One of the development initiatives affected by the Trump Administration’s shutdown of USAID is the Soybean Innovation Lab, which works to improve soybean yields and production in Africa to help boost food supplies and farm income. Kerry Clark runs a mechanization development and fabrication training team at the Soybean Innovation Lab and joins Host Jenni Doering to discuss the work of the lab and why helping improve farmers’ yields is so fulfilling.

At the end of May a flood caused by torrential rain swept into Mokwa, a poor rural community in western Nigeria, leaving behind a horrific scene of death and destruction. Uwaisu Idris reported from the scene for Deutsche Welle and joins Host Jenni Doering to talk about how climate change is bringing more intense floods to Nigeria, and the responsibility of the rich nations of the world to assist poor countries that did not cause the climate crisis.

Batmunkh Luvsandash, winner of the 2025 Goldman Environmental Prize for Asia, was raised as a Mongolian herder and later became an engineer who worked on mining projects in the mineral-rich country. But when he learned that the Mongolian government was planning to mine the sacred Hutag mountain, which is also home to the endangered Asiatic ass, he sprang into action. Batmunkh joined Living on Earth’s Paloma Beltran (speaking through a translator) to share why protecting the area is so important to him.

A recent study finds the Colorado River Basin has lost a tremendous amount of water in the last two decades, in part from thirsty farms pumping water from deep aquifers much faster than it can be replenished. Lead author Jay Famiglietti, a Global Futures Professor at Arizona State University, spoke with Living on Earth’s Paloma Beltran about the “Wild West” of unregulated groundwater, potential solutions and why the rapid depletion of ancient groundwater threatens the water supply for future generations.