In this week’s look beyond the headlines, Peter Dykstra and host Bobby Bascomb talk about conservative criticisms of the Green New Deal, and an Australian court decision that’s killed a new coal mine proposal. Then, they look back fifteen years to when the Pentagon, under President George W. Bush, commissioned a report looking at how climate change could cause severe global destabilization.

Biologists are celebrating a promising year for eastern monarch butterflies, which overwinter in Mexico and whose population grew 144 percent from last year. But it’s a different story for the western monarch population, which spends the winter in California. Down to just 30,000 individuals, they’re on the edge of extinction. Tierra Curry, a Senior Scientist at the Center for Biological Diversity, talked to Bobby Bascomb about the monarch butterflies’ remarkable annual migration and what can be done to boost their numbers.

A community garden called the Neighbor's Field in rural Georgia helps refugees heal from the pain and trauma of war by planting a garden. Producer Sean Powers of Georgia Public Broadcasting and the Bitter Southerner podcast has the story.

92 Senators recently voted to pass the most sweeping land conservation bill in a decade. The legislation designates 1.3 million new acres of wilderness, five new national monuments, and hundreds of miles of wild and scenic rivers. It also permanently authorizes the Land and Water Conservation Fund, which uses fees from offshore oil and gas drilling to conserve public lands. Democratic Senator Maria Cantwell of Washington state cosponsored the bill and spoke with host Bobby Bascomb about what got this rare bipartisan effort across the finish line.

President Trump has declared a state of emergency to secure funding for a wall along the US border with Mexico. If built, the wall would disturb critical habitats and block migration routes for animals already stressed by climate change, and could possibly lead to extinction for some rare and endangered species. Biologist and Outdoors Coordinator for the Sierra Club Sergio Avila talks with Host Bobby Bascomb about the impacts of a wall on some rare species including jaguars and pygmy owls.

Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) and Senator Ed Markey (D-MA) have released their outline for a Green New Deal, a piece of legislation intended to boost the economy while reducing greenhouse gases. Nathaniel Keohane, Senior Vice President for the Environmental Defense Fund, joins Host Bobby Bascomb to explore the Green New Deal draft and where the movement goes from here.