President Bush has invited leaders from the world's largest economies - and biggest generators of global warming gases - to a meeting in Washington next month. The president wants to forge agreements to reduce greenhouse gases after the Kyoto Protocol’s end in 2012. Host Steve Curwood talks with Yvo de Boer (Ee-voh deh bore) Executive Secretary of the United Nation's Framework Convention on Climate Change.

Living on Earth begins a new segment of solution-based stories about people that are making a difference in the environment. This week, Lauren Cox reports on one Boston University professor who’s peddling his way to carbon neutrality.

Hospitals spend 12 billion dollars a year on food, and the majority of their food is purchased from big distributors that ship food from all over the world. But there’s change afoot. Living on Earth’s Ashley Ahearn reports that hospitals are starting to buy local produce, and it’s not just the patients that benefit.

It's an intercontinental phenomenon that has researchers stumped. Barn owls are getting killed by the thousands on the highways. Barn owl roadkill greatly outnumbers that of other raptors, and other animals, and it's happening from Idaho to Britain. Producer Guy Hand reports.

African American and Hispanic children are exposed to higher levels of lead than Caucasian children. Children of color also exhibit higher levels of asthma. Coincidence? Maybe not, according to a new study linking lead exposure and asthma. Host Steve Curwood talks with Dr. David Lawrence of the New York State Department of Health.

Author and journalist Alan Weisman imagines what might happen to the world after human extinction. Host Steve Curwood talks to Weisman about his book, "The World Without Us."

A rash of imported children’s toys discovered to be tainted with lead paint has raised questions about how the federal government monitors consumer products. Host Steve Curwood speaks with consumer advocate Don Mays about the Consumer Product Safety Commission.