This week, Environmental Health News Editor Peter Dykstra shares a sobering update about declining northern right whale numbers with Host Steve Curwood. Also, an increase in industrial poultry farms is adding to North Carolina’s massive hog waste problem. And in the history calendar, the anniversary of a Midwest blizzard that spurred a mass migration of waterfowl heading south all at once and shut down airports.

Roughly 20 Chinese provinces are enduring rolling electricity blackouts amid a coal and natural gas shortage. Isabel Hilton, founder and senior advisor of the China Dialogue group, joins Host Steve Curwood to discuss the current energy crunch, how it intersects with China’s long-term climate commitments, and the prospects for China’s influence at the UN climate talks.

Fast food could be even more unhealthy than we knew, as a recent study that sampled fast food items from six major chains found toxic chemicals linked to serious health problems and even early death. Researchers found that at least 70 percent of the fast-food items tested contained phthalates, which are used to soften plastics. Dr. Ami Zota, associate professor at George Washington University’s Milken School of Public Health and co-author of the study, joins Host Steve Curwood to discuss.

Plastic pollution is one of the biggest environmental threats to this planet, and according to a report by the advocacy group Beyond Plastics, greenhouse gas emissions from plastic production in the United States are on track to outpace domestic coal emissions. Judith Enck, a former regional administrator of the EPA and founder of Beyond Plastics, co-authored the report and joins Living on Earth’s Bobby Bascomb to discuss.

Vultures are not exactly the most charismatic or cuddly of animals but they do have their charm, observes Living on Earth’s Explorer in Residence, Mark Seth Lender. In East Africa, he watches a mated pair of vultures preening each other with ground termites to keep parasites at bay.