For this week's trip beyond the headlines, Peter Dykstra and Host Bobby Bascomb discuss how Republican members of Oregon's State Senate walked out to avoid a vote on climate change legislation. Then, the pair discuss Cold War-era spy satellite data that scientists are using to estimate current ice and snow level loss in the Himalayas. Finally, a look back in history to the relocation of Soldiers Grove, Wisconsin to evade a flooding river.

Showy feathers on birds are often solely useful for attracting a mate. But as BirdNote®’s Michael Stein explains, the Whiskered Auklet’s feathery whiskers have another function.

Most of the world’s aquifers, like the Ogallala of the Central Plains, are under dry land but researchers recently discovered an enormous source of fresh water under the Atlantic Ocean. Living on Earth’s Joseph Winters explains.

Roughly 10 percent of Puerto Rico’s corals were broken and damaged by Hurricane Maria in 2017. But, as Host Bobby Bascomb reports, marine conservationists are finding ways to give corals a fighting chance by reattaching healthy fragments.

More than half the world’s coral reefs have died in the last few decades and scientists predict that as many as 90 percent could die off this century as the ocean chemistry changes and temperatures rise. But some coral populations are actually thriving in warmer waters, and scientists are working to speed up natural selection by propagating these resilient corals. Joanie Kleypas, founder of the nonprofit Raising Coral Costa Rica, joins Host Bobby Bascomb to talk about her work.

The California condor was on the verge of extinction due to lead poisoning. Then the US Fish and Wildlife Service stepped in. Now, with more than 400 birds in the wild, the condor is making a big comeback. As Living on Earth’s Explorer in Residence Mark Seth Lender reports, when it comes to Condors, big is the operative word.

The US EPA recently finalized the Affordable Clean Energy (ACE) rule to replace the Clean Power Plan of the Obama Administration. The ACE rule is expected to be challenged in the courts, as it does little to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and could result in up to 1,400 additional deaths from air pollution each year. Vermont Law School Professor Pat Parenteau tells Host Bobby Bascomb about the legal road ahead for the ACE rule.

Recent studies show insect populations are in sharp decline, and as many as 40% of insects may be facing extinction in the coming decades. That includes critical pollinator species such as bees, which play an essential role in ecosystems as well as our food system. Now lawmakers in Minnesota have approved a new program that pays homeowners to convert their lawns to pollinator-friendly habitat. Host Bobby Bascomb talked with Sarah Foltz Jordan, a Senior Pollinator Conservation Specialist with the Xerces Society, about what people can do to make their own yards more pollinator-friendly.