What's better for the environment: Tea or coffee?
Sep 09, 2024
(Jessica Cornelison / KCUR 89.3)
Have you ever wondered about the eco-story behind your daily brew? Join us as we spill the beans on the environmental impact of tea & coffee, from cultivation to consumption. (This episode comes to us from the podcast Living Planet.)
Dry times on the High Plains
Aug 05, 2024
(Jessica Cornelison / KCUR 89.3)
Ancient waters that lie deep beneath the dry High Plains helped to turn western Kansas into an agricultural powerhouse. But the Ogallala Aquifer’s wells have begun to run dry after decades of tapping it for our corn, wheat and cows. In the rain shadow of the Rocky Mountains, we’ll learn how farmers are adjusting as the water disappears and hear how some are prodding state leaders to finally act.
Up From Dust is hosted by Celia Llopis-Jepsen and David Condos. This episode was reported by David Condos and written by Celia Llopis-Jepsen and produced by Mackenzie Martin. Mix by Celia Llopis-Jepsen.
Healing the ground we broke
Jul 01, 2024
(Jessica Cornelison / KCUR 89.3)
After Europeans colonized America, their descendants plowed their way across the continent, seeking prosperity through farming. But breaking up the soil – that had built up over many thousands of years – made it wash away. So some farmers are retiring their tilling equipment. Amble through Kansas prairies and cornfields as we learn how treasuring the ground beneath our feet can lead to farms that better withstand climate change, use less fertilizer and suck carbon out of the atmosphere.
Up From Dust is hosted by Celia Llopis-Jepsen and David Condos. This episode was written and reported by Celia Llopis-Jepsen and produced by Mackenzie Martin. Mix by Celia Llopis-Jepsen.
For the love of dung beetles
Jun 03, 2024
(Jessica Cornelison / KCUR 89.3)
It’s easy to advocate for saving pandas and elephants, but bugs are a harder sell. Look closer, though, and you’ll find tiny superheroes propping up entire ecosystems as pollinators, decomposers, predators and prey. We’ll wander the prairie with bison ranchers, in search of the dung beetles that work quiet miracles in huge piles of poop. And we’ll meet people overcoming their insect fears to help scientists catch and release bees, before they disappear.
Up From Dust is hosted and reported by Celia Llopis-Jepsen and David Condos. This episode was reported and written by Celia Llopis-Jepsen and produced by Mackenzie Martin with editing by Scott Canon. Mix by Celia Llopis-Jepsen and Byron Love.
Mike Jungen takes a good look at a bee he caught in Wichita to help scientists record species sightings.(Celia Llopis-Jepsen / Kansas News Service)
The Green Glacier
Apr 22, 2024
(Jessica Cornelison / KCUR 89.3)
A vast ocean of grass and wildflowers once covered one-third of North America. But that diverse prairie biome is collapsing, partly due to greenhouse gases and to our obsession with trees. Humans have unleashed an aggressive canopy that’s swallowing the Great Plains. For ranchers, saving the environment means being a tree killer — not a tree hugger.
Up From Dust is hosted and reported by Celia Llopis-Jepsen and David Condos. This episode was written by Celia Llopis-Jepsen and produced by Mackenzie Martin with editorial support from Scott Canon and Suzanne Hogan. Mix by Celia Llopis-Jepsen and Byron Love.
Up From Dust is hosted by Celia Llopis-Jepsen and David Condos. This episode was reported and written by Celia Llopis-Jepsen with help from Blaise Mesa and produced by Mackenzie Martin with editorial support from Scott Canon and Suzanne Hogan. Mix by Celia Llopis-Jepsen, Mackenzie Martin and Byron Love.
Introducing: Up From Dust
Apr 02, 2024
(Jessica Cornelison / KCUR 89.3)
Trees are swallowing prairies. Bees are starving for food. Farmland is washing away in the rain. Humans broke the environment — but we can heal it, too. Up From Dust is a new podcast about the price of trying to shape the world around our needs, as seen from America’s breadbasket: Kansas.
Hosts Celia Llopis-Jepsen and David Condos wander across prairies, farm fields and suburbia to find the folks who are finding less damaging, more sustainable ways to fix our generational mistakes. Coming soon from the Kansas News Service, KCUR Studios, and the NPR Network.