The Environment in Focus, hosted by Tom Pelton, is a weekly perspective on the issues and people changing our natural world. Pelton is a national award-winning environmental journalist, author, and public radio host.
Latest episodes
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4 min
Final Episode: A Vanishing Island, the End of an Adventure
The Chesapeake Bay is full of history that is slipping away before our eyes.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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5 min
Hip Hop Forestry
One envirnmental advocate has a unique way of bringing attention to the topic: hip hop music.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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5 min
The Old Rowboat
Tom reflects on his relationship with a dear friend - an old rowboat.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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4 min
Climate Engineering as a Dangerous "Plan B" for Global Warming
Can we engineer Earth's atmosphere to stop global warming?See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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5 min
EPA Ban on Brain-Damaging Pesticide Follows Maryland's Lead
In Maryland over the last three years, there was a back-and-forth political battle between Republican Governor Larry Hogan and the Democratic-majority state legislature over a cont…
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4 min
Ghost Fleet of Mallows Bay
In a shallow bay of the Potomac River about an hour south of Washington, D.C., lie the remains of 214 wooden cargo ships from World War I, some of which have sprouted trees and bec…
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4 min
Bumps in Road for Electric Cars
The U.S. Senate passed an infrastructure bill that includes $7.5 billion for the construction of electric vehicle charging stations across the U.S. as a step toward combating clima…
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4 min
Fading of the Fireflies
There is a growing movement to measure the worth of nature by quantifying its economic value. What, then, is the value of fireflies? See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy informa…
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5 min
Landfill Methane Pollution
It’s been a summer of record-breaking heat, wildfires, floods. So people can’t avoid thinking about climate change.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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5 min
Record-Breaking Heat Raises Temperature on Climate Debate
Temperatures in the Pacific Northwest got so hot in June – hitting a record 121 degrees in British Columbia – that hundreds of people died and more than a billion clams and mussels…
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4 min
Study Reveals The Climate Future Of Maryland
Matt Fitzpatrick, an ecologist and associate professor at the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science discovered that Maryland's climate future is … Mississippi.See…
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4 min
A Trip Back in Time Along Bends in the Potomac River
Tom Pelton takes a trip to western Maryland to visit the Paw Paw bends.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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4 min
Climate Activists Protest Compromise on Infrastructure Bill
Last week, after months of negotiations, President Joe Biden announced a bipartisan compromise in the U.S. Senate on a $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill. See omnystudio.com/listene…
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4 min
Conowingo Dam Agreement Undermined by Muddy Numbers
When Maryland Governor Larry Hogan ran for office, he promised to address a major environmental threat just north of the Chesapeake Bay.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy info…
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4 min
Beaver Boom Dams Up Pollution Control Projects
Once nearly extinct in the East, beaver populations are booming. Their comeback, however, is creating complications for storm water pollution control systems, which beavers love to…
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5 min
Growing Tent Villages Of Homeless People Caused By The Pandemic
Villiages of tent homes are increasingly cropping up around Baltimore because of Covid 19.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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5 min
Crab Population Survey Finds Record Low Juveniles, More Females
Back in 2007, the number of blue crabs in the Chesapeake Bay plummeted to an all-time low, in part because of chronic over-harvesting. Watermen every year caught almost two thirds…
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5 min
How the U.S. Constitution Flowed from a Long-Forgotten Canal
It was a balmy spring evening when I launched my kayak into Seneca Creek, about 15 minutes northwest of Potomac, Maryland.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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5 min
Emergence of Cicadas Inspires ‘Cicada-Licious’ Meat Alternatives
Michael Raupp, a professor of entomology at the University of Maryland, is on his knees in the back yard of a house in Howard County.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy informa…
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4 min
‘Eco-Bible’ Reveals the Ancient Roots of Environmental Movement
There is a widespread belief, especially among some Republicans and conservative Christians, that the environmental movement is essentially a secular, socialist movement born out o…