Labor Day transportation special

Full Episode
48:31

Traffic crosses the bridge onto Cape Cod, Aug. 30, 2024, in Bourne, Mass.

Michael Dwyer/AP

For Labor Day, we have a special show with reprisals all focused on the theme of transportation — including getting around on foot. Thor Pedersen, a former UN soldier originally from Denmark, went on a decadelong adventure that took him to every country in the world. He never took an airplane. Also, research shows that flight turbulence has increased as climate change has warmed the planet. One researcher explains that the increase in bumpy flights could be caused by changes in wind speed at high altitudes due to warmer air from carbon emissions. And, lithium is in soaring global demand, because it’s used in electric car batteries. This is good news for the economy of Chile, which meets a third of the world’s lithium needs. Experts say there’s a big financial opportunity for the region, but it comes at an environmental cost.    

In This Episode

How one man visited every country on Earth without taking a flight
7:51
Traffic jams clog the US-Mexico border crossing
5:04
Bumpier flights coincide with warming skies
3:16
Surviving an airplane disaster
4:50
Lithium mining is changing the Atacama desert
11:58
American clunkers end up in African car lots
6:18
Reinventing the wheel to help save the planet
5:22
Returning humans to the moon and beyond
5:20
NASA astronauts will moonwalk in style
4:02