It’s easy to feel as if the world is falling apart. My new show, The Connection with Marty Moss-Coane, features wide-ranging conversations about the bonds that hold us together, the forces that drive us apart, the conflicts that keep us from exploring life’s possibilities and the qualities that make us unique and human. Listen to the trailer now and subscribe to the show wherever you get your podcasts.

Radio Times ends Friday after 35 years on air. Fifty-two weeks a year, five days a week, loyal listeners tuned in to hear host MARTY MOSS-COANE’s live conversations with authors, politicians, poets, community organizers, scientists, artists, journalists and many others. In those thousands of hours, the show covered all kinds of topics from underfunded schools to plastic pollution, polarization in politics to reality TV,  gun violence in Philadelphia to urban farming, and an hour on why we love shoes. Last week, we celebrated Marty Moss-Coane and Radio Times at a live event at the National Constitution Center. Dave Davies interviewed Marty about her start in radio, her role as hosting a live daily show, her hate mail, and what’s next for her at WHYY and beyond.

As fall leaves blanket yards and sidewalks, the gas-powered leaf blowers come out in full force and there’s no escaping the din – sometimes with a volume that reaches 100 decibels. And while we can’t ignore the noise, many people aren’t aware of the pollution two-stroke engine leaf blowers emit. In one often-cited study, 30 minutes of yard work with a gas leaf blower releases the equivalent hydrocarbon emissions as driving a pickup truck from Texas to Alaska.

There’s also health concerns for workers who operate them for many hours a day and for the communities where they’re used the most. All these issues are spurring more communities to try to ban gas-powered leaf blowers or restrict them – a bill for a state-wide ban has been introduced in New Jersey.

Today, we’ll look at gas-powered leaf blowers and the efforts to ban them. We’ll talk with NANCY ADAMS, who spearheaded a successful blower ban in Maplewood, NJ, and SETH LIEBERMAN, co-founder of QuietCleanPhilly, which is working to phase out gas blowers in Philadelphia.  We’ll also hear from ANDREW BRAY with the National Association of Landscape Professionals about the challenges of switching to green options for business owners and their employees. And, we end our hour with an appeal to let the leaf litter lie. Ecologist DOUGLAS TALLAMY explains how piles of fallen leaves are an essential habitat for bees, caterpillars and other critters protecting them from winter cold.

We recommend

The New York Times, Here’s a Better Way to Care for Your Yard. Your Neighbors, and the Planet, Will Thank You. – “The fix is so easy. Electric leaf blowers are effective, available and affordable. They emit no fossil fuel pollution directly. Their decibel output is safe. The best part? To make the switch requires only the simplicity and speed of personal decision. Yours. Today.”

The Washington Post, How to deal with your leaves  – “Blow those leaves at the wrong time of day or with the wrong kind of equipment, and you’ll wind up with neighborhood beefs and maybe a fine, thanks to increasingly common local ordinances.”

The Atlantic, Get Off My Lawn – How a small group of activists (our correspondent among them) got leaf blowers banned in the nation’s capital.

At the climate summit in Egypt, United Nations secretary general António Guterres told world leaders that we are on a “highway to climate hell with our foot on the accelerator.” He explained that our planet’s future will be decided by how we act this decade. This frightening warning reinforces what some have experienced in our own lives – devastating hurricanes, wildfires and droughts – and what others have seen on the news and in headlines.

This year also saw record levels of carbon dioxide emissions and the past seven years have continued to be the hottest on record. So, as heads of state, advisors and activists hammer out an agreement, is our climate future really that bleak, or has the world made some real progress?

We start our hour off with Time Magazine’s JUSTIN WORLAND, who is in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt covering the UN climate summit. We’ll talk about the negotiations, the sticking points and if an agreement is emerging. Then, MICHAEL MANN, director of the Center for Science, Sustainability and the Media at the University of Pennsylvania, joins us to share his climate optimism and explain that while it’s not too late, we need action now.

Russian forces retreated from the regional capital city of Kherson last week in a significant setback for Putin. Videos spread of both joyous residents welcoming and hugging Ukraine troops and the devastated city that the Russian military left behind after 8 months of occupation. But even with this defeat, Russia was simultaneously hammering other regions of the country, including the port city of Mykolaiv. With winter approaching, there are concerns about the country’s access to electricity, water and heat as well as the prospect of troops fighting in sub-zero conditions.

Today we’ll look at where the war is headed as we enter nine months of costly fighting, destruction and death. We’ll talk about what the withdrawal from Kherson signals about Russia’s strategy – and the options Putin maybe weight as his military continues to suffer losses. How long with will the U.S. continue to support the war effort and is it time to explore diplomatic avenues?

Guests

Jeffrey Gettleman, foreign correspondent for the New York Times. @gettleman

Dara Massicot, senior policy analyst at Rand Corporation. @massdara

Andrew Weiss, vice president of studies at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and author of Accidental Czar: The Life and Lies of Vladimir Putin, a new graphic biography of President Vladimir Putin. @andrewsweiss

We recommend

The New York Times, Accounts of Torture Emerge From Kherson, Ukraine’s ‘City of Fear’ -“Just days after the southern city of Kherson was liberated after eight months of Russian occupation, accounts of beatings, torture and disappearances are emerging.”

The New York Times, For the first time in months, there’s some peace in southern Ukraine – “I feel joy,” he said. “I can clean the school. I can buy generators. I can replace the glass in the windows. Before, when there was shelling, it didn’t make sense to do that. Now, finally, I can plan.”

The Atlantic, The Russian Empire Must Die – A better future requires Putin’s defeat—and the end to imperial aspirations.

The CDC recently refined opioid prescription guidelines, encouraging physicians to work with pain patients individually instead of taking a blanket approach that, in the past few years, led to swift tapering of medications or even a full stop to some prescriptions. Recommendations also support the use of treatments like methadone for patients with opioid use disorder. We’ll talk with Dr. Jeanmarie Perrone, director of the Center for Addiction Medicine and Policy at Penn Medicine. (@CAMP_Penn)

Veteran broadcaster Jim Gardner has been a familiar and welcomed TV presence in households across the region since he began anchoring Action News in the 1970s. He will retire from the role at 6ABC at the end of the year and joins us to talk about his long career in a changing Delaware Valley landscape.

If you visit the Philadelphia Zoo, you’ll see a network of mesh trails that allow animals like tigers to roam around – and above – the zoo’s campus. This Zoo360 experience is one of many innovations put into place under the leadership of Vikram Dewan, president and CEO who just announced he will step down. We’ll talk about making zoos more immersive, accessible, fun and educational for the future. (@phillyzoo)

In her book, “Ask Polly” advice columnist Heather Havrilesky shares the details of her relationship with her husband while illuminating what ‘modern marriage’ really looks like. She’s not afraid to talk about the aggravations, conflicts and harsh compromises that often result from marriage, and she’s recently gotten some heat for calling her husband a “smelly heap of laundry,” among other nicknames. But, throughout all the stumbles and tough times, Havrilesky still insists marriage can be glorious. And, if we can learn to overlook the small stuff, we’re not so crazy to dedicate our entire lives to one person.

She joined us in March 2022 to discuss Foreverland: On the Divine Tedium of Marriage. 

We Recommend

NY Times: Marriage Requires Amnesia “A spouse is a blessing and a curse wrapped into one. How could it be otherwise? How is hatred not the natural outcome of sleeping so close to another human for years?”

The New Yorker: Heather Havrilesky’s Guide to Enduring Married Life “Unlike the many memoirs that double as thinly veiled advertisements for their authors, “Foreverland” ventures occasionally unflattering honesty, not just about Bill but also about its author.”

InStyle: Hating Your Spouse Isn’t the Red Flag You Think It Is “Marriage is designed to break you. You will forget everything you knew before. You will tremble under the weight of your own shortcomings.”

Although we are still waiting for the final election results from some key races, it’s fair to say that the midterms weren’t the red wave Republicans and history predicted. Even if they manage to win a small majority in U.S. House and Senate, Democrats fared better than expected with voters motivated by abortion rights and the issue of safeguarding democracy. And many far-right election deniers lost in key races, a rebuke of Trumpism.

In his new book, The Destructionists: The Twenty-Five Year Crack-Up of the Republican Party, Washington Post political columnist DANA MILBANK traces the GOP’s transformation into a more extreme party determined to undermine democratic institutions, exploit racial and ethnic divisions, spread misinformation and lies and stoke political violence.  Milbank starts with Newt Gingrich’s 1994 rise to House speakership, showing how the party set the stage for Trump’s rise. Milbank joins us to talk about his book and what the election tells us about our politics and the Democratic and Republican parties.

And in Pennsylvania, democrats may be on the verge of taking control of the state House. We’ll start with WITF Capitol bureau chief, SAM DUNKLAU, about the possibility and what democratic control could mean for Governor-elect Josh Shapiro’s policy agenda.

We recommend

The Washington Post, Biggest loser of the midterm elections? The media. – “Political journalists were suckered by a wave of Republican junk polls in the closing weeks of the campaign.”

The Philadelphia Inquirer, Pennsylvania Democrats believe they have flipped the state House – “Republicans will retain control of the Senate. But flipping control of the House would represent a stunning victory for Democrats.”

REBECCA SOFFER wished she had a handbook on how to grieve after losing both of her parents in her thirties. Trying to navigate profound sadness alone led her to create the website Modern Loss, which turned into a global community for people experiencing grief to share and support one another.

In her new book, The Modern Loss Handbook: An Interactive Guide to Moving Through Grief and Building Your Resilience, Soffer offers tools, exercises and insights for surviving loss — which she’s gleaned from her own experience, therapists, researchers and Modern Loss members.

Soffer joins us to talk about the multitude of ways people grieve, how to eradicate the stigma around it and how to honor a loved one’s memory and manage your personal life when mourning. A former Colbert Show producer, she’ll also share how humor is an essential tool to her grieving process.

The morning after the midterm election, we will discuss the results that are in–including John Fetterman Senate win and Josh Shapiro’s gubernatorial victory in Pennsylvania–and what we know about the races still being tallied. This midterm was the most expensive in history, exceeding $16.7 billion in spending for both state and federal races with control of the U.S. Senate, House of Representatives, state legislatures and courts on the line.

We’ll talk about the election process and how it went, voter turnout and the issues that motivated people to get to the polls, and what we know about the winners and losers so far with KATIE MEYER, political reporter for Spotlight PA, and COLBY ITKOWITZ, national reporter for The Washington Post.

This election also saw a number of election deniers running for both state and national congressional seats. We’ll talk about the mainstreaming of false election claims, the deliberate effort to undermine election confidence and what it means to the sanctity of our election system with JESSE WEGMEN, member of The New York Times editorial board.

William Still, a leading 19th century abolitionist working in Philadelphia, conducted hundreds of enslaved people to freedom on the Underground Railroad, but his name is often forgotten. In a new biography, historian ANDREW DIEMER returns William Still to his rightful place in history alongside the more widely recognized figures like Harriet Tubman, Frederick Douglas and John Brown. Diemer details Still’s life, from poverty, to becoming a leader in the abolitionist movement, then a wealthy coal merchant.

Born in 1821, Still grew up in the New Jersey Pinelands, the youngest of 18 children to parents who had once been enslaved. He came to Philadelphia with nothing, taught himself to read and write and secured a job at the Anti-Slavery Society, starting his abolition work. In addition to helping hundreds of people escape slavery, Still also kept detailed records of his work and published an 800-page book, “The Underground Railroad: A Record of Facts, Authentic Narrative, Letters, Etc,” which remains an important historical account. Diemer joins us to talk about Still’s life and contributions and why his story has been overlooked. His book is, Vigilance: The Life of William Still, Father of the Underground Railroad.