In these hard economic times, an increasing number of homeowners are installing outdoor wood boilers to heat their homes. In Maine, where wood is plentiful and burning wood is a tradition, smoke from the devices ignited a firestorm of controversy, pitting neighbor against neighbor. Host Bruce Gellerman investigates the case for and against outdoor wood boilers.

Two-hundred years after his birth, a new biography sets out to portray Charles Darwin as a passionate moralist engaged in a scientific war on the prevailing racism of the day. James Moore, author of "Darwin's Sacred Cause," talks with host Bruce Gellerman about how the scream of a tortured slave drove Darwin to develop his theory of evolution—and helped discount the scientifically-accepted belief that blacks and whites belonged to different species.

President Obama's stimulus plan could mean thousands of jobs for qualified electricians and money for training apprentices. Michael Callanan, executive director of the National Joint Apprenticeship Training Committee, tells host Bruce Gellerman that investing in renewable energy and energy efficiency is a win for the environment and for blue collar workers.

According to one international environmental group, women will be particularly affected by the predicted increase in climate change-related disasters. Lorena Aguilar, the senior gender advisor with the International Union for the Conservation of Nature, tells host Bruce Gellerman that floods, droughts and hurricanes will hit women and the poor hardest.

Writer Mark Seth Lender observes a flock of mallards on a Connecticut river bend.

The economic stimulus could generate green jobs with tens of billions of dollars for clean energy and efficiency. Labor and environmental groups want to make sure those jobs pay people well as they do good for the planet. Living on Earth¹s Jeff Young says that means engaging in tough fights over free trade and fair wages.