A Massachusetts listener suggests a real estate tax break for green homes.

Armed with big potential for wind and solar generation, Native America says it's ready to help Barack Obama build a green economy. A policy statement, signed by 250 tribes and tribal organizations and submitted to the new administration, outlines ways to tackle global warming while addressing unemployment and fuel poverty on tribal lands. Economist Winona LaDuke, director of Honor the Earth, talks with host Steve Curwood about the need to develop tribal economies without degrading tribal lands and beliefs.

Hilda Solis, Barack Obama’s pick for Labor Secretary, has been a pioneer in getting barrio kids into college to train for green jobs. Living on Earth’s Ingrid Lobet looks at some of the forces that shaped California Congresswoman Hilda Solis.

A Chinese car company recently began selling a plug-in hybrid electric car in China. Paul Scott of Plug in America tells host Steve Curwood that it will still be at least two years before automakers have similar technology in the United States.

Power lines give a pulse to the American landscape. So say cartographer Brian Rosa and photographer Adam Ryder who walked, camped, and lived in the shadow of Rhode Island’s power lines to try to understand how they impact the environment and people. Producer Ike Sriskandarajah (Srees –kahn-da-ra-jah) uncovers how the ubiquitous pylons and lines capture the imagination.

The people who will push the new president's ambitious agenda on clean energy and climate change passed their first hurdle: confirmation hearings in the U.S. Senate. Now the real work begins for the future heads of the Energy and Interior Departments and the Environmental Protection Agency. Living on Earth's Jeff Young talks with host Steve Curwood about the hearings in Washington.

Living on Earth continues its series exploring features of the American landscape. The series is based on the book “Home Ground: Language for an American Landscape,” edited by Barry Lopez and Debra Gwartney. In this installment, marine biologist Eva Saulitis of Homer, Alaska gives her definition of “anchor ice.”

Conserved lands like Muir Woods National Monument might be dear to American hearts, but few know about the people behind the places. Tom Butler, author of "Wildlands Philanthropy," tells host Steve Curwood about some of the love stories between America's wild places and the people who helped keep them wild.