In this week’s trip beyond the headlines Peter Dykstra and host Steve Curwood dive into the world of eco-archaeology and remember a dam accident that killed 2200 people and woke America up to the importance of mending infrastructure.

With global warming come more intense rains, floods and landslides. In Washington State, as Ashley Ahearn reports, local government is stepping in to buy out homeowners in danger zones, ignited a debate over managing landslide risk and property owners' rights.

Soaring American Chestnut trees once covered the Eastern US but a blight nearly wiped them out. Now botanists are breeding a blight resistant chestnut to help restore American forests and reclaim degraded mountaintop removal coal mine sites in Appalachia. Jonna McKone reports.

Coal companies have stripped the tops of mountains in Appalachia in search of the fuel. But as Amanda Starbuck tells host Steve Curwood, the Rainforest Action Network has helped convince some of the world’s biggest banks to stop funding companies that practice destructive Mountain Top Removal.

President Obama believes global warming threatens national security and the US must lead to control emissions. Proposed new rules to curb coal-fired power plant pollution are among the most far-reaching executive actions to combat carbon. Europe has strong climate controls, but many newly elected EU lawmakers are wary of regulation. Wendel Trio, director of Climate Action Network, tells host Steve Curwood that as Europe looks to the next UN summit, it hopes the US will be a climate change leader.

Brooklyn-based contemporary artist Rachel Sussman speaks with host Steve Curwood about her journey around the globe photographing ancient organisms for her book The Oldest Living Things in the World