In this week's trip beyond the headlines, Environmental Health News Editor Peter Dykstra tells Host Steve Curwood about some environmental regulations the Trump administration is rolling back during the coronavirus pandemic. The pair also discuss Brazil's similar use of the pandemic to turn a blind eye to illegal logging in the Amazon. Finally, the two look back to perhaps the first Senate hearing on climate change, 40 years ago in 1980.

Have you ever liked a restaurant so much you thought you might want to move in? That’s what the Violaceous Trogon does. This striking iridescent green and yellow Central American bird will excavate a cavity for its nest in the midst of a huge wasp nest, snacking all the while. The wasps provide a tasty bit of protein, and a natural defense against the Trogon’s predators.  BirdNote®’s Mary McCann has the story.

The world is now facing two major crises, corona virus pandemic and climate. And while COVID-19 has brought economic carnage, it also presents an opportunity to build back the U.S. economy in smarter ways to deal looming climate disruption, says Rep. Kathy Castor. The Chair of the House Select Committee on the Climate Crisis discusses with Host Steve Curwood how Congress can respond to the pandemic crisis with climate change in mind, and why the world’s pandemic response gives her hope about addressing the climate crisis.

At a time when the COVID-19 pandemic has led most of the American population to practice physical distancing, gardening can provide comfort and improved health. Landscape designer Michael Weishan, the former host of the PBS series The Victory Garden, joined Living on Earth's Bobby Bascomb to share the joys of tending to a vegetable garden, keeping chickens and enjoying the fruits of a small orchard, and to offer some advice about what to get in the ground now.

The coronavirus pandemic appears well-managed in countries like China and South Korea that moved swiftly, with the science as their guide. Countries that initially downplayed the threat, such as Italy and the United States, have seen spiking death rates as healthcare systems are overwhelmed. Harvard History of Science Professor Naomi Oreskes joins Host Steve Curwood to discuss why some governments fail to follow the science when responding to major crises like pandemics and climate change, and how acceptance of science makes governments better able to prepare and cope with these global disasters.

Science historians Naomi Oreskes of Harvard and Erik Conway of CalTech's new science fiction book, The Collapse of Western Civilization lays out how devastating our lack of action on climate change could be. Oreskes join host Steve Curwood to discuss how democracy, the free market and science are all failing humanity and the planet.