Earth Day Celebration, The Health Toll of L.A. Oil Wells, Fighting Climate Change with Geothermal and more

·52 min·5 clips

Grammy-nominated Broadway star Antony Smith reveals why she became an Earth Day ambassador after a life-changing night 11 years ago.

The episode opens with hosts Steve Curwood and Paloma Beltran introducing the Earth Day celebration, highlighting the 55th anniversary. They interview Earth Day ambassador Antony Smith, a Grammy-nominated Broadway star and actor, who explains her role in promoting Earth Action Day and encouraging global participation. Smith recounts her climate awakening 11 years ago when Reverend Yearwood and Bill McKibben educated her about pollution's direct health impacts on communities like hers in East Orange, New Jersey, shifting her focus from polar bears to local issues. She discusses founding Climate Revival with Reverend Yearwood to target people of faith and color through gospel concerts and sermons, aiming to inform and inspire action. Smith emphasizes the lack of knowledge and love as core problems in the climate movement, linking faith to environmental justice. The episode then transitions to Nayeli Cobo, a 2022 Goldman Environmental Prize winner from Los Angeles, who describes growing up near an active oil well owned by Lenco Energy and developing cancer at age 19. Cobo shares how her activism, starting at age nine, led to community organizing, a lawsuit against Los Angeles for environmental racism, and the eventual closure of the well. She explains the concept of environmental racism, where minority communities face disproportionate exposure to toxins, and discusses California's proposed buffer zone law to separate wells from homes and schools. Later, journalist Phil McKenna from Inside Climate News reports on shallow geothermal energy projects, detailing how gas utilities in Massachusetts are collaborating with climate advocates to build geothermal networks as a transition from fossil fuels. He describes a key meeting where advocate Zainab Mugave's personal appeal opened dialogue, leading to pilot projects like one in Framingham that aim to decarbonize entire neighborhoods. McKenna notes the high upfront costs but potential for scaling, with U.S. Department of Energy projections of millions of homes using geothermal by mid-century. The episode concludes with credits and funding acknowledgments, reinforcing themes of community action and innovative solutions.

As heard by us

Earth Day meets faith, public health, and geothermal heat in a steady, practical hour.

Living on Earth centers its Earth Day hour on Antony Smith, a Grammy-nominated Broadway star and Earth Day ambassador, and uses him to link climate action with a spiritual frame.

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Why you'd press play

You get Earth Day with sermons, geothermal, and enough climate talk to keep your eyebrows busy.

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