Big Oil and the Law - with CIEL's Steven Feit

The Big Oil PR machine grinds out a lot of disinformation. Steven Feit helps separate the hype from the facts.

This week on Green Street, Patti and Doug talk about the Trump administration’s plans to stop making scientific climate reports easily available to the public, and the new study showing that children living near oil and gas drilling sites have a significantly higher incidence of leukemia. Then Steven Feit, senior attorney with the Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL.org), talks about the myth of carbon capture technology and how CEIL is using international law to push back against big oil’s plans for continued pollution of the earth with plastic. 

Big Oil and the Law - with CIEL's Steven Feit

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Links from the Interview

The website for the Center for International Environmental Law: https://www.ciel.org/

Links from the News

The Trump administration has decided to hide climate reports https://apnews.com/article/climate-change-nasa-reports-trump-hidden-doc-1ade1eb89bb4785f7cdd6e1d6ba31a21

Children who live near drilling sites are more likely to develop leukemia: https://www.ehn.org/fracking-leukemia-children

Everything Has to Change - with Dr. Kyla Bennett

We can't continue on our current lifestyle trajectory and expect the human race to survive.

This week on Green Street, Patti and Doug talk about how painting roofs white can significantly reduce urban heat, and a new study showing that chemicals from tires are ending up in almost all of our lettuce and other parts of our food supply. Then Dr. Kyla Bennett, Science Policy Director for Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER) talks about the fate of humans in a world challenged by climate change, plastic pollution, and chemical toxins. Her conclusion: everything has to change!

Everything Has to Change - with Dr. Kyla Bennett

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Links from the interview:

• Kyla Bennet and PEER:https://peer.org/author/kyla-bennett/

• Sewage sludge carrying PFAS:https://www.foodandwaterwatch.org/2024/02/08/pfas-sewage-sludge/

• Wild mammals only make up 4% of mammals on earth:https://ourworldindata.org/wild-mammals-birds-biomass

  
  

Links from the news:

• Saving cities from extreme heat:https://www.route-fifty.com/infrastructure/2024/07/surprisingly-simple-way-cities-could-save-people-extreme-heat/398073/:~:text=So%20scientists%20and%20urban%20designers,more%20passive,%20simple%20cooling%20techniques.

• Car tires shedding dangerous chemicals and plastics:https://civileats.com/2024/07/16/tracking-tire-plastics-and-chemicals-from-road-to-plate/#:~:text=Tire%2Dderived%20microplastics%20are%20a,the%20environment%20via%20tire%20microplastics.

Playing with Fire - with Denise Snyder

Outdoor grilling may be easy and fun, but grilling meat can be hazardous to your health.

This week on Green Street, Patti and Doug talk about how rising temperatures around the world are impacting our health, and how the Trump administration is terminating the research on PFAS in bio-solid fertilizer used in agriculture. Then Denise Snyder, Associate Dean for Clinical Research at Duke School of Medicine, talks about grilling food and how cooking meat on an open flame can be hazardous to your health.

Green Street - Playing with Fire with Denise Snyder

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Links from the Interview

Information from Boston University about safe grilling: https://www.bu.edu/articles/2025/how-to-prepare-grilled-meats-safely/

Fact sheet from the National Cancer Institute: https://www.cancer.gov/about-cancer/causes-prevention/risk/diet/cooked-meats-fact-sheet

Links from the News

Extreme heat is a killer: https://www.cnn.com/2025/07/09/climate/europe-heat-wave-death-toll-global-warming

Trump administration stops research on PFAS-laden fertilizer on farmland: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/jul/11/trump-pfas-research-funding-farms