The number of diet-related illnesses in the United States is growing. Author and journalism professor Michael Pollan says many of these diseases are preventable. He tells host Steve Curwood that improving U.S. agricultural practices and incentives could improve the way we eat, and reduce what we spend on medical care.

The EPA has made a list and is checking it twice. The agency put a hold on 79 mountain-top removal mining sites in Appalachia to ensure they comply with Clean Water Act rules on burying streams under tons of rubble. Host Jeff Young asks Charleston Gazette coal reporter Ken Ward Jr. whether the sharper scrutiny signals the Obama administration’s commitment to shrinking the environmental impacts of coal mining.

With more than 30 million low-income children dependant on school lunches each day, it’s important for the National School Lunch Program to provide students with nutritious and well-balanced meals. However, Ann Cooper--who calls herself the Renegade Lunch Lady--claims these lunches do just the opposite. Cooper explains to speaks with host Jeff Young and explains why the National School Lunch Program is plagued with problems and how to fix it.

Solar power just got a jolt from diatoms, tiny organisms that construct their own silica shells. These prehistoric creatures could have a twenty-first century use in super efficient solar power. Living on Earth’s Christine Parrish reports on a new breed of solar cell that uses diatoms to produce electricity-—even on cloudy days.

A visit to Pittsburgh, the once unlikely host for a big G-20 summit. But the proud home of the US steel industry is now remaking itself with green buildings and clean tech jobs. Host Jeff Young finds out just how real the green revival is.

With fewer than three months before the UN climate change conference at Copenhagen, world leaders meet to try to break through remaining obstacles to a new treaty. Host Steve Curwood speaks with Jennifer Morgan, who directs the Climate and Energy Program at Washington’s World Resources Institute. They discuss a possible U.S.-China partnership on climate change, Japan's new emissions cutting goals, and how industrialized countries need to help the developing world prepare for and slow climate change.

Ian Cheney and Curt Ellis, the filmmakers behind the documentary, “King Corn,” are at it again. This time they’ve planted rows of vegetables in the back of a Dodge pickup to show that food can be grown just about anywhere. Living on Earth’s Jessica Ilyse Smith took a spin in the truck in Brooklyn.