How On Earth

Global conflicts are revealing vulnerabilities in the global reliance on imported fossil fuels and centralized power.  Energy Analyst Kyle Datta says energy security needs may speed the adoption of renewables and “as a side effect,” reduce the rise of global warming.

For Datta’s full speech, which he presented with videos at the 2026 Gold Lab Symposium, go here.

Host/Show Producer: Shelley Schlender
Executive Producer: Susan Moran

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 26:55 — 37.0MB)

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Complex Animal Networks (start time: 7:17) As humans, we’re all familiar with, as we live in and are members of, nations. But most of us don’t think of non-human species, be they tiny ants or beavers or bears,  in this context. But Ryan Huling does, and he hopes you will, too. In this week’s How On Earth, host Susan Moran interviews Ryan Huling about his just-published debut book, The Hidden Nations of Animals: A Grand Tour of Earth’s Wild Civilizations. The book is part travel and nature writing, part cartography, part  exploration of sophisticated communication and movement patterns among wild animal populations in the far corners of the Earth, and under our feet. Some of the central characters in the book, such as  red-crowned cranes, are thriving in places that are too dangerous for humans to live. Huling is a senior writer at the Good Food Institute Asia Pacific.

Hosts: Susan Moran, Joel Parker
Show Producer: Susan Moran
Engineer: Joel Parker
Executive Producer: Susan Moran
Headline contributors: Joel Parker, Shelley Schlender, Susan Moran

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Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 26:48 — 36.8MB)

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Climate Change & Action: From the Arctic to Colorado (start time: 2:33) Twenty years ago the Academy-winning documentary An Inconvenient Truth was released in theaters nationwide. It sparked millions of people to ask themselves, How can I wake up and do something to help solve, not just contribute to,  the climate crisis?  The film helped form the modern climate movement, following the environmental movement of the 1970s. Two decades later, despite a rise in public awareness of and concern about the impacts of melting sea ice, and intensifying droughts, wildfires and hurricanes, the Trump administration has met the moment by calling global warming a hoax, rolling back environmental regulations, defunding climate science research,  and demanding more oil, gas and coal production.  Meanwhile, many Americans, besieged by soaring costs of gasoline and other commodities, and struggling to pay rent or mortgage, are more immediately concerned  about the economy and other issues than climate change per se. Yet despite shrinking federal support for renewable energy energy, the green electricity revolution is happening in many states and around the world.  In this week’s show, KGNU host Susan Moran interviews Mark Serreze, director of the National Snow and Ice Data Center; and science journalist Tom Yulsman, who until recently was the director of the Center for Environmental Journalism at the University of Colorado Boulder, where he was also a journalism professor.

Host & Show Producer: Susan Moran
Engineer: Abby O’Brien
Executive Producer: Susan Moran

Listen to the show here:

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 26:11 — 36.0MB)

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Protest It, Respect It, Defend  It, Use It (starts 1:00) Friday at Denver Patagonia and Saturday at Boulder Patagonia environmental activists Annie Leonard and André Carothers discuss their new book

Silent Sky (starts 2:00) Viva Theater celebrates the unsung heroism of female astronomer Henrietta Leavitt.  Silent Sky runs April 22 – June 7th at Boulder’s Dairy Arts Center

Gold Lab Symposium (starts 6:26) Thursday and Friday, this all day health and science symposium shares dialogues with Nobel Prize Winners, Indigenous Knowledge Holders, Computational Scientists and more, at CU-Boulder’s  Jennie Smoly Caruthers Biotechnology Building  Register On Line.  for live sessions or remote.

Executive Producer: Susan Moran
Show Producer: Shelley Schlender
Engineer: Abby O’Brien

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 26:50 — 36.9MB)

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The Loneliness Epidemic – Social media fuels extra risk.  Especially vulnerable are people undergoing transitions . . . such as college students, who today share what can lead loneliness and how to heal from it.  CU-Boulder senior Lorraine Healey also talks with Colorado State University “Friendship Researcher” Natalie Pennington about why times of transition can trigger loneliness but also be important times for growth.

Hosts: Mac Hebebrand, Benita Lee and Lorraine Healey
Show Producers: Lorraine Healey and Shelley Schlender
Executive Producer: Susan Moran

Additional Music by Lynn Patrick

 

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 26:55 — 37.0MB)

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Buy Now Pay Later – is this lending service simply enticing, or is it addictive?  For the GenZ 20 somethings that are its biggest users, is Buy Now Pay Later a danger or a deal?  CU Boulder student and Howonearth volunteer Juliana Krigsman  speaks with students about this, plus Adam Brown – director of New Schools Center for Global Mental Health,  Renee Shannon Hickey – Mindful Creation Counseling in Colorado, and Harvard Business Economics Researcher Justin Katz. 

Hosts: Joel Parker
Show Producers:  Juliana Krigsman and Shelley Schlender
Executive Producer: Susan Moran

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 26:58 — 37.1MB)

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The Brain on Menopause (start time: 01:24) In this week’s show, we offer the finale of our three-part series on menopause and women’s health. We focus on a most precious organ: the brain. And we discuss how  hormones such as estrogen and cortisol affect brain health; on how experiencing stress during childhood can intensify perimenopause symptoms; and on what women can do to reduce risks as well as to take part in research. How On Earth’s Susan Moran and contributing host Meghan Rabbitt interview Dr. Christina Metcalf, a clinical psychologist and researcher at the CU Anschutz Department of Psychiatry Colorado Center for Women’s Behavioral Health and Wellness.  Journalist Meghan Rabbitt wrote the recently published book The New Rules of Women’s Health: A Guide to Thriving at Every Age.
Information on how you can participate in CU Anschutz research studies:
* “Find a Research Study” tool lets people filter by category, 3 menopause-related studies currently recruiting.
*RAHH Lab (Resilience and Adaptation in Hormones and Health Lab)
-New menopause research study focusing on estradiol and the brain, called CEREBRA, starting in April 2026. Email cerebra-study@cuanschutz.edu.
    – Menopause stress reduction study (MENORISE, starting in September 2026. Email christina.metcalf@cuanschutz.edu.

Hosts:  Susan Moran, Meghan Rabbitt
Show Producer: Susan Moran
Engineer: Joel Parker
Executive Producer: Susan Moran
Listen to the show here:

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 25:56 — 35.6MB)

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