Climate reporting from the ground up.
What On Earth treats climate change as a lived, local story. Laura Lynch moves between oil wells, plastic production, Arctic defense, pollinator gardens, electric vehicles, and road tolls with a practical eye for consequences.
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What On Earth is a CBC climate show about pressure points. It looks for the places where warming, policy, industry, and ordinary routines touch. The reporting is often Canadian, but the frame is wider. Oil wells, Manhattan congestion pricing, Arctic defense planning, urban pollinator gardens, plastics, methane measurement, electric vehicles, and climate-conscious travel all sit inside the same larger question: what changes, who pays, and what actually helps. The show is led in the excerpts by Laura Lynch, whose presence gives the program a clear but conversational center. It does not treat climate as one beat. It treats it as a force moving through farms, roads, homes, shipping routes, gardens, defense budgets, and vacation plans. The pacing tends to begin with a scene. A farmer walks through pasture near wells. A gardener clears an overgrown roundabout. A street honks in the background while someone explains safer streets. Those details keep the show from floating above its subjects. It can be warm. It can also be pointed. Episodes question oil and gas accounting, compare regulatory claims with field measurements, and ask what happens when old assumptions about technology or infrastructure turn out to be too simple. The show is especially strong when it turns a familiar object into a climate story. Tupperware becomes a route into plastics and oil demand. A commute becomes a story about street design and emissions. A cold-weather anecdote becomes a doorway into lower-carbon travel choices. What On Earth is not just about solutions in the optimistic sense. It is about tradeoffs, evidence, accountability, and the awkward work of changing systems already built into daily life. The result is accessible, reported climate journalism with enough specificity to reward listeners who already follow the issue closely.
Made for: For listeners who want climate coverage tied to real places, policy fights, and everyday decisions. It suits people interested in transportation, energy, cities, agriculture, and practical environmental change.
What sets it apart: The show pairs human-scale scenes with systems reporting, moving from a farm, street, or garden into the policy and industry forces behind it. Its climate coverage is concrete, skeptical, and solution-oriented without smoothing over tradeoffs.
The climate is changing. So are we. Explore a world of solutions with host Laura Lynch and our team of journalists. We find inspiration in unexpected places, scrutinize new technologies, hold powerful people accountable and join you on the journey to fix this mess. New episodes every Wednesday and Saturday.
Short reviews from the PlayNext desk, based on the episodes we processed.
A clear look at methane pollution, disputed measurements, and Albertans pressing for stronger rules.
Alberta's methane rules become a local fight with national consequences as residents press for stronger action on oil-and-gas pollution. The episode follows retired teacher and climate activist Tylena Pell while laying out the central conflict: Alberta has been given an extra…
Climate protest becomes a shared forum for climate, Indigenous rights, tech, immigrant rights, war, and democracy concerns.
Climate protest comes through as a crowded meeting point, not a single-issue march. The episode starts in Vancouver, where one participant describes the surreal feeling of finding community among people who care and believe in a better world, then follows that sense of…
A forest story where wonder, wildfire, and public-land policy share the same canopy.
Old-growth forests come through as sanctuary and civic pressure point at once. A guest lingers on the slowed heartbeat, deep smell, and soft duff of entering one, then carries that intimacy into the fight over federal timber sales and environmental law.
Journalist Linda Mapes explains why ancient trees are carbon sentinels that store vastly more carbon than young stands.
This episode explores how climate change is increasing turbulence during flights, based on recent research and personal experiences.
This episode explores the conflict between wind energy and bat conservation, detailing how wind turbines kill migratory bats and the scientific efforts to mitigate this issue.
A youth climate columnist describes the surreal feeling of being in a Vancouver protest where she felt 'the world is healing'.
Ketan Joshi says AI’s immediate environmental costs include data-center power demand, new gas plants, water use, and diesel-generator pollution.
This episode explores the historical rise of plastic products like Tupperware in the 1950s and the oil industry's reliance on plastic production.
What on Earth examines Teresa Patry’s concerns about oil wells near her Alberta farm, including dead lambs, animal abortions, family health problems, and crude odors.
A woman transforms a neglected traffic circle into a pollinator-friendly garden with native plants and herbs.
This episode discusses Canada's increased military spending in the Arctic amid climate change and geopolitical tensions.
What on Earth host Laura Lynch interviews Chouk Odenibo about choosing Palau, a Pacific archipelago near the Philippines, for an ecotourism-focused vacation.
What on Earth examines Alberta's methane emissions through Tylena Pell's activism and Amanda Bryant's explanation of Canada's 75% reduction target by 2030.
What on Earth examines burying fire-killed trees in clay-lined underground vaults to keep their carbon from returning to the atmosphere.
What on Earth examines whether the Iran conflict and the Strait of Hormuz disruption could accelerate renewable-energy adoption.
A journalist recounts a conversation with a researcher about the complexities of transitioning to electric vehicles, challenging the assumption that it's simply a matter of technology.
A discussion about New York City's congestion pricing program that charges drivers to enter lower Manhattan, featuring an interview with an advocate from Transportation Alternatives.
Laura Lynch explores the problem of food waste in Canada and highlights small-scale and big-picture solutions to reduce emissions and feed the hungry.