This week, Living on Earth Contributor Peter Dykstra joins Host Paloma Beltran with a couple of warnings from scientists about how the warming planet is affecting species, from brook trout that may get wiped out from streams in the Great Lakes region to mother polar bears who can’t make enough milk because of shrinking Arctic sea ice. In history, they look back to 1988, when three gray whales stuck in the ice captured the world’s attention.

Six young plaintiffs from Portugal are suing over 30 European countries they say have violated their rights to life by failing to act on climate change. Patrick Parenteau is an emeritus professor at Vermont Law School and joins Host Jenni Doering to recap the recent hearing in front of a “Grand Chamber” of judges in the European Court of Human Rights and discuss what it could mean for climate action.

Pope Francis is back with an even bolder update to Laudato Si’, his climate change encyclical. Christiana Zenner is an Associate Professor in the Department of Theology at Fordham University and joins Host Paloma Beltran to discuss how “Laudate Deum” takes on climate denial and urges the world to act swiftly to avert climate disaster.

A recent study found that mammals that live in groups tend to live longer than solitary mammal species, even after accounting for other factors. Living on Earth’s Don Lyman explains why being social appears to benefit members of a group and help them live longer.

Pope Francis's highly-anticipated Encyclical, “Laudato Si,” subtitled “On Care for Our Common Home,”included a call for action on global warming, but the 184-page document offers much more than policy recommendations. It's a poetic, emotional call for a fundamental shift in our economic system, and a rethinking of our relationship with God's creation: the natural world. Assistant Professor of Theology, Science and Ethics at Fordham University, Christiana Peppard, discusses with host Steve Curwood the Pope's message to people to be moral stewards of the planet and rectify ecological and social injustices plaguing the world today.

The 20-year U.S. war in Afghanistan brought tens of thousands of direct casualties but also dangerous pollutants that survivors are still living among. Lynzy Billing reported from Afghanistan for Inside Climate News and New Lines Magazine and joins Host Jenni Doering to describe the hazards and health problems some Afghans link to the war.