Part 1/5: “Pa’lante”: Puerto Rican Resilience After Maria
Hurricane Maria made landfall on Puerto Rico on September 20, 2017, taking roughly 3,000 lives. Many died not from the storm itself but from morbidity linked to such causes as treatable infections, unsafe water and accidental electrocution. But as Living on Earth’s Bobby Bascomb reports, some communities are looking at Hurricane Maria as a call to be more resilient the next time around.

Part 2/5: Rebuilding Puerto Rico’s Battered Farms
Even before Hurricane Maria, Puerto Rico imported nearly all of its food, and the powerful storm left many Puerto Ricans with no choice but to skip meals and live on canned food for months. But volunteers and farmers are working together to rebuild Puerto Rico’s small and devastated farming sector.

Part 3/5: Resilience In Puerto Rico’s Tropical Forests After Hurricane Maria
When Hurricane Maria struck Puerto Rico in 2017, the direct hit turned a green island brown – destroying every ecosystem on the island from mangroves to cloud forests. But as Living on Earth’s Bobby Bascomb reports, forests that evolved in the hurricane belt have ways to cope and are coming back.

Part 4/5: Volunteers Test Drinking Water in Puerto Rico
Hurricane Maria crippled Puerto Rico’s water systems and jeopardized access to safe drinking water across the island. To avert water-borne diseases, one citizen science group in Rincón, Puerto Rico rallied to help test drinking water sources.

Part 5/5: Repairing Puerto Rico's Corals
Roughly 10 percent of Puerto Rico’s corals were broken and damaged by Hurricane Maria in 2017. Corals are a first line of defense against storm surges and a critical habitat for juvenile fish but face an uphill battle against warming seas, ocean acidification and ship groundings. As Host Bobby Bascomb reports, Puerto Ricans are finding ways to give corals a fighting chance by reattaching healthy fragments.

Fire Retardants in Food
Fire retardant chemicals are commonly found in household items like furniture and electronics. But a new study found them in a place you probably wouldn’t expect: food.

Were the Witch Trials a Result of Climate Change?
Researchers believe frigid temperatures in the late 1600's made it difficult to grow crops, and some farmers blamed their problems on witchcraft.

Notes from Senegal: Tea Time
Attempts to record goat sounds led Living on Earth's Bobby Bascomb to be invited to tea and dinner with a Peuhl family outside their hut.

Notes from Senegal. To Grow a Forest, First Start With Carrots
For Senegal's Great Green Wall to be a success the government first had to get support from communities living in the region. Bobby Bascomb's second blog from Senegal explains how they did it.

Notes from Senegal. Africa's Great Green Wall of Trees.
LOE's Bobby Bascomb is in Senegal, reporting on an ambitious plan to halt the shifting Sahara in its tracks. Here's her first blog.

Africa's Great Green Wall of Trees
LOE's Bobby Bascomb is in Senegal, reporting on an ambitious plan to halt the shifting Sahara in its tracks. Here's her first blog.

Part 3: Pizza Crusts and Hot Dogs as Fish Food
Pizza crusts and hot dogs - if cafeteria food is good enough for college students, is it also good for aquaponic fish? Closing the food waste stream. (broadcast 111202)

Radiation in the Ocean Near Japan
Tests have confirmed that highly radioactive water has escaped Japan's disabled nuclear facility and leaked into the Pacific Ocean. Cesium and Iodine contamination are big concerns but scientists think the irradiated water will be diluted by the enormity of the ocean.