Electric Colorado  share climate friendly ways to keep your home power going, even if power from your utility suddenly goes out.  It’s a discussion spurred by April’s massive power outages, when Xcel Energy Colorado abruptly shut off power to over 150,000 Denver Metro homes, citing concerns that downed power lines might spark a wildfire.

Hosts: Shelley Schlender, Esther Frost
Producer: Shelley Schlender
Executive Producer: Shelley Schlender

 

Play

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 27:58 — 38.4MB)

Subscribe: RSS

The Dirt on Composting

Photo credit: CU Boulder

Composting for Human, Soil and Climate Health  (start time: 4:39) It’s late spring, when many people are out gardening, planting vegetables, and spreading compost on the soil to give those veggies a leg up. Composting also benefits the planet.  If dumped into landfills, organic waste breaks down and releases methane, a greenhouse gas far more potent, if shorter-lasting, than carbon dioxide at trapping heat in the atmosphere. Municipal solid waste landfills are a major source of methane emissions. On this week’s show, host Susan Moran talks with two experts about the climate, ecological and human health benefits of composting, and some roadblocks to increasing the low rates of composting in the U.S., including Colorado.  Dan Matsch is the director of the Compost Department at Eco-Cycle in Boulder. He had been a commercial organic farmer for many years. Mark Easter is an ecologist focusing on the  carbon footprint of food and fiber. He worked for many years as a research research associate at Colorado State University. And Mark is the author of the forthcoming book The Blue Plate: A Food Lover’s Guide to Climate Chaos (September 2024, Patagonia).

Hosts: Susan Moran, Joel Parker
Producer: Susan Moran
Engineer: Joel Parker
Headline contributor: Shelley Schlender
Executive Producer: Shelley Schlener 

Listen to the show here:   

Play

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 26:31 — 36.4MB)

Subscribe: RSS

Why a Parliament of Owls?

On this week’s show, Beth speaks with Jennifer Ackerman, about her new book, What an Owl Knows: The New Science of the World’s Most Enigmatic Birds. In a writing career spanning over three decades, Jennifer has covered many aspects of science and nature but recently has focused on birds. In the book she regales the reader with the amazing adaptations of owls to their predatory lifestyle, and visits to many field biologists studying these avian hunters. You can see the fantastic photography of owl flight as captured by the BBC here.

Executive Producer: Shelley Schlender
Show Producer: Beth Bennett
Additional Contributions: Shelley Schlender & BBC Science
Engineer: Sam Fuqua

Listen to the show:

Play

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 26:51 — 23.6MB)

Subscribe: RSS

Bees and Other Bugs

This week on How on Earth, we revisit bees and pollination biology. Beth spoke with Professor Michael Breed about honeybees and other pollinators. These insects provide crucial service to our agricultural systems by pollinating flowers whose seeds and fruit produce our foods. But many of us ignore or take them for granted. The Colorado State University Extension Service offers a lot of information on local pollinators.
You’ll also hear about the once-in-200-years event occurring when 13 and 17-year cicadas emerge this month.

Executive Producer: Shelley Schlender
Show Producer: Beth Bennett
Engineer: Sam Fuqua

Listen to the show:

Play

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 26:55 — 22.6MB)

Subscribe: RSS