The Anthropocene defined — geologically. I speak with Jan Zalasiewicz about the history and work of the Anthropocene Working Group. Zalasiewicz was its first chair.
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Uranium mining in Niger: a filthy, toxic business. Fifty years after the end of America’s war on Vietnam, traces of US chemical weapons linger. And, the Anthropocene. A geologist talks about humanity’s transformation of Planet Earth.
Uranium mining in Niger. It’s a filthy but profitable business — profitable for French extractors and Nigerien elites; filthy for Nigerien mine workers and mining communities.
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After years of study, a scientific panel proposes a formal definition of the Anthropocene, naming the spot where humanity’s fingerprints are best observed in the rock record. A Canadian geologist relishes the moment. And, a First Nations elder reflects on the lake of her dreams and memories.
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Nothing woolly-headed or Utopian about it: A universal, guaranteed basic income. A hundred years later, memories of war that do not fade. And, one of humanity’s great revolutions – the 1950s Great Acceleration has transformed Earth’s surface completely, hurtling our planet into an uncertain future.
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Humanity’s impact on Planet Earth has a name: the Anthropocene. The start of Earth’s human age can be pinpointed in ice and biological cores, and the bottom sediments of bays and lakes — including a small lake in southern Ontario. But human beings have no control. And now we stand at catastrophe’s door.
US Supreme Court ruling places already threatened American wetlands in even greater peril.
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A US Supreme Court ruling throws American wetlands under the bus. In the oven, wheat and corn flour turn into bread and tortillas; spread on farm fields, rock flour reacts with carbon dioxide, turning into carbonates that get stored – forever. And, sharp questions off his tongue and a smartphone in hand, a Canadian activist ambushes politicians.
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Underground fungal networks, pulsating with nutrients; storing mountains of carbon. On Lebanese hilltops, ancient cedars grow, against all odds. And, looking back at a cosmic event of colossal proportions, that rippled space-time.
Do Animals Dance? features a couple of tunes by a guy named Shawn O’Halloran, talented singer-songwriter from Hamilton, Ontario, who passed away long before his time, back in 2019. Animals Like to Dance is one of fourteen songs Shawn wrote for The Earth Chronicles, on commission — all amazingly well written; clever lyrics, and well performed, accompanied by veteran Hamilton-area percussionist, Paul Panchezak.
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Long Covid — a complex ailment driving lots of people down. Moms, babies and bacteria; the relationship starts before you’re born, then you’re colonized. And, Canadian forests – net CO2 source, not sink.
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“War is not healthy for children and other living things.” It isn’t healthy for Planet Earth’s climate system either. The cradle of crop diversity here on Planet Earth – Ethiopia. And, Israel-Palestine – a discreet toponym, six syllables tripping off the tongue.
The connections between America’s permanent war economy, its military-industrial complex and climate system breakdown are the subject of a campaign by US-antiwar group CODEPINK. The GPM talks about militarism and Earth’s rising climate crisis with CODEPINK co-founder Medea Benjamin.
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The roots of the US anti-abortion movement — misogyny, racism and hatred of immigrants. On the edge of a big Canadian city, an oasis of calm where wildlife thrives. And, the latest report from the World Meteorological Organization; its lead author is scared.
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Turning tall cane stalks into small, supple reeds for woodwind instruments. Decarbonizing construction; tons of carbon are embodied in buildings; there’s plenty of ways to decarbonize them. And, the Palestinian village of Jubbet al-Dibh. Last week, the Israeli military bulldozed its elementary school!.
With Spring just begun in the northern hemisphere, wildfires now spread from British Columbia across to the Canadian province of Alberta, and across Central and eastern Russia, a leading European climate agency reports. The GPM speaks with Greenpeace energy strategist Keith Stewart.
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The Earth Chronicles — Trees & Earth. Something I produced back in 1993. Still makes sense.
For people sweltering in Earth’s rising heat, driven from their homes by wildfire, swept away by rising floods or impoverished by drought, numbers don’t adequately capture the misery Earth’s human-made climate crisis is dishing out.
London’s largest ever public protests for climate and Earth justice have come to a close. An estimated hundred thousand attended the four-day event, organized by Extinction Rebellion and other UK groups, rallying around the theme, “Unite to Survive.”
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Young Israelis who refuse to serve in the military. And, as climate catastrophe sweeps the planet, in the Swedish city, Goteborg, engineers and students are designing the sort of building where people can live – comfortably — without squandering Earth’s limited resources, or polluting its atmosphere
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[…] US military nuclear testing site. At the time, residents were relocated to nearby Rongerik and Kwajalein atolls before arriving at Kili Island in […]