Weather forecasting, climate research and climate resilience are being hit with major budget and staffing cuts by the Trump administration. Alice Hill is a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations who served on the National Security Council under President Obama, and she joins Host Jenni Doering to discuss how recent federal cuts can impact emergency preparedness for floods such as the one that devastated the Texas hill country.

A few months into New York City’s mandatory curbside composting policy, there are still some kinks to work out, and enforcement and fines have been temporarily paused. Eric Goldstein, the New York City Environment Director at the Natural Resources Defense Council, catches up Host Aynsley O’Neill on how the program is going and why composting food and yard waste can save money, benefit landfills, reduce NYC’s carbon footprint, and help gardeners.

Research has long shown that the top two coffee species, Arabica and Robusta, are vulnerable to climate impacts like increased drought and heat. And by 2050 as much as half of coffee producing land could no longer be suitable for these top species. But Living on Earth’s Sophia Pandelidis reports that excitement is brewing over a climate resilient bean called excelsa.

Residents of Reserve, Louisiana in “Cancer Alley” recently received stunning news that Denka Performance Elastomer, which has for years emitted high levels of cancer-causing air pollutants, would indefinitely suspend its operations. Tish Taylor of Concerned Citizens of St. John speaks with Host Jenni Doering about illnesses her family has endured, her community’s cautious celebration of the decision and cleaner air and how her fight against environmental racism continues.