NASA recently found water on the moon; maybe they can help California find some now. Experts are expecting record lows for the amount of water that they'll be able to deliver next year: a measly 5% of what cities and farms are requesting. What can Californians and Gov. Schwarzenegger do? We talk with Eric Garner, managing partner of Best, Best & Krieger. He's one of the leading experts on water in California, having litigated many water disputes and negotiated many agreements in the Golden State. He's also seen many other countries around the world sucessfully deal with the same problems as California.

Forty years ago, the Cuyahoga River caught fire. The river, riddled with pollution, burned for 30 minutes. Time magazine covered the bizarre event and their article helped jumpstart the environmental movement of the late 60s.

It has been 40 years of recovery for the Cuyahoga River. How far has the river and the surrounding environment come since June 22, 1969? Dan Moulthrop is the host of the Sound of Ideas on WCPN in Cleveland and he joins us now from the Cuyahoga river with a look back, and

forward.

Here's a cautionary tale about river pollution:

It's a common assumption that plants grow best in clear sunny weather, but scientists say this isn't always the case. Research has shown that forests and crops can also thrive in hazy conditions because clouds and particles, that's right, pollution, in the atmosphere scatter sun light so that it bathes more leaves, enhancing photosynthesis, the process by which plants turn light and carbon dioxide into food. All this pollution we humans have created has dimmed the skies and this so-called global dimming actually increased plant productivity (in the photosynthetic way) by as much as a quarter from 1960 to 1999. That amounts to more than a ten percent increase in carbon dioxide storage, which is good! To help us see through the smog, Matt McGrath, BBC Science Correspondent, joins The Takeaway with this report.

Yesterday in an Earth Day pitch, the Obama administration and the Department of the Interior announced new rules that will help boost the development of offshore wind farms along our coastlines. But not everyone is thrilled about this supply of green energy because these offshore turbines are visible from the coastline and sometimes can be heard, too. Even Senator Ted Kennedy, one of President Obama's biggest supporters, is complaining about the disruption to the shoreline off of Cape Cod. Amy Myers Jaffe, associate director of the Rice University Energy Program and a fellow at the James A. Baker Institute for Public Policy, joins The Takeaway to talk about how much of an impact these offshore wind-turbines will could have on how we produce and consume energy.

Trouble viewing this video? Check out the YouTube version.

Today is Earth Day, and many of us are patting ourselves on the back for going green. But despite your wise decisions to buy CFL lightbulbs, zero VOC paint, and phospate-free soap, it turns out most products that advertise themselves as green are barely scratching the surface. But there's good news! Advances in new sciences like industrial ecology mean we are on our way to a greener future. Here to explain what that all means and what small steps you can really take, The Takeaway talks to Daniel Goleman, author of Ecological Intelligence: How Knowing the Hidden Impacts of What We Buy Can Change Everything.

Databases like Good Guide and Skin Deep can help consumers choose products that are green and healthy.

For more tips on saving the planet, watch the Planeteer Alert below.

The world is now spending billions of dollars investigating the causes of climate change. Scientists are quickly putting together physical and biological experiments and projects, hoping for solutions and models that will show us how to slow warming and save the planet. But there's another body of work underway that's focused on the human brain. This research argues that climate change policy and solutions for global warming won't be worth much until we know how to influence the individual decisions that cause global warming. To help us figure out why it is so hard to get our brains to choose green options we are joined by Jon Gertner, a contributing writer for the New York Times Magazine. His article on this will be available in the Times Magazine on Sunday.

Maybe this is a case for Captain Planet:

When Wangari Maathai suggested to women in her village that they should plant trees for fire wood and to stop soil erosion, she had no idea that this simple act of planting trees would eventually garner her the Nobel Peace Prize. The Takeaway is joined by Wangari Maathai Nobel Prize winning activist, founder of the Greenbelt Movement, and author of the new book, The Challenge for Africa, about her vision for the future. Her life is subject of the documentary Taking Root: The Vision of Wangari Maathai, which premiered on the PBS series Independent Lens this week.

Click through for the transcript.

Here is a preview of the documentary:

We are all learning to make sacrifices for the sake of the environment, but one thing Americans have a hard time cutting corners on is their toilet paper. This national desire to have soft, fluffy, and strong paper is having an environmental impact and millions of trees are harvested every year to create Charmin, Cottonelle, and other premium brands. Leslie Kaufman of the New York Times' environmental desk has an article on the delicate subject in today's paper.

For more on the environmental impact of "premium" toilet paper, read Leslie Kaufman's article, Mr. Whipple Left It Out: Soft Is Rough on Forests in today's New York Times.

We continue our discussion on the future of energy with blogger Garry Golden.

Listen to more from Garry Golden in The Takeaway's Power Trip series:
With energy, where do we go from here?
Introducing the new energy economy

» Video: "America's Disappearing Forests" (The New York Times)
» "Bark Beetles Kill Millions of Acres of Trees in West" (The New York Times)

"If you stand on a mountaintop in Colorado you can look in every direction and see dead trees. It is everywhere."
--Jim Robbins on the impact of pine beetle infestations

This fall, energy and the environment have taken a back seat to financial turmoil, national security and the wars that the nation is fighting on two fronts. But when voters head to the polls they need to know where both candidates stand on important policies concerning nuclear energy, offshore drilling and clean coal — to name a few. For a look at how John McCain and Barack Obama plan to tackle energy dependence and global warming, The Takeaway turns to Martin Smith.

As concerns over US oil consumption continues to rise – and heat up, on the campaign trail – Americans are looking to alternative energy sources to power our homes, our cars, and our lifestyles. Wind turbines have been heavily promoted in good-looking television ads, but the prospect of having turbines next door has made some people concerned about the noise and disruption. Today marks the last day for public comment on putting turbines far offshore, on the outer continental shelf.

Guest: Jad Mouawad, The New York Times, covers the energy industry

Guest: Chad Hart, agricultural economist, Iowa State University, in Ames, Iowa

There’s an oil boom in North Dakota, and the wealth under ground is creating millionaires.

The sharp rise in energy prices has pushed states to speed through legislation that allows companies to drill for gas. The potential for revenue is enormous, but what's the cost? WNYC's Ilya Marritz and ProPublica's Abrahm Lustgarten explain the potential environmental consequences of the rush for new energy as New York presses ahead with its plans to tap gas underneath the Catskill Mountains.

20% of the world's fresh water is in the 5 Great Lakes of North America. The lakes are what's left over from a giant glacial melt at the end of the last ice age 20 or 30 thousand years ago...which is why the water isn't salty. It's a lucky break for North America and an enticing solution to water problems outside the Midwest.