Pennsylvania is known for its unusual town names, which include Burnt Cabins, Intercourse, Pillow, Chinchilla, Hazard and Panic. In today’s BirdNote®, Michael Stein shares how one small community came to be called “Bird-in-Hand”, Pennsylvania.

As control of the US Senate hangs in the balance, the Pennsylvania race between Democratic incumbent Senator Bob Casey and his Republican challenger Dave McCormick is heating up. Inside Climate News reporter Kiley Bense joins Host Jenni Doering to explain the climate and environment dimensions of Pennsylvania’s Senate race.

Rise early in the morning and head out to a nearby national wildlife refuge, and you’ve got a good shot of being rewarded with the sights and sounds of all kinds of birds. And on this birdwatching trip, you might be watched back, Living on Earth’s Explorer in Residence Mark Seth Lender reports.

In the lower Mississippi River region commonly known as Cancer Alley, communities of color live among industrial pollution while white neighborhoods have been mostly spared from heavy industry. The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals is now considering whether to allow a landmark environmental racism lawsuit brought against the local government to go to trial. Inside Climate News reporter James Bruggers discusses the case background and context with Host Aynsley O’Neill.

The Europa Clipper spacecraft recently blasted off into space to start a six-year journey towards Jupiter’s icy moon, Europa. On a series of close flybys, Clipper is designed to gather data that could indicate whether Europa might harbor life in the enormous liquid water ocean it appears to have beneath its icy shell.

Thwaites Glacier in Antarctica holds enough ice that its melting could raise sea levels worldwide by 2 feet, but it’s so remote that until recently no one had ever approached where it meets the sea. Elizabeth Rush was a writer-in-residence on board the first research icebreaker to visit Thwaites and chronicles the journey in her book The Quickening: Creation and Community at the Ends of the Earth. She joined Living on Earth Host Steve Curwood to share the experience of witnessing the glacier’s unraveling and the crucial data the scientists on board unearthed.

Jupiter’s moon Europa is one of the most promising places to look for extraterrestrial life. Europa has a large liquid ocean beneath its icy crust, so NASA plans to launch the Clipper space probe later this year to investigate. As part of the mission NASA is sending a poem to space. US Poet Laureate Ada Limón reads aloud her poem, “In Praise of Mystery: A Poem for Europa.”

As ocean levels rise, coastal communities contend with higher floods, stronger hurricanes, and saltwater intrusion. Some are even being forced to retreat to higher ground. From Louisiana to Staten Island to Pensacola, writer Elizabeth Rush set out to document the stories of people caught in these rising tides. Rush speaks with Host Steve Curwood about her new book, Rising: Dispatches from the New American Shore.