Health, Science, Environment

Give Me Shelter, San Francisco

Alyssa Kapnik — Thu, 23 May 2013 01:52:58 +0000

A lot of things make San Francisco a unique city -- and one is the sheer number of dogs. There are more dogs than there are children. Something like 120,000 canines inhabit this metropolis, and thousands of those dogs are dropped off at local shelters each year. Lost, abandoned, orphaned or mistreated by former owners.

The pound, the shelter, animal control... Whatever you call it, pop culture America has decided it’s a horrible place.

What we can learn from wild animals and the people trying to save them

Casey Miner — Thu, 23 May 2013 00:40:12 +0000

There's an inside joke around KALW News: that when you can’t come up with a conclusion, you should just end your story with, "the future is uncertain." And in a way, that's the theme of Jon Mooallem’s new book. It’s called Wild Ones: A sometimes dismaying, weirdly reassuring story about looking at people looking at animals in America. The book looks at three different endangered species – polar bears, Lange's metalmark butterflies, and whooping cranes. But it's less about the animals than the people trying to save them.

Mooallem is a frequent contributor to the New York Times Magazine and Pop-Up magazine here in San Francisco; he's also appeared on This American Life and the Colbert Report. He spoke with KALW's Casey Miner about how he got started looking at animals – and people.

JON MOOALLEM: I think it's sort of miraculous that we're doing anything, you know I don't see grizzly bears trying to preserve other species.

Wild Ones - by Jon Mooallem

Emily Algire — Thu, 23 May 2013 00:18:24 +0000

Get a copy of Wild Ones for a pledge of $120 during Crosscurrents at 5pm on May 22nd!

Wild Ones is a collection of field notes from an age of extinction, tracking the ever-shifting meaning of America’s animals throughout history.

The plights of polar bears, Lange's metalmark butterflies and whooping cranes frame this discussion of humankind's relations with the animal kingdom, the environment and itself.

Today on Your Call: How have the food giants hooked us on salt, sugar, and fat?

Malihe Razazan — Mon, 20 May 2013 06:21:41 +0000

The Ripple Effects of PTSD

Casey Miner — Tue, 14 May 2013 06:04:20 +0000

What veterans have seen at war doesn’t just affect them – it also affects the people around them. Journalist Mac McClelland has been reporting on how Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) affects families and how they cope when very little treatment is available. KALW’s Casey Miner interviews McClelland about her recent article in Mother Jones magazine titled, “Is PTSD contagious?”