Tucked away in Pennsylvania’s Appalachian Mountains lies an unusual cave. It’s the Coudersport Ice Mine, a roadside attraction closed 25 years ago that only recently reopened. Kara Holsopple from the Allegheny Front reports that this strange cave only forms ice in the summer.

In this week’s trip beyond the headlines, Peter Dykstra speaks with host Steve Curwood about the decline of mule deer in Colorado, New Jersey’s artificial phosphorus eating island, and recalls President Jimmy Carter’s “malaise” speech.

Biologist Phil Stoddard is the mayor of South Miami, a South Florida suburb threatened by rising sea levels. Mayor Stoddard tells host Steve Curwood that municipalities in Florida are doing all they can to prepare for climate change, but he does not think the state government is taking the issue seriously, and the risk to real estate values is considerable.

Most geologists now agree that the Holocene epoch is over. In its place scientists suggest we have entered the Anthropocene, an epoch named for the human induced changes to geology. Dr. Jan Zalasiewicz is chairman of the United Kingdom Stratigrapher Commission. He explains the name change to host Bruce Gellerman.

Humans have always had a basic fear of the dark, but the advent of electric light in the late 19th century brought control over the night in the developed world. But with an explosion of light pollution blocking out the natural night sky in much of the world, host author Paul Bogard tells living on Earth’s Helen Palmer we might have gone too far and it might be harming our health.

Pope Francis has called environmental exploitation the sin of our time. He is working on an encyclical about humanity’s relationship with nature. Christiana Peppard, Assistant Professor of Theology, Science and Ethics at Fordham University and author of the book Just Water, discusses the Pope’s call to “care for God’s creation” with host Steve Curwood.