This week, Peter Dykstra joins Host Steve Curwood on a trip beyond the headlines to take a look at the work of a high school student who discovered 50,000 golf balls in the sea and shore of Monterey Peninsula. They also talk about the Government Accountability Office’s recommendation that State Dept. diplomats should be briefed on climate change. Finally, they take a look back at the 1969 Santa Barbara oil spill and how it helped spark the public’s awareness of environmental issues.

During the Northern Hemisphere’s coldest days of the year, migratory birds that fly south for the winter warm their wings in the copious sunshine near the Equator. BirdNote’s Michael Stein tracks down these savvy sun-seekers.

Climate change is a key factor forcing families to flee from Central America and Mexico. And already deadly droughts, hurricanes, floods, and mudslides are projected to intensify further in the region as warming increases, and will hit small farmers especially hard. Author and journalist Todd Miller shares with Host Steve Curwood the stories of immigrants journeying from Central America to the US. They tell why climate impacts have them seeking new homes farther North and South.

Climate disruption is bringing conflict between species that would under normal circumstances rarely encounter each other. Living on Earth’s Explorer in Residence, Mark Seth Lender, recounts a sobering encounter with a gyrfalcon injured by a rival peregrine.

From sea level rise to hurricanes, climate change impacts are already having life-threatening and life-altering effects on people all around the globe, including in the U.S. Without the financial means to adapt or recover, disadvantaged groups are especially vulnerable to these impacts. Journalist Lewis Raven Wallace, in partnership with Environmental Health News and Scalawag Magazine, reported on how the devastation of a public housing complex in New Bern, North Carolina during Hurricane Florence has left many of its African American residents homeless. Wallace talks with Host Steve Curwood.

Toward the end of 2018, Central American migrant groups of several thousands of people began journeys towards the United States. Many are fleeing a massive drought that has lasted for five years. John Sutter, Senior Investigative Reporter for CNN, joins Living on Earth's Bobby Bascomb to take a look at the ties between climate change and the migrant caravans.

As an agricultural biologist, ethnobiologist and author, Gary Paul Nabhan is a renowned pioneer in the local food movement. In his new book, Food from the Radical Center: Healing Our Land and Communities, Prof. Nabhan writes about the power of working the soil with our hands in a collaborative spirit, with disparate groups. Gary Nabhan and host Steve Curwood discuss how restoring the health of our lands can improve the health of our communities.