On this week’s trip beyond the headlines, Host Steve Curwood is joined by Environmental Health News’ Weekend Editor Peter Dykstra to discuss an ice shelf break-up in typically stable East Antarctica. Then, the two look at the promises of fast-food companies to get PFAS chemicals out of their packaging. Finally, the pair look back in history at how plastic pollution in the Indian Ocean complicated the search for debris from Malaysia Airlines Flight 370.

Higher levels of Bisphenol A (BPA) plastic exposure while in the womb are associated with increased risk of asthma and wheezing in school aged girls, a new study has found. Researchers measured exposure to BPA in pregnant women in Europe and then tracked their children for years. It’s the latest danger sign regarding the estrogen-mimicking component of some plastics that has been linked to numerous health problems. These types of chemicals are often used in plastic water bottles and food containers. Leonardo Trasande is a pediatrician who directs the NYU Center for the Investigation of Environmental Hazards and joins Host Steve Curwood to discuss.

Fossil fuel markets are often volatile, especially around wars, while renewable energy resources tend to be more isolated from conflict. And as oil prices surge the world stands on the precipice of a choice between even more climate-killing drilling and a transformational shift towards clean energy that could change the geopolitical landscape. Host Steve Curwood talks to Collin Rees, the U.S. Program Manager at Oil Change International about the state of global oil markets and what this moment means in the scope of the world’s dependence on fossil fuels.

President Biden’s “Justice 40” initiative aims to deliver federal investments in climate protection and clean energy production to disadvantaged communities in places including the Gulf Coast. Communities of color there are disproportionately impacted by climate change and industrial pollution and appear to not receive as much support to rebuild after hurricanes as white communities. Beverly Wright, the Executive Director for the Deep South Center for Environmental Justice and a member of the White House Environmental Justice Advisory Council, joined Host Steve Curwood to talk about race and President Biden's Justice 40 initiative.