Accessibility links
John Nielsen John Nielsen covers environmental issues for NPR. His reports air regularly on NPR's award-winning news magazines, All Things Considered, Morning Edition and Weekend Edition. He also prepares documentaries for the NPR/National Geographic Radio Expeditions series, which is heard regularly on Morning Edition. Nielsen also occasionally serves as the substitute host for several NPR News programs.
Stories By

John Nielsen

Story Archive

Friday

'Farm To City' Deal To Dry Out Stretches Of California's Legendary Salton Sea

The Salton Sea in 2000, when rising water flooded nearby brush. The water is red with micro-organisms. Getty Images hide caption

toggle caption
Getty Images

National

'Farm To City' Deal To Dry Out Stretches Of California's Legendary Salton Sea

Critics say the state's mitigation plan falls far short of what's needed to protect this former tourist mecca from the impact of the coming water transfer.

'Farm To City' Deal To Dry Out Stretches Of California's Legendary Salton Sea

Listen · 3:58
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/574479320/574479321" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Friday

Environment

'Dead Zones' Multiplying In World's Oceans

A global study shows the number of "dead zones" — areas of ocean with too little oxygen for most marine life — has increased by one-third since 1995. In the latest issue of the journal Science, researchers say these polluted waters are the leading threat to life in coastal oceans.

'Dead Zones' Multiplying In World's Oceans

Listen
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/93619388/93619361" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Tuesday

Research News

'Mother Lode' Of Gorillas Found In Congo Forests

Gorilla experts with the Wildlife Conservation Society say they've made a spectacular find in the forests of the Republic of Congo: 125,000 previously undiscovered western lowland gorillas. The animals are critically endangered.

'Mother Lode' Of Gorillas Found In Congo Forests

Listen
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/93254830/93293337" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Wednesday

Politics

Democrats Call For Probe Of EPA Chief's Testimony

Democratic senators are calling for a perjury investigation into comments made by the head of the Environmental Protection Agency. The senators claim EPA chief Stephen Johnson lied to Congress and folded under White House pressure on global warming policy.

Democrats Call For Probe Of EPA Chief's Testimony

Listen
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/93057237/93057219" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Friday

Environment

Plan To Stop Right Whales From Striking Ships Stuck

Critically endangered right whales gather off the coast of New England at this time of year, but many places where they congregate are in the middle of the shipping lanes. Ship strikes are a major threat, but a plan to stop the strikes is in limbo.

Plan To Stop Right Whales From Striking Ships Stuck

Listen
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/92933215/92933621" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Friday

Environment

Federal Conservation Program At Risk

The Conservation Reserve Program pays farmers who own environmentally important areas to leave them idle. But in recent years, the demand for crops such as corn has prompted calls to put many of these protected wildlands back under the plow.

Federal Conservation Program At Risk

Listen
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/92685464/92685545" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Friday

Environment

EPA Won't Regulate Greenhouse Gases

The Environmental Protection Agency in a report Friday says it won't regulate greenhouse gases. The authors of the report could not agree on the effects of greenhouse gases on health. Any new regulation will have to wait for the next administration.

EPA Won't Regulate Greenhouse Gases

Listen
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/92470113/92470067" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Environment

Study: Global Coral Crisis Is In Full Bloom

As many as one-third of the world's coral reefs may be headed toward extinction. A new study blames the destruction on a range of culprits, from fishing boats to climate change.

Study: Global Coral Crisis Is In Full Bloom

Listen
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/92432491/92443086" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Tuesday

Science

Unlikely Heroes: Goats Rescue N.Y. Bog Turtles

An invasive weed is drying up the swamps that house the last of New York's endangered bog turtles. But the turtles have an unlikely savior: The government and a nonprofit are bringing in goats and cattle to eat the weeds and restore the swamps.

Unlikely Heroes: Goats Rescue N.Y. Bog Turtles

Listen
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/91848016/91855784" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Friday

Environment

Bush Eyes Unprecedented Conservation Program

The White House is weighing what could become the biggest conservation program in U.S. history. The initiative would block vast stretches of U.S. territorial waters from fishing and oil exploration, while giving President Bush a historic "blue legacy."

Bush Eyes Unprecedented Conservation Program

Listen
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/90766237/90781438" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Wednesday

Environment

White House Lists Polar Bears as 'Threatened'

The Bush administration announces on Wednesday that the polar bear will be protected as a threatened species because of the decline in Arctic sea ice from global warming. It's the first time that the Endangered Species Act has been used to protect a species threatened by the impact of climate change.

White House Lists Polar Bears as 'Threatened'

Listen
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/90447621/90447815" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

National

Polar Bear Endangerment Decision Looms

Bush administration officials are under a court order to decide by tomorrow whether to add the polar bear to the list of endangered species. The decision will cap a three-year campaign by environmentalists to show that climate change has the potential to imperil wildlife. Critics say any listing is a bad idea.

Polar Bear Endangerment Decision Looms

Listen
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/90425717/90425665" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Sunday

Environment

Warming Waters Threaten 'Unicorns of the Sea'

Researchers studying the impact of climate change on arctic creatures say that the Narwhal — the long-tusked whale that gave rise to the myth of the unicorn — could be in danger. Narwhals hunt in ice-covered areas and may be among the first animals to feel the heat of warming arctic waters.

Warming Waters Threaten 'Unicorns of the Sea'

Listen
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/90359659/90359647" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Thursday

Environment

Beetle Infestation Compounds Effects of Warming

In western Canada, tree-infesting beetles are flourishing due to warmer temperatures caused in part by global warming. But a new study in the journal Nature argues that these pests may also be compounding the effects of climate change by destroying the trees that suck key pollutants out of the atmosphere.

Beetle Infestation Compounds Effects of Warming

Listen
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/89905032/89905005" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Friday

National

Flood Experts Say East, Midwest Primed for Disaster

Flood forecasters in the East and Midwest worry that heavy snows and rain this year have set the stage for a potentially disastrous flood season. The U.S. government's "flood chasers," who study flows of water to improve flood forecasts, are on high alert.

Flood Experts Say East, Midwest Primed for Disaster

Listen
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/89750319/89750277" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Saturday

Environment

Wading Through an Endangered Species Backlog

The Bush administration has added fewer plants and animals to the endangered species list than the last two administrations. But this year, the government may start protecting a group of species that has been ignored previously — those on the endangered species "candidate list."

Wading Through an Endangered Species Backlog

Listen
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/89209746/89209720" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Monday

Research News

Study: Moths Can Remember Caterpillar Days

A new study finds that moths can remember things they learned when they were caterpillars — even though the process of metamorphosis essentially turns their brains and bodies to soup. The finding suggests moths and butterflies may be more intelligent than scientists believed.

Study: Moths Can Remember Caterpillar Days

Listen
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/88031220/88031198" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Sunday

Environment

An Upside to the Invasive Zebra Mussel?

The dreaded zebra mussel — an invasive species — is killing off native species in lakes and rivers all over the country. But in Lake Ontario, it turns out the zebra mussel has had a positive impact for salmon fishermen. It's producing fatter, faster-growing salmon.

An Upside to the Invasive Zebra Mussel?

Listen
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/87843464/87843580" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Friday

Research News

Researchers Unlock Secret of How Bats Fly

Scientists who study bats have never understood exactly how these winged mammals can stop and hover in mid-air without falling to the ground. Now they have their answer, according to a study in the journal, Science.

Researchers Unlock Secret of How Bats Fly

Listen
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/87792375/87788737" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Thursday

Environment

Scientists Map Ocean Damage

A new map of the world's oceans shows that human activity has dramatically altered areas of Europe's North Sea and the U.S. Atlantic Coast, among other regions. Scientists say it has the potential to change the way we view the vast resource.

Scientists Map Ocean Damage

Listen
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/19059595/19055471" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Wednesday

Environment

Americans Spending Less Time in Nature

A new study finds that the number of Americans fishing, camping or engaging in other nature-based activities has substantially fallen since the late 1980s. Researchers say this fact has important implications for environmental protection.

Americans Spending Less Time in Nature

Listen
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/18698731/18737538" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Tuesday

Environment

Judge: Navy Not Exempt from Sonar Ban

Whether Navy sonar training exercises are harmful to marine animals has long been a point of conflict. On Monday, a federal judge in Los Angeles said President Bush cannot waive environmental laws that require the Navy to take special steps to protect whales.

Judge: Navy Not Exempt from Sonar Ban

Listen
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/18689650/18689625" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Sunday

Environment

World's Coral Reefs Face Renewed Threats

Researchers gathered in Washington this week to launch "The Year of the Coral Reef." That work has taken on renewed importance in the wake of two new studies showing that reefs are facing more threats than ever.

World's Coral Reefs Face Renewed Threats

Listen
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/18456171/18456123" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Saturday

Science Out Of The Box

Study: Are River Restoration Efforts Misguided?

In recent years, billions of dollars have been spent restoring American rivers to their so-called "natural" state. Now researchers say those restorations may be a waste of time and money, since the rivers may never have been naturally curvy to start with.

Study: Are River Restoration Efforts Misguided?

Listen
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/18228525/18259170" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript
Browse archive or search npr.org