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Saturday

This image released by the U.S. Coast Guard, shows Connie the container dog, which was found trapped inside a shipping container on Jan. 31, 2024.

This image released by the U.S. Coast Guard, shows Connie the container dog, which was found trapped inside a shipping container on Jan. 31, 2024. Petty Officer 1st Class Lucas Loe/U.S. Coast Guard/AP hide caption

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Petty Officer 1st Class Lucas Loe/U.S. Coast Guard/AP

Opinion

Simon Says

Opinion: The life and work of Seuk Kim, pilot and animal rescuer

NPR's Scott Simon remembers Seuk Kim, a volunteer animal rescue pilot who died in a crash earlier this week, transporting several dogs.

ESSAY 11302024

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New York City shimmers at sunrise. From the wildest corners of Central Park, the city is framed by forests. The sound of traffic and sirens is softened by the murmur of streams and geese taking flight off from lakes.

New York City shimmers sunrise. From the wildest corners of Central Park, the city is framed by forests. The sound of traffic and sirens is softened by the murmur of streams and geese taking flight from lakes. Brian Mann/NPR hide caption

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Brian Mann/NPR

National

Reporter Journal: A sunrise trek through wild solitude in New York City

New York City is home to more than eight million people but NPR's Brian Mann mapped out an urban hike through solitude and parkland wildness.

Postcard: A sunrise trek through the wild solitude of New York City

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Friday

Indigenous women of Amazonia speak to the media at a press conference during the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Baku, Azerbaijan.

Indigenous women of Amazonia speak to the media at a press conference during United Nations Climate Change Conference COP29. Dominika Zarzycka/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images hide caption

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Dominika Zarzycka/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images

Climate

Disappointed by this year's climate talks, Indigenous advocates look to Brazil in 2025

Indigenous advocates called the final agreement in Azerbaijan "drastically insufficient." Now they're focusing on next year's global climate summit in Brazil where Indigenous participation is expected to be historic.

Here's how a wild hazelnut could help the Land Back movement in Canada

Beaked hazelnuts are a wild food native to North America. For generations, the Indigenous people of British Columbia have passed down stories of these hazelnuts as a vital food source their peoples actively planted and cultivated. Chelsey Geralda Armstrong hide caption

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Chelsey Geralda Armstrong

Short Wave

Here's how a wild hazelnut could help the Land Back movement in Canada

Beaked hazelnuts are a wild food native to North America. Indigenous peoples in British Columbia have passed down stories of these hazelnuts as a vital food source their ancestors planted and cultivated. These stories motivated Chelsea Geralda Armstrong of Simon Fraser University to look more deeply at the genetics of the beaked hazelnut and determine just how widely it was cultivated. Indigenous rights attorney Jack Woodward hopes research like this can make a difference in the Land Back movement, providing evidence that land once considered wilderness by European settler colonists was actually being carefully managed by tribes.

Here's how a wild hazelnut could help the Land Back movement in Canada

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Thursday

Wednesday

At the U.N. climate summit, a contested deal over money

Brazil environment minister Marina Silva stands near a sign for the United Nations' COP29 climate conference in Baku, Azerbaijan, which came to a close Saturday. Sergei Grits/AP hide caption

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Sergei Grits/AP

Short Wave

At the U.N. climate summit, a contested deal over money

This year's United Nations climate talks, COP29, wrapped Saturday. Throughout the talks, it was all about the numbers. With the help of NPR climate reporters Julia Simon and Alejandra Borunda, we home in on two. First, $300 billion. That's the amount of money wealthy countries agreed to give developing countries to help them adapt to climate change and reduce pollution. Second, 1.5C. That's a warming limit countries agreed to try not to breach, but that is creeping closer every year.

At the U.N. climate summit, a contested deal over money

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Tuesday

Endangered languages are dying rapidly. Linguists are trying to preserve some of them

The United Nations estimates that 40% of the world's estimated 7,000 languages are in danger of disappearing by the end of the century. That includes Indigenous languages like Desano, spoken in a portion of the Amazon. Bryam Reyes Fuentes/Getty Images hide caption

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Bryam Reyes Fuentes/Getty Images

Short Wave

Endangered languages are dying rapidly. Linguists are trying to preserve some of them

By the end of the century, more than 40% of the world's estimated 7,000 languages are in danger of disappearing. Those include indigenous languages in the Amazon. The United Nations also estimates that an Indigenous language dies every two weeks. Today, we focus on two endangered languages spoken in the Vaupés region of northwest Amazonia: Desano and Siriano. Linguist Wilson de Lima Silva at the University of Arizona has been working with the community for a decade in an effort to document the language for future generations.

Endangered languages are dying rapidly. Linguists are trying to preserve some of them

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Monday

Amelia Earhart stands next to her Lockheed Electra 10E in 1937.

Amelia Earhart stands next to her Lockheed Electra 10E, before her last flight in 1937 from Oakland, Calif., bound for Honolulu. Her disappearance remains one of aviation's biggest mysteries. Uncredited/AP hide caption

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Uncredited/AP

National

Ocean explorers hoped they photographed Amelia Earhart's plane. Turns out it's a rock

Earhart, her navigator and their plane disappeared during their attempted 1937 circumnavigation of the globe. A deep sea exploration company thought it might have solved the mystery, but it lives on.

Ocean explorers hoped they photographed Amelia Earhart's plane. Turns out it's a rock

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Monarch butterflies may soon get protections under Endangered Species Act

A migratory species, many monarch butterflies overwinter in Mexico. Here, some monarch butterflies are seen pollinating flowers at a butterfly sanctuary in Mexico. HegedusPeter / 500px/Getty Images hide caption

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HegedusPeter / 500px/Getty Images

Short Wave

Monarch butterflies may soon get protections under Endangered Species Act

Monarch butterfly populations have plummeted due to habitat loss, pesticide use and climate change. In early December, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is going to decide whether the monarch should be listed under the Endangered Species Act. If that comes to pass, the migratory butterfly would be one of the most widespread species to receive this listing.

Monarch butterflies may soon get protections under Endangered Species Act

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Rescuers rope off an area around a dead pilot whale that was stranded on Ruakākā Beach in Northland, New Zealand, on Sunday.

Rescuers rope off an area around a dead pilot whale that was stranded on Ruakākā Beach in northland, New Zealand on Sunday. Nikki Hartley/New Zealand Department Of Conservation hide caption

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Nikki Hartley/New Zealand Department Of Conservation

World

New Zealanders help save about 30 whales after a pod strands on a beach

New Zealand is a whale stranding hotspot. It's often not clear why they happen but the island nation's geography is believed to be a factor.

Saturday

Activists demanding that rich countries pay up for climate finance for developing countries at the COP29 climate conference in Baku, Azerbaijan.

Activists, including Harjeet Singh from the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty, demanded that rich countries pay up for climate finance for developing countries at the COP29 climate conference in Baku, Azerbaijan. Sean Gallup/Getty Images hide caption

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Sean Gallup/Getty Images

Climate

With talks teetering, climate negotiators struck a controversial $300 billion deal

Representatives of developing countries and climate activists were furious over the outcome, saying $300 billion annually from industrialized countries is far short of what vulnerable nations need to better protect themselves from climate change.