Emerging legislation on climate change could give trillions of dollars over time to polluting industries. The details of Congressmen Henry Waxman and Ed Markey's bill includes a cap and trade scheme that would limit greenhouse gas emissions but give away about half of the permits to pollute for free, instead of auctioning them off. Peter Barnes, a senior fellow with the Tomales Bay Institute, talks with host Jeff Young about what the bill could mean for consumers, industry, and the emissions reductions.

Host Jeff Young visits coal country activist Maria Gunnoe, who's fighting to stop the mining practice known as mountaintop removal. Gunnoe just won the prestigious Goldman Prize, sometimes called the Green Nobel. But she fears she's losing the mountains, community and heritage she holds dear.

It’s amazing what better lighting can do. The spring sun’s rising position in the sky gives those gray winter clouds a new silver lining in this installment of the ECOcalendar project’s Ecotime.

Indian farmers are using ancient tricks on a modern problem. By working with native forests instead of against them, these stewards have been able to preserve biodiversity without hurting their harvest. Sandra Larson reports.

The medina, the old town of Marrakech, Morocco, was once known as “the garden city of North Africa.” Private homes had verdant courtyards; orchards, grapevines and trees filled the city streets. But as the population grew, the gardens made way for shops and houses. In 2002 Clark Boyd reported on efforts to bring back the gardens of the medina. Host Jeff Young checks in with ethno-botanist Gary Martin to see if the people of Medina are living the lush life.

California utility PG&E plans to start receiving renewable energy from space by 2016. A satellite will collect solar energy and beam it back to Earth where it will be used for electricity. John Mankins is a former manager of NASA's space solar power studies. He tells host Jeff Young that such a system could provide baseload solar energy, 24 hours a day.

Scientists have long been puzzled as to why when volcanoes erupt, they’re often accompanied by lightning. When Alaska’s Mount Redoubt began rumbling, researchers quickly moved to install sensors to track radio signals created by lightning flashes. As Spectrum Radio’s Prachi Patel reports, they’ve been surprised by some of the results.

Chevron’s Drift River oil terminal is located downstream from the Mount Redoubt volcano and upstream from Cook Inlet, an important habitat for salmon and whales. Bob Shavelson, Executive Director of the Cook Inletkeeper, tells host Jeff Young authorities are not prepared to clean up a major oil spill in the region if an accident occurs.