Earthbeat Radio

Doctor Judith Curry is the head of School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences at Georgia Tech. In one of her most recent scientific articles – she and her colleagues reported that the number of Category 4 and 5 hurricanes has nearly doubled over the past 35 years. these are the strongest and often the deadliest hurricanes. That’s even though the total number of hurricanes has dropped over the last 15 years (since the 1990s). Co-host Mike Tidwell speaks to Curry about the scientific connection between Global Warming and hurricanes.

Joining the conversation in the Earthbeat studios is Rick Piltz. In June of last year, Rick Piltz resigned from his position as an ‘senior associate’ from the United States’ Climate Change Science Program.

In an open letter following his resignation, Rick said, “I believe the overarching problem is that the administration – acting primarily through key positions in the executive Office of the President, and to some extent the State Department, and aligning itself with some of its key allies – does not want and has acted to impede forthright communication of the state of climate science and it’s implications for society.”

Piltz is now the head of Climate Science Watch, an organization dedicated to promoting integrity in the use of climate science in government.
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The return of shad to America’s Rivers is a true environmental success story. Some even say that America wouldn’t exist without shad. When General George Washington was fighting the Revolutionary War – his armies traveled on bellies full of shad. 100 (m) million pounds of the fish were taken from the Potomac river each year – and they were salted or smoked for travel. Shad spend most of their lives in salt water, and then enter rivers by the hundreds of thousands in the spring – swimming long distances to spawn – and then returning to the ocean.

Joining Mike in the studio is Jim Cummins, of the Interstate Commission on the Potomac River Basin, and on the telephone from his office in Annapolis, Maryland, the outdoor editor for the Washington Post, Angus Phillips.

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