Environmental Podcasts
by Claus Wawrzinek, THB Chair

Podcasting is largely a recent phenomenon that has arisen with the emergence of portable audio players. Podcasting provides an easy outlet for smaller organizations or individuals to bring their message to the world. As opposed to radio broadcasting, the podcasting medium is to some degree a form of narrowcasting. Podcasts typically reach very small niche audiences. However, some podcasts are quite popular and can reach large audiences. Podcasting is a type of audio and video broadcast media distribution on the Internet. Usually podcasts involve data files that contain audio or video data that is stored on the Internet that comes to your computer automatically on a subscription basis. Once a podcast is downloaded to your computer, you can either listen or watch the broadcast on your computer or you can transfer it to a portable audio/video player and listen to it without being on the Internet. This can be quite convenient when you ride the bus or do your yard work.

The production quality of podcasts can vary greatly. Some may be very similar to high quality radio broadcasts and others may be just a person sitting in a basement in front of a computer talking into a microphone. The spectrum is from very refined to clunky. You just never know what you will get. Nevertheless they can be very interesting. Sometimes radio broadcasts are also distributed via podcast media. This allows you to listen to a program on your own time whenever you choose.

While there are many ways to subscribe or to get podcasts to come to you, one of the best ways is iTunes. There are many programs available that allow similar functionality. iTunes makes it very easy to search for a specific topic and to subscribe to it. iTunes can be downloaded for free at http://www. apple.com/itunes. You may look for alternatives to iTunes and get more information about how to listen and create your own podcasts at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ Podcast.
You can find just about any topic you can imagine in the form of a podcast, including the environment. Here are just a few examples:

• Sierra Club radio
http://www.sierraclubradio.org
This is the Sierra Club’s podcast. It is distributed once per week and covers news, current politics, interviews with book authors, and gives insight on various environmental topics.

• Living on Earth
http://www.loe.org
This is a weekly podcast that covers many different angles about the environment. It is well researched and well produced.

• NPR Climate Connections
http://www.npr.org/climate
This is an excellent example of a podcast on environmental topics. In 2007 National Public Radio (NPR) and National Geographic Magazine are producing a oneyear series about “How we are shaping climate and how climate is shaping us.” There are hundreds of episodes available for download. The programs are well produced and researched. This is one of my favorites. I highly recommend this podcast.

• NPR Science Friday
http://www.sciencefriday.com
This is a podcast about different scientific topics. Environmental topics seem to be covered more frequently than other topics. Also one of my favorites. This is a weekly program.

• BBC One Planet
http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/programmes/one_planet.shtml
The British Broadcast Corporation (BBC) has this weekly program about the environment that looks at environmental issues from a viewpoint that we may not be familiar with in the United States. This program covers environmental issues around the world.

• Energy Star Podcasts
http://www.energystar.gov/index
cfm?c=products.pr_podcasts This podcast gives a good overview of what the Energy Star program is about and what to look for. The program is very informative, but only a few episodes are available.

• Green TV (video)
http://www.green.tv
This video podcast originates in the United Kingdom and has frequent updates. It is broken into multiple channels and distributes videos from different organizations like Greenpeace, the United Nations and others. Categories or channels to choose from are Air, Climate Change, Land, People, Technology, and Water.

• Ken Midkiff on CAFOs
http://www.kmidkiff.com
Ken Midkiff has his periodic commentary on Confined Animal Feeding Operations (CAFO) online now. Ken is a well-known longtime Missouri Sierra Club activist.

• KDHX Earthworms
http://www.kdhx.org
Go to Radio Programs and click on the Earthworms program. You should be able to listen or subscribe there. This program is produced by KDHX, a St. Louis community radio station. It covers a wide variety of environmental issues that affect Missouri.