No Ordinary Garbage

Humans tend to think that our intelligence is the most distinguishing trait of our species. Collectively our intelligence has given us god-like powers. But what exactly is intelligence, and how did it evolve? How do we measure intelligence in other species, and how might we use t ...  Show more

The tone around conservation is often pretty heavy and it’s hard not to feel a sense of despair. But maybe there are opportunities in the world of conservation that we are not fully taking into account. The truth is, organisms and ecosystems have built-in defense mechanisms to re ...  Show more

How much junk can we accumulate in Earth's orbit before we seal off our world? Before we cut the planet off from the cosmos and doom civilization to a new dark age? In this episode, Robert and Julie look skyward to space exploration's garbage.

Worldwide we produce over 2 billion tonnes of rubbish every year.

In this episode, we explore the history of rubbish collection and look at what happens to our rubbish after the truck comes to take it away.

Are you a wish-cycler? Most people do their part to protect the environment by dumping basically everything that isn't food into their blue recycle bin. But is that what we’re really supposed to do? And are we making a difference? Nikki and Mr. Malone talk trash with Earth911’s M ...  Show more

Waste, trash, garbage – whatever you call it, unwanted materials have become a major presence in many of our lives and our environment. Every year it is estimated that humans around the world produce 2 billion metric tonnes of waste. Listener Clare from Devon in the UK wants to s ...  Show more