climate change

Climate change and rising sea levels have combined with naturally subsiding land around the Chesapeake Bay to wash away dozens of islands. But Tangier Island Mayor James "Ooker" Eskridge, a waterman, describes how his historic community is fighting to slow erosion with a new jetty to protect the harbor and an experimental system of buoys to reduce the impact of waves.

President Obama pledged to take action to reduce greenhouse gas pollution during his recent State of the Union address, and now is being pressured by protesters to deny approval for a tar sands oil pipeline from Canada to Texas. Meanwhile, in Maryland, Governor O'Malley is again arguing for state legislation to help subsidize the construction of what could be America's first offshore wind farm.

As New York and New Jersey recover from super-storm Sandy, scientists are sounding alarms about intense weather patterns and sea-level rise related to climate change. Midday on Science contributor John Monahan joins Rich Foot of Foot’s Forecast and Jordan Nelms, adaptive plans manager of the Maryland Emergency Management Agency, to talk about how Maryland and other states prepare for a disaster-prone future.

What's ahead for the efforts to address climate change and the Maryland economy after the presidential election? Midday politics with Daraius Irani, economist at Towson University and director of the Regional Economic Studies Institute and Midday science contributor John Monahan.

Johns Hopkins physicist Bruce Barnett joins Midday Science contributor John Monahan to explain the discovery of the Higgs boson, or "God particle," for those who still don't get it. Also, on the heels of the recent derecho and heat wave, a look at extreme weather cycles as they relate to global warming, with University of Maryland climate scientist Raghu Murtugudde. Plus, taking electric lines underground to avoid outages like those that left hundreds of thousands of BGE and Pepco costumers without power for several days.

Sea levels are rising around the world, but they're rising even faster on Maryland's shores. We talk with the lead author of a U.S. Geological Survey report to find out why.

Then, we revisit a piece from our "Across the Divide" series in which a young Baltimorean tells us her story of ethnic identity.

Tom Hall talks to University of Maryland professor Michael Olmert about his play on the University's fight to integrate their football team.

Plus, author Allison Leotta talk to Sheilah about her sexy new legal thriller, Discretion.

Sascha Wolhandler of Sascha’s 527 brings us the most tasty mushrooms. We hear from a reporter and the CEO of Bay Bank about a new trend in regional banking. A new report out from the National

Tylerton at sunset.

It would be easy to idealize life in the Chesapeake Bay island fishing town of Tylerton, which has a population of 50 people and is located 40 minutes by boat from Maryland's lower eastern shore. But the proposed closing of the Tylerton Post Office is an example of how the community is being threatened by population loss, rising seas, and winds of change.

A hotly debated study by Cornell University Professor Robert Howarth concludes that hydraulic fracturing for natural gas is as bad as coal mining--and perhaps worse--from a global warming perspective. Howarth says vast amounts of methane--a potent greenhouse gas--escapes during gas drilling and transportation, and this means that natural gas is not a clean, green bridge fuel to a low-carbon future. The industry strongly disagrees.

Climate change means more weather extremes but it could make summer heatwaves more deadly in future Nathan Sterner talks with Dr. Roger Peng of Johns Hopkins about his research.  Then, a new Brookings Institution report on our cities and suburbs has some surprising findings about where crime is down…and where it’s up.