- Home
- Listen to the Show
- Podcasts
- Geo Quiz
- Global Hit
- Photos and Videos
- Discussions
- Music Heard on Air
| Background ⋅ BBC ⋅ Books ⋅ Cartoons ⋅ Economy ⋅ Environment ⋅ Health ⋅ History ⋅ Language ⋅ Religion ⋅ Science ⋅ Special Reports ⋅ Technology ⋅ Travel |
Environment
UN chief establishes climate panel review
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has appointed an independent panel to review the operations of the IPCC, the UN’s climate science panel. The organization won the Nobel Peace Prize for its work, but critics have identified a number of small errors in its reports. The World’s Katy Clark reports. Download MP3
Lead Recycling Exacts High Price for Health
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
In the West African nation of Senegal, an informal recycling industry has poisoned children and left a neighborhood severely polluted. Residents caused the contamination by pulling apart car batteries to extract the lead. The government is now cleaning up the site, but many of the children will never be the same. Jori Lewis reports. Download MP3 (Photo: Jori Lewis)
Haiti quake opportunity to restore rural ecology?
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
The January earthquake in Haiti was not as powerful as the one in Chile, but it was much deadlier. Haiti was more vulnerable than Chile, in part because of the environmental degradation in its rural areas. Now, development specialists say that a key to creating a resilient Haiti is to restore the country’s ecological infrastructure. The World’s Marina Giovannelli has our story. (photo: Melinda Miles) Download MP3
Southernmost wind farm
Today’s Geo Quiz is wind powered. We’re looking for the world’s southernmost wind farm today. It’s located on Crater Hill, on Antarctica’s Ross Island. The three wind turbines can generate up to one megawatt of electricity. That’s enough to help power two nearby scientific research stations. We want you to name those stations. One’s operated by the US, the other by New Zealand. It’s a remote setting, but there’s a great view.
Can genetically modified crops help feed the world?
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
Last week India rejected what would have been the country’s first genetically modified food crop, a transgenic eggplant. What does this mean for the future of genetically modified crops in India and other parts of the world? And can such crops help feed the world’s hungry? Talk with biologist Lisa Weazel of Portland State University. She’s the author of Food Fray: Inside the Controversy of Genetically Modified Food, and our guest on the latest The World Science Forum. The discussion is live through February, 19th. Download MP3
Sydney’s new water factory
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
One of the world’s thirstiest major cities is getting a taste of things to come. Starting this winter, residents of Sydney, Australia are getting some of their drinking water from a brand new desalination plant. The plant was built after years of erratic rainfall. Phil Mercer reports from Sydney. Download MP3
Scott Brown and climate change
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
The election of an anti-cap & trade Republican to fill the seat of the late Senator Ted Kennedy is further clouding prospects for a climate bill in the Senate. And that in turn makes prospects for strong global action on climate change even murkier. Peter Thomson reports. Download MP3
Copenhagen aftermath
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
The outcome of the Copenhagen climate summit has disappointed many and now the blame game is in full swing. UK Prime Minister Brown says the climate summit was held to ransom by a small number of countries. Marco Werman talks with The World’s environment editor Peter Thomson. Download MP3
Copenhagen climate conference
China and Indonesia have hailed the Copenhagen UN climate summit outcome, despite its cool reception from aid agencies and campaigners. President Obama defended the accord he helped broker with China and other main powers. The non-binding pact, called the Copenhagen Accord, was not adopted by consensus at the UN climate summit in Denmark.
“Meaningful agreement” in Copenhagen
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
President Barack Obama said on Friday that a “meaningful and unprecedented breakthrough” had been reached among the US, China, and three other countries on a global effort to curb climate change but said much work was still be needed to reach a legally binding treaty. The President had earlier called on world leaders to come together to strike a deal on the final day of the UN climate summit in Copenhagen. The World’s environment editor Peter Thomson is in Copenhagen. Download MP3Climate deal might have to wait
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has told the Climate Change Summit in Copenhagen that the US was prepared to work toward mobilizing $100 billion a year for developing countries to help them deal with climate change. The announcement comes as doubts grow over whether the summit will achieve its declared goals of agreeing cuts in emissions, and deciding on how much rich countries should pay to assist developing countries. The World’s environment editor Peter Thomson is in Copenhagen. Download MP3 (Photo: Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images)Copenhagen police battle climate talks protesters
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
Police have forced back hundreds of protesters who tried to break through a perimeter fence at the UN climate summit in Copenhagen. Activists have been angered by lack of progress on a new climate deal and also by restrictions on access to the talks. Inside the conference, today’s “high-level” session was delayed when several developing countries protested about procedural issues. The World’s environment editor Peter Thomson reports from the Copenhagen summit. Download MP3 (Photo: Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images) Climate change in Peru
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
Deep divisions between rich and poor nations are threatening to derail the negotiations at the climate summit in Copenhagen. The consequences of failure would have a global impact, from the world’s mountains to its jungles. Peru is a country that has both. John Beaupre tells us that the South American nation is feeling the effects of climate change from top to bottom. Download MP3
Global Political Cartoons: Dec 5 – 11, 2009
The World’s Carol Hills picks out her favorite political cartoons from the past week. In this episode: polar bears float on ever-receding floating ice chunks; Copenhagen climate change delegates blow a lot of hot air; the Nobel Peace Prize winner wears Army fatigues, and the sexy new look of Tiger Woods’ golf clubs.
Underground energy concerns
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
To produce cleaner energy, companies and governments are looking to capture carbon emissions, and store them underground. But that’s not necessarily popular with the locals. Later today, The World’s Gerry Hadden will report on a carbon capture project in Germany. Download MP3 (Photo of German carbon capture facility: Gerry Hadden)
Additional funding for PRI's The World is provided by:
 |
 |
