Many birds are heading south this month in search of warmer weather. As BirdNote®’s Mary McCann reports, some are long distance travelers, while others head for the hills.

An unprecedented tropical monsoon dumped more than 17 inches of rain on the Front Range of Colorado, an area which experienced devastating forest fires just last year. Matt Kelsch of the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research in Boulder tells host Steve Curwood that last year’s fires made this year's floods and landslides far more destructive.

Weld County Colorado is home to more than 20,000 oil and gas wells, and related storage facilities, and installations have already spilled thousands of gallons of crude onto the flood plain. Todd Hartman of the Colorado Department of Natural Resources explains to host Steve Curwood that assessing the damage and controlling the oil in the surface water are the biggest priorities.

Bill McKibben is the closest thing the grassroots climate movement has to a leader, organizing opposition to the Keystone XL pipeline and persuading institutions to divest their holdings from fossil fuels. He sits down with host Steve Curwood to discuss his new book, 'Oil and Honey' — an activist memoir and a meditation on beekeeping in Vermont.

Massachusetts will ban large businesses and institutions from sending food waste to the landfill. Paul Sellew, CEO of Harvest Power, says this policy could contribute to the green energy revolution. He tells host, Steve Curwood, that the key to turning food waste to power is anaerobic digestion.

Researchers have found a way to manipulate insect mating behavior. This discovery could limit the need for pesticides in the future, if the researchers can limit the effects merely to destructive insects. Poncie Rutsch reports.

The key to many of the biggest mysteries may lie in the smallest of things. Ari Daniel reports that the origins of all life in our universe could come from the tiny chemicals created in clouds between the stars.