NPR Topics: Environment

Breaking news on the environment, climate change, pollution, and endangered species. Also featuring Climate Connections, a special series on climate change co-produced by NPR and National Geographic.

A Chinese Village Sacrifices For The Greater Good 4 Sep 2010, 4:21 am

More than 300,000 are being relocated for what’s being called the largest engineering project in China’s history. Water from the massive Danjiangkou Dam is going to be transported to the north. In the village of Guangmenyan, 353 people are leaving their homes forever.

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Former Skeptic Offers Ideas On Climate Change 3 Sep 2010, 7:00 pm

Bjorn Lomborg, the controversial Danish economist, has pushed his way back into the global warming debate with a book that proposes “smart solutions” to climate change. Those promised solutions rely heavily on R&D aimed at making clean energy cheap, rather than attempts to shut down dirty energy sources. Lomborg says his views haven’t changed, but more people are willing to listen to him because international negotiations on limiting greenhouse emissions have accomplished so little.

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Time To Get Tough, Environmentalists Say 3 Sep 2010, 5:00 pm

With no climate change legislation coming out of the Senate, Sierra Club head Michael Brune says it’s time to try a new strategy to fight global warming. Author Bill McKibben says it’s time to get angry. Brune and McKibben discuss their ideas for curbing climate change.

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Is Organically Produced Food More Nutritious? 3 Sep 2010, 5:00 pm

Reporting in the journal PLoS ONE, researchers write that organically grown strawberries contain more antioxidants and vitamin C than conventional berries. Ira Flatow and guests discuss the findings, and whether the differences would have any meaningful impact on Americans’ health.

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Gulf Coast Communities Investigate Oily Sea Mist 3 Sep 2010, 2:45 pm

With so many unanswered questions about the lingering effects of the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, coastal communities are turning to independent scientists for answers. In Orange Beach, Ala., officials are having the air, water and soil tested to check for toxins from the BP spill.

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Temporary Cap That Stopped BP Gusher Removed 2 Sep 2010, 9:41 pm

The cap was removed Thursday as a prelude to raising the massive piece of equipment underneath that failed to prevent the worst offshore oil spill in U.S. history.

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Fire Extinguished On Gulf Oil Platform 2 Sep 2010, 7:38 pm

An investigation is under way to determine the cause of an explosion Thursday on an oil platform in the Gulf of Mexico. All 13 people aboard the rig were found floating in the water and rescued. The Coast Guard said initial reports of an oil sheen on the water could not be confirmed.

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Greenpeace Activists Held After Leaving Arctic Oil Rig 2 Sep 2010, 5:21 pm

Four members of the environmental group had clung to the rig for two days to protest drilling in the Arctic. They were forced to abandon their protest because of a storm. The rig is owned by Edinburgh-based Cairn Energy.

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BP Prepares To Resume Efforts To Kill Gulf Well 1 Sep 2010, 10:20 pm

Rough seas near the site of the well forced crews to suspend work removing the temporary sealing cap and failed blowout preventer. Retired Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen said Wednesday that BP expects to begin work plugging the well for good later this week.

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Calif. Lawmakers Reject Plastic Bag Ban 1 Sep 2010, 8:04 am

California lawmakers have rejected a bill seeking to ban plastic shopping bags after a contentious debate over whether the state was going too far in trying to regulate personal choice.

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