NPR: Climate Connections Podcast

Spain is making use of its 300 sunny days per year by powering thousands of homes with Europe's first commercial solar-thermal tower plant – and running it doesn't generate any greenhouse gases.

France has finally settled on a place to put the nuclear waste from all of its power plants, even though the country is still uncomfortable with its dependence on nuclear reactors, which provide 80 percent of the nation's electricity.

In Egypt, where antiquities have stood for millennia, climate change is posing new threats to an ancient country and its people. As temperatures climb and shorelines change, environmentalists worry about displaced populations, rising poverty and increased soil salinity in the fertile Nile Delta.

In one of the city's poorest areas, residents who recycle trash by hand and a handful of environmental activists are slowly improving their community. Their efforts serve as an unlikely model for environmental change in an age of global warming.

Planners hope to transform an empty stretch of desert into Masdar, a city of 50,000, within a decade. They aim for it to be powered entirely by renewable energy, to reuse water and to recycle even human waste.

In the United Arab Emirates, Abu Dhabi sits on nearly 10 percent of the world's oil reserves. So it may be surprising to hear that climate leaders there have launched a major initiative in sustainability. Masdar, a demonstration city of 50,000 inhabitants, will have a zero carbon footprint.

A short distance from the new $30 million Al-Azhar Park in Cairo, Egypt, young environmentalists are installing solar hot-water heaters in poor neighborhoods. They're overcoming setbacks — and bridging religious divides — to bring change in a time of environmental upheaval.

NPR's Science Editor David Malakoff joins Liane Hansen in the studio to reflect not only on the three climate change stories reported from Egypt, but also on NPR's Climate Connections series as a whole.

One Anglican cleric thinks churches can do more to help the Earth, and he's trying to convince ministries around the world to start preaching a change in the way people live.

Young Indians from around the world are working elbow to elbow on India's environmental projects. The collaboration is not without challenges, but along the way the participants are building an identity that crosses cultural borders.

Juan Hoffmaister has spent the past 10 months traveling the globe to visit areas most threatened by climate change. But the trip has complicated his view on how to cope with the changes.

Dubai will try just about anything; the bolder and more outlandish, the better. So two Dutch architects have opened a business there specializing in homes, offices and hotels that float. They hope their floating architecture will help coastal cities around the world survive climate change.

Matthew Gilbert could have a front-row seat on climate change if he chooses to stay and watch. The 28-year-old lives in Arctic Village, Alaska, where village elders point to evidence of climate warming.

With a car, a country villa and frequent travel, the Shengs, a family of three, readily admit they emit more carbon dioxide than the average Chinese family. But how does their "carbon footprint" stack up against an American family's?

At just 16 years old, Kristen Byrnes is attracting attention for her Web site, which attacks mainstream science's views on climate change.