The Feds set up a $20 (B) billion dollar trust with BP to clean up the massive oil disaster the Gulf. Tyson Slocum of Public Citizen and Kate Sheppard of Mother Jones Magazine join host Daphne Wysham to discuss the fund, and its limitations.

Infants are born ‘pre-loaded’ with over 300 chemicals in their blood, that’s according to a new study by the Environmental Working Group. EWG senior researcher Jane Houlihan discusses toxic chemicals like BPA and tells us how to protect ourselves and our children.

Then, The Bag Monster attacks our studios. Andy Keller, aka The Bag Monster, comes into our studios to discuss the thousands of plastic shopping bags that pollute waterways and greenspaces. Joining the Bag Monster to discuss plastic bag pollution – and the failure of a ban on plastic bags in the California state legislature is Bryan Early of Californians Against Waste.


Image : The Bag Monster invades St. Louis, copyright Andy Keller

Earthbeat Host and IPS Fellow Daphne Wysham conducted a special one-hour interview with Dr. James Hansen, NASA’s top climate scientist, as an Earth Day 40th anniversary special.

In this broadcast of that interview, Dr. Hansen discusses the role of nuclear power in the climate crisis, the need for alternatives to cap and trade as a solution to climate change, and the possibilities that Earth will become like Venus due to fossil fuel consumption.

A video of the interview is available. Our theme music is Baladi by Tony Anka, Bellydance Superstars vol. 2

An April US Supreme Court Case reviewed the Center for Food Safety’s groundbreaking legal challenge banning the sale and planting of Monsanto’s genetically altered alfalfa. The case mirrors a fierce battle over genetically altered eggplants that is underway in India.

Earthbeat host Daphne Wysham speaks to the Center’s founder, Andrew Kimbrell and international director Debbie Barker.

A report shows how the second richest man in New York is quietly funding climate deniers. We speak to Kert Davies of Greenpeace USA about how David Koch is pouring millions into climate denial campaigns.

Then, ‘Creation Care’ – we speak to Reverend Mitch Hescox, the head of the Evangelical Environmental Network.

BP says it’s attached a new cap on its oil well in the Gulf of Mexico. Plumes of oil have covered thousands of square miles of ocean waters and shoreline, leaving Gulf Coast communities reeling from the impact.

BP has squared off against the press, threatening photographers and other journalists with felonies if they come within 65 feet of their cleanup operations. Nevertheless, pictures of the despoiled ocean, oil-coated birds, turtles and marine mammals are making it into the public domain. Joining Earthbeat Host Daphne Wysham in the studio to discuss the the BP oil disaster are the Reverend Lennox Yearwood, the president and CEO of the HipHop Caucus. Joining the conversation after returning from a recent trip to the Gulf is Allison Fisher, Energy Organizer with the group Public Citizen.

Then, how the US Government tested nuclear weapons on the people living in the Marshall Islands. Bob Alvarez, a senior scholar at the Institute for Policy Studies, testified recently before Congress on how the government is now considering cutting off support for the roughly 62,000 affected islanders.

Then, Thinking Outside the Bomb, how native Americans continue to be affected by nuclear weapons testing in the American West.

Image is a nuclear bomb test in the Pacific.

Fracking for natural gas can cause flames to shoot out of water faucets and pollute groundwater with unknown chemicals – and yet the EPA has little authority to regulate this process used by the natural gas industry in 38 states. In this rebroadcast edition of Earthbeat, Host Daphne Wysham speaks to Abrahm Lustgarten about the 60 stories he’s written about fracking for the non-profit investigative journalism group – ProPublica.

Then, a discussion on how the rest of the world is leaping forward on a clean energy future with Lester Brown. Lester is the president of the Earth Policy Institute and the author of an editorial in the Washington Post and the book, Plan B 4.0 Mobilizing to Save Civilization.

Our theme music is Baladi by Tony Anka, Bellydance Superstars vol. 2.

In the wake of the ongoing oil disaster along America’s Gulf Coast, what’s in store for the corporation at the core of the problem? Charlie Cray, the director of the Center for Corporate Policy and Phil Mattera, the director of the Corporate Research Project join host Daphne Wysham to discuss BP’s future.

Clear cutting and then burning American forests to create electricity is considered a ‘clean energy solution’ in both the House and Senate energy plans. Mary Booth, a researcher for the Environmental Working Group, discusses how this practice is set to dramatically increase in the coming years with coal-fired power plants looking to wood as their new fuel. Booth’s report is Clear Cut Disaster. Mary is also the founder of the Massachusetts Environmental Energy Alliance.

Ted Glick is facing up to three years in jail for unfurling a banner protesting climate change inaction in the U.S. Capitol. Ted, the policy director for the Chesapeake Climate Action Network, discusses his misdemeanor conviction that may result in him serving more jail time than any BP executive.

Hands Across the Sand is set to become one of the world’s largest demonstrations against the Gulf oil disaster and offshore oil drilling. Whit Jones joins us. Whit is the co-field director for Energy Action.

Our theme music is Baladi by Tony Anka, Bellydance Superstars vol. 2.

A lifelong shrimper and fisherwoman from the Gulf Coast details years of lax regulation and unsafe conditions forced upon fishermen by oil and chemical companies. Diane Wilson made headlines when she covered herself in oil in protest during the recent Senate hearings on the BP oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico. The Texas native is also a founder of CodePink. She spoke with Earthbeat host Daphne Wysham prior to her arrest on Capitol Hill.

Florida Senator Bill Nelson has stood up to calls to ‘Drill, Baby, Drill’ for decades. This longtime Democrat recently discussed the oil industry’s pressure on lawmakers during a recent appearance at a Congressional Quarterly weekly event in Washington.

Then, Daphne Wysham’s conversation with the author of Diet for a Small Planet, Frances Moore Lappe on her new project, Getting a Grip 2.

From the EPA to the Department of the Interior to the President himself – a review how the Obama Administration is handling the BP oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico.

Host Daphne Wysham speaks to Kieran Suckling, the executive director of the Center for Biological Diversity.

Then, an update on the UN climate negotiations in Bonn, Germany with Rachel Smolker, the co-director of BioFuel Watch and Janet Redman, the co-director of the Sustainable Energy and Economy Network and a fellow at the Institute for Policy Studies.

And a presentation by author Michael Klare on the follies of our relentless pursuit of extreme energy. Klare’s latest book is Rising Powers, Shrinking Planet.

Jim Thomas of the ETC Group discusses what’s behind Exxon pouring millions of dollars into the world’s first synthetic life form, a algae named ‘Synthia.’

Then, crude oil and the toxic chemicals BP is using to disperse the oil is now killing wildlife all along America’s Gulf Coast. Joining host Daphne Wysham to discuss the connections between these toxic chemicals and cancer is Sam Epstein. Doctor Epstein is a professor of Environmental and Occupational Medicine at the University of Illinois School of Public Health and the chairman of the Cancer Prevention Coalition.

The President’s Cancer Panel warns that childhood cancer is increasing for unexplained reasons in its latest annual report.

Haitian farmers decide to set fire to bags of Monsanto seeds rather than plant the pesticide-laden hybrids. Beverly Bell of the Institute for Policy Studies details her Huffington Post article on how giant agribusiness corporations are using the rebuilding effort from the Haitian earthquake as an opportunity to exploit Haitian farmers and cause further food shortages.

Image of a plane distributing chemical dispersants in the Gulf of Mexico

Oil is now washing up all along the Gulf Coast as a result of the disaster of an open, gushing BP oil well in the Gulf of Mexico.

Joining host Daphne Wysham with a first hand account of the ongoing disaster is Bob Deans, the director of federal communications for the Natural Resources Defense Council. Joining the conversation with a view on what’s occurring on Capitol Hill and the Obama Administration’s plans to continue offshore oil drilling is Kyle Ash, the senior legislative representative for Greenpeace.

Investigative reporter Mark Schapiro joins us to discuss his investigation on how forests in Brazil are becoming a commodity on the worldwide ‘carbon market.’ Mark is a senior correspondent for the Center for Investigative Reporting – and his series on the carbon market is for Frontline World.

Carbon Nation is a new feature film about the current revolution of entrepreneurs across America who are focusing on clean, renewable energy. We speak to filmmaker Peter Byck about his documentary in which some of these ‘climate pioneers’ don’t even believe that climate change is occurring. Or as one of Byck’s subjects puts it, “even if you’re a greedy bastard and you just want cheap power, you’d still do these things.”

Music in this week’s edition of the show is by Sanjay Mishra with special guest Jerry Garcia, the album is Blue Incantation. Our theme music is Baladi by Tony Anka, Bellydance Superstars vol. 2.

Image: A Brown Pelican is cleaned at the Fort Jackson Wildlife Rehabilitation Center after it became coated with oil from the disastrous Gulf oil spill