Underreported from WNYC's The Leonard Lopate Show

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Underreported: Geoengineering in New York Harbor Jan 14, 2010

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Geoengineering projects aimed at mitigating the effects of climate change are gaining traction following the failure of the Copenhagen Climate talks last year. A new paper released by a team of Columbia scientists proposes injecting and storing carbon-dioxide emissions into basalt rock formations under the sea, including the area right off the coast of New York City. On today’s first Underreported segment David Goldberg, Senior Scientist at Columbia University's Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory explains his idea to stash greenhouse gases in geological formations.

Underreported: Contractors in Afghanistan Dec 17, 2009

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Earlier this month President Obama announced the United States would increase its military presence in Afghanistan. But more than just extra troops are going to the country—they will likely be accompanied by an additional surge of private contractors in support roles. What’s more, the government has contracted with an additional outside firm to help track all the contractors already in the country. We’ll speak with Jeremy Scahill, he's a correspondent for The Nation and author of the book Blackwater: The Rise of the World's Most Powerful Mercenary Army. He recently wrote about this subject for The Nation, and you can read his article "Contractors Watching Contractors" here.

Underreported: Greece's Debt Crisis Dec 17, 2009

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Is Greece the new Dubai? On this week’s first Underreported, Stacy-Marie Ishmael of The Financial Times, explains what’s behind Greece’s ballooning debt and how the government is trying to address the budget crisis. Plus, we’ll find out how the European Central Bank is reacting to Greece’s troubles and whether the euro will be affected.

Underreported: Alaska's Melting Permafrost Dec 10, 2009

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It’s estimated that the world’s permafrost contains 1,600 billion tons of carbon. As global temperatures rise, there are growing concerns about that all that permafrost could melt, releasing those gasses into the atmosphere. On today’s second Underreported Vladimir Romanovsky, a geophysics professor at the University of Alaska at Fairbanks explains what happens when permafrost melts and what’s happened to villages in Alaska that have already been affected by the effects of melting permafrost.

Underreported: The Death of Sergei Magnitsky Dec 10, 2009

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In November, a 37-year-old tax lawyer named Sergei Magnitsky died in a Russian jail cell. Before he passed away, Magnitsky drafted a series of letters and petitions describing the squalid conditions in Russia’s prisons. Now, those documents have leaked and have created an unusual firestorm of criticism in a country where millions once perished in the Soviet Gulag. We’ll speak with Washington Post foreign correspondent Philip P. Pan, who just returned from Russia and has written about the case. You can read his article about Magnitsky's letters here.

Underreported: The Prosecution of a Right Wing Radio Host Turned FBI Informant Dec 03, 2009

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For years Hal Turner hosted a right-wing internet radio show from northern New Jersey that catered to white supremacists and neo-Nazis. For most of that time Turner also received thousands of dollars from the FBI for acting as an informant who spied on the same groups he was broadcasting to. Now he’s on trial in Brooklyn for posting death threats against three federal appeals court judges on his blog. On today’s second Underreported, we’ll speak with Mike Kelly, a columnist for The Record of northern New Jersey, who is covering the trial and wrote an exposè on Turner’s story last Sunday. You can read it here.

Underreported: Swine Flu and Ukraine's Presidential Election Dec 03, 2009

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Ukraine will hold its presidential election in January, but in recent weeks swine flu has threatened to delay the vote. On this week’s first Underreported: Julia Ioffe of Foreign Policy explains how fears about swine flu have been politicized and why next year’s election is so important to the future of Ukraine. You can read Julia Ioffe’s article here.

Underreported: Yemen's Civil War Nov 19, 2009

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On today’s second Underreported we’ll look at the civil war in Yemen and accusations that Iran is waging a proxy against Saudi Arabia by supporting the rebels. We’ll be joined by freelance journalist Ginny Hill.

Underreported: China's Gulag Prison System Nov 19, 2009

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President Obama was in China this week and he did speak out on the country’s human rights record. On today’s first Underreported segment, we’re taking a look at China’s expansive prison system, formerly called Laogai. We’ll examine how it was modeled after the Soviet gulag system and the accusations that forced labor is used in the camps. We’ll speak with Harry Wu, founder of the Laogai Research Foundation and Nicole Kempton, who edited the foundation’s book Laogai: The Machinery of Repression in China.

Underreported: India's Maoist Insurgency Nov 12, 2009

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A group of Maoist rebels—also known as the Naxalite insurgency—has taken a violent foothold in 20 of India’s provinces. The group has burned schools, killed more than 900 security officers, and, in at least one province, detonated more than 1,000 improvised explosive devices over the past five years. The Indian government is preparing to send thousands of soldiers into the Maoists strongholds, which also happen to be some of the most impoverished and economically underdeveloped parts of India. We’ll speak with Brad Adams, Executive Director of Human Rights Watch’s Asia Division, in India.

You can read a report a report HRW wrote on the Naxalites here.