16 young people are suing their home state of Alaska for failing to protect their constitutional right to a healthy environment. They argue the state must reduce greenhouse gas emissions though most of Alaska’s earnings depend on oil production. Host Steve Curwood discussed how this complicated suit might develop with Vermont Law School Professor, Pat Parenteau.

This week, Peter Dykstra shares with host Steve Curwood his insights on a Department of Energy report that shows the US is now the globe’s biggest oil producer, and US transportation emits more greenhouse gases than electricity generation. The pair also discuss how mercury from coal-fired power plants is polluting rice in China, and take a trip back to 1872 and a landmark mining law that has had a profound and lasting impact on the American West.

This week, we return to Kerala, India, to learn more about why that state’s food supply is going organic and how that ambitious target can be achieved. Part of the success will depend on Keralans who have taken up organic gardening as a hobby, or even a second career. They tend to their rooftop gardens, care for their backyard livestock, and sell extra produce at large organic markets where their healthy chemical free food sells for premium prices. Living on Earth’s Helen Palmer has the story.

As close ties between fossil fuel billionaires Charles and David Koch and the Trump Administration come more to light, Democratic Senators are demanding answers about how much influence the Koch brothers have had in shaping key federal policies, including the decision to pull the U.S. out of the Paris Agreement, and the shrinking of national monuments. Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) speaks with Host Steve Curwood about the stranglehold he says the climate change denying Koch network has on Republican lawmakers as well.