Underreported from WNYC's The Leonard Lopate Show

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Underreported: Katrina's Effects on Hurricane Research Sep 02, 2010

Show notes

Hurricane Katrina fundamentally changed the landscape of New Orleans and radically altered the way the federal government responds to natural disasters. It also changed the way scientists study hurricanes—what factors they consider and where research funds are directed. Atmospheric scientists James Kossin of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and Judith Curry of the Georgia Institute of Technology, explain and look ahead to how we're preparing for Hurricane Earl.

Underreported: Space Junk Aug 26, 2010

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Orbital debris is quickly becoming a serious problem for satellites and manned spacecraft. Collisions and other incidents have increased the amount of potentially harmful space junk floating around in low earth orbit by a third in the past year-and-a-half alone. Mark Matney, of NASA’s Orbital Debris Program Office, and Derrick Pitts, chief astronomer at the Franklin Institute, tell us about the problem and what (if anything) can be done about it.

Underreported: The North Atlantic Garbage Patch Aug 26, 2010

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On today's second Underreported segment, Kara Lavender Law and Giora Proskurowski, both oceanographers at the Sea Education Association (SEA), discusses the North Atlantic garbage patch, where plastic bags and bottles form a floating, swirling mass in the ocean. They’ll talk about the 22 years of research on the garbage patch, and new research that shows it hasn’t been growing.

Underreported: Counterfeit Drugs Aug 19, 2010

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Journalist Paula Park discusses the proliferation of counterfeit drugs around the world, and how these fake medications have led to the development of drug-resistant strains of malaria. We’ll find out who’s making and distributing these counterfeit drugs, and more about the efforts being made in Cambodia and other countries to close down illegal outlets. Her article “Lethal Counterfeits” appeared in World Policy Journal’s summer issue.

Underreported: Libel Tourism Aug 05, 2010

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Rachel Ehrenfeld, writer and director of the American Center for Democracy, discusses the "libel tourism" bill passed last week by the U.S. Senate designed to shield U.S. journalists and writers from libel suits by repressive governments or wealthy business tycoons in foreign jurisdictions. Ms. Ehrenfield, the author of Funding Evil: How Terrorism is Financed and How to Stop It, talks about being sued for libel in England. Unlike the United States, the law is skewed in favor of the plaintiff in England, even though neither she, nor the wealthy Saudi businessman who sued her, were residents of the UK.

Underreported: Whistleblower Claims Denied Aug 05, 2010

Show notes

Eight years ago, in the wake of the collapse of Enron, Congress passed the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, intended to expand protections for corporate whistleblowers. But the Agency charged with carrying out the law—the United States department of Labor—has dismissed 98 percent of claims seeking whistleblower protection status. We’ll talk with Michael Hudson, a staff writer with the Center for Public Integrity.

Underreported: Guatemala's Drug Problem Jul 22, 2010

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It’s estimated that between 275 and 385 tons of cocaine passes through Guatemala each year. On today’s Underreported: Tim Johnson, Mexico City bureau chief for McClatchy News Service, explains how Mexico’s drug war to the north and Colombia’s drug growers to the south have destabilized Guatemala.

Underreported: Turkey and the Kurds Jul 15, 2010

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Turkey’s Kurdish region in the country’s southeast has exploded into violence once again. We’ll get the latest from Aliza Marcus, author of the book Blood and Belief: The PKK and the Kurdish Fight for Independence.

Underreported: The Exploitation of Migrant Tobacco Workers in Kazakhstan Jul 15, 2010

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According to a new report from Human Rights Watch, migrant tobacco workers in Kazakhstan have been exploited and even trapped on farms that supply Philip Morris’s Kazakhstan operation, and children as young as 10 were working on the farms. Rachel Denber, head of the European Division of Human Rights Watch, explains what conditions on these farms are like and the steps that Philip Morris has agreed to take to protect these workers.

Underreported: BP's Response to 2005 Refinery Blast Jul 08, 2010

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In 2005, a blast at a British Petroleum refinery in Texas City, Texas, killed 15 people. On today’s Underreported, reporter Ryan Knutson describes the safety violations that led up to the blast, how the oil company responded to the disaster, and the parallels with the Deepwater Horizon explosion in April.