Host Steve Curwood speaks with singer-songwriter, Kathy Mattea, about her soon to-be-released album "Coal.” Mattea plays some songs and talks about growing up in West Virginia coal country, her relationship with the 'black gold', and how mining and burning coal is affecting the environment and the people in her native state.

Parents might be surprised to find that the A-plus school their children attend is getting a failing grade in air quality. USA Today produced a new way of ranking public, private, and parochial schools: proximity to industrial air pollution. Blake Morrison, the principle reporter of the newspaper’s special report, tells host Steve Curwood what's in the air around America's schools.

In 1914, a battle between striking coal miners and a Rockefeller-owned mining company claimed 20 lives, and went down in history as part of the epic struggle between capitalist and laborer. But the story of the Ludlow Massacre can be told a different way. Host Bruce Gellerman talks with Thomas G. Andrews about his new book "Killing for Coal" and about the role that coal played in setting the scene for America's bloodiest labor war.

Lisa Jackson has no small job ahead of her. As the new EPA administrator, she's charged with protecting public health and safeguarding the environment. One of her first initiatives is to follow up on a USA Today series that found hundreds of America's schools located dangerously close to toxic hot spots. Administrator Jackson talks with host Bruce Gellerman about testing the air that schoolchildren breathe, regulating carbon dioxide, and what she'd like to do with the EPA's proposed budget increase.

Come March, it sometimes seems as if winter will never end. But despite the snow and mud, writer Rick Bass notices changes that indicate Spring is on its way.

Researchers design a structure that can shield coastal villages from tsunamis. Jessie Martin reports.

President Obama’s stimulus package devotes over eight billion dollars to beef up public transportation, but that won’t help fund the day-to-day costs of buses and trains, nor will it stop cuts to service. The federal gas tax pays some of the running costs, but has been stuck at 18.4 cents for 16 years. Matthew Welbes of the Federal Transit Administration talks with host Bruce Gellerman about some options for funding public transportation.

President Barack Obama has set aside half a billion dollars to clean up the Great Lakes. Many environmentalists - and some politicians - say the project is long overdue. The lakes are polluted with toxic waste that poison fish and endanger human health, and invasive species which disrupt the food web and the marine ecosystem. North Country Public Radio’s David Sommerstein reports.

Activists concerned about the climate and the land in coal country are raising the stakes by putting their bodies in the path of coal – blocking mine sites, coal power plants and the companies that finance them. Incidents of civil disobedience aimed at coal power and coal mining are on the rise. Living on Earth's Jeff Young takes a look at who's doing it and whether it will work.