Sustainability In Your Ear

Dr. Kinari Webb founded Health In Harmony (healthinharmony.org) in 2005 to help illegal loggers in the Boreo rainforest stop poaching trees. In a remarkable story, she and her team have reduced the number of families that rely on illegal logging for a living by 88 percent while virtually eliminating childhood deaths in the region. You won't forget this interview.

Sustainability In Your Ear follows the Earth911 team to the store for a holiday shopping that doesn't damage the planet. The gang explores whether online or shopping the mall is better for the environment. Sarah Lozanova introduces five green fashion brands to look for when shopping and our new list of top electric vehicles. Trey Granger takes us on a skiing green vacation. We also talk through the questions to ask when shopping for sustainably produced jewelry, how to request less wasteful packaging in your Amazon orders, and how giving experience instead of stuff can be the most memorable gift. Find eco-friendly gift ideas and hear the conversation about recent Earthling Survey results: Do You Prefer Paper or Plastic Food Packaging? And always more Earthling Questions, including what cookware goes into curbside bins and how to recycle lithium-ion batteries.

Evelyn Fielding-Lopez talks with Peter Mehring, cofounder and CEO of ZEST Labs, which makes produce-tracking sensors that extend the shelf-life of produce. By monitoring the condition of produce from the field to the store or restaurant, ZEST supports better decisions in the food supply chain. Learn how technology is being put to work to eliminate food waste that results in 40 percent of U.S.-grown food going unused.

Beth Porter, Climate and Recycling Director at Green America, a Washington, D.C.-based non-profit, has studied the recycling system carefully. In her new book, Reduce, Reuse, Reimagine: Sorting Out the Recycling System, Porter challenges established thinking and recounts the history of the single-stream recycling system introduced decades ago in the United States. With recycling rates stuck near 34 percent in the United States, and in the face of China's National Sword contaminated recycled materials ban, the country needs to establish a new recycling ethos. Porter also reintroduces an important American story about Scrap For Victory recycling campaigns during World War II that galvanized the homefront. Children, adults, communities, and companies pulled together to gather scrap metal to produce planes and tanks to fight the war. Why can't we make the same shared commitment today? Beth Porter thinks we can. Tune in to hear this inspiring conversation.

It's Thanksgiving and that means it's Thankscycling time! The Earth911 team gathers around the table to enjoy a sustainable family day of simple swaps for a healthy Thanksgiving.Sarah Lozanova explains seven Thank-worthy DIY decorations and Trey Granger explains how to recycle cooking oil. Evelyn Fielding-Lopez talks 12 ideas to reduce or eliminate food waste on Thanksgiving, and Mitch Ratcliffe explores his memories of deep-fried Turkey. We also discuss recent Earthling surveys and new innovator interviews with Chris Wilke of Puget Sound Keepers, who are fighting for better regulation of cattle-feeding operations in Washington state, and Marc Choyt of Reflective Jewelry, a pioneer of the fair trade jewelry industry. And, as always, we have Earthling questions and answers. This week, we look at recycling hair and waxed cardboard boxes.

Arctic ice is in trouble. Leslie Field, Ph.D. founded Ice911 to build a solution to retreating ice in the Arctic, where 75 percent of the ice pack that existed in 1979. Field brings decades of high-tech work and 54 patents to the problem of restoring ice, which will contribute to cooling the atmosphere and returning the jet stream to its normal path. The non-profit has created reflective sand, which you may have seen recently on Vice's coverage of climate change. It's a white floating glass pellet that can be distributed over the surface of the ocean or a lake to reflect solar energy back into space. Leslie talks with Mitch Ratcliffe about the state of ice, how declining Arctic ice has contributed to extreme weather across the U.S., and the experiments her team are conducting. It's an information-packed and entertaining half-hour of conversation.

Heading into the holidays with a sustainable mindset, Evelyn Fielding-Lopez, Sarah Lozanova, and Mitch Ratcliffe get ready for guests. The gang talk about how to eliminate toxins when choosing home cleaning products, how to make your own Earth-friendly cleaning recipes, and recycling of household product such as toothbrushes, toothpaste tubes, and cleaning product packaging. We also look to the skies to talk about the orbiting mess humans have created on the planet's front porch. Hear the five weirdest, and very practical, Terracycle recycling programs and how to use them.Earthling questions this week include how to rinse a Starbucks plastic cup for effective recylcing and whether hair dye is recyclable.The gang also discusses the results of recent Earth911 Surveys:Can Humanity Achieve a Sustainable Economy? Have You Considered or Installed Solar Panels On Your Home?

The Washington State Pollution Control Hearings Board disappointed environmental leaders in October when it allowed largely unregulated concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs) to continue operating in the state. CAFOs are giant cattle, pig, and other livestock operations that have manure waste ponds, like those that overflowed in North Carolina after Hurricane Florence.Chris Wilke of Puget Sound Keepers talks to Earth911 about the ruling, its implications for public health. CAFOs pollute groundwater and the air, contributing to cardiovascular, reproductive and developmental problems, including Blue Baby syndrome. CAFO pollution is also implicated in cancer. Wilke, though disappointed, said the court battle is not over. The environmental coalition that asked for better regulation of CAFOs will appeal to the Washington Department of Ecology and higher courts for changes.

Marc Choyt, the founder of Reflective Jewelry, talks with Earth911 about fair trade jewelry. He recently published an extensive and critical expose on the ethical jewelry business. Sustainable and humane metal and gem mining has caught on in Europe, notably in the U.K, but has been slow to establish itself in the United States. Learn what questions to ask when buying precious metal, diamonds, and other gems to ensure that the people who produce the raw materials are able to lead safe and increasingly prosperous lives. Choyt explains the persistent presence of diamonds and gems produced under slavery conditions in war zones. If you are interested in making your jewelry a statement about your values, learn what to look for when shopping. Seeking out fair trade gold helps families and small communities while industrial gold mining is a source of mercury pollution and causes environmental damage.

Elizabeth Sanderson, chief marketing officer at Sunflare Solar joins Earth911's Sustainability In Your Ear to talk about solar progress, the economics of solar installation, and when Capture 4 for home buyers will be available. Listen in to get the latest information about the cost and increasing efficiency of adding renewable energy to buildings and, with thin-film technology, mobile solar for cars, RVs, and other products.