Delegates from nearly 200 countries are meeting in Baku, Azerbaijan for the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change’s 29th Conference of the Parties. Alden Meyer of the climate think tank E3G is a longtime observer of these meetings, and he joins Host Paloma Beltran to share his first impressions as these talks kick off.

This year’s 16th meeting for the UN Convention on Biological Diversity was suspended as negotiations ran overtime and delegates needed to catch flights home. But earlier in the talks, a decision was reached to give indigenous communities a proper seat at the table moving forward. Carmen Rosa Guerra Ariza is delegate from one such indigenous community, the Kankuamo people, and she joins Host Aynsley O’Neill to discuss this win.

The jungles of Colombia are home to a bird with a haunting call. BirdNote’s Mary McCann reports.

Although the global average temperature has been steadily increasing for decades, in 2023 there was a sudden jump of 0.2 degrees Celsius. This has raised alarm among climate scientists about how fast the climate crisis is progressing. Dr. Jennifer Francis is Senior Scientist at the Woodwell Climate Research Center, and she joined Living on Earth’s Jenni Doering to discuss the temperature spike and its implications.

After Hurricane Maria destroyed Puerto Rico’s power grid in 2017, much of the island was left without electricity for up to a year, leaving vulnerable populations in the lurch. Many Puerto Ricans are pushing for a reliable, sustainable electricity system, but a proposed utility-scale solar project has sparked concerns. Ruth Santiago, an environmental attorney who serves on the White House Environmental Justice Advisory Council, joins Host Paloma Beltran to discuss the future of solar energy in Puerto Rico.