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3:15 pm

Thu November 15, 2012

Al Gore: Most Americans Still Agree Climate Change Is Getting Worse

Credit Jon Kalish / NPR

Former Vice President Al Gore.

By Mark Memmott

Originally published on Sat November 17, 2012 6:04 pm

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Climate change and the environment were not major topics of the presidential campaign. And on Wednesday, President Obama said that while he believes more needs to be done to address what's happening, he won't "ignore jobs and growth simply to address climate change."

Music Interviews

3:03 pm

Thu November 15, 2012

Ron Wood's Funky Contribution To The Stones Canon

Credit Michael Loccisano / Getty Images

Rolling Stones guitarist Ron Wood says 1980's "Dance (Pt. 1)," which he helped write, was designed to get people moving.

By NPR Staff

Originally published on Fri November 16, 2012 10:55 am

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World Cafe

2:53 pm

Thu November 15, 2012

Titus Andronicus On World Cafe

Credit Kyle Dean Reinford

Titus Andronicus.

By editor

The New Jersey band Titus Andronicus doesn't shy away from big ideas: It's named for Shakespeare's first tragedy, and its last record (2010's The Monitor) is a concept album drawing on the history of the Civil War. The group's big, shambling rock 'n' roll doesn't mess around with the everyday, opting instead for life-and-death urgency.

The Salt

2:31 pm

Thu November 15, 2012

Cheaper Fruit And Vegetables Alone Can't Save Food Deserts

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Credit Carlos Osorio / AP

Five days a week, the Peaches & Greens truck sells affordable fruits and vegetables to families on public assistance, people without a car, homebound seniors and even local workers who otherwise would grab fast food or candy for a snack.

Credit Carlos Osorio / AP

Peaches & Greens driver Diane Brown helps customers out of her truck in Detroit where she sells fresh fruits and vegetables.

By editor

Originally published on Thu November 15, 2012 4:12 pm

Tens of millions of Americans can't follow the government's guidelines for healthful eating because they can't afford or access enough fresh fruits and vegetables. Sometimes it's because they live in what's known as a "food desert," places devoid of markets with a good variety of quality fresh foods.

Environment

2:31 pm

Thu November 15, 2012

Loophole Lets Toxic Oil Water Flow Over Indian Land

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Credit Elizabeth Shogren / NPR

Dirty water from the oil wells flows through oil-caked pipes into a settling pit where trucks vacuum off the oil. A net covers the pit to keep out birds and other wildlife. Streams of this wastewater flow through the reservation and join natural creeks and rivers.

Credit Elizabeth Shogren / NPR

More than 40 years ago, the EPA banned oil companies from releasing wastewater into the environment, but made an exception for the arid West. If livestock and wildlife can use the water, companies can release it. Cows like these grazing near a stream of waste on the Wind River Reservation in Wyoming are supposedly the reason the EPA lets oil companies release their waste into the environment.

Credit Elizabeth Shogren / NPR

The EPA requires that the wastewater streams show no obvious sheen and no solid deposits. But both were visible near oil fields on the Wind River Reservation in Wyoming.

Credit Elizabeth Shogren / NPR

White crystal-like deposits line a streambed where this oil field water is flowing. Researchers for the tribes have also found black oozes, purple growths, dead ducklings and lifeless stretches of streams.

Credit Elizabeth Shogren / NPR

In most oil fields, the water that companies pump up with the oil gets reinjected deep underground. But the federal government allows a dozen oil fields on the Wind River Reservation in Wyoming to pump streams of this wastewater onto the land.

Credit Elizabeth Shogren / NPR

Rancher Darwin Griebel says his cows need the oil field water, and his business depends on it.

Credit Elizabeth Shogren / NPR

Wes Martel, vice chairman for the Eastern Shoshone Business Council, stands near a murky gray stream full of oil field wastewater. He's concerned about the effects the wastewater has on wildlife, water quality and, since cows drink it, he wonders: "What's in your steak?"

Credit Elizabeth Shogren / NPR

Internal EPA documents released to NPR show some EPA staffers have been trying to figure out what is in the wastewater released by oil companies. There are lots of chemicals. Some leave solid residues like these white and gray mounds. Danger signs near this outflow pipe warn that poisonous gas fumes from the water can cause respiratory irritation or suffocation.

Credit Elizabeth Shogren / NPR

Dirty water from the oil wells flows through oil-caked pipes into a settling pit where trucks vacuum off the oil. A net covers the pit to keep out birds and other wildlife. Streams of this wastewater flow through the reservation and join natural creeks and rivers.

By Elizabeth Shogren

Originally published on Fri November 16, 2012 10:55 am

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The air reeks so strongly of rotten eggs that tribal leader Wes Martel hesitates to get out of the car at an oil field on the Wind River Reservation in Wyoming. He already has a headache from the fumes he smelled at another oil field.

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