Climate “hushing” (start time: 5:41) Since President Trump began his second term as president in January, 2025, his administration, at a dizzying pace, has attacked climate change as a Democratic elite “hoax” and gutted federal funding for climate-related research and institutions. Partly in response to these attacks, and in an attempt to appeal to more centrist voters ahead of the midterm elections, many left-leaning politicians have decided to stop talking directly about climate change, and to pull back on initiatives to combat global warming. This pattern is known as “climate hushing.” Some argue that it doesn’t mean these leaders care any less about climate change, and that it’s a necessary strategy to reach more centrist voters. But critics argue that climate hushing is more insidious and, in effect, it is spurring a vicious cycle: The less leaders talk about climate change, the less the public thinks it’s important and feels inspired to take action. In this week’s How On Earth, host Susan Moran interviews journalist Sammy Roth, who recently wrote an article about climate “hushing” on his Climate Colored Goggles Substack; and Dr. Leah Sprain, an associate professor of Communications at the University of Colorado Boulder, who studies democratic engagement.
Host/Producer: Susan Moran
Engineer: Abby O’Brien
Executive Producer: Beth Bennett
Headline Contributor: Beth Bennett
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New Rules of Women’s Health (start time: 6:26) If you’re female, you may have come of age reading the landmark feminist health book Our Bodies, Ourselves. Originally published in the 1970s, it yielded several revised editions up to 2011. Well, get ready for an even more comprehensive tome. It’s called 
The physiology of deciduous trees (start time: 11:09) For many people living in places with four distinct seasons, such as here in Colorado, a favorite pastime at this midpoint in autumn is watching the faded leaves fall from their branches, and listening to the crackling sound while raking up the dried leaves. In this week’s How On Earth show, we explore questions like, Why do the leaves of aspen, ash and other deciduous trees “change” color in the fall? (Spoiler alert: They actually reveal their true colors.) Why do they shed their leaves every fall? And what happens to the naked trees in the winter? Host Susan Moran interviews Dr. 
