‘Becoming Wild’ and Culture Among Animals: For people culture is characterized by things like language, food, and customs, and biologists are finding the same is true for many animal species. In his latest book, Becoming Wild, Carl Safina explores how a variety of animals, from sperm whales to birds, live within a culture, in much the same way as humans. Carl Safina talks with Host Steve Curwood.

For this week's trip beyond the headlines, Host Steve Curwood and Environmental Weekend News Editor Peter Dykstra start by looking at Climategate email hacks in 2009 and climate misinformation since. Then, they take a quick look at Brazilian Jair Bolsonaro's record of environmental and human rights controversies under review by the World Court. Finally, the two open the history book to the UN’s 1971 Ramsar Convention on Wetlands.

Native American communities have been hit especially hard by the Covid-19 pandemic, with nearly twice the mortality rate of white Americans. The deaths of tribal elders are also leading to losses of language and other cultural knowledge. Jason Salsman, the Press Secretary for the Muscogee Creek Nation, speaks with Host Bobby Bascomb about how Covid-19 has affected his community and why elders are first in line for vaccination.

Enbridge’s Line 3 pipeline, which would carry tar sands oil from Alberta, Canada to Wisconsin if completed, is facing strong opposition from Native American tribes and environmental activists. Rural development economist and Ojibwe water protector Winona LaDuke speaks with Host Bobby Bascomb about the risk of spills from the pipeline and other concerns.

The Biden Administration is making big and early moves to tackle the climate crisis and show the rest of the world and major investors that the U.S. is aggressively committed to ‘whole of government’ climate action. Alden Meyer, Senior Associate at the climate think tank E3G, joins Host Steve Curwood to talk about “shifting the trillions” and the ambitious next steps that the global community will expect to see from the U.S. in what could be a make-or-break year for global climate action.

Living on Earth’s Explorer in Residence, Mark Seth Lender, takes us to the edge of the Antarctic Peninsula as dramatic storm clouds part.