The Allegheny Front Feed

Podcasts:

Top stories of 2020: A plastics boom on hold, Appalachian Fall and Environmental Justice | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 28:58

A look back at environmental stories of 2020. Blaming the pandemic, some people doubt that a petrochemical boom will come to the Ohio Valley. The boom and bust of the coal industry means Appalachia needs new economic solutions to undo decades of neglect. And the massive protests against racial discrimination last year brought more attention to environmental justice.

The last frontier of the farm-to-table movement; a winter hike; the iconic American chestnut | File Type: audio/x-wav | Duration: 29:00

We slow down and revisit some stories from 2020. An author discusses the last frontier of the farm-to-table movement: local flour. Researchers hope to restore the American chestnut with the help of genetic engineering. We take a hike that learn what to see and hear in winter. A car accident causes climate activists to hit "pause" and explore their feelings of anger and hope.

Local communities take climate action; hungry beetles eat hemlock woolly adelgid | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 28:58

Local communities take climate action, with the help of a state program. Scientists combat an invasive insect killing hemlocks by introducing a new beetle. The sounds of nature are good for our health.

The human costs of natural gas development; A new agenda for Lake Erie | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 28:52

The human costs of natural gas development: Residents say living next to the construction of a new natural gas power plant is causing distress, while neighbors of a planned liquified natural gas export terminal are worried about risks of explosions. Advocates lay out a new agenda for the Lake Erie Watershed.

Lead-contaminated game meat, Biden's climate plan in Pa;, Drilling in ANWR | File Type: audio/x-wav | Duration: 29:01

Meat from wild game shot with lead bullets pose a risk to hunters, and families who eat the meat donated to food banks. The Trump administration will sell leases to drill for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Can Biden stop it? How will Biden's climate plan fare in Pennsylvania?

Hiking the Laurel Highlands Trail, and saving native plants in Pennsylvania | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 28:58

Seeking refuge from the upheaval of 2020 on a 70-mile hike. We also revisit stories about native plants in Pennsylvania: Saving a plant so rare, few have seen it; gardening with native plants; and how an invasive shrub and foraging mice could be bad for forests. Plus, residents speak out after an air inversion caused a string of bad air days in Allegheny County.

Civilian Conservation Corps reimagined; a Lyme disease vaccine; Bills to loosen pollution rules | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 28:58

The call for a reimagined Civilian Conservation Corps to solve today's problems. Researchers work to develop a Lyme disease vaccine, while the tick's range increases, including urban parks. Pa bills would loosen rules for pollution reporting and conventional drilling. Federal charges against the Pittsburgh water agency.

Biden's win; a student climate summit; a Marshall Plan for Appalachia | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 28:58