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The Trump administration broadly opposes renewable energy. The so-called Big Beautiful Bill gutted green energy subsidies and the administration has been systematically cutting back on clean energy programs including essentially bringing American offshore wind energy development to a halt. Their overall policy position is that climate change is not a serious problem and that fossil fuels are the way to go.

The Snowy 2.0 Pumped Storage Power Station – simply known as Snowy 2.0 – is a giant power generation project in Australia that is designed to supply 2.2 gigawatts of capacity and 350,000 megawatt-hours of large-scale energy storage to the national electricity market. The massive storage capacity will enable the introduction of more wind and solar generation by acting like a giant battery.

On this week's 51%, we speak with Emory University Professor Miriam Udel about how a 20th Century movement of Yiddish literature strived to help Jewish children make sense of a tumultuous world and shape the future of Jewish culture. Udel’s latest book on the subject — including how some Yiddish stories helped to promote equality for young girls — is Modern Jewish Worldmaking Through Yiddish Children’s Literature. We also speak with therapist Laurel van der Toorn about how to address “holiday burnout.”

According to a new study, mountains around the world are warming faster than surrounding lowlands. The increased heat at higher elevations is melting glaciers and reducing snowfall. This threatens a vital source of fresh water for more than a billion people.

Alan Fausel, the curator and executive director of the AKC Museum of the Dog recalls one owned by Charles Dickens. “It was a Maltese that was so flea-ridden, they regularly had to shave him and bathe him to get rid of all the fleas.” Dogs in art, ethics, and history.

(Airs 12/19/25 @ 10 p.m.) The Legislative Gazette is a weekly program about New York State Government and politics. On this week’s Gazette: New York Governor Kathy Hochul announced her support this week for medical aid in dying legislation, the New York State Energy Planning Board adopts an energy plan for the state, and we’ll visit a high school to talk to educators and students about how the cell phone ban is going.

The winter solstice occurs on Sunday, December 21, around nightfall, when Earth’s south pole tilts most directly toward the Sun, giving the Northern Hemisphere its shortest day of the year; starting Monday, daylight increases slightly and the Sun climbs higher, bringing a hint of added warmth. The Sun rises and sets at its most extreme points along the horizon, and although often labeled the start of winter, that date is a human convention rather than a physical change. Astronomically, the solstice features the Sun’s most curved, rainbow-like path across the sky, reaching its lowest noon height of the year and producing the longest shadows.

The Best of Our Knowledge explores topics on learning, education, and research.On this episode, we’ll learn how an endangered antelope was born to a mother of a separate species.A new report from New York examines declining public-school enrollment.And lawmakers are celebrating the return of whole milk to the cafeteria.

Lemurs are small social primates with pointed snouts, large eyes, and a long tail. These charismatic creatures are a favorite of children. There are about 100 living species and all of them live on the large island of Madagascar. Lemurs’ ancestors are thought to have originated in Africa and crossed the Mozambique Channel to Madagascar over 60 million years ago. Over time, they evolved into a large number of species.

Ten years ago, there were about 1,200 satellites in orbit around the earth. Now there are about 12,000 and the numbers are growing rapidly. Starlink alone has 9,000 satellites in its communications swarm and may in a few years have as many as 42,000. By 2040, there may be more than 100,000 active satellites circling Earth.