Climate Change & Extreme Weather
Human Health & the Environment
Class Meetings
Dates: 2026-09-08T16:00:00
Climate Change Introduction Printable PDF
Videos or Films Watched
What is Climate Change
CrashCourse, 08 15, 2023
Video (13:57)
Description
Life on Earth has weathered boiling-hot oceans and volcanic-ash-darkened skies—but that’s nothing like the climate change we’re experiencing now. In this episode of Crash Course Biology, we’ll talk about the greenhouse effect, learn why our climate is like a tangled pair of headphones, and discover that we’ve understood the science behind climate change for much longer than you might think.
Chapters:
Introduction to Climate Change 00:00
The Greenhouse Effect 2:24
Measuring the Greenhouse Effect 4:46
Carbon Sinks 8:26
Environmental Justice 10:07
Review & Credits 12:09
This series was produced in collaboration with HHMI BioInteractive, committed to empowering educators and inspiring students with engaging, accessible, and quality classroom resources. Visit https://BioInteractive.org/CrashCourse for more information.
Are you an educator looking for what NGSS Standards are covered in this episode? Check out our Educator Standards Database for Biology here: https://www.thecrashcourse.com/biologystandards
Sources: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1GLDtAXE6ekg4Chk2qN3TYbNt0pJbyaHqTqRd6QY8pd4/edit?usp=sharing
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Transcript
Introduction to Climate Change
0:00 · Our planet has been draped in ice sheets, filled with boiling-hot oceans, and dimmed by volcanic ash – all before anything more complicated than a single-celled organism showed up.
0:10 · So climate change is nothing new around here… when it happens gradually, over millions of years.
0:17 · But something new has happened in the last few centuries.
0:20 · People like us…except, wearing hats like this… began burning fossil fuels like coal, oil, and natural gas to make energy.
0:29 · Most of us aren’t wearing hats like those anymore.
0:31 · But we’re still powering our daily lives and industries with those fuels, releasing billions of tons of carbon dioxide every year.
0:41 · And that’s caused Earth’s climate to change in the span of just a few human lifetimes, the geological blink of an eye.
0:48 · Hi! I’m Dr. Sammy, your friendly neighborhood entomologist, and this is Crash Course Biology!
0:56 · Hey, do you guys smell that?
0:58 · …smells like…
1:00 · theme music?
1:01 · [THEME MUSIC] Now, I know what you’re thinking.
1:12 · “Wait, isn’t this Crash Course Biology?”
1:15 · And yeah, this episode is heavy on the gases, low on the golgi bodies.
1:19 · And that might leave you wondering, what does climate change have to do with the science of life?
1:25 · Here’s the thing: life and climate are tied together, like that tangled pair of headphones at the bottom of your backpack.
1:30 · You know, like you tug one end and then a knot tightens, which is looped around a paperclip, somehow snagged on that tiny notebook where you drew hearts around your crush’s name, which after several tugs is now lying open on the floor and…I’m breaking into a cold sweat just thinking about it.
1:46 · But back to the point, we can’t talk about life without talking about climate —which doesn’t mean last week’s thunderstorm or a one-day temperature swing – that’s weather.
1:58 · Climate is long-term weather conditions averaged over many years.
2:03 · To understand the difference between them, just remember that knowing the weather will help you decide if you should grab an umbrella before you head out, but knowing the climate will help you decide if you should invest in a good air conditioner.
2:15 · While the weather might impact your choice of clothing for the day, the climate directly impacts where and when different kinds of life can survive.
The Greenhouse Effect
2:24 · We owe today’s climate to the fact that our little green-and-blue marble of a home isn’t just floating in space unprotected.
2:31 · It’s wrapped up in an atmosphere; a big, invisible, gassy jacket.
2:35 · Which, granted, sounds pretty weird when you put it that way.
2:38 · But without it, we wouldn’t exist.
2:40 · This jacket is made of different kinds of gases.
2:43 · And a small fraction of them, known as greenhouse gases, absorb solar energy like, super well.
2:49 · We’re talking about gases like methane, water vapor, and most importantly carbon dioxide – also known as CO2.
2:58 · They account for less than half of one percent of our atmospheric jacket.
3:03 · But they’re a part of what makes it so good at trapping heat, sort of like all the little white feathers in your puffy coat.
3:09 · When sunlight beams down from space, most of it travels through those gases with no problem.
3:14 · The energy from that sunlight gets absorbed as it strikes the Earth, warming the surface.
3:19 · That type of warming is normal and seasonal.
3:22 · The Earth naturally bounces some of that solar energy back toward space.
3:27 · Where some of it exits the atmosphere and heads right back out into the inky ether.
3:32 · But the rest of that energy gets trapped by the Earth’s gassy jacket.
3:36 · Specifically by those super absorbent greenhouse gases, which suck up heat and bounce it back down to us again.
3:44 · This warming process is called the greenhouse effect.
3:47 · Unsurprisingly, It works the same way as a greenhouse – using layers of glass to trap heat inside.
3:54 · And it keeps Earth at a nice, cozy, insulated average of 14 degrees Celsius.
4:00 · Without it, our Earth would be a chilly average of -18 degrees Celsius.
4:06 · Great for storing ice cream!
4:08 · Not so good for rainforests, swimsuits, or us for that matter.
4:13 · So, the greenhouse effect is a natural, helpful process that makes Earth habitable for all of life!
4:18 · But you can have too much of a good thing.
4:21 · When our atmospheric jacket contains more carbon dioxide, for example, it gets really good at trapping heat.
4:28 · Like, too good.
4:30 · And the hotter things get, the more water evaporates and joins the atmosphere— and remember, water vapor itself is a greenhouse gas, so that in turn absorbs even more heat, creating a looping system of cause-and-effect that just keeps reinforcing itself.
Measuring the Greenhouse Effect
4:46 · And while dressing in layers is great if you’re hiking in the Alps, it’s really hard for our planet to shed its extra coats.
4:52 · So all of that heat gets stuck going from the ground to the atmosphere like the worst game of hot potato ever played.
4:59 · When I learned about this, I was like, “Wow, what a revelation!
5:03 · I can’t believe we’ve only recently figured this out!”
5:05 · But it turns out that this isn’t new knowledge; we’ve known how, and why, this could happen for nearly 170 years.
5:16 · Let’s pay a visit to the Theater of Life… [Inquisitive music] Back in 1856, Eunice Foote, an American scientist and suffragette, was thinking about how the Sun’s warmth affected different gases.
5:27 · In those days, the scientific community was a bit like a fort with a handmade “no girls allowed” sign out front.
5:34 · But Foote wasn’t deterred, and ran her experiments anyway.
5:38 · She filled tubes with different combinations of gases, including carbon dioxide.
5:42 · After putting some tubes in the Sun and some in the shade, she compared their temperatures, trying to find the hottest gas.
5:50 · All the tubes in direct sunlight warmed up.
5:52 · But none as intensely as the tube that contained carbon dioxide.
5:57 · The temperature had soared to 51.7 degrees Celsius, hot enough to burn your fingers.
6:04 · From that insight, Foote theorized that if our atmosphere ever contained more carbon dioxide, the whole planet would warm up as a result, which would mean a lot more than a few scalded fingers.
6:16 · And sure enough, today, that’s exactly the situation we’re in.
6:20 · Foote was one of the first scientists to recognize carbon dioxide’s potential to affect Earth’s climate.
6:25 · But she wasn’t the only one to connect the dots.
6:28 · For example, just a few decades later, another scientist named Dr. Svante Arrhenius observed that burning coal releases carbon dioxide.
6:37 · As a fossil fuel, coal forms from the decomposed, carbon-based bodies of plants and animals that lived and died a long time ago.
6:46 · And I’m talking before the dinosaurs.
6:48 · So no, I’m afraid that means you aren’t gassing up your car with the remains of a T-Rex.
6:53 · When we burn those fossil fuels— whether it’s in the form of coal, oil, or natural gas— carbon dioxide gets released into the atmosphere.
7:00 · When Arrhenius ran the numbers, he predicted that carbon dioxide released by burning fossil fuels could warm our climate within a few thousand years if we kept burning them at their current rate.
7:14 · But we’ve far outpaced his estimates.
7:16 · Our emissions of carbon dioxide have grown and grown and grown — and so has the mountain of evidence that those emissions are warming our planet.
7:25 · Some oil and gas companies have worked to promote uncertainty around the existence of climate change and what’s causing it.
7:32 · While they have only very recently acknowledged its existence, as of 2023, they’re still trying to deflect from what’s causing it.
7:40 · But the scientific consensus on this is overwhelming.
7:44 · You can learn much more about that in our Climate & Energy series.
7:47 · We’ve only been reliably taking direct measurements of Earth’s global temperature since the 19th century.
7:52 · But that measly slice of time shows a steady rise in temperature of about 1.1 degree Celsius since 1880.
8:01 · And we know that that’s unusual because we’ve learned to read Earth’s much longer climate diary, in the form of ice cores.
8:07 · See, when snow hardens into ice, tiny bubbles of air remain trapped in the gaps between snowflakes.
8:13 · These gases and water molecules stay frozen, like entries in a frosty journal.
8:19 · So by drilling deep down into polar ice, we can snoop on what the atmosphere was like hundreds of thousands of years ago.
Carbon Sinks
8:27 · Ice cores show us that carbon dioxide levels have fluctuated over the past 800,000 years.
8:32 · And temperatures have fallen and risen alongside them, too.
8:36 · But when people started burning fossil fuels, carbon dioxide levels began to spike quickly, like really, really quickly.
8:44 · And they haven’t stopped rising.
8:45 · Before the Industrial Revolution, for every million molecules of air in our atmosphere, around 280 were carbon dioxide molecules.
8:54 · But by 2022, that number had increased to 422 —the highest concentration of CO2 our planet has seen in 4 million years.
9:06 · And that surge in carbon dioxide affects more than just the temperature.
9:10 · As the amount of carbon dioxide in our atmosphere rises, it impacts all of Earth’s systems.
9:15 · Just like yanking on the end of that tangled mess of headphones impacted all of the other items in my bag (and eventually, everybody around us when stuff started falling out).
9:24 · It’s all connected, is what I’m saying.
9:26 · For example, the ocean is our planet’s largest carbon sink.
9:31 · It’s sort of like a big storage container for carbon.
9:34 · In fact, the ocean holds 50 times more carbon than the air or soil do.
9:40 · But a chemical reaction happens when carbon dioxide meets water, it creates an acid.
9:45 · So that influx of carbon has already turned the ocean 30% more acidic since the 19th century.
9:53 · As carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases trap more heat, there’s more energy pouring into our planet than going out.
9:59 · That means more energy is pumped into the ocean, fueling hurricanes and typhoons to become more frequent and more intense.
Environmental Justice
10:07 · As the whole planet gets hotter, that triggers all kinds of changes.
10:11 · Spring arrives earlier, leading to shorter winters and longer summers.
10:15 · Rising temperatures lead to double-whammy droughts and heatwaves.
10:19 · And that leaves forest floors full of dried-up plants that serve as fuel for wildfires to ignite— spreading faster, farther, and more often.
10:28 · Plus, Earth’s polar ice caps are melting, transforming solid ice to slush and seawater.
10:34 · And that’s causing ocean levels to rise and encroach on land.
10:38 · So while some communities are already facing a problem of not enough water, others are facing a problem of too much.
10:45 · And because these adverse changes layer on top of existing social inequalities, they disproportionately affect lower-income communities and people of color, making climate change not only a scientific issue, but a matter of environmental justice that has spurred some researchers to political action.
11:02 · For example, climate scientist Nicole Hernandez Hammer witnessed first-hand, through her field research, the sea-level rise alongside Miami Beach’s Latino communities.
11:12 · But these communities were not included in conversations about climate change or the dangers of rising sea levels.
11:18 · So, Hammer took action, moving into environmental outreach and education.
11:23 · And, while the threat is still there, these communities are now in conversation about climate change, and able to plan and advocate for the future of their environment.
11:33 · And the good news more broadly is we know exactly why these tangled, complex effects are happening.
11:39 · The more we burn those fossil fuels, the more greenhouse gases we release —and that’s driving sweeping changes all over our planet.
11:47 · And these changes are impacting life at all levels from the tiniest bacterium, to the elephants of Botswana, to you and me.
11:55 · We can slow these impacts by breaking up with fossil fuels.
11:58 · But we also have to invest in nature’s carbon sinks —such as soils and forests— which pull carbon out of the atmosphere and back into the land, where it can’t keep heating things up.
Review & Credits
12:09 · It won’t be the easiest breakup.
12:12 · We’ve designed whole societies and global systems around fossil fuels.
12:16 · We should fully expect to be listening to Jazmine Sullivan on repeat with a gallon of Rocky Road.
12:21 · But this is one relationship we can’t afford to stay in.
12:24 · So, in order to halt emissions, we have to both invent new systems and work more efficiently within old ones, and to do that, we’ve got to get a whole planet’s worth of people on board.
12:35 · And if you’ve ever been part of a group project, you know that last part isn’t easy.
12:39 · Thankfully, when faced with global crises, humans have one great thing going for us: we are creative.
12:46 · I mean, we’ve been to space, we’ve got electric cars, we made furbies for some reason.
12:53 · So yes, It’s going to take all of our creativity and cooperation to tackle.
12:58 · But the only way out is through, and the only way through is together.
13:04 · In our next episode, we’ll tune back into the world of living things— and see how our rapidly changing climate involves much more than the atmosphere.
13:12 · It affects every living, breathing, organism on this planet— including you and me.
13:18 · This series was produced in collaboration with HHMI BioInteractive.
13:22 · If you’re an educator, visit BioInteractive.org/CrashCourse for classroom resources and professional development related to the topics covered in this course.
13:32 · Thanks for watching this episode of Crash Course Biology, which was filmed at our studio in Indianapolis, Indiana, and was made with the help of all these nice people.
13:41 · If you want to help keep Crash Course free for everyone, forever, you can join our community on Patreon.
World Weather Attribution — understanding climate change and extreme weather
World Weather Attribution, 11 13, 2023
Video (5:59)
Description
When an extreme weather event occurs, people often ask: is climate change to blame?
For decades, climate scientists have answered that question in general terms – that as the planet warms, we can expect many of these weather events to become more frequent and extreme.
But in recent years, advances in attribution science have allowed researchers to answer the question in much greater detail.
Founded in 2015 by Dr. Friederike Otto and Dr. Geert Jan van Oldenborgh, World Weather Attribution scientists quantify how climate change influences the intensity and likelihood of an extreme weather event. They often do this using weather data and computer modelling, and often immediately in the aftermath of the extreme event.
To encourage actions that will make communities and countries more resilient to future extreme weather events, World Weather Attribution studies also evaluate how existing vulnerability worsened the impacts of the extreme weather event.
To learn more about World Weather Attribution or to view our studies, go to https://www.worldweatherattribution.org/
Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/WWAttribution
Film produced by Geoff Marsh.
Transcript
Introduction to attribution
0:03 · [Music] in the immediate aftermath of an extreme weather event occurring people always ask the question is climate change to blame we found it World weather attribution to answer that question based on scientific evidence this one does not include the EV weather attribution is a relatively
0:26 · new field of science that basically brings together weather obervation and meteorology and climate science and really answers the question what is the cause of an event happening I’m Dr Freddy Oto I’m a senior lecturer at the Grandam Institute at Imperial College London and I am co-founder of the world weather attribution initiative which I’m also leading our burning of fossil fuels for
Climate change impacts
0:56 · um the last decades and Century has led to the world over all getting warmer and that had a profound effect on weather around the world so every heat wave that is happening today has been made more likely more intense and longer because
1:12 · of climate change but we also see changes in other weather events heavy rainfall has become more intense in many parts of the world we see more intense droughts or at least the impacts of droughts on agriculture are worse as they would have been without climate change because of the increase in temperature and of course that doesn’t affect just the weather but our societies are only adapted to a very
1:39 · small range of possible weather and we are outside this range now and therefore the impacts that these changes have are that people lose their lives their livelihoods across the world not just in the global South but everywhere in the
1:58 · world so the kind of extreme weather events that we would want to St study with World weather attribution are very frequent so um we meet every Monday with our team and look at the events that have happened and there are many more events happening than we can study and we are aiming to look at about 20 uh per
Case studies and examples
2:22 · year so the kind of thing we are looking at are events like for example the Pacific Northwest Heatwave that hit the US in Canada in 2021 where we found this event would have basically been impossible without climate change another event that has not been talked about much in the global media was extreme flooding in Nigeria and around the Nija Delta more widely that happened in 2022 where we also found that climate
2:48 · change made this event 80 times more likely which is a huge change for a rainfall event so with our core team we decide whether we can do a study based Bas on whether we have enough manpower available whether we have data and
The research process
3:05 · climate models at least in principle that are able to simulate the type of event whether we have the ability to make contact with people in the region and also we try um to look at is it a kind of event in a region where we have already done many many studies if yes we might give that a lower priority but if it’s in a region where not many Studies have been done we will definitely try to do it so once we have made contact with the
3:34 · people in country we decide on how to define the event and then based on how complex the weather event is that led to the impacts we then decide on the timeline so if it’s a heat wve that is relatively straightforward or a heavy rainfall event we try and finish the study within a week if it’s something more complex like a drought um or
4:00 · maybe a a less straightforward rainfall event than it might take us a few weeks but we we really aim to be as fast as possible so that our evidence can still feed into the public discussion that is happening about the event so what we are aiming to do with each of these studies is to provide on
Reporting and implications
4:24 · the one hand an answer of what’s the role of climate change so something like this event has been made 80 times more likely because of climate change and on the other hand information on who has been most affected and why so who is hit
4:41 · by this weather event and why and how are they affected and also what can be done to prevent these people being affected next time so once we finish a study we obviously can’t send it to peer review and wait for 2 years until the review process is over before publicizing the events we publicize them straight away so we publish a scientific report that has all the information that a scientific paper has on our website we write a summary we write a press release
5:12 · and we do a press briefing and in many cases we then send the scientific report a few weeks after to peerreview um so that it will become a peer-reviewed paper down the line it’s important to have attribution studies because these studies show us how climate change manifests in our daily lives in our
5:35 · daily experiences not just climate scientists but everyone and also because we have an assessment on the vulnerability we can learn from these studies how to better prevent impacts to be not as dramatic for future [Music] events
Assigned Background
A Storm is Brewing - Is it Climate Change?
A Storm is Brewing. Is it Climate Change?
Duration: 00:32:29
Released: 2022
Series: How to Save a Planet
For years, we were told it wasn’t possible to link specific weather events to global warming — and that made communicating about climate change difficult: When extreme weather events were in the news, climate change was often left out of the story. This week, we tell the story of how that changed. We talk to the scientists who figured out how to model the role of climate change in events like Hurricane Harvey — the climate detectives who blew the case of extreme weather wide open.Guests: Dr. Peter Stott, UK Met Office; Dr. Friederike (Fredi) Otto, Grantham Institute for Climate Change and the Environment; Dr. Stephanie Herring, NOAACalls to Action: Help out climate scientists from your couch! Climate scientists rely on accurate weather data to produce and test their models. But lots of historical weather data is still locked away in handwritten records from the 1800s, like old ships’ logs. Now, you can help rescue that data — by transcribing old temperature and weather logs! Check out the project Weather Rescue, which connects volunteers with documents that need transcribing. Especially good if you’re a pro at deciphering cursive handwriting… Talk about the weather! If an extreme weather event linked to climate change occurs in your region, talk to your friends and family about how climate change is affecting the weather they’re experiencing. One goal of scientists like Fredi Otto is to help get climate science into the conversation — and that only works if people HAVE that conversation. People like you! Further Reading: You can find more information and recent studies on extreme weather events online at World Weather Attribution Check out Dr. Fredi Otto’s book about the development of rapid event attribution, Angry Weather, or Dr. Peter Stott’s memoir about his experiences as a climate scientist, Hot Air The American Meteorological Society publishes an annual round-up of the most interesting extreme weather event attribution studies, edited by Drs. Stephanie Herring and Peter Stott. If you liked this episode, you might like some of these past shows: Unnatural Disasters and How TV Weathercasters Went from Climate Skeptics to Champions. If you take an action we recommend in one of our episodes, do us a favor and tell us about it! We’d love to hear how it went and what it felt like. Record a short voice memo on your phone and send it to us via our Listener Mail Form. We might use it in an upcoming episode. Find all the actions we’ve recommended on our show here!Credits:How to Save a Planet is a Spotify original podcast and Gimlet production. It’s hosted by Alex Blumberg.This episode was produced by Rachel Waldholz with help from Daniel Ackerman, Hannah Chinn and Nicole Welch. The rest of our reporting and producing team are Kendra Pierre-Louis and Anna Ladd. Our supervising producer is Katelyn Bogucki. Our editor is Caitlin Kenney. Sound design and mixing by Peter Leonard and Lonnie Ro with original music by Peter Leonard, Emma Munger, and Billy Libby.Our fact-checker this episode is Claudia Geib.Special thanks to Dr. Stephanie Herring at NOAA for explaining a lot of this science to us so that we could explain it to you! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Optional Material (Dive Deeper)
Podcasts
A call for redesigning American streets
Duration: 00:21:09
Released: 2018
Series: Better Off
In this week’s podcast we’ll explore how America’s streets can be redesigned to benefit bicyclists and pedestrians—and we’ll explain why doing so may even help mitigate the effects of climate change. A new study from Anne Lusk, research scientist in the Department of Nutrition at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, analyzed how bicyclists and pedestrians responded to various placements of trees along cycle tracks—barrier-protected bicycle-exclusive paths between the road and the sidewalk. The research shows that the placement of these trees can play an important role in how people walking and biking perceive traffic, pollution, heat, and even safety. But the benefits extend beyond just those using the street—and could even be a factor in mitigating the effects of climate change. These trees may make it more likely that people will bike—helping to reduce pollution. And increased greenery can also help cool cities, which often suffer from a heat island effect, which means they’re significantly warmer than more rural areas. Lusk says all of this highlights the need to re-think how we’re designing streets to encourage more people to walk and bike instead of drive.
A Storm is Brewing - Is it Climate Change?
A Storm is Brewing. Is it Climate Change?
Duration: 00:32:29
Released: 2022
Series: How to Save a Planet
For years, we were told it wasn’t possible to link specific weather events to global warming — and that made communicating about climate change difficult: When extreme weather events were in the news, climate change was often left out of the story. This week, we tell the story of how that changed. We talk to the scientists who figured out how to model the role of climate change in events like Hurricane Harvey — the climate detectives who blew the case of extreme weather wide open.Guests: Dr. Peter Stott, UK Met Office; Dr. Friederike (Fredi) Otto, Grantham Institute for Climate Change and the Environment; Dr. Stephanie Herring, NOAACalls to Action: Help out climate scientists from your couch! Climate scientists rely on accurate weather data to produce and test their models. But lots of historical weather data is still locked away in handwritten records from the 1800s, like old ships’ logs. Now, you can help rescue that data — by transcribing old temperature and weather logs! Check out the project Weather Rescue, which connects volunteers with documents that need transcribing. Especially good if you’re a pro at deciphering cursive handwriting… Talk about the weather! If an extreme weather event linked to climate change occurs in your region, talk to your friends and family about how climate change is affecting the weather they’re experiencing. One goal of scientists like Fredi Otto is to help get climate science into the conversation — and that only works if people HAVE that conversation. People like you! Further Reading: You can find more information and recent studies on extreme weather events online at World Weather Attribution Check out Dr. Fredi Otto’s book about the development of rapid event attribution, Angry Weather, or Dr. Peter Stott’s memoir about his experiences as a climate scientist, Hot Air The American Meteorological Society publishes an annual round-up of the most interesting extreme weather event attribution studies, edited by Drs. Stephanie Herring and Peter Stott. If you liked this episode, you might like some of these past shows: Unnatural Disasters and How TV Weathercasters Went from Climate Skeptics to Champions. If you take an action we recommend in one of our episodes, do us a favor and tell us about it! We’d love to hear how it went and what it felt like. Record a short voice memo on your phone and send it to us via our Listener Mail Form. We might use it in an upcoming episode. Find all the actions we’ve recommended on our show here!Credits:How to Save a Planet is a Spotify original podcast and Gimlet production. It’s hosted by Alex Blumberg.This episode was produced by Rachel Waldholz with help from Daniel Ackerman, Hannah Chinn and Nicole Welch. The rest of our reporting and producing team are Kendra Pierre-Louis and Anna Ladd. Our supervising producer is Katelyn Bogucki. Our editor is Caitlin Kenney. Sound design and mixing by Peter Leonard and Lonnie Ro with original music by Peter Leonard, Emma Munger, and Billy Libby.Our fact-checker this episode is Claudia Geib.Special thanks to Dr. Stephanie Herring at NOAA for explaining a lot of this science to us so that we could explain it to you! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
An Expert Vegetable Breeder On Innovating Crops For The Future
Duration: 00:17:33
Released: 2024
Series: Science Friday
It’s become clear to farmers and home gardeners alike that climate change is affecting the gardening landscape, literally. The climate is warming, pests are moving into different regions, and there’s a growing need for vegetable varieties that are resilient to the stresses of this new age.In the world of organic farming, the job of creating those new varieties falls to a plant breeder: someone who, often painstakingly, crosses plants until they create a new variety. Dr. Jim Myers, one of the most accomplished plant breeders in the country, has lots of experience with this.Myers created the Indigo Rose tomato, a strikingly purple variety with the same antioxidants as blueberries. He also created the green bean cultivar predominantly used by Oregon producers, and is debuting two new varieties of low-heat habanero peppers next month, dubbed “Mild Thing” and “Notta Hotta.”Myers joins Ira Flatow from Corvallis, Oregon, where he’s a professor of agricultural science at Oregon State University. They discuss his decades-long career in plant breeding and what he sees as the biggest challenges for the plant breeders of the future. Subscribe to this podcast. Follow our show on Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, and Bluesky @scifri and sign up for our newsletters. Got a science question that’s keeping you up at night? Call us: 877-472-4374 Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
Are extreme wildfires the new normal?
Duration: 00:13:21
Released: 2026
Series: Short Wave
With parts of the U.S, Canada, Spain and France all ablaze with wildfires, you might be wondering: Are wildfires on the rise? If so, know that you mind-melded with the entire Short Wave staff. We had the exact same thought – and then went down some reporting rabbit holes and turned it into a whole episode. And let us just say: The answer is surprisingly complicated! But don’t you worry. We get into all the nuances this episode.Interested in more science behind the headlines? Email us your question at shortwave@npr.org.Support public media with NPR+ and enjoy perks for over 25 podcasts like this one. It includes perks like bonus episodes, early access, archive access, curated playlists and sponsor-free listening. Learn more at plus.npr.org. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy
Transcript
REGINA BARBER: Hey, Short Wavers. It’s Gina here with a request– follow us on whichever app you’re listening from. We love sharing cool and important science stories with you. And following us means you’ll always know when our next episode is ready, just for you. And guess what. The next episode is ready.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
EMILY KWONG: You’re listening to Short Wave from NPR.
BARBER: Hello, Short Wavers, Regina Barber here with my co host, NPR science correspondent Nate Rott. Hey, Nate.
NATHAN ROTT: Hello, Gina.
BARBER: So, Nate, over the years, you’ve reported a ton on wildfires and fought some in a previous life, I heard.
ROTT: Yes, a previous, younger, more lithe life. Yes, that is correct.
BARBER: Yeah. We’re all getting old, Nate.
ROTT: Yeah.
BARBER: And Nate, it seems like a lot of the world is experiencing them right now. Like, fires are happening in France and Spain. Canada and even Oregon is fighting dozens of fires right now. So, with all of your expertise, riddle me this.
ROTT: OK.
BARBER: Is it my imagination, or are wildfires increasing globally?
ROTT: Gina, are you sitting down?
BARBER: I am, actually. You can see me.
ROTT: OK, yeah, I can. And you are sitting. I just wanted to confirm for anybody who can’t see you. I say, are you sitting, because overall, there are fewer wildfires globally and less land burning on average than in the past. But–
BARBER: Huh.
ROTT: –within those two sentences, Gina, there is so much nuance, and so, we’ll get into that.
ZEKE HAUSFATHER: There’s a lot of different regional trends that are underneath that.
ROTT: Yeah, so that’s Zeke Hausfather. He’s a climate scientist in California. And he says that, for example, in North American forests, like where we are, the trend is definitely more burning.
HAUSFATHER: The typical fire burns about three times more area than it did 30 years ago or 40 years ago, which is largely driven by changes in conditions. The vegetation is drier, and so when a spark catches, it’s more likely to burn a larger area.
ROTT: And Gina, globally, extreme wildfire activity has more than doubled in the last two decades.
BARBER: That’s so much.
ROTT: Yeah, it’s a lot, which means that in certain areas, there are more fires burning bigger and hotter, which, in some cases, means more smoke from those fires can travel a very long way and make a beautiful sunset, but muddy up a perfectly normal vacation.
BARBER: Yeah, which is why we’ve been seeing smoke here on the East Coast, right?
ROTT: Yeah.
BARBER: And one thing I’ve been wondering when it gets hazy, especially having a kid, is, like, how much time can I spend outside? And should I even be outside at all? Like, I know that there’s, like, an air quality index, but the guidelines seem vague.
ROTT: [CHUCKLES] Vague is a very diplomatic way of putting it, Gina. And–
BARBER: Yeah.
ROTT: –there’s a reason for that. You know, scientists just don’t have a lot of long-term data on wildfire smoke exposure to give people definitive guidelines, which leaves a lot of people like you and me wondering how to go about their days when there’s a lot of smoke in the air.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
BARBER: So today on the show, what to do when the world’s on fire.
ROTT: We talk about the changing wildfire landscape, what’s driving the trends, and what you can do about it.
BARBER: You’re listening to Short Wave, the science podcast from NPR.
BARBER: OK, Nate, so you said earlier that wildfires are actually decreasing globally. This is just wild to me. Like, how is that possible?
ROTT: Yeah, I mean, OK, so when we say wildfires, that includes lots of different types of environments and vegetation– forests, yes, but also, you know, grasslands and shrublands and savanna. And as anyone who messed around with fireworks as a kid or had a little pyro streak maybe like me, you will know that fire burns a lot faster and quicker in lighter vegetation, like grasses, than it does in, like, a forest, right?
BARBER: Yeah.
ROTT: So most of the area–
BARBER: Yeah, definitely.
ROTT: –that burns every year are grasslands, shrublands, and savannas, not forests.
BARBER: OK.
ROTT: And so, the reason that, globally, there’s less land burned is largely because there’s less grasslands and shrublands and savannas burning mostly in Africa, which, you know, is a really big continent. So that brings down the global scale.
BARBER: I love this. This is, like, fascinating, these nuances. OK, so, now, there’s these two pretty bad forest fires in France and Spain. And–
ROTT: Yeah.
BARBER: –outside of these fires, is Europe another place where there are fewer fires recently?
ROTT: Well, honestly, Gina, this is, like, a really active area of research, like what are the trends in wildfire are in Europe. But when our producer–
BARBER: Yeah.
ROTT: –Berly McCoy spoke to Zeke Monday about the current fires, he said the area burned was higher than average for the European Union, so–
BARBER: OK.
ROTT: –not record-setting yet. Of course, that could change. But he said these fires are understandably getting a lot of media attention because there are two big fires burning at the same time near a lot of–
BARBER: Yeah.
ROTT: –people. So it might seem like a trend, but it might not necessarily be.
BARBER: So, I mean, could this be just, like, a normal fire year for Europe? I remember, like, four years ago, a big fire in Spain. Like, is this–
ROTT: Yeah.
BARBER: –just normal?
ROTT: Yeah, I mean, look, it could be. But, you know, Zeke pointed out that there is a trend that is related to many wildfires today in Europe and North America everywhere. The fires that are burning in Spain and France both coincided with an extreme heat wave.
BARBER: OK, I see where this is going.
ROTT: Yeah, climate change– don’t know if you’ve heard of it, small thing–
BARBER: Yeah.
ROTT: –happening globally.
BARBER: Yeah, the climate crisis, it’s like this cartoon villain, right? It’s very predictable.
ROTT: Yeah, well, unlike a generic cartoon villain, you know, it’s not easily vanquished by Captain Planet and his gang of trusted friends.
BARBER: Yes.
ROTT: Zeke says that rising temperatures nurture fires that might otherwise just die out. So, like, take Canada, for example.
HAUSFATHER: So, every one degree centigrade, or roughly two degrees Fahrenheit, of warming during the fire season in Canada– so May to September– is associated with an 80% increase in the amount of area burned that year.
BARBER: 80%– that’s a huge jump for just, like, a couple of degrees Fahrenheit.
ROTT: Yeah, it’s massive. And he says, since the 1960s, the fire season has warmed up about four degrees Fahrenheit on average. So–
BARBER: Wow.
ROTT: –that translates to a huge amount of burned area in Canada because when it’s warmer, things just dry out quicker, so there’s literally more fuel for the fire.
BARBER: So doesn’t this also have to do with humans not doing, like, prescribed burns to clear the underbrush?
ROTT: In the United States, yes, that’s definitely true. So, in many parts of the country, not just the Western US, forests are adapted to fire. In many cases, they need it ecologically. And, you know, Native communities used fires for centuries to forests, but since at least the 1930s, we’ve been suppressing forest fires, putting them out as quickly as we can.
BARBER: I mean, Nate, only you can prevent forest fires.
ROTT: Yes, God bless Smokey Bear. It’s not Smokey the Bear, Gina. It’s Smokey Bear. Don’t let the Forest Service come after you.
BARBER: I had no idea, honestly.
ROTT: Yeah. And look, like, Smokey’s slogan was great to protect people and homes and, you know, maybe some timber, but it’s not so great to keep fuel levels down in those forests.
HAUSFATHER: When fires do occur in those forests, there’s so much undergrowth that’s accumulated that the fires are much more catastrophic. They reach up into the canopy of the trees. They become what we call crown fires that actually kill the trees–
BARBER: Geez.
HAUSFATHER: –rather than what historically has happened in Western forests, where you have these low-level fires that kill the undergrowth, but don’t reach up and actually kill the trees. The boreal forest is a different beast.
ROTT: Yeah, and the boreal forests in Canada, the ones that are smoking up parts of the US right now, those have never needed prescribed burning in the same way.
HAUSFATHER: The boreal forest–
BARBER: Wow.
HAUSFATHER: –in Canada is 4 and 1/2 times the size of Texas. And so, historically–
BARBER: What?
HAUSFATHER: –when fires burn in those forests, they’re just allowed to burn themselves out. You know, they haven’t had the same history of fire suppression that we have in the US that has built up fuel.
ROTT: So what he’s kind of saying is, it is normal for these big fires to happen in Canada, but what’s not normal is how often these huge fires are happening.
BARBER: So, historically, how often is normal for them to burn?
ROTT: So, typically, in Canada’s western boreal forest, Zeke says big fires would happen, you know, once every 50 to 200 years.
BARBER: That is not happening right now.
ROTT: No, it is much more frequent. And–
BARBER: Yeah.
ROTT: –when we’re talking about boreal forests, you know, for you non-ecology nerds out there, you know, we’re talking about these dense forests that stretch across the Northern Hemisphere, and temperatures are rising at higher latitudes faster than they are closer to the equator.
HAUSFATHER: What we’re seeing now is considerably more frequent fires, because these areas that used to be much wetter– you know, much of the the northern boreal resembles a swamp– are now much drier because of higher temperatures.
ROTT: And it’s not necessarily that more fires are starting, you know, which, in both the US and Canada, is often caused by lightning, sometimes caused by people. It’s that a warmer climate is creating the conditions for fires to get going and burn a lot more vegetation when they do.
BARBER: OK, so I grew up in the Pacific Northwest, and there weren’t a lot of wildfires. And then I had my own kid, and then wildfires and smoke were just part of the summers. And honestly, I thought I was going to just, like, avoid all that and move to the East Coast.
ROTT: Yeah.
BARBER: And once I’m here, I’m not going to have any of that smoke.
ROTT: Yeah.
BARBER: But for listeners in the same boat as me– like, now, I’m inhaling this smoke– like, what are the recommendations for staying healthy?
ROTT: Well, so the biggest piece of advice I could give you, Gina, is to monitor the air quality to figure out your exposure to risk. So, in the US–
BARBER: OK.
ROTT: –there’s an air quality index for how polluted–
BARBER: Yeah.
ROTT: –the air is in a certain area. You know, it’s based on how many pollutants are in the air, and that includes particulate matter, these tiny little particles that are so small, they can get into your bloodstream.
BARBER: Oh, my gosh.
ROTT: You know, there’s been a lot of research that shows that it’s particularly risky for pregnant people. So I’d highly recommend people use AQI as kind of a quick pulse check to figure out how good the air quality is. It goes from green, where the air pollution isn’t a risk to people, all the way up to maroon, which means it’s a risk for everybody. And there is limited guidance for, you know, when you should limit outdoor activity, for example. But Lisa Patel, a pediatrician and environmental scientist at Stanford Medicine Children’s Health, says it may not be a good enough tool for wildfires.
LISA PATEL: These air quality guidelines were built off the burning of fossil fuels. There was a study that was done on children between zero to five that found that wildfire smoke is about 10 times as toxic. 10 times as many children showed up to the emergency room with respiratory complaints.
ROTT: And it’s not just kids, right? Like, inhaling that smoke can lead to inflammation, which is linked to cancer, to heart and lung disease, and to dementia.
BARBER: Oof. So, what else can we do to limit our exposure to wildfire smoke?
ROTT: Yeah, so spending more time inside, you know, though, I should say, you know, staying inside won’t totally keep you from being exposed, especially in older homes with a lot of drafts. But, you know, staying inside is one piece of advice– wearing a mask when you go outside, recirculating the air in your car, you know, so you’re not sucking air directly from outside into the car. And using an air filter indoors goes a long way. Lisa says you can make one with a HEPA filter duct taped to a box fan. I’ve actually been to places where they’re doing this in Missoula, where I grew up. They are creating them for people that can’t afford air filters in their house. And when it comes to this bigger, you know, staying inside part that we’re talking about, Lisa knows that advice might be tough to hear.
PATEL: I’m a parent myself. My kids were 2 and 5 when– and we were in the middle of a pandemic. What we are in is a situation where– and it is sad for me to say. I grieve about it when I have to say it, but we’re increasingly having periods of time where it’s not safe for our kids to be outdoors.
ROTT: But she also says this is part of our new normal, which is what I also heard from Zeke.
HAUSFATHER: Like, we’re not going to be able to put the fire genie back in the bottle and return to the climate we had in the 1980s, at least not anytime in the next few centuries. So, it’s not a good news story.
BARBER: Geez.
HAUSFATHER: But I also don’t want to let people off the hook, you know. We need to adapt–
BARBER: Wow.
HAUSFATHER: –to this world of more and more extreme fires.
ROTT: You know, but both Zeke and Lisa emphasize the thing that people can do is reduce their emissions, right, which is going to stop the problem from getting even worse. You know, so that means things like switching to renewable energy, regenerative farming practices, and, you know, making more urban green space to cool down cities. You know, but sadly, we all should settle into this new normal, too.
BARBER: And more inside time, I guess.
ROTT: Yeah.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
BARBER: Nate, thank you so much for bringing us this reporting.
ROTT: Yeah, happy to do it.
BARBER: This episode was produced and co-reported by Berly McCoy. It was edited by our showrunner, Rebecca Ramirez, and fact-checked by Tyler Jones.
ROTT: The audio engineer was Robert Rodriguez. Special thanks to science correspondent, Alejandra Borunda, for her guidance. I’m Nate Rott.
BARBER: And I’m Regina Barber. Thank you so much for listening to Short Wave from NPR.
As the climate changes, is the deadly flooding in Nepal a sign of things to come?
Duration: 00:06:01
Released: 2026
Series: Consider This from NPR
The flooding in Nepal has left hundreds dead and many more missing. Many scientists believe the flooding is the result of a melting glacier.What do we know about the link between the disaster in Nepal and climate change?This episode was produced by Henry Larson, Megan Lim and Kai McNamee, with audio engineering by Tiffany Vera Castro. Our director is Jonas Adams.It was edited by Sadie Babits, Sarah Handel and Tinbete Ermyas.Our interim executive producer is Courtney Dorning.Support public media with NPR+ and enjoy perks for over 25 podcasts like this one. This show’s perks include bonus episodes and sponsor-free listening. Learn more at plus.npr.org.See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy
Transcript
AILSA CHANG, HOST:
It’s CONSIDER THIS, where every day we go deep on one big news story. Today, the devastating flooding in Nepal and its links to climate change. Hundreds are dead, and many more are missing after catastrophic flash flooding along the Tibet-Nepal border.
ANDY THAPA: Nothing is visible - no houses, no roads, no any greenery in those areas and no blue water. Now it’s muddy water now.
CHANG: Andy Thapa is one of the rescuers trying to get to as many survivors as he can. He’s a charter and rescue pilot for a helicopter company in Nepal, and in 20 or so flights over the last two days, he shot some video and shared that video with us.
THAPA: We saw many people stuck in the middle of the mud. Half of the body were inside the mud and they were just seeking for help. But there were no place to land, even no place to drop for the rescue.
CHANG: Thapa said he was able to find survivors in some accessible parts of the mountainous region, but many were in bad shape.
THAPA: Personally, for me, I evacuated more than 120 people. They are muddy, like in their face, in their legs, might be body scratched, hand broken, leg broken and they terrified, you know, unable to speak.
CHANG: He told us about one man who was able to talk with him.
THAPA: He had 10 people in the family, out of which he lost nine in front of his eye.
CHANG: Thapa has been flying the most critically injured people to Nepal’s capital, Kathmandu, and the rest to a closer staging area. But there are so many people still stranded. Today, he said he had to leave several hundred people sheltering in a tunnel because the weather just got too bad to fly.
THAPA: But they are very safe and they have enough food to eat. We will just continue with such missions.
CHANG: CONSIDER THIS - climate change is accelerating the frequency of deadly natural disasters. What do we know about the role climate change is playing in the Himalayan region?
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
CHANG: From NPR, I’m Ailsa Chang.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
CHANG: It’s CONSIDER THIS FROM NPR. These deadly flash floods on the border of Nepal and Chinese-administered Tibet are not a surprise to many climate scientists. NPR’s Julia Simon joins us now to explain why. Hi, Julia.
JULIA SIMON, BYLINE: Hello, Ailsa.
CHANG: So the way I understand it, this flooding - it came from a glacier - right? - that collapsed. Is that correct?
SIMON: Yeah. So the reports are still preliminary, but many scientists think this was a glacier collapsing - this giant chunk of ice that snapped off, triggering the floods. This mass of ice and rock and mud and water - it started ripping down this Himalayan river valley, down through these villages, destroying communities. If you’ve seen the videos, you can see it’s this avalanche of deadly debris.
CHANG: Yeah. And I mean, these glaciers, they’ve been around for thousands of years, right? So…
SIMON: Right.
CHANG: …To have a chunk of glacier just snap off now seems like a huge deal.
SIMON: It does. But sadly, many scientists are not so surprised that this could happen, Ailsa, and that’s because of human-caused climate change. These glaciers that were once stable - they’re disappearing. NPR has been reporting on Nepal’s glaciers for years. A team from NPR traveled to Nepal in 2022. They were climbing up a moraine. That’s a massive pile of boulders created by a glacier. But when NPR’s Rebecca Hersher got to the top, there was no glacier in sight.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED NPR CONTENT)
REBECCA HERSHER: Oh, wow.
(SOUNDBITE OF WATER SPLASHING)
SIMON: That’s the sound of water. There was only water - this huge lake - where a glacier should have been, Ailsa. The glacier had melted, and glacial lake floods are a growing threat. In recent years, multiple glacial lake floods have displaced and killed people. Scientists warn that an estimated 15 million people around the world are at risk from such floods.
CHANG: Wow. So just how unstable are these melting glaciers?
SIMON: Yeah. So NPR spoke with Alton Byers about this. He’s at the Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research at the University of Colorado at Boulder. He says he’s surprised how fast the permafrost - that’s the continuously frozen ice, soil and rock that’s held the mountains together for millennia - it’s now changing.
ALTON BYERS: The analogy I and my colleagues use is take a stick of butter out of the refrigerator and put it on the counter. It’s going to get softer and it’s going to lose its structural integrity.
SIMON: Yeah. So these melting glaciers - they pose deadly risks to the communities in their path.
CHANG: I mean, we’re seeing it right now. So…
SIMON: Yeah.
CHANG: …What are some solutions here to prevent the kind of disaster that we are seeing in Nepal, for example, a disaster that is caused by melting glaciers?
SIMON: Well, the first thing is better alert systems. It seems right now, like, Nepal’s flood warning system wasn’t equipped to handle this, despite quite a bit of investment in those warning systems over the last decade or so. And it’s important to mention this area has seen flash floods before. But we also know the primary driver of global warming is the burning of fossil fuels, like oil, gas and coal. The solutions to transition away from fossil fuels are out there, Ailsa. They are scalable. They’re affordable. They’re reliable. They include solar energy, wind energy and batteries.
CHANG: That is NPR climate and energy correspondent Julia Simon. Thank you, Julia.
SIMON: Thank you, Ailsa.
CHANG: This episode was produced by Henry Larson, Megan Lim, and Kai McNamee with audio engineering by Tiffany Vera Castro. Our director is Jonas Adams. It was edited by Sadie Babits, Sarah Handel and Tinbete Ermyas. Our interim executive producer is Courtney Dorning.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
CHANG: It’s CONSIDER THIS FROM NPR. I’m Ailsa Chang.
Black Gold - The Future of Food We Throw Away
Black Gold: The Future of Food…We Throw Away
Duration: 00:51:11
Released: 2022
Series: Gastropod
For a few weeks in 1987, trash was temporarily headline news: a barge filled with waste that would no longer fit in New York City’s overflowing landfills spent months wandering up and down the East Coast with nowhere to dump its smelly, rotting cargo. The trash barge’s travels triggered a long overdue public rethink of the wisdom of sending all of our waste to landfills—including food. But fast forward more than thirty years, and food still takes up more space in American landfills than anything else. About 30 to 40 percent of food produced in the US gets thrown away, rather than eaten. What’s more, putting all that rotting food inside landfills produces a lot of methane, a powerful greenhouse gas. Our ancestors knew exactly what to do with food waste; the earliest descriptions of composting were written on clay tablets more than 4,000 years ago. So why didn’t the GarBarge kick off a composting craze? And why is it so hard for us to keep food waste out of landfills? This episode, Gastropod visits the future of food waste: the high-tech facilities as well as the innovative policies that promise to keep our discarded food out of landfills, keep methane from escaping into the atmosphere, and turn those food scraps into something useful. Can a state the size of California really keep 75 percent of its food waste out of landfills, as it has pledged to do by 2025—and what will happen if it does? Listen in for compost blow-dryers, fruit-sticker bingo, and a lot of microbes! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Catching Fire
Duration: 00:54:43
Released: 2024
Series: Big Picture Science
We have too much “bad fire.” Not only destructive wildfires, but the combustion that powers our automobiles and provides our electricity has generated a worrying rise in atmospheric carbon dioxide. And that is driving climate change which is adding to the frequency of megafires. Now we’re seeing those effects in “fire-clouds,” pyrocumulonimbus events. But there’s such a thing as “good fire.” Indigenous peoples managed the land with controlled fires, reaped the benefits of doing so, and they’re bringing them back. So after millions of years of controlling fire, is it time for us to revisit our attitudes and policies, not just with regard to combustion, but how we manage our wildfires? Guests: David Peterson - Meteorologist, U.S. Naval Research Laboratory Stephen Pyne - Emeritus professor at Arizona State University, fire historian, urban farmer, author of “The Pyrocene: How We Created an Age of Fire, and What Happens Next” Richard Wrangham - Ruth B. Moore Research Professor of Biological Anthropology at Harvard University and author of “Catching Fire: How Coooking Made Us Human” Margo Robbins - Co-founder and president of the Cultural Fire Management Council (CFMC), organizer of the Cultural Burn Training Exchange (TREX) that takes place on the Yurok Reservation twice a year, and an enrolled member of the Yurok Tribe Originally aired May 9, 2022 Featuring music by Dewey Dellay and Jun Miyake Big Picture Science is part of the Airwave Media podcast network. Please contact advertising@airwavemedia.com to inquire about advertising on Big Picture Science. You can get early access to ad-free versions of every episode by joining us on Patreon. Thanks for your support! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Climate - Fighting Extreme Heat In 2026
Duration: 00:43:17
Released: 2026
Series: 1A
Extreme heat isn’t just an inconvenience. It’s a growing public health threat.More than 40 million people across the U.S. have remained under heat alerts this month. Heat remains the deadliest extreme weather event in the United States. At least 44 people have died as a result of July heatwaves. And in Europe, heatwaves killed more than 10,000 people in June, according to health data published this month.Climate change is making heatwaves hotter and more frequent. And high temps aren’t just being reported in daytime. Nighttime temperatures are higher than ever. And scientists say that’s raising the risk of heat exhaustion and heatstroke – and taking away crucial time for you and the planet to recover.What do you need to know about the effects of heat on your health? And how you can stay safe?Find more of our programs online. Listen to 1A sponsor-free by signing up for 1A+ at plus.npr.org/the1a.See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy
Transcript
DISCLAIMER
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Speaker: 000:00:07
This is one a. I’m Naila Budu in for Jen White. Extreme heat isn’t just an inconvenience. It’s a growing public health threat. More than forty million people across The US have remained under heat alerts this month. Heat remains the deadliest extreme weather event in The United States. And in Europe, heat waves killed more than ten thousand people in June. That’s according to just published health data published from 27 countries. Climate change is making heat waves hotter and more frequent, and high temps aren’t just being reported in the daytime. Nighttime temperatures are higher than ever. And scientists say that’s raising the risk of heat exhaustion and heat stroke and taking away crucial time for you and the planet to recover. Today, what do you need to know about the effects of heat on your health and how you can stay safe, and what are cities and states doing to fight the heat? We’ll get into all of that, but first, let’s start in one county that is focusing on fighting extreme heat from the top. Joining us now is mayor Daniella Levine Cava, Democratic mayor of Miami Dade County, home to almost 3,000,000 people. Mayor Levine Cava, welcome to one a.
Speaker: 100:01:16
Thank you so much, Nyla.
Speaker: 000:01:17
Let’s start with a chief heat officer role that you created a few years ago. How did that position come to be? Why did you see a need for this? It’s the first one ever created.
Speaker: 100:01:29
I have to give credit to Adrienne Arish, who is a philanthropist and very involved in climate change issues, and she actually brought it to our attention. And we said, absolutely, we need to do that because after all, we are the heat capital in so many ways. So we did appoint the first in the world and we have been a national leader and an international leader since then. I co chair the Climate Mayor’s Extreme Heat Cohort. We’ve created an Extreme Heat Action Plan that has made incredible progress and is modeled across the the city and and the the country and the world. And, we are are moving forward and making great progress in reducing heat related related effects.
Speaker: 000:02:15
So I know that position was launched in 2021. Although it doesn’t exist anymore, it was eliminated as part of budget cuts last year. How is that work being done now?
Speaker: 100:02:26
Yeah. So in actual fact, our chief resilience officer is also our chief chief heat officer. So we haven’t eliminated it, but the founder, Jane Gilbert, did retire. She, again, global leader. And we also, have a dedicated staff person who is our coordinator and who is maintaining our focus,
Speaker: 000:02:49
on this work. What does it mean from a government spending level in Miami Dade County to focus on heat resistance? What does that look like?
Speaker: 100:02:58
Yeah. So we are doing so many things. We created a heat season. We, have cooling centers 60 around the county, so we leave buildings open, during the heat season. We, give our staff access to not just water and breaks and shade, but those who are exposed, we give them electrolytes, so that they can maintain their body healthy while working outdoors. So all of those things do cost money. We, also, have the staffing, as has been described, and we reduce our energy through all kinds of resilience measures. We’ve done so much to make our buildings more efficient, and that is is good for the environment, and it’s good for the budget as well.
Speaker: 000:03:49
We’re talking to mayor Danielle Lavigne Cava, Democratic mayor of Miami Dade County, Florida. Mayor, I wanted to play this voice mail we got from Alex.
Speaker: 200:03:57
I believe trees are some of the best ways we can adapt cities to climate change and mitigate the negative effects of heat. My concern is as we try to make more room for trees, we’re still competing with cars that seem to dominate our cities and have ample parking. I would like to see cities reduce parking and narrow streets to allow more connected green space while reducing the pervious pavement that hold heat well into the night.
Speaker: 000:04:20
Mayor Lubinkaba, I wonder how you would respond to Alex’s message there. I would say as a native Miami, and I know how much people love cars across the city. Like, how are you thinking about city infrastructure when it comes to fighting heat in Miami Dade?
Speaker: 100:04:34
Well, first, let’s talk about trees because trees absolutely are essential. They can reduce ambient temperature by as much as 10 degrees. So we have been very aggressively planting trees. Last year alone, we gave away 25,000 trees, so we had regular tree giveaways and particularly in the neighborhoods with lower tree canopy. So, that is a critical part of it. We also, of course, are pushing transit. Transit is much more efficient. It has lower emissions, so it’s overall helping climate as well as traffic.
Speaker: 000:05:11
So those are a few of the the ways that we’re addressing it. I mentioned nearly 3,000,000 people live across the county. We’ve all probably heard of the idea of extreme heat islands. Can you explain how in Miami, some neighborhoods are more unequal than others when it comes to how people are experiencing extreme heat?
Speaker: 100:05:29
Yeah. As I said, you’ve got lower income communities, sadly, are often those with the lower tree canopy. So we’ve been targeting our tree giveaway and our tree maintenance in those neighborhoods and actually providing support for how to take care of those trees. Also, removal of large trees is very much discouraged, and we’ve also started relocating large trees. If infrastructure projects require their removal, we are working hard and have been working with some fantastic vendors to move them so that we do not lose, the overall benefit of that. We also have done a lot to bring more cooling to those neighborhoods. So the cooling centers, I mentioned 60, that are across the county. We also, for example, in our public housing installed 1,700 high efficiency cooling units, through dollars from the infrastructure bill in the previous administration. So we also have shaded now, bus stops. That’s critically important. We want people to use transit, but they’re exposed to the elements, including heat, so we have launched an aggressive campaign to provide shade for for those who have to, wait in in the elements for their buses.
Speaker: 000:06:51
Mary, you mentioned the previous administration. Are you getting the support from the federal government, as well as from Tallahassee and state government for, these different implementations that you would like to have across this the county?
Speaker: 100:07:06
Well, I will say, sadly, the state legislature preempted us from heat standards standards for workers other than our own county employees who we do protect. But fortunately, we’ve been able to raise awareness with our public education campaigns, and we have hundreds of companies that have come to us for training and education and utilizing our tools, how to protect their workers with shade, water, and rest.
Speaker: 000:07:34
We got this text message. I work outdoors at parks in Miami Dade County. Some parks have put out big barrels of cool water with cups for the attendees. Other hosts have made sure lots of coolers full of bottles of water were available. In the past few years, I’ve been at events, and patrons have passed out. EMS has to be called. I passed out once at home. I believe I was experiencing dehydration. I’ve now made a simple concoction of water, a tablespoon of lemon juice, and orange juice, and salt, and sip on that throughout the event. Mayor Lavinkava, when you think about, the culture, particularly around workers and what employers need to do, you mentioned that you have tried to set a standard with county workers. What else have you, what other conversations do you have with major employers, especially as people are working outside to protect them?
Speaker: 100:08:24
Yeah. So definitely, we’ve been very successful with a lot of our employers adopting voluntarily because we’re preempted from mandating the kinds of protections that, this this person has mentioned. But as well, we’re very aggressive with our hydration stations. So water is life is our theme for our water and sewer department. We go with, dispensers of of water from the tap. Right? We’re avoiding water bottles. We don’t need those. We want people to to bring their own containers and, of course, if they’re using bottles to recycle. But I’ll give you an example. World Cup, we just had seven games. And during that time, most of the games were on days of extreme heat. In fact, the first extreme heat day was on the first day of World Cup, June 15. We have been so successful in preventing serious illness from heat, we distributed about enough water in cups to about twenty percent of the game attendees across, the the games, the the whole season, and that, unfortunately, they were not allowed to bring more than a small water bottle, and, of course, it costs money at those stadiums to to purchase. So we were very pleased. We had cooling stations, and people availed themselves of that, and we were able to greatly reduce any injury both at the games and at our fan fest. You know, when you think about South Florida, I think,
Speaker: 000:09:50
hurricanes are sort of the natural disaster that gets encoded into people’s DNA. Tropical storm Bertha is making its way across The Gulf as we speak. How do you think about heat waves as part of your overall natural disaster strategy, and how are you trying to help people recognize this can be a serious problem?
Speaker: 100:10:08
Yeah. We added heat to our trifecta, hurricanes, floods, and heat. So what used to be our annual hurricane season is now all three. And we use that for public education, awareness, prevention, just as you say. We also worked with the National Weather Service to signal extreme heat at a lower temperature given the extreme humid conditions in our environment. So all of this is designed around increasing awareness. Look, when we started this with the first heat officer, people laughed. They thought it was a joke, but they’re not laughing anymore.
Speaker: 000:10:47
That was Daniella Levine Cava, Democratic mayor of Miami Dade County, Florida. Mayor Levine Cava, thank you for being with us. We appreciate it. Thank you. We got this from another listener in Florida. I plant native trees and bushes here in South Florida, and my property stays about 15 degrees cooler most days. I find it pleasant to garden any time of day. If people did not remove trees and did not let developers remove trees, then the land will take care of itself. You can keep the comments coming by emailing 1a@wamu.org. Coming up, the effects of heat on your health, what do you need to know, and how can you stay safe? I’m Nyla Budu. This is one a from WAMU and NPR. I’m Naila Budu. This is one a. We’re talking about extreme heat. Let’s turn to the effects of extreme heat on our bodies and what you can do to stay safe. Joining us now is Amrita Nourisarma. She’s an environmental epidemiologist studying climate change and health, an and assistant professor at the Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health. Amrita, welcome. Thank you for having me. And Jiva Lang is also with us. She’s a staff writer at Heatmap News. Jiva, it’s nice to have you as well. Hi. Excited to be here. And we wanna hear from you listening. How are you responding to the heat and staying cool this summer? We just heard from Miami Dade County. What are your city officials doing? Share your tips and experiences. You can email us 1a@wamu.org. Jeva, I was just mentioning we just spoke with the mayor of Miami Dade County. I just wondered your thoughts about what she said about cities, climate resilience, the idea of having someone actually at the county level focusing on this.
Speaker: 400:12:58
Yeah. I think this is really important work, and Miami is such a leader in this area. And, I think there’s other cities too that are doing great work in this area as well. The two that come to mind are, Spokane and Portland, have been pursuing, temperature maximums for renters. Renters tend to have the lowest AC, access of, compared to homeowners, and that’s been a really exciting, method of pursuit for those cities to protect people from the extreme heat. But I think the the big takeaway here is just that we need to be taking heat more seriously, whether that’s protections for people at home or protections, like you were discussing, the heat can or the urban heat effect
Speaker: 000:13:50
and the tree canopy is, protecting people in that way. And, Risha, do we know yet, as we see cities taking more action, if there’s a way to determine if that is leading to fewer heat related emergency room visits?
Speaker: 300:14:04
Yeah. This is a great question. And I think that it’s a little bit challenging because there’s obviously some lag between when the heat wave happens and when we get back information. So we might have to wait for a couple of weeks to know whether or not the strategies were effective, but we are starting to get information quicker and quicker, regarding emergency department visits and hospitalizations associated with heat. We’re also starting to see signals in some of the more nontraditional health outcomes that are associated with extreme heat. So, you might think of heat stress or heat stroke as some of the more obvious directly related pathways, but we’re starting to see things like dehydration illnesses, renal insufficiency. We’re seeing some patterns in terms of changes in the ways that people respond for those health outcomes as well. So I think looking beyond just the traditional health outcomes is a good way that we can start to see those signals sooner as well.
Speaker: 000:14:59
Jeva, it’s been a few weeks since the July 4 weekend, which we saw record breaking heat waves throughout the country. More than 20 cities broke heat records this month. We know temperatures are rising year after year as a result of climate change. What factors are behind this summer’s extreme heat that we need to know about?
Speaker: 400:15:19
Yeah. Great question. June 2026 was the second warmest globally, and it was the hottest ever for Western Europe. I think when you look at the headline number for The United States, it’s the eighteenth warmest June in the Contiguous United States. It just doesn’t sound very extreme. But what we’re seeing is these prolonged severe heat domes. So those highs are really, really high. Like you were saying, there were, I think, 1,300 heat records matched or broken over that fourth of July weekend. And that’s just, again, because the because of greenhouse gas emissions and also, likely a strong El Nino. We’re still figuring out exactly what mechanism is at play for the heat here, but
Speaker: 000:15:58
the greenhouse gas emissions make the entire atmosphere warmer. That means we’re starting at a warmer baseline. So these highs can get really, really high as a as a result of that. Jeva, we should I wonder if you can just help us understand. We’ve used the term extreme heat a few times now. Can you define that for us precisely in how it’s categorized?
Speaker: 400:16:16
Yeah. It’s a it’s a hard question to answer because extreme heat, is so contextual. Extreme heat for people in the South is very different than extreme heat for people in, say, the Pacific Northwest or people in Northern Europe, these places that haven’t seen extreme temperatures before. So there isn’t really, like, a number or a threshold that you have to break in order to be have extreme heat or not. It’s really about, how
Speaker: 000:16:40
how much does this diverge from the historic norms in this area. So, Amrita, you talked about heat related emergency room visits. Around 120,000 were recorded across The US in 2023. That’s according to the CDC. At what temperature and under what temperature conditions with the heat index, does the heat become particularly dangerous for our bodies? And I imagine, of course, there are caveats to people who are much more vulnerable than others.
Speaker: 300:17:10
Yeah. That’s a really good question. And I think, going back to one of the things that Jeeva was saying a few minutes ago, it’s so contextual because extreme heat, it means something different if you’re in the Northern Part of US compared with the Southern Part of US. Some of that is also about adaptation that’s already been implemented in different communities. So, you know, homes in the Southern United States might have air conditioning, for example. So the ambient temperatures might have a less of an impact until the temperature gets much more extreme. But generally speaking, once we see a combination of heat and humidity, that’s above about the ninety fifth percentile of whatever is normal for that area. That’s when we start to see these really sharp increases. And we think of that as a more extreme heat period. And we start to look at comparing increases in some of those severe cases of heat related illness around that threshold. What does the ninety fifth percentile mean? Again, it means something different if you’re in the Southern US compared with New York or Boston, for example.
Speaker: 000:18:15
What are some signs people should look out for that might signal heat exhaustion or heat stroke, and what’s the difference between those two, Amrita?
Speaker: 300:18:24
Yeah. So heat exhaustion is, maybe I could call it a little bit of a less extreme version of heat related illness. It’s where people start to feel tired. Your body is no longer able to sweat, which is one of the primary ways that we kind of cool off when it’s very hot outside. By comparison, heat stroke looks very similar to a regular stroke. It’s dizziness. It’s, kind of loss of speech patterns. It’s, you know, changes in your ability to speak. It’s changes in your ability in your cognitive function. And it is generally something that requires more severe treatment. So, if you have heat exhaustion, you can generally treat that at home with hydration. One of the things that the mayor was mentioning earlier is that water is life. That’s very important. If you’re having a heat stroke, that should be you know, you should be looking out for some of those more severe symptoms, and that should be a good reason to visit an emergency room or an urgent care facility to get your core body temperature cooled down.
Speaker: 000:19:32
Jeva, there are as many as twelve thousand recorded heat deaths in The US each year. How does that how do we account for that? How do we know that people have died because of extreme heat?
Speaker: 400:19:42
It’s a complicated question. There’s about three different ways you can calculate excess or, heat deaths. One is direct and indirect. These are two different categories of looking at deaths. So direct deaths from heat, there’s a diagnostic code. It’s x 30. It’s a medical classification for a death due to excessive natural heat. This is distinct from excessive unnatural heat, such as a tanning bed death, a little bit of morbid trivia through the morning. But the direct deaths are exactly what we’re talking about in terms of heat exhaustion or heat stroke. The the classic what you think of as somebody dying from heat. Then there are excess dust or indirect dust from heat. That’s cardiovascular events, stroke, complications from diabetes, respiratory illness, all the other ways that heat can kill you that’s maybe a little bit more invisible. So if somebody comes into a hospital with a heart attack, the physicians are treating that heart attack. They’re not sitting there being like, is this heart attack from the heat outside right now? So it might not be coded as a direct heat death, but it’s still somebody who died from the heat. And there’s two different ways you can count these excess heat deaths. So one is to look at how many more people died compared to what you would have expected for that period of time. And then for so for an example of this is, in France, there were, twenty one thousand six hundred all cause deaths between June 17 and July 2. That was their heat wave in Europe. Statistical modeling would have expected about fifteen thousand nine hundred and ten deaths based on the previous year, so that gives us an excess of about seven or, five thousand seven hundred. And then the third way of doing this is basically a predictive model. So saying we know when the temperature rises by x amount, this number of people will die and kind of using that model to fit with, the temperatures that were recorded. So there’s a bunch of different ways to record excess deaths, a bunch of different models that need to be peer reviewed. And so this this work is still ongoing for heat events, both in Europe and in North America. But this is why you can see many different numbers for how many people died in a given heat wave.
Speaker: 000:21:50
That’s Jiva Lang, a staff writer at Heatmap News. We’re also talking to Amrita Nourasarmi Nuri Sarma. She’s a environmental epidemiologist studying climate change and health. We’re getting texts and emails from you all. We got this text from one of you. I am medically unable to deal well with heat. Anytime the temps start hitting the upper eighties, I am strictly inside or headed for another air conditioned space. Of course, that means I miss out on all the nice outdoor activities, including the beach. Amrita, can I ask you we also got this text? Is there any data on how COVID is impacting people’s heat tolerances or exacerbating heat effects? I’ve been getting more frequent migraines from the heat. Friends of mine with high blood pressure are reporting suffering. It seems like I’m less able to tolerate it now than I was a couple of years ago.
Speaker: 300:22:40
Yeah. That’s a great question. And I think that there are potentially two things that are happening here. The first one is that, obviously, COVID changed a lot of people’s, ability to be in public spaces. And I think for a long time, people were kind of isolating and staying indoors, avoiding close contact with other people. And as a result, I think there have been some long term impacts on, immune systems across the board. And so I think people have definitely suffered from that long lack of exposure to the outdoors and to other people. And I think that has some, immunological implications for the long term. I think the other thing is that people who have experienced COVID illness, and at this point, we’ve gone through multiple waves of COVID, that might also have an individual level impact, as this person mentioned in their note. So people who have experienced maybe some of the symptoms of long COVID, we do talk about often how one of the most vulnerable groups, to extreme heat is people with preexisting medical conditions. So we do know that people who have underlying, for example, cardiovascular diseases or illnesses, people who have respiratory illnesses, people who have pre existing mental health conditions may be particularly susceptible when it’s very hot outside. And I would say the same is likely true for people who are experiencing the symptoms of long COVID. There might be some individual level vulnerability because of the long term medical impacts that you’re facing after having a period of COVID infection as well.
Speaker: 000:24:16
I wanted to, Jeeva, talk to you about wildfire smoke. This year, along with the heat, we’ve seen wildfire smoke from Canada blanketing the Midwest and East Coast affecting a hundred and fifteen million Americans. What’s the relationship between extreme heat and wildfires? What’s made this year’s wildfire smoke especially bad?
Speaker: 400:24:35
Yeah. So there’s, it’s there there’s a lot of relationships between wildfire smoke and heat. In particular, this year, the the smoke was directed over the most populated areas of The United States by the heat dome, which was raising all of those temperatures. So the temperatures got really hot in, Northern Minnesota and Ontario. There were lightning fires, and, that smoke then rotated around this heat dome that was making extreme temperatures, and blew the smoke into some of the most populated areas of the country. And this is, when we talk about, like, compounding climate crises, this is kind of the classic example of you wanna run your air conditioning, you wanna have your windows open because it’s so hot out, but at the same time, you need to protect yourself from the wildfire smoke. So these two crises really go hand in hand and make a kind of a perfect storm of, like, terrible conditions that you want to avoid.
Speaker: 000:25:34
Yeah. Emerta, a study published in February by the journal Scientific Advance shows that wildfire smoke inhalation caused twenty four thousand deaths each year from 2006 to 2020. What effect does wildfire smoke have on our bodies?
Speaker: 300:25:53
Well, we know that there are a lot of impacts from just overall air pollution exposure. There’s a pretty direct relationship between how much particulate matter you’re inhaling, especially the finer particulate matter that’s smaller in size, which can descend deeper into the lungs and cross the blood brain barrier and lead to a whole host of different health outcomes. And we know that that happens even at very low levels. So once we get into particulate matter that’s much of much higher in concentration, such as the, PM that we see from wildfires, we can see a lot of different health impacts from that. We see respiratory illnesses. We see cardiovascular illnesses. We see increases in stroke. There are a lot of different health impacts from, exposure to that high level of particulate matter. The other thing that I think is really important is, you know, in addition to people not being used to those very high levels, you know, in The United States, because PM 2.5 has historically since the Clean Air Act, been pretty heavily regulated, we’ve seen, pretty low concentrations on a regular basis of particulate matter. But when we have a wildfire where trees are burning or maybe urban areas are burning, we’ll see these huge spikes in the levels of PM 2.5, and people just aren’t used to it. People are experiencing these extreme levels, that that they haven’t been experiencing historically at baseline.
Speaker: 000:27:18
Jeva, in a headline this month, heat map calls wildfire smoke the East Coast’s new forever problem. Are there federal guidelines that exist around wildfire smoke the way we’ve been talking about cities trying to deal with extreme heat? From a policy standpoint, are we doing enough to deal with this persistent problem?
Speaker: 400:27:38
I don’t think so. This is such a new problem in parts of the country that there aren’t really standards for dealing with it. I think a really good example of this actually is that heat and air quality alerts are not typically considered together. These are two separate metrics and two separate alert systems. And, really, they should not be triggered independently. They should be considered together. Again, as you were talking about, they go hand in hand. And I think we’re just seeing the way that cities are kind of on their back foot with dealing with wildfire smoke when it comes to everything from deciding at what point we should cancel sporting events or outdoor events. There’s not really an AQI threshold that people talk about yet. And I think, yeah, it’s just an area that there’s a lot of opportunity to make decisions now before it gets worse.
Speaker: 000:28:30
That’s Jiva Lang, a staff writer with Heatmap News. We’re discussing street extreme heat as well with Amruta Nuri Sarma. She’s an assistant professor of environmental health and population sciences at Harvard. Still to come, what are the long term effects of heat exposure on your health, and what responsibility do local and national governments have to protect you? And you can join the conversation. We got this text. I live in Dallas, and the temperature yesterday went up to 111 degrees. I make sure I have lots of water, leave my car windows open when I park, and I park my car in the shade. I’m trying to stay in shaded areas as much as possible. We’re gonna be talking about shade coming up. You can keep the questions or comments coming to 1a@wamu.org. I’m Nyla Voodoo. This is one a. Let’s get back to our conversation on extreme heat with Amruta Nuri Sarma. She’s an assistant professor of environmental health and population sciences at Harvard, and Jeeva Lang, a staff writer at Heatmap News. Jiva, I wanted to go back to Europe for a moment. We’ve talked about the fifty seven hundred heat related deaths in June that France recorded, thirty six percent more than the average year. That’s the most since February heat wave. Jiva, I hear from my family in Europe a lot about how different it is compared to America experiencing heat waves. You were in Europe in June. What was it like?
Speaker: 400:30:30
Yeah. I was in Europe in June, and I was there specifically with my nine month old baby and my father who both fall into these vulnerable populations, a very young person and older person. And it was really scary. I mean, we were privileged enough to be on vacation. We were staying hotels that had great AC, but I really feel for people who didn’t have that ability to get out of the heat very easily. One of our kind of scary experiences was actually in Paris the first day of the heat wave where we were out with our baby in a backpack, and she got way too hot. She was slumped over. We actually were trying to find a place that had AC to get her to cool down. And it was very difficult to find AC. It’s just not as widely available as it is in The United States. So I think both culturally, there’s not the same, emphasis on putting an AC unit in your building as there is in The United States. And then also just these aren’t places that have historically had to deal with extreme heat. And as a result, the buildings, the airflows, all of the infrastructure there is just not set up for,
Speaker: 000:31:34
these triple digit temperatures that they’re seeing now. We got this text from James. I spend most of my day in my living room because it’s the only air conditioned room in my 100 year old home. Having just returned from The UK, I appreciate the amount of air conditioning we have in The US. I’ve also been taking cold showers to cool off. As for others in my area, I know in the past that the city has used the old train Depot as a cooling center as we do have a significant number of unhoused people. Jiva, when we talk about air conditioning, that’s 90% of American households who have it. In Europe, that’s about 20% to what you’re discussing. I wanted to ask you, there’s a pilot program in New York City that’s giving renters power banks to try to alleviate the strain on the power grid for their, air conditionings from everyone turning on their AC at once. It’s just a small program right now, but giving away renter friendly generators. The company that’s giving away these renter friendly generators hopes to roll it out in other cities. How important is air conditioning to this conversation, especially as we factor in the electrical grid as well as the fossil fuel consumption that happens as we’re using AC?
Speaker: 400:32:47
Yeah. AC is life giving at this moment in The United States. We really rely on it. And I think that there is a danger in over relying on air conditioning. There are scenarios that have been run specifically looking at what would happen in Phoenix if there was a heat wave, and the numbers up there are pretty scary. I think it’s like a third of the city could end up hospitalized if there was a multi day heat wave where there was a blackout at the same time. And so while AC is important and critical and especially access to AC, again, this is also an affordability issue, of course, or people who can’t afford to run their AC all summer. We need to be finding other ways to keep our cities cool as well.
Speaker: 000:33:31
We got this text from Diane. Houston is hot, muggy, and feels like temperatures of a 105 and up. It’s best to stay inside and only go outside if necessary. Even dog walking has to be curtailed and shifted off sidewalks and roads to shaded area. My biggest fear is that the electrical grid can’t handle the load and power outages result. Dheeva, how have we seen the grid handling things this summer? Pretty well, it seems.
Speaker: 400:33:55
Yeah. So far, it’s been okay. And I think that’s a relief. We’ve also seen these record pulls on the grid, especially in the New York City area, I believe. And so it’s holding up okay. But, again, this is always a thing that operators are worried about in the summer is the potential for because the heat doesn’t just stress people’s bodies. It stresses the infrastructure too, the electrical grid’s infrastructure. So, at the same time, our bodies are getting exhausted. The infrastructure is getting exhausted.
Speaker: 000:34:27
Emerta, do we need to be considering AC as a public health matter, access to air conditioning?
Speaker: 300:34:34
Absolutely. And it’s one of the strategies that I think has been mentioned consistently throughout the last, you know, few minutes of the conversation, you know, opening up cooling centers as a public health intervention, air conditioned spaces for public access. And I think that, you know, we need to, as you said, balance the pros and cons of additional reliance on, air conditioning, especially as we start to see more and more number of days where we’re hitting these extreme temperatures and longer and longer periods where we need those types of interventions or some sort of alternative
Speaker: 000:35:08
for public health. Can I ask you about Diane’s text, Ruta, where she says that it’s best to stay inside and only go outside? Dog walking even has to be curtailed. What are we seeing with extreme heat? I know it’s really affected my exercise routine this summer. As someone who likes to exercise outdoors, how how are we seeing extreme heat affecting people’s health in that way?
Speaker: 300:35:31
Yeah. I think it makes it more challenging to do some of those outdoor activities that you might enjoy. I think that, you know, one of the things we could do is we could ask people to shift the timings when they’re going outside for their activities or for their exercise. So instead of, you know, going in the middle of the day, maybe focusing on early morning periods where the temperatures might be slightly cooler, of course, that only works when we don’t see the extended periods of extreme heat that lasts into the night. And there might be other options such as, you know, trying to work out in an air conditioned space or in a gym or something along those lines. But I do think it does have impacts for people who usually prefer to exercise outdoors.
Speaker: 000:36:10
Let’s talk about air conditioning, cooling centers. I wanted to play a little bit of New York City mayor Zoran Mondami before the fourth of July holiday earlier this month talking about mitigating the effects of heat exposure.
Speaker: 500:36:23
These are extremely dangerous conditions, and they will affect every part of our city. To prepare, I have activated the city’s heat emergency plan. Since last week, our city agencies have been proactively coordinating to keep New Yorkers and tourists safe. We will also issue targeted alerts through our city’s advanced warning system to protect our most vulnerable neighbors, like older New Yorkers and those with chronic illnesses. Beginning tomorrow, the city will open hundreds of cooling centers across the five boroughs.
Speaker: 000:36:57
Amruta, aside from cooling centers and vans that the New York City mayor announced, what else is important to be, you can do to stay cool in record heat, especially if you’re not able to access those facilities?
Speaker: 300:37:12
Yeah. We’ve done a lot of work, especially in the Greater Boston area to try and understand what the, factors are that encourage people to use public spaces for cooling activities and also what some of the barriers might be. I think a couple of things that are really important is that people who would use those facilities want active cooling or active opportunities to become cooler in places that they’re already going. So I think one of the things that the mayor mentioned earlier was providing drinking water in those high important component, rather than having another place that people have to go to get protection from the heat. Other things are looking for other types of cooling. So public splash pads, public pools, places where people could use water based activities. We know that those are really protective during extreme heat waves as well. And then finally making drinking water widely available, shaded spaces widely available. Maybe those aren’t as effective as air conditioned spaces, but in an opportunity to have shade versus direct sunlight, I think the shade will often be preferable,
Speaker: 000:38:28
to reduce some of those health impacts as well. I do wanna talk about shade, but first, can I just ask you about the water breaks, especially for outdoor workers? We heard Miami Dade mayor Danielle LaVine Cava talk about the fact that they tried to pass legislation in Miami that was overturned, by the governor. The same and the similar things we’ve seen in Texas in 2023. Republican Texas governor Greg Abbott approved a law eliminating ten minute water breaks for construction workers arguing that it bogs down businesses. As we’re seeing some states move to take away these protections from different municipalities, what can people who work outdoors or have to be outdoors for prolonged periods of time do to stay safe?
Speaker: 300:39:13
It’s a good question. And I think, you know, carrying water on their person so that they can continue to take sips of water throughout the day, it’s really important to stay hydrated. That’s the only way that we’re going to see, you know, less of these extreme health outcomes. And one of the things that I would argue from a public health perspective is that, yes, it could be disruptive to have a ten minute water break, but it would also be disruptive to have a worker who experiences heat stress or heat exhaustion or heat stroke and has to have a more severe medical intervention as a result. So I think it’s important for businesses to take those different trade offs into consideration. Do I give my workers a ten minute water breaks in order to ensure that I’m not they’re not experiencing a larger health event down the line? So, you know, I think I think it’s really important to make sure that people can have access to hydration, access to breaks, access to shaded spaces if they’re working outdoors.
Speaker: 000:40:08
As we’re talking about shade, last summer during another heat wave in Europe, we spent an hour talking about the value of shade and staying cool and why most cities in The US don’t have enough of it. Here’s V. Kelly Turner, a professor of planning at UCLA.
Speaker: 300:40:23
Shade fundamentally changes the equation about how much energy your body needs to expend when it’s hot. All else equal, a person standing in the shade can be up to 30 degrees Celsius cooler than someone just a few feet away standing in the sunlight.
Speaker: 000:40:40
You can find that conversation online at the 1a.org. Emerita, this morning, I will say it was a wonderful, amazing 68 degrees in DC. I was so excited. I had a wonderful few minutes outside before I came into the station. I feel like I’ve been trapped inside for so long. As someone who’s researched the effects of heat on mental health as well, what do we need to know about that?
Speaker: 300:41:02
Yeah. We know that heat has really severe impacts on people’s physical health and what’s starting to become more apparent is that people’s mental health is really impacted as well. We’ve seen in some recent work that my team has done looking at emergency department visits associated with all different types of mental health causes, increases in emergency department visits as summertime temperatures increase. So this is for things like substance use disorders, schizophrenia, self harm, mood disorders, anxiety, stress disorders. There are a whole host of different mental illnesses that present and get exacerbated
Speaker: 000:41:36
during periods of extreme heat. We got this email from Jordan. Amrita, I wonder if you can just answer it quickly. Jordan says, I’ve heard that those who take SSRI medications for anxiety or depression have a more difficult time regulating body temperature and wind up suffering a bit more in excessive heat. Is there any truth to this?
Speaker: 300:41:55
Yes. This is actually, a documented pathway. SSRIs can cause heat intolerance because they interfere with the hypothalamus, which is the temperature regulator in the brain. This also, can increase the risk of things like dehydration, heat exhaustion, and heat stroke. I think SSRIs also have been shown to, interfere with sweat production as well. So, you know, taking SSRIs can impair your body’s cooling ability. They can also disrupt the thirst mechanism. So they can make it harder to know when your body is actually getting thirsty, which is a signal that starts the pathway of dehydration. So again, all of the same things that we’ve been talking about previously, just making sure that you’re staying hydrated, important for folks who have underlying medical conditions that require treatment with SSRIs.
Speaker: 000:42:45
Jibo, I just wanna shift the conversation back to the idea of federal policy, federal funding. The Trump administration is proposing a $1,700,000,000 or about 27% cut to NOAA as part of the 2027 fiscal splint spending plan. How will these cuts affect forecasting, if at all?
Speaker: 400:43:04
Yeah. This is a really important point, and there’s a lot of things that worry me about this, but the most relevant to our conversation is that staff cuts would mean things like weather balloon launches and sensor maintenance are no longer happening. Weather balloon launches, happen regularly. They help us measure wind, temperature, humidity, pressure, and make those severe weather forecasts. And the administration has said that they want to pivot to AI, that they think that this is a way forward in forecasting, but artificial intelligence is only as strong as the data that’s being input. And if we’re not getting that robust data from the field, which takes takes boots on the ground, takes people out there launching the balloons themselves or fixing sensors at sea, then we’re just not the quality of our forecast is going to be severely degraded.
Speaker: 000:43:51
We just have about a minute or two left. I just wanna ask you, Amrutha, if we talk about climate change making it hotter each year and this is our new normal, what should we be thinking about or doing as individuals or at the community level?
Speaker: 300:44:04
We we have a lot of, individual level protective factors. One of the ones that I like to mention is, social networks, reliance on social networks to help us to stay safe during times of extreme weather, including extreme heat. You know, David mentioned earlier, some of the vulnerable populations, including the elderly, making sure that friends are checking in on friends, neighbors are checking in on neighbors or if you know that your loved one has a medication that they’re taking that they might, that might impact their ability to regulate during heat waves, that they have access to the resources that they need. I think there are a lot of other resources that are available, that we’ve been talking about over the course of the last little bit. And, one of the best ways that we can make sure that especially those folks who are vulnerable know about the resources that are available within your community is also through those social networks as well.
Speaker: 000:44:59
That was Emerita Nuri Sarma. She’s an environmental epidemiologist and assistant professor of environmental health and population sciences at the Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health. I wanna thank Jeeva Lang as well for joining us, a staff writer at Heatmap News. Remember, the one a podcast is a great way to catch up on anything you might have missed. It’s where you’ll find our best guests and stories every day. Today’s producers were Arfy Geddie and Thomas Lu. This program comes to you from WAMU, part of American University in Washington, distributed by NPR. I’m Nyla Budou in for Jen White. Jen’s out for a few weeks. Join me tomorrow for the Friday news roundup. This is one a.
Climate Change and Extreme Heat End of Summer Episode with Dr. Kelly Turner and Dr. Ladd Keith
Duration: 00:53:01
Released: 2023
Series: America Adapts - The Climate Change Podcast
In episode 192 of America Adapts, Doug Parsons hosts Dr. Kelly Turner and Dr. Ladd Keith. Kelly is an Associate Professor of Urban Planning at UCLA and Ladd is an assistant professor in the School of Landscape Architecture and Planning at the University of Arizona. We learn how extreme heat disproportionately impacts marginalized communities. We also explore the evolving media coverage of extreme heat. The three of us break down the highs and lows of all the media coverage of extreme heat this past summer. We also learn about Kelly’s research on heat’s impact on California schools, and what that means for both public health and student learning. We take a dive into federal approaches to heat management and learn about the glaring disparity in resources and attention allocated to extreme heat compared to other climate hazards and ponder the potential for FEMA to classify extreme heat as a disaster declaration. We also discuss the value of having a national adaptation plan for extreme heat planning. Finally, and yes, we go there, we get an update on the efforts to name heat waves. We highlight the pros and cons of this approach and discuss other options. It is a gangbuster episode and that’s just a sampling of what we cover. Transcripts for this episode available here. (These are computer generated so pardon the errors.) Topics Covered: Dr. Turner specializes in heat equity research, while Dr. Keith focuses on heat policy planning and governance. Increasing prevalence of extreme heat due to climate change and its disproportionate impact on marginalized groups. Media coverage of extreme heat is becoming more sophisticated, highlighting impacts on workers and public health. Dr. Turner’s research in California focuses on schools and heat’s impact on student learning. Discussion of heating planning strategies including shade in urban design. The Biden administration is updating heat safety labor laws, emphasizing the need for comprehensive regulations at state and federal levels and the potential for FEMA labeling heat events as disaster declarations. Naming heat waves to increase public awareness is debated, highlighting the importance of reaching vulnerable populations. Will heat lead to managed retreat from regions that become uninhabitable? A national adaptation plan is emphasized to address heat impacts, especially for marginalized communities. Thoughts on Jeff Goodell’s “The Heat Will Kill You” book. Donate to America Adapts Subscribe to the America Adapts newsletter here. Listen to America Adapts on your favorite app here! Facebook, Linkedin and Twitter: https://www.facebook.com/americaadapts/ @usaadapts https://www.linkedin.com/in/doug-parsons-america-adapts/https://www.linkedin.com/in/laddkeith/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/v-kelly-turner-a321a21b/ Links in this episode: https://luskin.ucla.edu/person/v-kelly-turner https://www.laddkeith.com/ Shade is an essential solution for hotter citieshttps://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-023-02311-3 Opinion: How California can keep kids cool amid extreme heat https://www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2023-07-18/california-extreme-heat-schools-kids-equity How cities are battling extreme heat, and why record-breaking temps don’t tell the whole story https://news.arizona.edu/story/how-cities-are-battling-extreme-heat-and-why-record-breaking-temps-dont-tell-whole-story?fbclid=IwAR0YgLHqTVhNXpZnE5T_mpLf-N9ZxA2VaqE-b1BpZuKIVU96pFXRZhM1zjk Southwest Urban Corridor Integrated Field Laboratory https://sw-ifl.asu.edu/?fbclid=IwAR0H703Z4jWEheQDYuv2N2cQzvrJOVkM11LW001tZBJIR6GmfTma9NW77TE https://climas.arizona.edu/?fbclid=IwAR0H703Z4jWEheQDYuv2N2cQzvrJOVkM11LW001tZBJIR6GmfTma9NW77TE Reporting on Extreme Heat and Healthhttps://ghhin.org/press/?fbclid=IwAR04LNV-ZvBvIOV-nMLFROLO0ZWu1MdJmIZ7ofuNQ92VihN0smNmhPt12U4 Donate to America Adapts Follow on Apple Podcasts Follow on Android Doug Parsons and Speaking Opportunities: If you are interested in having Doug speak at corporate and conference events, sharing his unique, expert perspective on adaptation in an entertaining and informative way, more information can be found here! Now on Spotify! List of Previous Guests on America Adapts Follow/listen to podcast on Apple Podcasts. Donate to America Adapts, we are now a tax deductible charitable organization! Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco Strategies to Address Climate Change Risk in Low- and Moderate-income Communities - Volume 14, Issue 1 https://www.frbsf.org/community-development/publications/community-development-investment-review/2019/october/strategies-to-address-climate-change-low-moderate-income-communities/ Podcasts in the Classroom – Discussion guides now available for the latest episode of America Adapts. These guides can be used by educators at all levels. Check them out here! The 10 Best Sustainability Podcasts for Environmental Business Leadershttps://us.anteagroup.com/news-events/blog/10-best-sustainability-podcasts-environmental-business-leaders The best climate change podcasts on The Climate Advisorhttp://theclimateadvisor.com/the-best-climate-change-podcasts/ 7 podcasts to learn more about climate change and how to fight ithttps://kinder.world/articles/you/7-podcasts-to-learn-more-about-climate-change-and-how-to-fight-it-19813 Directions on how to listen to America Adapts on Amazon Alexahttps://youtu.be/949R8CRpUYU America Adapts also has its own app for your listening pleasure! Just visit the App store on Apple or Google Play on Android and search “America Adapts.” Join the climate change adaptation movement by supporting America Adapts! Please consider supporting this podcast by donating through America Adapts fiscal sponsor, the Social Good Fund. All donations are now tax deductible! For more information on this podcast, visit the website at http://www.americaadapts.org and don’t forget to subscribe to this podcast on Apple Podcasts. Podcast Music produce by Richard Haitz Productions Write a review on Apple Podcasts ! America Adapts on Facebook! Join the America Adapts Facebook Community Group. Check us out, we’re also on YouTube! Executive Producer Dr. Jesse Keenan Subscribe to America Adapts on Apple Podcasts Doug can be contacted at americaadapts @ g mail . com
Designing for climate change
Duration: 00:24:30
Released: 2018
Series: Better Off
A new study from Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health found that students who lived in dormitories without air conditioning during a heat wave performed worse on a series of simple tests compared with students who lived in air-conditioned dorms. The findings show that the effects of extreme heat are not just felt by those typically thought of as vulnerable—such as the elderly. And with global temperatures on the rise, the research underscores the need for sustainable design solutions in mitigating the health impacts of extreme heat. In this week’s episode, we’ll speak with the authors of that study to learn how we can better design our buildings and cities to adapt to our changing climate. You’ll hear from Joe Allen, assistant professor of exposure assessment science and director of the Healthy Buildings Program at the Center for Climate, Health, and the Global Environment, and Jose Guillermo (Memo) Cedeño Laurent, associate director of the Healthy Buildings Program.
Does It Feel Like Mosquitoes Are Getting Worse?
Duration: 00:13:19
Released: 2025
Series: Short Wave
Mosquitoes are the deadliest animal on the planet, and some of them may be on the rise. At least in listener Abigail Krich-Starr’s area, that’s due to warmer, wetter weather — which, yes, is linked to climate change. But it doesn’t stop there: Ecologists and entomologists say increased heat could also alter mosquito behavior, shift their natural habitat, and even change how pathogens incubate and spread inside their bodies.So how do you protect yourself against the (mosquito) masses? Our experts suggested several things:- Assess your risk by checking local mosquito surveillance efforts, like this one for the state of Massachusetts- Consider rescheduling outdoor events happening between dusk and dawn, which is peak biting time for multiple mosquito species- Wear long-sleeved shirts and pants, weather-permitting, to limit exposed skin- Use an EPA-approved DEET repellent, and/or a permethrin spray for clothing and outdoor gearThis episode is part of Nature Quest, a monthly Short Wave segment that answers listener questions about the local environment.Got a question about changes in your local environment? Send a voice memo to shortwave@npr.org with your name, where you live and your question. We might make it into our next Nature Quest episode! Listen to every episode of Short Wave sponsor-free and support our work at NPR by signing up for Short Wave+ at plus.npr.org/shortwave.See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy
Fire And Ice - Linking Intense Wildfire And The Melting Arctic
Duration: 00:12:13
Released: 2023
Series: Short Wave
In the Arctic Ocean, sea ice is shrinking as the climate heats up. In the Western U.S., wildfires are getting increasingly destructive. Those two phenomena are thousands of miles apart, but scientists are uncovering a surprising connection. The ice is connected to weather patterns that reach far across North America. And as the climate keeps changing and sea ice shrinks, Western states could be seeing more extreme weather, the kind that fuels extreme wildfires.Check out the full series about how melting ice affects us all: npr.org/icemelt. We love hearing from you! Reach the show by emailing shortwave@npr.org.See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy
Fire Ecology (WILDFIRES & INDIGENOUS FIRE MANAGEMENT) Mega Encore with Gavin Jones & Amy Christianson
Duration: 02:22:53
Released: 2023
Series: Ologies with Alie Ward
Once again: the world is on fire. As wildfires burn across Canada and their smoke pours down the continent, we thought it would be a good time to encore these Fire Ecology episodes. First, Dr. Gavin Jones brings the heat talking about what fire is, how hot it burns, fire trends, tinderboxes, lots and lots of forest fire flim-flam, tolerant wombats, Angelina Jolie movies, cunning pine cones, thick bark, Indigenous fire stewardship and more.Then, join co-host of the podcast Good Fire, Dr. Amy Christianson, to learn about how cultural burns and prescribed blazes can create healthy forests. She also discusses Indigenous history, collaborations between Western science & First Nations elders, Aboriginal thoughts on cultural burns, more flim-flam, evacuations, snowmelt, hunting strategies, land stewardship, happy trees, climate strategies, and the social science behind wildfire education. Also learning from Native wildfire fighters. Huge thanks to her and Matt Kristoff – who also hosts the Your Forest Podcast – for allowing us to use excerpts from their interview to launch Good Fire. Subscribe to both podcasts to get more ecological knowledge in your ears.CDC Advisory on Wildfire SmokeFollow Dr. Gavin Jones on TwitterFollow Dr. Amy Christianson on TwitterDonations were made to The Common Good Community Foundation and Indigenous Residential School SurvivorsListen to the “Good Fire” podcastAlso great: Your Forest podcastOther episodes you may like: Dendrology (TREES), Forest Entomology (CREEPY CRAWLIES), Xylology (LUMBER), Pyrotechnology (CAMPFIRES), Environmental Toxicology (POISONS + TRAIN DERAILMENT)Sponsors of OlogiesTranscripts and bleeped episodesSmologies (short, classroom-safe) episodesBecome a patron of Ologies for as little as a buck a monthOlogiesMerch.com has hats, shirts, masks, totes!Follow @Ologies on Twitter and InstagramFollow @AlieWard on Twitter and InstagramEditing by Mercedes Maitland of Maitland Audio Productions and Jarrett Sleeper of MindJam MediaTranscripts by Emily White of The WordaryWebsite by Kelly R. DwyerTheme song by Nick Thorburn Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
Flash floods on Nepal-Tibet border
Duration: 00:08:32
Released: 2026
Series: The World: Latest Stories
Flash floods triggered by an ice avalanche have left hundreds of people missing in Nepal along its border with Tibet. Some scientists think the tragedy may have been set off, at least in part, by an enormous chunk of ice snapping off a glacier. Simon Cook, a glaciologist at the University of Dundee in Scotland tells The World’s Host Carolyn Beeler what a satellite analysis reveals about the disaster.
From Hot Take - Yes, We Still Need to Talk About Climate
=# From Hot Take: Yes, We Still Need to Talk About Climate
Duration: 00:28:19
Released: 2020
Series: Drilled: The Propagandist
Amid nationwide Black Lives Matter protests, some climate activists have been saying “now’s not the time to talk about climate.” On Hot Take, Mary Annaise Hegler and Amy Westervelt discuss the idea that climate and racial justice are connected and influence one another. Find Hot Take here. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Growing a Healthier Climate
Duration: 00:17:23
Released: 2026
Series: Humans in Public Health
In this episode, we sit down with Professor Meredith Niles to explore how climate-friendly agriculture—from methane-reducing rice irrigation to no-till farming—is actually a quiet powerhouse for public health. While traditional environmental messaging has hit a wall, shifting the narrative to human health benefits (like keeping heavy metals out of baby food and clearing our air) might be the key to finally getting farmers, consumers and policymakers on board. It’s time to take off the carbon goggles and look at the health potential of sustainable farming.
Heat is a ‘silent killer’
Duration: 00:32:54
Released: 2019
Series: Better Off
Climate change will mean more extreme weather, including heat waves. And it’s not a distant threat—we’re already seeing the effects now in the United States. In this week’s episode, we explore the health threat posed by severe heat and how our society needs to adapt in the decades ahead. You’ll hear from Augusta Williams, a doctoral student at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, who studies how extreme heat can affect our bodies and minds. She’ll explain why heat is considered a “silent killer” and how we can combat the effects of our warming world. Full Transcript: https://hsph.me/heat-pod This episode was produced with assistance from Veritalk, a podcast from Harvard University’s Graduate School of Arts and Sciences.
How Can Iowa’s Agriculture Adapt To Climate Threats?
Duration: 00:17:50
Released: 2024
Series: Science Friday
Climate change is having a profound effect on agriculture. Farmers over the past decade have faced intensifying drought and heat stress on crops, leading many to wonder, what will agriculture look like 50 years from now?In May, at SciFri Live at Iowa State University in Ames, Iowa, Ira Flatow discussed the future of agriculture, and potential solutions to these problems, from innovative farming techniques, to ensuring that Iowa’s farmers of color have the resources they need to succeed. He was joined by Todd Western III, a sixth-generation Iowan farmer with Western Family Farms and senior donor advisor at Greater Twin Cities United Way, and Dr. Patrick Schnable, a distinguished professor at Iowa State University and co-founder of Dryland Genetics.Transcripts for each segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com. Subscribe to this podcast. Follow our show on Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, and Bluesky @scifri and sign up for our newsletters. Got a science question that’s keeping you up at night? Call us: 877-472-4374 Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
How The Current Heat Dome Can Affect Human Health
Duration: 00:10:58
Released: 2024
Series: Short Wave
Right now, there’s a “heat dome” lingering over the southwestern U.S. – a high pressure system that pushes hot air down and traps it, raising the temperature. Heat is becoming increasingly lethal as climate change causes more extreme heat. So in today’s encore episode, we’re exploring heat. NPR climate correspondent Lauren Sommer talks with Short Wave host Regina G. Barber about how the human body copes with extended extreme heat and how today’s heat warning systems could better protect the public. With scientists predicting a very hot summer, if you can, stay cool out there, dear Short Wavers.What science story do you want to hear next on Short Wave? Email us at shortwave@npr.org.See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy
Is alternative meat the recipe for a healthier planet?
Duration: 00:12:48
Released: 2024
Series: TED Health
A Chinese saying goes, “There’s no pleasure in eating without meat.” And the data backs that up: every year, China consumes 26 percent of the world’s meat and 45 percent of its seafood — numbers that could grow alongside rising incomes. Impact investor Tao Zhang shows why getting Chinese consumers to switch to plant-based alternatives is vital to tackling climate change and explores how it’s also a massive business opportunity to bring tasty, affordable new proteins to market. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Is Geoengineering A Good Idea?
Duration: 00:41:08
Released: 2026
Series: Are We Doomed?
The planet is heating up, every plan to stop it has fallen short, and growing group of scientists has started to ask a stranger question: what if we grabbed the thermostat ourselves? Ben Bradford investigates geoengineering — the science of deliberately manipulating Earth’s climate — from space mirrors and ocean fertilizers to fleets of planes mimicking a volcano. Some of it sounds like cartoon villainy. Some of it might actually work. And that raises the thornier question: if humans can cool the planet on purpose, who decides whether we should?Guests:Kate Ricke, climate change scientist at UCSDAlan Robock, atmospheric scientist at RutgersSupport Are We Doomed?, get bonus episodes, and more: https://doompod.com/support/ Watch earlier episodes on Youtube! https://www.youtube.com/@arewedoomedpod To manage podcast ad preferences, review the links below:See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences. NPR Privacy Policy
Is it getting windier?
Duration: 00:11:52
Released: 2026
Series: Short Wave
Is it getting windier? Long-time listener Barry Zalph thinks it is, at least in Louisville. And he’s not the only one. Redditors and local reporters have noticed a recent uptick in the region’s windstorms, too. But does that point to any larger trends in windiness? And if so, what could be causing it? We talked to meteorologist and extreme weather specialist Scott Gunter to find out. Plus, we dig into whether Tornado Alley is shifting into Kentucky as the climate warms. This episode is part of Nature Quest, our monthly listener-driven segment about climate and the environment. Have a question for us? Send a voice memo to shortwave@npr.org with your name, location and what you’re noticing in the environment around you… it could be our next Nature Quest!Interested in more weather and wind science? Email us your question at shortwave@npr.org.Listen to every episode of Short Wave sponsor-free and support our work at NPR by signing up for Short Wave+ at plus.npr.org/shortwave.See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy
Living on the Frontlines of War and Climate Crisis - Abeer Butmeh in Palestine
Duration: 00:34:42
Released: 2023
Series: Drilled: The Propagandist
Abeer Butmeh, coordinator of the Palestinian NGOs Network, one of the most important Palestinian environmental organizations, spoke to senior editor Alleen Brown about battling for short-term and long-term survival when your identity itself is criminalized. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Oropouche Virus - More than a smidge worrisome
Duration: 01:12:38
Released: 2026
Series: This Podcast Will Kill You
Though discovered relatively recently, Oropouche virus has been making headlines as an emerging vector-borne infectious disease on the rise. Not transmitted by the usual suspects (like ticks and mosquitoes), this virus is instead spread through the bites of midges or no-see-ums. Since these arthropods are already widely distributed and their range is growing thanks to climate change, this is a recipe for potential disaster. In this episode, we take you through the story of Oropouche virus, from how it makes us sick to what the construction of a highway has to do with its discovery, from surprising prevalence statistics to the history of One Health. Tune in for the full scoop on this midge and the virus it carries. Support this podcast by shopping our latest sponsor deals and promotions at this link: https://bit.ly/3WwtIAuSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Should I Give Up Beef?
Duration: 00:41:56
Released: 2022
Series: How to Save a Planet
A quarter of global greenhouse gas emissions come from agriculture and land use – and a big portion of those emissions come from producing meat. Adopting a plant-based diet is one of the biggest steps an individual can take to reduce their own carbon footprint. So, should we all stop eating meat? Or is it more complicated than that? This week, we take a tour through the bodily functions of cows, millions of acres of corn, and the hidden policy that shapes the American food system to answer that question once and for all.(This episode first aired March 25, 2021.)Calls to action: Sign up to track the latest U.S. Food & Agriculture bills here, and contact Agriculture Committee members (House and Senate) about supporting a climate-friendly Farm Bill. Contact the places you eat regularly about providing beef-less options – maybe it’s the cafeteria at work or school, or a community gathering space. Meatless Monday has resources for institutions that want to provide more climate-friendly meals. Get involved with a local organization fighting food insecurity, a mutual aid group, a community garden, or a co-op. For more information: Read the World Resources Institute’s report on Creating a Sustainable Food Future. Read this study about regenerative methods in beef production. Read this study about red seaweed reducing methane in beef production. Check out this data visualization on land use in the U.S. Listen to the Science Vs. episode on vegan diets. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Smog Cloud Silver Lining
Duration: 00:34:28
Released: 2023
Series: Radiolab
Summer 2023 was a pretty scary one for the planet. Global temperatures in June and July reached record highs. And over in the North Atlantic Sea, the water temperature spiked to off-the-chart levels. Some people figured that meant we were about to go over the edge, doomsday. In the face of this, Hank Green (a long time environmentalist and science educator behind SciShow, Crash Course, and more), took to social media to put things in context, to keep people focused on what we can do about climate change. In the process, he came across a couple studies that suggested a reduction in sulfurous smog from cargo ships may have accidentally warmed the waters. And while Hank saw a silver lining around those smog clouds, the story he told—about smog clouds and cooling waters and the problem of geoengineering—took us on a rollercoaster ride of hope and terror. Ultimately, we had to wrestle with the question of what we should be doing about climate change, or what we should even talk about.Special thanks to Dr. Colin Carson and Avishay Artsy. EPISODE CREDITS: Reported by - Lulu Millerwith help from - Alyssa Jeong PerryProduction help from - Alyssa Jeong PerryOriginal music and sound design contributed by - Jeremy Bloomwith mixing help from - Jeremy BloomFact-checking by - Natalie Middletonand Edited by - N/A CITATIONS: Videos: Sci Show (https://www.youtube.com/@SciShow) Crash Course (https://www.youtube.com/crashcourse) Articles: The article Hank came across (https://zpr.io/zKYxWht3Nmy7) Books: Under a White Sky (https://zpr.io/zKYxWht3Nmy7): The Nature of the Future by Elizabeth Kolbert Our newsletter comes out every Wednesday. It includes short essays, recommendations, and details about other ways to interact with the show. Sign up (https://radiolab.org/newsletter)! Radiolab is supported by listeners like you. Support Radiolab by becoming a member of The Lab (https://members.radiolab.org/) today. Follow our show on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook @radiolab, and share your thoughts with us by emailing radiolab@wnyc.org. Leadership support for Radiolab’s science programming is provided by the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, Science Sandbox, a Simons Foundation Initiative, and the John Templeton Foundation. Foundational support for Radiolab was provided by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
Sudden Flood in Tibet - The 340th Evolutionary Lens with Bret Weinstein and Heather Heying
Duration: 01:38:17
Released: 2026
Series: DarkHorse Podcast | Bret Weinstein and Heather Heying
On this, our 340th Evolutionary Lens livestream, we discuss the recent flash flood on the border of Nepal and Tibet, climate science, and the nature of evidence. What commonalities are there between a glacial dam breaking and flooding the valley below, taking out towns and villages; Dry Falls and the Columbia River Gorge in Washington state; the Boxing Day tsunami in the Indian Ocean; and the 2011 earthquake that resulted in the destruction of the Fukushima nuclear power plant in Japan? In some cases we have to infer what happened; in some cases we have direct observation; in all cases we have to construct a plausible story that fits all of the evidence. Meanwhile in climate science, a new paper reconstructs NOAA data from 1,200 weather stations from over 100 years, uses a different metric than NOAA does to describe the data, and concludes that the world—or at least the coterminous U.S.—is not heating up in the way we have been told. We discuss.*****Our sponsors:Ethos: Protect your family with life insurance from Ethos. Get up to $3 million in coverage in as little as 10 minutes at https://ethos.com/darkhorseCaraway: Non-toxic, highly functional & beautiful cookware and bakeware. Save up to $230 on their 12 piece cookware set, and visit http://Carawayhome.com/DarkHorse for an additional 10% off your next purchase. Add their minis duo, and save up to $350.Puori: Clean and safe supplements, lab tested and guaranteed. Go to http://Puori.com/DarkHorse for 32% off grass-fed whey protein with a subscription. DarkHorse code works on all products!*****Join us on Locals! Get access to our Discord server, exclusive live streams, live chats for all streams, and early access to many podcasts: https://darkhorse.locals.comHeather’s newsletter, Natural Selections (subscribe to get free weekly essays in your inbox): https://naturalselections.substack.comOur book, A Hunter-Gatherer’s Guide to the 21st Century, is available everywhere books are sold, including from Amazon: https://amzn.to/3AGANGg (commission earned)Check out our store! Epic tabby, digital book burning, saddle up the dire wolves, and more: https://darkhorsestore.orgMusic: “Marble Machine” by WintergatanThis track can be downloaded for free at www.wintergatan.netFree License to use this track in your video can be downloaded at www.wintergatan.net*****Mentioned in this episode:New York Post on flood: https://nypost.com/2026/08/26/world-news/flood-hits-china-nepal-border-leaving-many-dead-and-missing/ Flood video: https://x.com/weaponizedwheat/status/2092652586935763289?s=46 More flood video: https://x.com/charlesarthur/status/2092613128387211617?s=20 Christy 2026. Declines in hot and cold daily temperature extremes in the conterminous US, 1899–2025. Theoretical and Applied Climatology, 157(5): 309: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00704-026-06200-3 Epoch Times: https://www.theepochtimes.com/article/climatologist-says-a-century-of-weather-data-contradicts-claims-of-record-heat-6072358*****Timestamps:00:00:00 When Can You Trust Your Own Eyes?00:03:49 Sponsor: Ethos00:05:31 Sponsor: Caraway00:10:35 Sponsor: Puori00:12:55 Infinite Paper for a Paperless World00:18:38 Disaster on the Nepal-Tibet Border00:22:19 Only 10% of Those Who Get Wet Survive00:28:25 Dry Falls, the Largest Waterfall Ever00:33:13 But Where Did the Water Come From?00:35:27 Glacial Lake Missoula Explodes00:41:58 The Flash Flood That Nearly Killed Us00:44:26 Flash Flood vs. Mountain Tsunami00:48:10 Japan Built Below the Stones00:55:52 The Huascarán Debris Avalanche01:00:45 What Boxing Day Taught the World01:05:35 Declines in Hot and Cold Extremes01:14:02 Means vs. Extremes01:17:34 The License to Discard Outliers01:22:55 The Records NOAA Left Out01:27:33 Systematic vs. Random Error01:31:12 How It’s Supposed to Be Done01:36:28 Frogs Next Time
The History And Legacy Of Hurricane Helene
Duration: 00:28:18
Released: 2026
Series: 1A
On the night of Sept. 27, 2024, Hurricane Helene dropped a historic wall of rain on the southern Appalachian mountains.Some 31 inches of water fell in three days. The Swannanoa River rose 27 feet. Roads, bridges, and entire communities – very little was left in the storm’s aftermath. More than 250 people died across the Southeast. More than a hundred of them in North Carolina alone. It was the deadliest hurricane to hit the continental United States since Katrina.We check in on how much western North Carolina has rebuilt in the nearly two years since the storm. And how far it still has to go. Find more of our programs online. Listen to 1A sponsor-free by signing up for 1A+ at plus.npr.org/the1a.See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy
This Is Canada’s Worst Fire Season In Modern History - It’s Not New
This Is Canada’s Worst Fire Season In Modern History. It’s Not New
Duration: 00:13:26
Released: 2023
Series: Short Wave
Canada is having its worst fire season in modern history. The fires have burnt more than 20 million acres, casting hazardous smoke over parts of the U.S. and stretching Canadian firefighting resources thin. Public officials and many news headlines have declared the fires as “unprecedented,” and in the modern-sense they are. But NPR climate correspondent Nate Rott has been talking to researchers who focus on the history of wildfire in Canada’s boreal forests and they say the situation is not without precedent.Want more stories on the environment? Drop us a line at shortwave@npr.org. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy
Ticks are a growing problem, no matter where you live
Duration: 00:13:14
Released: 2026
Series: Short Wave
In the grand scheme of things, Lyme disease is a fairly new scientific discovery. It was first traced back to ticks in the late 70s and early 80s. The tick-borne illness can cause a rash, fever, pain, neurological complications, and even facial paralysis. It’s spread by only two of the nearly 50 species of ticks in the United States. Historically, most Lyme cases were limited to a small region, including the Great Lakes area and northeastern US. But thanks to changing temperatures, animal migration and shifts in land use, scientists say tick territory is expanding. So what does that mean for Lyme disease risk? And do you have to be worried about it in your own backyard?Interested in more episodes about pests and parasites? Email us your question at shortwave@npr.org.Support public media with NPR+ and enjoy perks for over 25 podcasts like this one. It includes perks like bonus episodes, early access, archive access, curated playlists and sponsor-free listening. Learn more at plus.npr.org.See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy
We’re better off when we stop pandemics before they start
Duration: 00:20:43
Released: 2021
Series: Better Off
When Aaron (Ari) Bernstein met his first pediatric patient infected with COVID-19, he realized that this little girl’s health was connected to an infected bat on the other side of the world. Climate change and deforestation have made it easier for new pathogens to spread across the globe. On this episode of Better Off, Ari Bernstein explains how protecting the environment could also secure the future of our own species.Guest: Aaron (Ari) Bernstein, Interim Director of The Center for Climate, Health and the Global Environment (Harvard Chan C-CHANGE).More about climate and healthHarvard Chan C-CHANGEClimate Optimist newsletter
What Ever Happened to the Ozone Hole?
Duration: 00:39:21
Released: 2026
Series: Are We Doomed?
A dark blue wound across the bottom of the world — that’s what NASA images showed in the 1980s. It was a hole in the ozone layer, eight million square miles across. Human activity and convenience had quietly, but rapidly, eaten away Earth’s crucial shield against the sun, one that likely helped make life on land possible in the first place.Ben Bradford goes back to re-examine the story of the ozone hole: how people discovered it, how they fought over what to do, and what finally happened. It’s a tale of hairspray, human progress, exploding refrigerators, scientists balancing on icy Antarctic rooftops, and Ronald Reagan’s ranch. And from it, maybe, we can find a map for building consensus on our most pressing environmental challenges today.Guest:Susan Solomon, MIT atmospheric scientist and one of the key figures in solving the ozone crisis.Support Are We Doomed?, get bonus episodes, and more: https://doompod.com/support/ Watch earlier episodes on Youtube! https://www.youtube.com/@arewedoomedpod To manage podcast ad preferences, review the links below:See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences. NPR Privacy Policy
What we lose if the Great Salt Lake dries up
Duration: 00:12:31
Released: 2023
Series: Short Wave
Dotted across the Great Basin of the American West are salty, smelly lakes. The largest of these, by far, is the Great Salt Lake in Utah.But a recent report found that water diversions for farming, climate change and population growth could mean the lake essentially disappears within five years. Less water going in means higher concentrations of salt and minerals, which threatens the crucial ecological role saline lakes play across the West, as well as the health of the people who live nearby. On today’s episode, Kirk takes Short Wave co-host Aaron Scott on an audio field trip to the endangered Great Salt Lake, and explains why losing the lake could be devastating for everyone from brine flies to the humans that live next door. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy
Transcript
EMILY KWONG, BYLINE: You’re listening to SHORT WAVE from NPR.
AARON SCOTT, HOST:
Hey, SHORT WAVErs. Time to slip on those rubber boots because we’re off for a field trip with NPR correspondent Kirk Siegler. Hey, Kirk.
KIRK SIEGLER, BYLINE: Hey, Aaron.
SCOTT: So where are you taking us today?
SIEGLER: Well, we’re going to the Great Salt Lake in Utah. I trekked out there earlier this winter with Carly Biedul. She’s a biologist with the Great Salt Lake Institute.
CARLY BIEDUL: These might even be my footprints from last week.
SIEGLER: Carly is bundled up in an orange, puffy jacket, gloves and hat. And most importantly, she’s wearing thick, sturdy, rubber boots ’cause the mud with the frozen slick layer of ice on top is treacherous.
BIEDUL: Probably not fully, fully fresh, but…
SIEGLER: But the only thing we’re not prepared for is the stench.
This is pungent right here.
BIEDUL: Yeah.
SIEGLER: Smells like dead fish, almost.
SCOTT: Oh, yes. I’ve been on similar salty lakes here in Oregon. Whew. That smell is intense and immense.
SIEGLER: It is. And the stink is actually a good thing because it’s a sign of a biologically healthy saline lake.
BIEDUL: People have been saying that they miss the lake stink ’cause it just makes it feel like home, and it’s just not here anymore. So you’re lucky that it gets to smell so bad.
SCOTT: Oh, so the smell is disappearing?
SIEGLER: It is. Because, Aaron, the Great Salt Lake is drying and dying. Biedul hikes out here weekly. She’s trying to collect samples of tiny brine fly larva, which are getting harder and harder to find.
BIEDUL: I’m going to get my jar out.
SIEGLER: So think of it, the brine flies she’s looking for are at the bottom of the food chain. They’re feed for the migrating birds and so on. And most of the water that’s left out there is too salty now.
BIEDUL: The threshold is - we’re kind of at the threshold. So if things get any saltier, we’re super, super worried.
SIEGLER: And they may have good reason. A recent report says climate change, farming and population growth in Utah may dry up the lake in five years.
SCOTT: So today on the show - the future of the Great Salt Lake and similar lakes across the West. Why are they drying up? And what’ll we lose if they do? I’m Aaron Scott, and you’re listening to SHORT WAVE, the daily science podcast from NPR.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
SCOTT: OK, Kirk. So to begin, I’d love it if you would just paint us a picture of the Great Salt Lake, for those who’ve never had the pleasure of seeing it. What does it look like, and how did a big, salty lake end up so far from the ocean?
SIEGLER: Well, it - I can’t even overstate how large it is. It’s huge. And especially in the winter, it’s quite eerie. When we were out there, it was foggy and otherworldly and very, very shallow. In fact, we - you know, you heard there, trekking out in the mud where there should have been water because the lake is receding. So to answer your question, these saline lakes occur at the bottom of basins where there’s no way for the water to flow out to the sea. So basically, in Utah, when all the snow off the Wasatch Mountains right by Salt Lake City melts, it pools into the rivers, into these lakes in the spring and then they evaporate over the summer, leaving all sorts of particles behind and minerals, including saline.
SCOTT: And as you said, I mean, these saline lakes occur all across the Great Basin in the West. And they - they’re actually essential ecosystems, right?
SIEGLER: Exactly. They’re very important for migrating birds at the top of the food chain. And so when Carly Biedul is out there looking for larva at the bottom of the food chain, that’s an indicator of a potential ecological collapse. And I’m not being dramatic. These lakes occur in the Great Basin from Utah to Nevada, across to eastern California, even in parts of Oregon, as you say. There’s this huge geological anomaly. And a lot of these lakes have dried up over time. Some naturally, but a lot due to water diversions. Utah’s Wasatch Front, where the majority of the state’s population lives along Salt Lake City, is one of the fastest-growing places in the country. So water is in high demand. But also, just like across the West, most of the water being diverted out of the rivers that would be going to the Great Salt Lake are being diverted for farming and, in particular in Northern Utah, alfalfa farming in the high desert.
SCOTT: So water diversions is playing a huge role in why they’re disappearing. I’m guessing climate change also plays a role?
SIEGLER: Yes, because we’re in the West and - I don’t have to tell you - we’re in the midst of a 23-year megadrought. So drought and climate change are a big factor.
SCOTT: And so if these lakes are essential stopovers for birds as they migrate from Alaska and Canada down to South America, I mean, just millions of birds kind of stopping here, like this rest stop all-you-can-eat buffet, what’s it going to mean for them if these lakes dry up?
SIEGLER: Well, it’s another species that we know will be in peril. This is an essential flyover spot for migratory birds, and the effects could be devastating.
SCOTT: And it’s not just the birds, of course. I mean, there’s a lot of creatures around the lakes that depend on them, including us humans. What’s it going to mean for us?
SIEGLER: Well, one of the most immediate impacts may be pollution. This is a dried-up lake bed. And we’ve seen this in other parts of the West. Dust storms off of a dried-up lake bed that has toxins in it - naturally occurring toxins - blowing into a large population base will have untold impacts on health. And the Salt Lake City area, particularly in the winter, already has some of the dirtiest air in the nation as a result of natural inversions that occur in that basin, but also a lot of cars and a lot of other industries. So that’s the most immediate impact. But then there are also trickle-down effects, as well. There’s tourism. There’s mining that depends on the lake, and Utah’s famous ski resorts actually benefit from getting more snow from lake effect storms. So the impacts are countless, to be honest.
SCOTT: I mean, given all of that, Kirk, I’m guessing there’s probably a lot of outcry and activism and such going on by people living near the lake, right?
SIEGLER: There is. This is a huge topic that’s all over the news these days.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
UNIDENTIFIED NEWS ANCHOR #1: Utah still remains in a drought.
UNIDENTIFIED NEWS ANCHOR #2: Now to what some tonight are calling a looming environmental nuclear bomb in Utah. The mighty Great Salt Lake is drying up and…
UNIDENTIFIED NEWS ANCHOR #3: As the Great Salt Lake continues to shrink, a…
SIEGLER: Some of the neighborhoods that are closest to the lake, it’s a huge concern. I met Turner Bitton. He’s a community activist and neighborhood council leader in Salt Lake City’s West Valley.
TURNER BITTON: If the lake bed dries up and we’re having winds blowing dust storms into our neighborhood, the heavy metals are going to land right on top of this neighborhood.
SCOTT: Nobody wants giant clouds of toxic dust blanketing their backyard.
SIEGLER: They don’t. And he’s particularly concerned there because these neighborhoods in the West Valley - they’re more working class. They’re already hemmed in by two busy freeways. There’s a planned freeway expansion. Salt Lake City International Airport is right there and Utah’s largest oil refinery.
BITTON: I mean, we’re talking about something that could potentially make these neighborhoods - I don’t want to say uninhabitable - but for those that are vulnerable, for those that have lung issues, uninhabitable.
SCOTT: Is he being a little dramatic there, Kirk?
SIEGLER: He really isn’t. You know, researchers have found higher rates of asthma and cardiovascular disease in neighborhoods like these. And one University of Utah study even showed that students in schools around there scored lower on tests during bad air days. Dr. Brian Moench is president of Utah Physicians for a Healthy Environment. He says the state should have declared an emergency years ago.
BRIAN MOENCH: A lot of people think that dust is pretty benign because it’s, quote, \“natural.\” Well, that’s not the case. And in the case of dust from the Great Salt Lake, it is particularly toxic because we know that it’s laced with high concentrations of heavy metals.
SIEGLER: And most of Utah’s 3 million or so residents live just east of the lake along the Wasatch Mountains. Now, the lake is about 9 feet lower than normal right now, despite a good winter. And locals are already complaining of these dust storms.
SCOTT: OK, Kirk, so a lot of people upset about this. What’s being done about it? Is there any sort of movement in, like, the state legislature?
SIEGLER: There is. And there are a lot of promises so far, but it’s been remarkable in this, you know, politically divided time in a Republican-controlled state, how - in particular, how there’s bipartisan agreement over trying to fix the lake. There was a lot of pressure on lawmakers to do that. Some ideas floated, I have to say, sounded a bit like sci-fi - cloud seeding, even a pipeline to pump Pacific Ocean water in. Not exactly the same thing…
SCOTT: Wow.
SIEGLER: …But everything seems to be on the table. Lawmakers this past session debated setting a target elevation for the lake and also a half-billion-dollar package that would do things like pay farmers and cities to use less water. Here’s Republican Governor Spencer Cox in his recent State of the State address.
(SOUNDBITE OF SPEECH)
SPENCER COX: Earlier this month, a report predicted that in just five short years, the Great Salt Lake will completely disappear. Let me be absolutely clear - we are not going to let that happen.
SCOTT: Wow. Strong words. So did they pass any of those measures?
SIEGLER: Sort of? You know, they didn’t pass any big water use regulations or major targets for the lake. Now, they did include money in the budget for more water conservation, but they took out language from a bill that would have required the conserved water actually make it to the lake. The federal government, though, is also a player here, and they’re clearly paying attention. In the final days of last year, you had President Biden signing a bipartisan bill called the Saline Lake Ecosystems in the Great Basin States Program Act. Yeah.
SCOTT: That is a mouthful.
SIEGLER: Right. Well, but what you need to know - it allocates $25 million for the U.S. Geological Survey to work with other agencies - local land managers, scientists and nonprofits - to study and monitor these saline lakes in the Great Basin and come up with a conservation plan. But, you know, there’s a real sense of urgency here with the Great Salt Lake if, in fact, it could dry up in five years.
SCOTT: So the idea is we need more information before we can come up with a plan.
SIEGLER: Yeah. But, you know, in large part, I think it’s going to come down to the states because they manage the water rights. Last year, the Utah legislature did approve some money to try to buy up water rights. But pointing to the Salt Lake Tribune, they’ve been reporting that no farmers have actually taken them up on it. And this is a thing across the West right now, although we did get news just this week that one powerful player in Utah who you might have heard of - The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints - they’re getting involved. They’ve announced that they will permanently donate 20,000 acre feet of their water rights to the lake. So it’s something.
SCOTT: I think I hear those little brine fly larvae rejoicing just a little bit.
SIEGLER: You can. Wow. That’s good. So we don’t have to end on such a doom and gloom note. And I have to tell you, down at the lake, trekking out there with Carly Biedul, the biologist - she’s privy to all these negative headlines, and she goes out there every week. But she is just trying to stay positive herself.
BIEDUL: And that’s kind of what we’ve been trying to do - is find these moments to see the beauty when it’s so sad.
SIEGLER: It is beautiful out there. But Biedul says it’s sad because there’s not much time left to save the Great Salt Lake.
SCOTT: Thank you, as always, for bringing this to us, Kirk.
SIEGLER: You’re welcome.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
SCOTT: This episode was produced by Margaret Cirino and Liz Metzger, edited by Gabriel Spitzer and fact-checked by Anil Oza. Our audio engineer was Jay Czys. Brendan Crump is our podcast coordinator. Beth Donovan is the senior director of programming. And Anya Grundmann is the senior vice president of programming. I’m Aaron Scott. Thanks for listening to SHORT WAVE from NPR.
What we’ll eat on a warmer planet
Duration: 00:50:28
Released: 2024
Series: TED Radio Hour
From the farm, to the lab, to our tables, what we eat and how it’s grown is changing. Agriculture contributes to global warming—and is being transformed by it. Today, a bite into the future of food. Guests include chef and policy advisor Sam Kass, farmers Jim Whitaker and Jessica Whitaker Allen, biotechnologist Isha Datar and artist Sam Van Aken. TED Radio Hour+ subscribers now get access to bonus episodes, with more ideas from TED speakers and a behind the scenes look with our producers. A Plus subscription also lets you listen to regular episodes (like this one!) without sponsors. Sign-up at: plus.npr.org/ted See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy
What Worsening Floods Mean For Superfund Sites
Duration: 00:17:52
Released: 2024
Series: Science Friday
Superfund sites are some of the most polluted areas in the country, containing highly toxic waste such as asbestos, lead, and dioxin. Cleaning them up, which follows a systematic, science-based process as required by law, can take decades.There are more than 1,300 of these sites across the US, from Florida’s Panhandle to the banks of the Rio Grande in New Mexico. They’re found in nearly every state, often near residential areas. The EPA estimates that 78 million people live within three miles of a Superfund site—nearly 1 in 4 Americans.But these waste dumps face a growing threat: the worsening effects of climate change. The EPA has determined that more than 300 Superfund sites are at risk of flooding. The actual number of flood-prone sites, however, may be more than twice that amount, according to a 2021 Government Accountability Office report. Floodwaters can move toxic waste into neighboring communities, which threatens drinking water, agriculture, and broader ecosystem health.Read more at sciencefriday.comTranscripts for each segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com. Subscribe to this podcast. Follow our show on Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, and Bluesky @scifri and sign up for our newsletters. Got a science question that’s keeping you up at night? Call us: 877-472-4374 Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
Why are scientists planting tiny forests in big cities?
Duration: 00:12:12
Released: 2026
Series: Short Wave
Healthy forests help combat climate change, provide humans with drinking water and even improve mental and physical health. But it’s hard to imagine an entire forest in the middle of a big city. That’s where micro-forests come into play — public forests on a smaller scale, filled with native plants. They exist around the world, and producer Rachel Carlson went to visit the largest micro-forest in California in this encore episode. She joins host Emily Kwong to chat about what she saw. Interested in more of the science behind urban nature? Email us your question at shortwave@npr.org.Listen to every episode of Short Wave sponsor-free and support our work at NPR by signing up for Short Wave+ at plus.npr.org/shortwave.See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy
Why Heat Waves Become Deadly
Presenting: The Carbon Copy – Why Heat Waves Become Deadly
Duration: 00:28:23
Released: 2022
Series: How to Save a Planet
Today we’re sharing an episode of The Carbon Copy, a climate change podcast produced by Canary Media. The topic is extremely timely: heat waves. This summer saw extreme heat blanketing almost every region of the northern hemisphere. And these heat waves aren’t just uncomfortable or inconvenient. They’re deadly. In most years, extreme heat kills more people in the U.S. than any other weather-related disaster. This episode asks: how can we better prepare for these heat waves? Some of the answers are surprisingly simple–and they could help address problems beyond extreme heat.Check out the rest of the series on Spotify or CanaryMedia.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Video Clips
20 years later, a look at Katrina’s lasting impact and concerns over future storms
PBS NewsHour, 08 28, 2025
Video (10:13)
Description
It’s been 20 years since Hurricane Katrina devastated the Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama coasts. While Katrina remains the costliest U.S. natural disaster, the deepest impact is found in the human suffering and the difficult journey toward recovery. For our series Tipping Point, Lisa Desjardins explores the lessons learned — and what still lies ahead as weather has become more extreme.
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Transcript
0:00 · GEOFF BENNETT: It has been 20 years since Hurricane Katrina devastated the Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama coasts. More than 1,300 lives were lost in the storm’s wake, the majority in New Orleans.
0:11 · While Katrina remains the costliest natural disaster in U.S. history, the deepest impact is found in the human suffering and the long, difficult journey toward recovery.
0:21 · For our series Tipping Point, Lisa Desjardins recently traveled to the region to explore the lessons learned by the U.S. and what still lies ahead as weather has become even more extreme.
0:32 · MICHAEL WHITE, Musician: I didn’t even realize how much music kind of vibrates through the city all the time until it wasn’t there.
0:39 · LISA DESJARDINS: For Michael White, the most difficult part of Hurricane Katrina was the silence that came after.
0:47 · MICHAEL WHITE: Every footstep I made had a different kind of sound.
0:50 · You realize that the heartbeat of the city is this vibrant pulse of music and life and joyous expression. And that was completely gone.
1:01 · LISA DESJARDINS: White is a clarinetist and among New Orleans’ most beloved musicians, dedicating his life to the rich heritage of the city he loves. For him and so many others, Katrina divided life in two, before and after.
1:18 · GWEN IFILL, Former “PBS News Hour” Anchor: Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast hard today from Louisiana to the Florida Panhandle.
1:25 · LISA DESJARDINS: On August 29, 2005, the Category 3 hurricane slammed into Southwest Louisiana. After levees failed, 80 percent of New Orleans was underwater.
1:37 · Thousands were rescued from rooftops. Tens of thousands more sought refuge in the Superdome.
1:44 · Across the region, over 1,000 people died from the storm.
1:48 · JEFFREY BROWN: You mean the line right there?
1:49 · MICHAEL WHITE: Yes, that’s the highest point, and that was at least nine feet.
1:52 · LISA DESJARDINS: In 2005, White showed “News Hour” the destruction. The storm made some 300,000 homes uninhabitable. And, in 2025, some still are.
2:05 · It looks like there was some work done or has there been no work done on this house, do you think?
2:09 · MICHAEL WHITE: It’s hard to tell. But one of the problems was a lot of people ran out of money to repair the houses.
2:17 · LISA DESJARDINS: Abandoned buildings and empty lots still dot the city, some to this day bearing the telltale X left by Katrina’s search-and-rescue teams.
2:26 · MICHAEL WHITE: You know, a lot of this area has come back, but, as you can see…
2:29 · LISA DESJARDINS: Right.
2:30 · MICHAEL WHITE: … we have a row of houses that are still abandoned nearly 20 years later.
2:35 · LISA DESJARDINS: White returned from evacuation to find almost nothing could be saved, not his historic photos, not his sheet music, and not his dozens of historic clarinets.
2:46 · MICHAEL WHITE: Each instrument is like a person that has its own sound, its own personality and moods almost. I couldn’t bear to open those cases, because, to me, those are bodies inside.
2:57 · LISA DESJARDINS: White built a new clarinet collection, but the city is not reborn. New Orleans’ population today is a quarter smaller than it was when Katrina struck. There are new levees in place, but some still question whether this city and the country are ready for the next big storm.
3:17 · That includes the man who led the Katrina response, Russel Honore. He questions the federal approach now.
3:24 · LT. GEN. RUSSEL HONORE (RET.) (U.S. Army): It doesn’t make sense. It doesn’t make sense. And, again, it goes back to the lessons learned from Katrina.
3:31 · LISA DESJARDINS: Few understand the complex issues and high-stakes better. The retired lieutenant general led Joint Task Force Katrina. His no-nonsense approach was credited with turning around a chaotic situation. Now he sees another tricky landscape. He’s worried about federal cuts to key agencies, but assured by the new levee system.
3:52 · LT. GEN. RUSSEL HONORE (RET.): We put $114 billion into recovery in Louisiana, about $14 billion of that in a levee protection system. And we had a storm three years after Katrina came and the levees held.
4:07 · ALESSANDRA JEROLLEMAN, Loyola University New Orleans: In many ways, we are much better if we faced Katrina. But we won’t face Katrina. We will face new storms that are different than Katrina.
4:16 · LISA DESJARDINS: Alessandra Jerolleman of Loyola University New Orleans lost her home, her car and much of the community she loved in Katrina. That transformed her purpose to disaster preparation and recovery. And she is concerned.
4:31 · ALESSANDRA JEROLLEMAN: It is always a big concern for me that we might see a large hurricane, we might see rapid intensification where folks can’t leave.
4:43 · LISA DESJARDINS: Like Honore, she’s worried about a political storm, the Trump cuts to weather and natural disaster agencies, including the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
4:53 · DONALD TRUMP, President of the United States: We want to wean off of FEMA, and we want to bring it down to the state level.
4:58 · LISA DESJARDINS: President Trump and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem now say they want to reform FEMA, shifting more to the states, which they argue do a better job.
5:08 · KRISTI NOEM, U.S. Homeland Security Secretary: The president recognizes that FEMA should not exist the way that it always has been. It needs to be redeployed in a new way.
5:15 · LISA DESJARDINS: But Honore is blunt.
5:17 · LT. GEN. RUSSEL HONORE (RET.): The states aren’t ready. I think the political-speak about wanting to get rid of FEMA and reducing its involvement in response is putting doubt in a lot of people’s mind.
5:31 · LISA DESJARDINS: This as the Gulf Coast faces more extreme weather.
5:35 · Global temperatures and ocean temperatures are rising. And the Trump administration has made key climate data harder to access.
5:44 · But no one can deny this January New Orleans shattered its snowfall record, followed by record heat this summer.
5:51 · LT. GEN. RUSSEL HONORE (RET.): Since Katrina, scientists have done a lot of work to document these strong storms and the anomalies associated with – and the science by why the storms appear to be stronger, or why we’re having two and three 100-year storms in a 10-year period.
6:09 · ALESSANDRA JEROLLEMAN: What we see with climate change is some shifts in the parameters of weather events.
6:15 · LISA DESJARDINS: Are you worried the lessons could be forgotten?
6:18 · ALESSANDRA JEROLLEMAN: I am worried. We have to think about disasters like hurricanes in a more holistic fashion, right, because the problem in Katrina, it wasn’t just the hurricane. It was certainly the problems with the maintenance of the levees, but also coastal erosion, land loss, the long history of the oil and gas canals that hadn’t been closed off.
6:37 · All of these myriad factors that were just piling on risk.
6:40 · LISA DESJARDINS: There is holistic thinking on a local level here, like in the hard-hit Lower Ninth Ward.
6:46 · ARTHUR JOHNSON, Sustain the Nine: There were a lot of promises after Katrina, but not a lot of fulfillment of those promises.
6:51 · LISA DESJARDINS: Arthur Johnson helps run a group known as Sustain the Nine.
6:55 · ARTHUR JOHNSON: We lost a lot of trees from Katrina, millions of trees. And then every year you have a storm and that takes trees out.
7:01 · LISA DESJARDINS: They are now planting cypress trees and other native plants to reduce erosion and teaching sustainability in the face of increasingly wild weather like tornadoes.
7:13 · ARTHUR JOHNSON: We’re no longer just dealing with hurricane and hurricane season, which is now six months out of the year.
7:20 · LISA DESJARDINS: Like many low-lying places hit by Katrina, this area is at higher risk for problems. But this group insists on rebuilding.
7:28 · WILLIAM WAITERS, Sustain the Nine: We’re not going away. I mean, Katrina couldn’t drown us. So we damn well ain’t going to allow no politician and their failed programs to drown us. It’s not going to happen.
7:42 · LISA DESJARDINS: That’s not the only existential debate connected to Katrina. Musician Michael White feels it.
7:49 · MICHAEL WHITE: There is no return to normal. Life as I knew it ended with Katrina. And it took a long time for that to sink in. I feel like I’m on my second life, because everything changed. Everything was destroyed or gone. And a part of me kind of died with Katrina.
8:08 · LISA DESJARDINS: But something else was born. He rarely composed before the storm, but now writing songs has become a daily lifeline.
8:17 · MICHAEL WHITE: I just pick up my clarinet and I don’t think about it. I just play a note. I don’t know what comes after that, but I will just play another note. And so from there, I will go: MICHAEL WHITE: After kind of coming away from the pain and the difficulties of Katrina for many years, my mind seemed to open up. And it seems like all of the music that I have ever heard is kind of in my head simmering around, like a gumbo pot.
8:57 · And it’s like if you stir the pot you never know what comes up, like, a shrimp, an oyster, hot sausage. All of those things are in gumbo, and that’s kind of what it’s like.
9:12 · LISA DESJARDINS: Twenty years on, New Orleans still has not recovered from Katrina. But like the music it helped create, it keeps improvising.
9:22 · For the “PBS News Hour,” I’m Lisa Desjardins in New Orleans.
A visual tour of the world’s CO2 emissions
Vox, 12 22, 2014
Video (2:33)
Description
A new high-resolution computer model created by NASA shows CO2, the greenhouse gas driving global warming, as you’ve never seen it before.
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Transcript
0:00 · Cyka Blyat (Male Reporter) 2014 is shaping up to be the warmest year.
0:04 · (Female Reporter) Warmest year. (Another Reporter) Warmest year, ever recorded, for planet earth.
Climate Change Resilience Cooling an Urban Heat Island
American Museum of Natural History, 08 11, 2018
Video (1:42)
Description
Cities tend to be much warmer than their surrounding areas, and global warming is exacerbating this heat island effect. Painting roofs white helps cool buildings and lower energy demand. In New York City, installing these reflective rooftops supports the City’s goal to reduce carbon emissions by 80 percent by 2050.
Visit the Museum’s Gottesman Hall of Planet Earth to explore how climate works and the consequences of climate change. Find more info here: https://www.amnh.org/exhibitions/permanent-exhibitions/rose-center-for-earth-and-space/david-s.-and-ruth-l.-gottesman-hall-of-planet-earth
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Transcript
0:02 · COMMISSIONER GREGG BISHOP: The “urban heat island” effect affects a lot of cities like New York. Because a tremendous amount of buildings, a lot of concrete, and little vegetation increases the overall temperature of the city. And when the city is really, really, really hot, it affects the health of our citizens, individuals who may suffer from asthma, or may be susceptible to heat waves, our elderly population. So, heat actually affects life and safety.
0:31 · One of the strategies that we have to combat the urban heat island effect is the NYC CoolRoofs initiative, which works simply by painting the roofs white.
0:39 · BRIDGET CARTER: See how the coating is going inside the seams?
0:42 · Put it on as heavy as you can get it.
0:44 · BISHOP: Many buildings, because of the black roof, absorb heat. And painting them white reduces the internal temperature of a building by 10-30 percent.
0:53 · CARTER: Remember guys, don’t stretch the coating.
0:55 · Don’t stretch the coating.
0:56 · Where is your bucket?
0:57 · That reflective coating is going to keep the building cooler, conserve energy for the people that live in the building— less air conditioning and less fans being run. People can save some money.
1:07 · Very energy efficient.
1:08 · BISHOP: This CoolRoofs program is really a part of the Mayor’s strategy to lower New York City’s emissions by 80 percent by 2050, and to really help New York City become a great partner in fighting climate change.
Creating Climate-Resilient Communities through Vacant Lot Restoration
National Wildlife, 06 29, 2021
Video (5:36)
Description
Over the last two years, National Wildlife Federation piloted a project with the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society’s Philadelphia LandCare program to transform a network of vacant lots into climate-resilient wildlife habitat. We wanted to explore how cities with vacant lots can restore these sites to provide pollinator habitat, green stormwater infrastructure, equitable access to nearby nature, and create economic/job training opportunities.
Learn more: 1) https://www.nwf.org/Magazines/National-Wildlife/2021/April-May/Conservation/Lot-Revival 2) https://blog.nwf.org/2021/02/vacant-lots-to-pollinator-habitat-in-philadelphia-pa/
Transcript
Transforming communities
0:00 · I mean, for me, it’s inspirational and it gives me hope in seeing investment from the city, from nonprofits, from community members transforming lots that are public health hazards and eyesores, and dangerous, and turning them into usable, safe, beautiful green spaces.
0:25 · Yeah, I love it.
0:27 · It It’s making a difference. It’s making an impact in people’s lives.
The land care program
0:34 · The city of Philadelphia is a post-industrial city, and so we have a lot of vacant lots in the city. And unfortunately, most of them, whether they’re privately owned or city-owned, don’t have the capacity to maintain them.
0:47 · And so they grow heavy weeds, and, you know, people dump their trash on there, and there’s debris, and it’s just It’s an eyesore. It’s not something that people deserve to live by.
0:58 · So that’s where we at PHS come in. We have our Philadelphia Land Care program, where we completely clean and green these vacant lots, so that you know, what was formerly a terrible eyesore is now a community asset, which people can use, and people can enjoy, and they feel safer around.
1:17 · Through this project, we’re trying to change the narrative behind vacant lots, and switching it from a detriment and a negative to a community asset, and realizing that we have all this open, accessible land, and that it could serve as easy and equitable access to nature and to green space in urban environments, but it can also provide ecological habitat as well.
Greening and infrastructure
1:42 · We’ve noticed the soil quality has improved, which helps with drainage. And we In Philadelphia, have a lot of of stormwater management issues when it rains heavily.
1:52 · PHS, their Land Care program, they’ll stabilize a lot, and they’ll bring in sod, and they’ll plant some trees, but we are taking this awesome program to the next level, and we’re installing pollinator gardens, um which serve as habitat for birds, bees, and butterflies, and all sorts of critters. These gardens are able to absorb more runoff and stormwater, preventing overflows in sewers. So we’re really hoping that not only can we provide habitat, but we can provide water quality benefits as well.
2:21 · Some of our our lots, we collaborate with the Mural Arts program, which they paint these beautiful murals. And then, the National Wildlife Federation, in collaboration with the a local university, they found that it has a positive impact on the climate, as well.
Art and wildlife impact
2:36 · So when we have the the clean lawn, the mural, and then the added texture and and beauty from the gardens, it really creates such a beautiful space for the community.
Local economic impact
2:49 · We’re also working with 12,000 lots, which is a lot. You can’t manage that much through a volunteer basis. So we found it actually to be much more sustainable by hiring local contractors or working with community organizations to maintain the lot itself. And what’s great is that we actively search to work with local landscape contractors to help build their capacity. And they hire community members from the neighborhoods that we’re that we’re working in.
3:18 · And so really, you know, we’re investing a lot of dollars to clean these lots, but that money’s going right back into the neighborhoods, helping to create jobs, and then it it helps kind of build ownership, as well.
Personal perspective
3:32 · When you get up in the morning, you know, just taking your kids to daycare, school, you want your community to look right. You don’t want to come out, see trash everywhere, or just a mess. I’m only like 30 days, if that, in, but it’s giving me a different perspective on like everything, far as beautifying your neighborhood. Even though it’s a job, when you go back home and you see like a lot on your block when you’re not at work, you’re going to probably want to do something to it, like, why we can’t just make every block and every street in the city look good? Landscaping gave me a a different outlook about life.
4:06 · What landscaping really is not just like weed whacking, cleaning, it’s a whole lot of other aspects that go into it to try to help brighten and raise awareness in different communities. I wanted a contractor to really give me like an opportunity that I never had. I’m here to just get the experience, you know, listen, observe, pay attention to details.
4:27 · You know, there’s a lot of lots that need work, and if you can get a lot of positive people and people to work with you, clean the lots up, it’s a mess in the beginning, but when you step back and look at it with, you know, all the heart for the community, um it’ll weigh much more nice for the neighborhood.
Future expansion goals
4:45 · We would really love to see vacant lot restoration at scale throughout the Mid-Atlantic, and so we are really using this project and this opportunity to learn as much as we can about what has worked and what hasn’t, so that we can really bring this to other cities and make it a stronger priority.
Drowning in seaweed How to stop invasive Sargassum
nature video, 01 25, 2023
Video (10:31)
Description
The story of Sargassum stretches from the Congo to the Amazon, from soybean farming to climate change and from toxic gases to robotic vehicles. In this documentary researchers from around the world explain the vast scope of the Sargassum problem and the solutions that may one day begin to address it.
Additional photographs and footage in this film were provided by Drake Lee-Patterson, Gary Marshall, Joseph Weekes, Driven Visual Media, Kerwin Noel, Nick Hurley, Akeisha Clark, Sargassum Information Hub, NASA, Chuanmin Hu, Jeff Davis’s team, Hazel Oxenford, Caroline Juang, Melvina Walsh, Morgan Lewis, Kerton Jobe, P McConney, Markel Gomez Letona and Nico Frohberg who were mistakenly missed off the film credits.
Transcript
0:03 · VOICE OVER: The Great Atlantic Sargassum Belt is the largest seaweed bloom in the world, and it’s expanding.
0:11 · Visible from space, it’s a growing problem for coastal communities.
0:15 · HARSHINI VUMMADI: The beaches, genuinely, if they aren’t maintained, you just can’t go there.
0:21 · You’d be up to your knees in sargassum.
0:24 · VOICE OVER: But as a key sequester of carbon, this invasive species also presents an opportunity.
0:30 · AJIT SUBRAMANIAM: We want to gather sargassum using robotic vehicles.
0:34 · You sink it down 2,000 metres, our current model suggests that that particular water body does not come back in contact with the atmosphere for at least 100 years.
0:42 · VOICE OVER: Can scientists take a global challenge and turn it into an opportunity to buy time in the race against climate change?
1:00 · VOICE OVER: Sargassum has been in the Atlantic since the time of Christopher Columbus, floating mats of seaweed that gave its name to the Sargasso Sea – a nutrient-poor patch of the Atlantic penned in by ocean currents.
1:13 · AJIT: You can think of it as a floating rainforest or an upside-down coral reef because each raft of sargassum is a hotspot of biological activity.
1:22 · VOICE OVER: But in the last couple of decades, a new population has emerged, further south near the coast of Brazil and the Caribbean.
1:29 · SHELLY-ANN COX: In 2011, we were all taken back by this new phenomenon, where we saw tons of sargassum being brought and beached in the region.
1:42 · VOICE OVER: Based in Barbados, scientist and entrepreneur Shelly-Ann Cox specialises in fisheries management.
1:49 · She first noticed the impact of sargassum on the sea urchin divers she was working with.
1:54 · SHELLY-ANN: Fisher folk had reported sargassum mats as far as their eyes can see.
2:01 · Some of them can’t get to the boat or the boats can’t get through the sargassum to get out.
2:07 · Those near shore, the spear fishers as well, they reported some of their skin being irritated when they’re diving and the berries that keep the sargassum floating have gotten into their ears as well.
2:21 · VOICE OVER: The impact on tourism – the lifeblood of the Caribbean – has been huge.
2:25 · OFF-SCREEN VOICE: This weed is going right up to the sanitation plant by Barnacle Point.
2:33 · People, get ready for the smell tomorrow.
2:39 · VOICE OVER: Around the same time, other scientists working in the Atlantic had also noticed a change.
2:45 · Oceanographer Ajit Subramaniam has been working in the South Atlantic for more than 25 years.
2:50 · AJIT: In 2018, it was astounding how much sargassum we ran into, and it was really striking.
2:55 · It was something that we’d never seen before and then, bam.
2:58 · We were there, and the ship was often surrounded by sargassum that was hundreds of metres around the ship.
3:05 · VOICE OVER: Sargassum wasn’t thought to be found this far south.
3:08 · AJIT: We were seeing things that we had not seen before, and I was trying to get context for that.
3:12 · VOICE OVER: Ajit linked up with colleagues at the University of South Florida, who had been making their own observations.
3:17 · AJIT: They’d been actually watching this on their satellite data, and they had actually seen this explosion of this new population that is growing much closer to the equator.
3:26 · VOICE OVER: With the satellite data, scientists were able to hazard an estimate of its size.
3:31 · SHELLY-ANN: 24.2 million metric tons in June, from the satellite imagery.
3:38 · VOICE OVER: Dubbed the Great Atlantic Sargassum Belt, this is almost certainly the world’s largest macroalgal bloom.
3:44 · It’s thought that intensive agriculture, especially soya plantations, has increased nitrogen concentrations in the Atlantic, causing rapid sargassum growth.
3:54 · SHELLY-ANN: Sargassum is really known as a symptom of climate change because, due to increasing surface temperatures, nutrients from the Amazon and Congo, Saharan dust which brings in iron, upwelling as well, the change in currents, all of these factors have led to the proliferation of sargassum.
4:19 · HARSHINI: Outside of the Caribbean, I don’t think many people are talking about this.
4:23 · VOICE OVER: Harshini Vummadi is a biology major undergraduate, who’s recently returned from an exploratory trip to the Dominican Republic.
4:32 · HARSHINI: It affects the Caribbean and I believe West Africa, and a bit of East Asia as well.
4:40 · VOICE OVER: Harshini is part of an interdisciplinary team from the Georgia Institute of Technology.
4:44 · They’re working with the school of biological sciences to try and explore solutions to the sargassum problem.
4:49 · RESEARCHER: Yeah, so, I’m just collecting some sargassum samples and there are lots of different plants in here.
4:57 · HARSHINI: I am the biology major on their team. We have a chemical engineer, a civil engineer, a mechanical engineer.
5:03 · VOICE OVER: A solution of some sort is definitely needed, and urgently.
5:07 · HARSHINI: I just didn’t realise how much of it there would be, like we watched a clean-up crew work and work, and in 2 hours they like hardly made a dent. The growth just seems to be almost exponential.
5:18 · VOICE OVER: While there are many creative small-scale craft uses of sargassum, local communities have yet to find a viable solution to disposing of vast quantities of the stuff, or even better, making it useful.
5:30 · HARSHINI: It uptakes a lot of different heavy metals, particularly arsenic, which makes it like quite dangerous to use as, say, like a fertiliser because, again, now you’re introducing arsenic to these land systems where it could potentially leach into groundwater.
5:47 · So, we try to like branch out from fertiliser. One of our team members focused on an application involving bricks.
5:55 · Someone else focused on black soldier fly larvae, which could consume the sargassum and then in turn be used as a sort of biofuel in like an anaerobic digester.
6:08 · I personally have been working on using it as a bioaccumulate. Why not use it in waste water treatment?
6:16 · It can absorb those heavy metals that we were so concerned about in the first place.
6:21 · VOICE OVER: Harshini’s team are working on ways to make the sargassum financially viable.
6:26 · Meanwhile, Ajit is thinking more broadly, exploring the bigger checks and balances of the global carbon cycle.
6:32 · He’s come up with a radical plan.
6:34 · AJIT: So, the way we want to do this is essentially gather nets of sargassum using robotic vehicles, have them ballasted and then sink them down to 2,000 metres.
6:46 · VOICE OVER: Sargassum sequesters a lot of carbon, but it also releases it when it decays.
6:52 · This approach would theoretically remove the carbon from the atmosphere, effectively buying the planet time in the race against climate change.
6:59 · AJIT: Sinking down 2,000 metres, our current model suggests that that particular water body does not come back in contact with the atmosphere for at least 100 years.
7:08 · VOICE OVER: The idea of sinking the sargassum has been proposed before, but the suggestion is usually to sink it where it grows, in shallower water.
7:15 · AJIT: Merely capturing it at the surface and getting rid of it just off the beach at 100 metres or something like that will basically have the carbon coming right back up.
7:26 · It might even actually come back up in a more potent form if you are starting to have it rotting and forming methane.
7:32 · VOICE OVER: Ajit plans to sink the sargassum in deeper water, but there are a lot of questions still to be answered.
7:38 · AJIT: We want to make sure that the carbon that we are capturing is actually going down to the sea floor and will stay down there, and so we want to follow it down to the sea floor.
7:46 · VOICE OVER: In addition, as a biologist, he’s keen to understand the impact of this plan on the ecosystem.
7:51 · AJIT: So, we actually have a fisheries scientist on the team who will be looking at what kind of communities the sargassum rafts harbour, and therefore we’ll have a sense of what we might be impacting if we were to do the sinking.
8:02 · It’s not that we’re going to decimate the ocean of sargassum.
8:06 · VOICE OVER: The list of problems attributed to sargassum is growing. From the harmful gases released when it decays to its impact on wildlife.
8:13 · HARSHINI: Especially when it washes up on beaches where turtles go to lay their eggs, a lot of these baby turtles are actually unable to climb over these sargassum things, and so they’re unable to make it into the ocean due to these big patches of sargassum.
8:28 · SHELLY-ANN: So, every year we’re seeing more countries reporting the influx and the catastrophic impacts on tourism, fisheries sectors, maritime and transport and then the health impacts.
8:43 · So, some of our colleagues recently published a paper on the impacts on pregnant women who were exposed to hydrogen sulfide and ammonia when the sargassum decomposes.
8:57 · Those pregnant ladies who live near the coast and were exposed were at a higher risk of preeclampsia.
9:04 · VOICE OVER: Going into the future, it’s likely that the challenge presented by sargassum, like many of the challenges of climate change, might be bigger than one scientist or one idea.
9:14 · HARSHINI: There needs to be some sort of economically driven, or at least be governmentally subsidised, but there needs to be some sort of way to like tackle and solve the problem.
9:27 · AJIT: I feel that countries like Barbados are the populations that contribute the least to climate change and yet are facing the greatest impact of climate change.
9:36 · I would like to figure out a financing model where we can actually have credit going to communities in Barbados for the carbon that is sequestered.
9:46 · SHELLY-ANN: There are lots of bright, brilliant minds out there developing solutions that need this support.
9:53 · They need the financial support to upscale until governments realise that this problem is really here to stay, then they will be willing then to invest in building up sargassum industries.
10:07 · HARSHINI: Nothing has like had any concrete potential yet. There’s just several isolated research groups.
10:15 · But I just think that things would move a lot faster if everyone could like work together.
Extreme Heat Is the New Normal
New York Times Opinion, 08 28, 2026
Video (15:42)
Description
We filmed “A New Inferno,” the short documentary above, in Phoenix, one of the hottest cities in America, through some of the city’s hottest days of 2025, during one of the hottest years on record globally. On one of our production days, temperatures reached 118 while we were filming outside.
In the face of extreme heat, we documented firefighters and paramedics of the Phoenix Fire Department saving lives in real time. We wanted to call attention to a specialized technique of ice bag immersion for people facing life-threatening heat stroke. We hope that telling their story and showcasing the efficacy of this strategy will encourage wider adoption of this protocol across the country.
Yet this procedure is ultimately a stopgap, as firefighters do their best to adapt to the climate crisis in front of them. The underlying story of heat in Phoenix is one of broader, interlocking crises: homelessness and substance use disorders that are deeply entangled with urban heat, each amplifying the other, illustrating how climate change affects the disenfranchised most brutally.
With our film, we aim to reframe how the public thinks about heat: as an invisible, silent killer reshaping the rhythms of urban life.
Documentary and text by By Nita Blum-Reddick and Jonathan Pickett
More from Op-Docs: https://www.nytimes.com/column/op-docs
Subscribe: http://bit.ly/U8Ys7n
0:00 Phoenix is only getting hotter
2:06 ‘The feedback loop of nightmares’
3:53 Ice bag immersion training simulation
7:40 How firefighters respond to heat-related emergencies
12:55 ‘He was really close. He was at that threshold.’
14:40 Facing a warming world
Transcript
Phoenix is only getting hotter
0:00 · [SIREN]
0:20 · Special call rescue 903.
0:23 · So it looks like the male patient —— he’s on the side of the road, probably heat-related.
0:28 · He’s not responsive at all.
0:30 · How long has he been down?
0:32 · Unknown downtime.
0:34 · OK, cool.
0:35 · We’ll be there in a minute, bro.
0:36 · Easy.
0:38 · [HONKING] [TENSE MUSIC] “Phoenix is known for heat, but it’s never been this hot before.”
0:52 · “That’s a record.”
0:53 · “Broken a record.”
0:54 · “An all-time record.”
0:56 · “And we’re already experiencing that human toll.”
0:59 · “Arizona has reported over 800 heat-related deaths.”
1:02 · “Governor Hobbs declaring a state of emergency.”
1:05 · [SCREECHING TIRES] “They’re turning to tools that could be the difference between life or death.”
1:19 · “Starting this year, each Phoenix fire truck will be immersing heatstroke victims in ice.”
1:26 · Put it right over their chest and their groin.
1:29 · Get it right on top of them.
1:31 · It’s the evolution of our job.
1:34 · Heat-related emergencies are definitely on the rise, and we’re on the front lines.
1:39 · This is what we have to do.
1:42 · So they’re kind in this little cocoon filled with ice and water.
1:47 · “Potentially saving them before reaching a hospital.”
1:50 · [HONKING] Another day in paradise, baby.
2:04 · Go check him out.
2:04 · Go check his temp.
‘The feedback loop of nightmares’
2:08 · He’s overheated.
2:09 · Sir, we’re going to take you to the hospital, OK?
2:15 · OK, keep that arm still, OK?
2:16 · What’s your name?
2:19 · Do you know where you are?
2:22 · He’s ODing.
2:26 · K-1 fire dispatch.
2:29 · 11,309.
2:32 · This is where we’re at in the city of Phoenix.
2:37 · You hang around our station long enough, you see people living a feedback loop of nightmares —— the heat, the drugs, and homelessness.
2:54 · I know that I won’t be able to help everyone.
2:58 · But I just want to be that relief for as long as possible.
3:12 · Did you do any alcohol or drugs today?
3:15 · Use any alcohol or drugs?
3:16 · Yeah?
3:16 · What did you use?
3:17 · Did you use fentanyl?
3:18 · [SIREN] Yeah, mate.
3:29 · The heat makes people do some strange things.
3:32 · [SINGING] When you’re strange, faces come out.
3:38 · When you’re strange.
3:40 · When you’re strange.
3:46 · OK, he still has a pulse.
3:47 · It’s just high.
3:49 · Hypothermia alert.
3:50 · Arriving.
Ice bag immersion training simulation
3:56 · It’s going to be a 40s male, altered level of consciousness.
3:59 · We found this patient down at a bus stop.
4:02 · His temperature was too high for our thermometer to read.
4:04 · It just said high.
4:05 · Can you just hand whatever she needs?
4:07 · Let’s add some ice.
4:08 · Let’s add some water.
4:09 · Let’s get them on the monitor.
4:10 · Let’s see what we’re dealing with.
4:11 · So we can help with this.
4:12 · Alert, five minutes out.
4:14 · And it sounds like we got another one coming.
4:16 · [BEEPING] We got more ice.
4:19 · We’re going to try to get them down to under 41.
4:21 · And under 41, we’ll get them out of the cold water immersion.
4:25 · She had a GCS of 5 and a temperature of 107.6 on arrival.
4:30 · Shannon, can you bring some Levophed?
4:31 · I think his pressure’s going to tank on us.
4:35 · Hopefully, our temp will be coming down soon.
4:37 · Your temp is 42.6.
4:40 · 42.6?
4:40 · Great.
4:40 · So we’re starting to make some progress here, guys.
4:43 · I’ve got 42.2.
4:45 · I love that.
4:45 · [TRAFFIC WHIRRING] “The heat is taking a devastating toll again this summer with 44 deaths confirmed so far.
5:08 · And with homeless shelters across the valley full, demand for those cooling center seats has been enormous.”
5:27 · There’s a large population of unhoused people that is out in the heat constantly, right?
5:31 · And so it compounds, OK?
5:34 · So one of you —— I want you to come up and establish if they’re conscious.
5:38 · Eric, I want you to take the back of your hand and touch the sidewalk.
5:42 · OK?
5:43 · Pull your glove back.
5:44 · If that’s hot, that patient is really hot.
5:47 · This is also, potentially, a patient who now has burn injuries.
5:50 · Right?
5:51 · They’ve been laying on the pavement.
5:53 · That might be 170 degrees with potential first- and second- degree burns.
5:59 · That’s it.
6:00 · Anybody got any questions?
6:09 · I mean, it’s so simple, right.
6:12 · Like, OK?
6:13 · This is kind of barbaric in a sense because it’s just a blue bag with ice.
6:21 · But the heat is definitely not going away.
6:25 · And this is all we have right now.
6:35 · Engine 18.
6:41 · K deck 9.
6:48 · This is going to be a busy day, though.
6:49 · It’s not really hot yet.
6:51 · It’s probably 100 degrees, but it’s super humid.
6:53 · It’s not a good start to the day.
6:56 · Why do you sweat so much, man?
6:57 · Are you watching “Cops”?
6:58 · Man, that dumpster fire almost kicked my ass.
7:02 · Have a good day.
7:04 · Thank you, my friend.
7:10 · Yeah, she’s moving too fast.
7:14 · Exactly.
7:14 · Tell her to slow down.
7:15 · ’Cause I haven’t introduced my daughter to nobody.
7:17 · Ooh, that’s crucial.
7:19 · But, yeah.
7:20 · So I think I’m going to pull back a little bit.
7:24 · And fallback game is like Nick Van Exel three.
7:26 · Dog.
7:27 · Wet.
7:28 · Kobe.
7:30 · The universe will always work it out, bro.
7:33 · [BEEPING] Fire Department.
7:36 · What’s the address?
‘He was really close. He was at that threshold.’
12:58 · Like, if somebody didn’t find him at that particular moment.
13:01 · So I don’t know if they induced coma, but he was in bad shape.
13:05 · To be intubated is —— a lot of times, that was associated with, like, they’re probably not coming out of the hospital, right?
13:11 · [MUSIC PLAYING] Engine 18, arrived on scene, finding patient lying next to bus stop, overheating and not breathing.
13:30 · Patient was placed in cold immersion bag with ice on top and surrounding his body.
13:39 · Part of you knows, like, damn, we did all this stuff.
13:44 · But even our best effort —— he might not have had a good outcome.
13:54 · Fortunately, it’s part of life, you know.
13:59 · But we try to do the best.
14:00 · So I felt like we did the best we could for him.
14:13 · It’s a nice night, bro.
14:15 · Yeah, it is, dog.
14:17 · But if it’s so hot out here that we got to throw people in bags, what are we doing here?
14:24 · Maybe that’s a sign.
14:25 · It’s the devil’s playground, bro.
14:27 · [Expletive] It ain’t fun here anymore.
14:30 · You know what I mean?
14:35 · [SIREN CHIRPS] Ooh, the boys.
14:38 · Go get some.
Heat Wave Cooling Our Cities Without Air Conditioning
Bloomberg Originals, 03 08, 2023
Video (12:22)
Description
Humans are increasingly reliant on air conditioning, but its use contributes to global warming. As the world warms and demand rises, how can we make A/C sustainable? In Spain and India, Kal Penn explores two innovative solutions.
Getting Warmer is Bloomberg’s exclusive new show about climate, clean energy and business, anchored by actor and former White House aide Kal Penn.
Accompany him on his journey as he takes an up-close look at bold climate solutions and discovers new facets of the global transition to clean energy.
In a hosted studio segment, Penn sifts through the overwhelming news about our climate and breaks down the facts and trends to understand with a dose of humor and optimism. Why are the recycling symbols on your plastic cups misleading? How does the carbon credit market work and does it actually help? And what is the future of water in a drought-ridden world?
On the road, Penn meets the innovators, researchers, communities and businesses pivoting to new energy sources and spearheading low-carbon technologies. In documentary segments, Penn speaks to the self-declared “crypto cowboys” of Texas who claim Bitcoin mining can help stabilize the state’s troubled electrical grid, and travels to Nevada to visit the company attempting to build America’s first closed-loop supply chain for electric vehicles. In New York, Penn explores the urban designs proposed to save the city from the next Superstorm Sandy and goes inside New York’s Empire State building to investigate the challenges of decarbonizing our cities and landmarks.
The show builds on, and includes contributions from, Bloomberg Green’s award-winning team of climate journalists as well as London-based climate storytellers Jack Harries and Alice Aedy. With a focus on the most pressing questions for young viewers, Jack and Alice unpack one big idea each episode. From recycled wastewater to regenerative agriculture and the challenges of a just transition for workers in the energy sector, they’ll break down how countries across the world are finding intriguing solutions to our climate crisis, and outline the challenges ahead.
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Transcript
Intro
0:04 · Cooling, whether that’s air conditioning or refrigerators is probably one of the biggest challenges we face with respect to climate change.
0:13 · It’s one of the least publicized threats in my view for all the progress we are making towards decarbonizing a broader energy system.
0:24 · Global demand for air conditioning is predicted to triple by 2050.
0:29 · Meeting that demand is a challenge that’s at the heart of both the climate and cost of living crises around the world.
0:36 · I think the problem is very rancid because we see the prices of electricity going up.
0:41 · I don’t think that low income population can cope with all these increased prices.
0:46 · If everybody started to use air conditioning, for this we really need sustainable solutions to really take this forward.
0:55 · So what else can we do to survive extraordinary heat without costing the environment?
1:01 · Turns out some of the solutions already existed centuries ago.
Cool roofs
1:10 · Dr. Denia Kolokotsa has been studying energy efficiency in buildings for the last three decades.
1:17 · When I started doing this research everybody said that I was crazy.
1:21 · You know, what are you going to do?
1:23 · Now, I think everybody speaks about that.
1:26 · So that’s the difference.
1:29 · Denia has studied a deceptively simple solution to our cooling problem.
1:34 · Cool roofs.
1:35 · Mainly that can be tiles, paints, shingles whatever it is attached within a roof that has the ability to reflect the sunlight and emit the thermal energy that is absorbed by the surfaces.
1:52 · If it sounds a bit low tech to you that’s probably the point.
1:55 · This simple, yet effective solution has been around for centuries.
1:59 · It’s rooted in the concept of passive cooling used in ancient architecture.
2:05 · For example, passive cooling in Cyclades in Greece is to paint the buildings white to emit the sun back to the sky.
2:16 · Passive cooling in Egypt is to have smaller openings and smaller windows in order not to allow the sun to come in.
Madrids fish market
2:27 · Madrid is notoriously hot in the summer.
2:29 · That’s a problem for Mercamadrid, the world’s second biggest fish market.
2:34 · It has the mammoth task of keeping thousands of workers and fish cool under its massive roof.
2:53 · The market sells 172,000 tons of fish annually.
3:10 · For example we were told this guy came all the way from Scotland.
3:14 · Thanks to the cooling system, it’s still alive.
3:18 · Temperature inside the market used to get as high as 40 degrees Celsius, or 104 Fahrenheit, in the summer.
3:25 · With thousands of people and fish sloshing in and out, keeping everything cold is a top priority.
3:33 · In 2018, the market underwent a 3 million Euro makeover to do just that.
3:51 · The entire roof was cleaned and repainted with a waterproof and highly reflective coating.
4:08 · The project also added 68 evaporative cooling units to supply a constant stream of cold air into the market.
4:33 · Mercamadrid says the new system saves up to 70% energy and cuts 34 tons of carbon emissions a year.
4:41 · The temperature is now kept around 15 degrees Celsius, or about 60 degrees Fahrenheit, even on the hottest of summer days.
4:58 · So cool roofs are helping this market, but in order to make a dent in the global demand for cooling we need multiple solutions working at once.
Skycool
5:11 · In California, a company has come up with a new cooling technology that is also inspired by ancient wisdom.
5:18 · About 10 years ago, I was finishing my PhD at Stanford and a labmate and I came across these references to a capability that apparently many ancient cultures had, which was the ability to make ice in the desert even though the air temperature was above freezing.
5:36 · It turned out they were taking advantage of a natural phenomenon that’s known as radiative cooling.
5:44 · All objects, including you and I, and the walls around us actually emit our own heat away as a kind of light that we can’t see.
5:53 · So this light happens to be in the infrared part of the spectrum.
5:57 · Now, if you go outside and look upwards our atmosphere actually lets out some of this light all the way out to outer space.
6:06 · This effect was often known as night sky cooling or nocturnal cooling because it’s really easy to observe at night.
6:15 · We asked the question, why can’t we make this passive cooling effect work during the daytime when we need cooling the most?
6:24 · The co-founders of Skycool then developed a nano material to achieve this effect.
6:30 · It’s a class of materials that when you put them outside on a hot day, are actually cool to the touch.
6:36 · It’s not getting heated up by the sun but it’s continuing to send that heat out upwards to the sky and space over those infrared wavelengths.
6:46 · We were the first to actually demonstrate that radiative cooling was possible during the daytime.
6:50 · A common challenge early on has been to kind of reorient engineers and people working in this industry from thinking about their cooling systems as a simple box that they’ve been used to for decades, and instead to kind of imagine a new possibility, which is that you might need a little more area on your roof but in return you get all this energy savings.
7:13 · In the US, Skycool now works with supermarkets and data centers.
7:17 · They say their clients save cooling energy by 15-20% but Skycool is also keen to introduce their technology to emerging economies like India, where demand for cooling is expected to skyrocket.
India
7:35 · Recently, they’ve partnered with industrial equipment maker Trane to help Indian street vendors who have little access to refrigerators.
7:43 · First, we came here, we studied how they were doing, and immediately found out they had 30% waste.
7:59 · Anuradha makes $8 a day selling vegetables.
8:03 · Some days she went home with just about $2 because of the hot weather.
8:12 · They are at the bottom of the society.
8:15 · These people are pushing the cart through the streets and they don’t have power and other things.
8:21 · Back in the lab, the engineers have developed a cart to solve the vendor’s problem.
8:26 · They’re applying Skycool’s high-tech film on top so that the fruits and vegetables will stay cool, even under harsh daylight.
8:33 · As long as it’s exposed to the sky, you get the cooling.
8:37 · As you can see, the temperature of the canopy is low.
8:41 · Inside the cart is also low.
8:43 · And as you come down, it’s more than 35 degrees.
8:48 · But here it is, you know, 25, 22.
8:51 · All kinds of leafy vegetables.
8:53 · They lose water and shrivels very quickly.
8:56 · This technology has helped them to extend life of this by at least one day.
9:02 · This is a zero energy input, zero water input way of getting cooling, that is unlike any other technology or capability that’s out there.
9:29 · Skycool has been collaborating with 3M in their research.
9:33 · Together, they received $3.5 million of funding from the US Department of Energy to improve their films, making them cheaper and more durable.
9:43 · So I am most excited about our technology in the context of emerging economies.
9:47 · So places like India, South America, Africa, these are locations where air conditioning has very low penetration rates today.
9:55 · So there’s enormous growth potential for cooling equipment.
10:00 · We’ve seen some pretty compelling examples of alternative cooling solutions, but are they enough to really slow our demand for air conditioning?
10:08 · With all these appliances and facilities that we have, life is becoming easier.
10:14 · So if life is becoming easier you don’t think how to solve problems.
10:18 · So the all day solution should be reminded now.
10:23 · Denia says only having cool materials on our roofs is not enough.
10:28 · We have to combine it with greenery and other technologies to lower the temperatures of our cities.
10:34 · And every building has to play a part to make a difference.
10:38 · In Spain, the energy demand for air conditioners is so high that the government had to impose a rule last summer to stop people from turning their AC’s below 27 degrees Celsius, or 81 Fahrenheit.
10:53 · Today’s buildings are not really designed to optimally exploit radiative cooling because architects and engineers didn’t know that it was a possibility.
11:02 · But if these kinds of materials are available you might imagine entirely different configurations for next generation, extremely energy efficient buildings.
11:13 · If we wanna stop the vicious feedback loop between air conditioning and global warming, the International Energy Agency says policy action is critical to ensure a sustainable path to the future of cooling.
11:26 · We need more than money to essentially drive these initiatives.
11:30 · We need to have certainly policy changes but we also need to change how individuals make decisions.
11:35 · Cooling equipment is only as efficient as the policies that governments dictate.
11:40 · There is no solution fits all.
11:42 · But I think that now that we have the citizens that have raised their awareness and understand that they cannot continue consuming electricity the way they used to be, things will change very dramatically in the near future.
Heatwave What is the urban heat island effect
Sky News, 07 15, 2022
Video (2:40)
Description
Extreme heat is going to be felt across the country, but it’s our cities that will be worst hit, as a phenomenon called the urban heat island effect drives temperatures even higher.
There are solutions but it takes time and investment. Sky’s Science Correspondent Thomas Moore reports.
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Transcript
0:00 · our towns and cities just weren’t built to be this hot baked by the sun with little shade urban living can be stifling at mossborne parkside academy in east london the children are well drilled the school is victorian and keeping the classrooms cool is a challenge
0:18 · all our windows are open and as much as possible before and after school and during the day we have blackout blinds so we actually have them closed when the children aren’t learning and just to try and keep those classrooms as cool as possible temperatures could top 40 degrees in parts of england early next week but in the cauldron of the concrete jungle the heat is intensified still further studies have shown the centers of london and manchester can be 10 degrees warmer than surrounding rural areas it’s an effect called the urban
0:47 · heat island and with a thermal imaging camera you can see it in action the brick the concrete the asphalt is all glowing red hot as it absorbs the sun’s radiation and stores it as heat but look at the contrast of a tree it’s not just the shade beneath which is a cooler blue but the leaves themselves are kind of in between on that color spectrum as they’re absorbing some of the sun’s energy but evaporating water
1:13 · keeping them cool and the surrounding air data given to sky news shows how that makes a difference even in a relatively small town sensors dotted around guildford in surrey show the heat rising on monday morning by early afternoon the temperature in the built-up area was seven degrees higher than a nearby park
1:33 · and it took longer to cool still three degrees warmer at midnight you will not feel comfortable you know the thermal comfort is an issue but if you are an elderly or having any pre-existing you know the the conditions so you are higher at risk for the heat stroke or cardiovascular or the respiratory you know the impact and that can be fatal that
1:55 · can be fatal 90 of the uk population is expected to live in an urban area by 2050. the charity trees for cities is planting shade for the future but warns it can’t do it fast enough there’s never been more focus and funding for trees in general which is fantastic we should recognize that but a lot of that funding historically has been focused on on the the royal
2:17 · environment on the countryside and we believe that we need to shift that balance in order to invest much more into our cities the government says it wants to plant 150 000 trees in urban areas but the money for this year has already run out the sooner they go in the ground the greater the shade and the even more intense heat waves of the future thomas more sky news
How ‘green gentrification’ is pricing out longtime East Boston residents
PBS NewsHour, 06 06, 2022
Video (7:56)
Description
The city of Boston faces two enormous problems: Sea level rise in its harbor that is getting worse with climate change and a dearth of affordable housing, pricing out many longtime residents. Solutions to one of the problems may compound the challenge of solving the other, a phenomenon researchers have called this “green gentrification.” Paul Solman reports.
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Transcript
Boston’s twin crises
0:04 · The city of Boston faces two enormous problems, sea level rise in its harbor that is getting worse with climate change, and a dearth of affordable housing, pricing out many longtime residents.
0:13 · Solutions to one of the problems may compound the challenge of solving the other.
0:18 · Researchers have called this green genritication.
Luxury waterfront development
0:23 · – Green gentrification.
0:25 · Paul Solman reports on the fallout in Boston.
0:29 · Paul in east Boston, long home : To the city’s latest wave of immigrants, sparkling new waterfront apartments where abandoned piers once rotted.
0:34 · A brief ferry ride away, downtown Boston.
0:39 · Convenient.
0:40 · Stunning.
0:41 · We unlocked a part of the waterfront that had been fenced off from the community and reintroduced it to the people free to calm use the place. Paul: And to folks dying to live here, says developer Nick iselin.
1:03 · We thought there was not such a thing as a one million-dollar condominium in Boston. Paul: Which came to a startling $1 million for just 1500 square feet. But a major selling point for those who can afford it, the project is carbon neutral. As it says on its website, climate change ready. A newly created living shoreline, with the stabilization of existing sea walls.
1:34 · New public open spaces support wildlife habitats, promote community gatherings, a kayak launcher, highlight recreational and programming opportunities. There are even a few dozen affordable housing units.
Community displacement
1:48 · What is not to like?
1:52 · Are you from around here?
1:54 · I live here.
1:56 · Paul: What about all these condos going up?
2:00 · They created a ghetto, a white ghetto.
2:04 · Paul: He feels unwelcome. A group of students from east Boston high school, possibly more so.
2:10 · Last summer me and my friends were skipping rocks and they said we were disturbing them.
2:18 · They are snobby people.
2:21 · They say you can’t be here, but it is not private property. Paul: In fact, it’s a public area, with public bathrooms, mandated by state law.
2:30 · We finally got the leasing office.
2:34 · Paul: But, challenges community activist Kannan thiruvengadam – Do I know there is a public restroom I can use?
2:45 · Those things have to be obvious, that makes a space welcoming. The sign is writing here. Paul: Public restroom in port said lobby.
2:58 · And if you can’t find a bathroom, how public is the space?
3:00 · Is it open?
3:03 · It is locked.
3:07 · In fact, guitar player Rios and the students, off after a half day at school, were among the very few non residents on these 9 acres of public space.
3:12 · We used to live here and we were forced to move out.
3:20 · Paul: You could not afford it?
3:22 · We were forced to move out, there is a lot of gentrification. Paul: Gentrification the age-old , problem of urban redevelopment.
3:33 · People are getting displaced, there is not enough opportunity for people with middle to lower income or even a bit above. Paul: This is gentrification with a new twist, green development greening. Green gentrification, adding appeal to a project, and cost, implying – There will be, little by little, a removal of socially more vulnerable groups, working class, middle-class groups. Paul: Researcher Isabelle anguelovski champions climate control but enclaves like this, in her words – Become islands of resilience, privatized.
Defining green gentrification
4:16 · Paul: While their 47,000 or so east Boston neighbors are discouraged from coming near, if not forced out of town, as so many of the students we ran into were.
4:25 · I have to walk to school now, it is like an hour.
4:31 · Paul: You walk an hour a day to school?
4:34 · It used to be 10 minutes.
4:37 · My shoes are messed up.
Unmet climate promises
4:38 · Paul: How long have you had those?
4:39 · A month.
4:41 · Paul: Meanwhile, those who get to stay will be at the mercy of time and tide. East Boston, once five separate islands, is mostly landfilled. The sea level will rise 40 inches by 2070, creating a flood risk to half the neighborhood. Low tide not a problem, but a few hours away, storm surges like one in 2018 which flooded this complex.
5:16 · It got up to the sidewalk?
5:17 · It came onto the ground level.
5:22 · I could not step on without being in the water.
5:24 · Paul: And the east bostonians behind the development?
5:28 · This is a ramp.
5:30 · If rain falls, it will be here.
5:33 · Paul: As for the promised amenities, that public kayak launch has become a tavern – the living shoreline?
5:39 · This is meant to be the living shoreline.
5:44 · Where are the kids, the grass, the blue hair?
5:51 · Paul: The fact is this very , project is now vulnerable to climate change.
5:58 · Nobody built in anticipation of the vulnerability because why?
6:01 · Because they were not required to.
Seeking equitable solutions
6:06 · The assessments had not been done.
6:07 · Paul: So, any fixes?
6:10 · Boston now has a new mayor, Michelle Wu, who ran on a platform of economic equity. She has reverend mariama white-hammond to help implement it.
6:17 · I went to a little, all girls private school and the girls were afraid to come to my house, said they were worried they would get shot. Paul: White-hammond actually protested this project when it was first proposed some seven years ago.
6:32 · We marched because we were deeply concerned the units built were not billed for the residents that were currently here. Paul: But how does she see east Boston development now, as the mayor’s top climate adviser.
6:44 · It is not the melding of the old and new, it is the old being overwhelmed by the new.
6:50 · If people live near a good part, the prices are higher, which means poor people live in the places nobody wants to live.
7:00 · Do not improve those neighborhoods?
7:02 · It is a real catch 22. My family has as much a right to live near a great park as the people who live downtown. The problem is, if I upgrade the park in that community, property values rise.
7:15 · Gentrification is a problem.
7:20 · It is happening for many reasons. Market forces, people are getting displaced. Whether or not we have green spaces here, that gentrification would be happening. Paul: And thus the last question, to community activist la Battaglia.
7:38 · Green gentrification compounds the problem?
7:39 · It exacerbates it.
7:42 · Paul: Exacerbates the problem of choice venues versus this land. – A problem facing choice urban venues all over this land. For the pbs newshour, Paul
How America’s hottest city is trying to cool down
Vox, 09 20, 2021
Video (6:48)
Description
Can trees help save Phoenix from extreme heat?
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It’s time to stop looking at trees as a form of “beautification.” They are, instead, a living form of infrastructure, providing a variety of services that include stormwater management, air filtering, carbon sequestration, and, most importantly for a city like Phoenix, Arizona, they cool the environment around them.
Trees can lower neighborhood temperatures in three ways: 1) Their shade prevents solar radiation from hitting paved surfaces like concrete and asphalt, which absorb energy and rerelease it into the air as heat. 2) Their leaves pull heat from the immediate area in order to evapotranspirate water that’s drawn from the soil. And, 3) If you’re standing under one, a tree protects your body directly from the sun’s rays. If you’ve ever made a summer visit to a dry, hot city like Phoenix, you’ll know how important shade is for making any outdoor experiences tolerable.
As Phoenix deals with a rising frequency of extreme heat waves — which aren’t only deadly, but also cause worrisome spikes in energy demand — the city is looking to trees as part of its heat mitigation strategy. Phoenix isn’t devoid of trees, but they’re distributed unevenly across the city. A quick glance at a satellite image of the metro area reveals substantial green splotches in the north and east and brown ones in the south and west, where many lower-income neighborhoods are located.
So Phoenix recently pledged to reach “tree equity” by 2030, under an agreement with American Forests, a national tree organization. I visited Phoenix recently to take a look at the current state of the city’s urban forest. In this video, we use drone imagery and thermal cameras to understand how the urban design of the city contributes to extreme heat, and what it can do to cool down.
This is the first video of five videos we’re releasing on climate change. You can watch the second video, about high-voltage transmission lines ⚡️ and why the US isn’t ready for clean energy, here: https://youtu.be/s3ScJ_FwaZk
And the third video dives into prescribed burns, and how a decade of suppressing forest fires 🔥 may have made them worse, here: https://youtu.be/0o6ezu_h6iE
Further reading:
Tree Equity Score Tool by American Forests https://treeequityscore.org
Assessment of heat mitigation strategies in Phoenix by Arizona State University https://www.phoenix.gov/parkssite/Documents/PKS_Forestry/PKS_Forestry_NOAA_PHX_Urban_Spaces_Report.pdf
Urban Heat Implications from Parking, Roads, and Cars https://par.nsf.gov/servlets/purl/10201112
“Phoenix pledges tree equity for all neighborhoods by 2030” by KJZZ https://kjzz.org/content/1677263/phoenix-pledges-tree-equity-all-neighborhoods-2030
Phoenix Draft Climate Action Plan: https://www.phoenix.gov/oep/cap
Phoenix tree bank https://www.phoenix.gov/sustainability/plantatree
“50 Grades of Shade” by Ariane Middel https://journals.ametsoc.org/view/journals/bams/aop/BAMS-D-20-0193.1/BAMS-D-20-0193.1.xml
“A New Investigation About Who’s Getting Sick From Heat-Related Illness Should Be a Wakeup Call for America” by Mother Jones https://www.motherjones.com/environment/2021/01/a-new-investigation-about-who-is-dying-from-heat-related-illness-should-be-a-wakeup-call-for-america/
“As rising heat bakes US cities, the poor often feel it most” by NPR https://www.npr.org/2019/09/03/754044732/as-rising-heat-bakes-u-s-cities-the-poor-often-feel-it-most?t=1628079007286
“Can trees really cool our cities down?” by The Conversation https://theconversation.com/can-trees-really-cool-our-cities-down-44099
“Trees are key to fighting urban heat, but cities keep losing them” by NPR https://www.npr.org/2019/09/04/755349748/trees-are-key-to-fighting-urban-heat-but-cities-keep-losing-them
Watch our full video catalog: http://goo.gl/IZONyE
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Transcript
0:02 · I’m looking at a map of surface temperatures in the Phoenix metro area.
0:05 · So this is in Arizona, in the southwest US and it shows how hot the ground is in June.
0:10 · And this is a map of child poverty rates.
0:13 · Darker blue means more poverty.
0:15 · So this is heat.
0:16 · And this is poverty.
0:18 · Heat.
0:19 · Poverty.
0:20 · Heat, Poverty.
0:21 · The correlation is pretty obvious.
0:24 · This is where it becomes clear that climate change and wealth inequality are not really separate issues.
0:29 · And you can probably find examples of that wherever you go in the world, but for this story, I went… there.
0:36 · “An excessive heat warning is in effect.”
0:39 · “Warmer is the new normal in Phoenix.”
0:41 · “The city’s grappling with an increase in heat related deaths.”
0:44 · “Phoenix, last year, hitting 100 degrees or higher for more than 144 days.”
0:49 · “Climate change is one factor causing rising temperature.
0:53 · “Urban development is the other.”
0:58 · The forecasted high that day was 112 degrees Fahrenheit.
1:02 · That’s 44 degrees Celsius.
1:04 · But in reality, some areas can feel warmer or cooler than that.
1:09 · So here I am in a neighborhood with some of the hottest surface temperatures, but when I drove 8 miles north of there, I was in one of the coolest parts of Phoenix.
1:19 · And it was in the hot neighborhood where I met up with Eva Olivas.
1:23 · She’s a local community advocate and Phoenix native.
1:26 · It’s nice to meet you.
1:27 · OLIVAS: It’s nice to meet you.
1:28 · Can you tell me a little bit about this neighborhood and who lives here?
1:31 · OLIVAS: So the community of Central City South is located just south of the downtown business district.
1:38 · OLIVAS: The average income level for a family of four is about $19,000.
1:42 · OLIVAS: The vehicle ownership rate is between 23-28% of the population.
1:45 · Oh wow.
1:46 · OLIVAS: Yes, very low.
1:47 · So they’re very dependent on public transportation.
1:50 · This zip code has the highest rate of heat-related illnesses in the city, what makes people here vulnerable to extreme heat?
1:58 · Well, I think it’s a combination of things.
2:00 · We have the freeway.
2:02 · OLIVAS: We have the railroad tracks on the north.
2:04 · OLIVAS: We have the airport on the east.
2:06 · OLIVAS: So we’re like a little pocket.
2:07 · That’s a lot of pavement.
2:08 · OLIVAS: A lot of concrete, a lot of industry here.
2:13 · A lot of our streets, as you can see, don’t have sidewalks.
2:17 · You’re having to walk in the street, like we are.
2:20 · And there’s not a lot of shade.
2:22 · If you can look around, you don’t see a lot of trees.
2:26 · This is the Sonoran Desert, so of course the summers are hot.
2:29 · But it also seems like this entire city was almost designed to capture heat.
2:34 · The streets are so wide.
2:36 · This isn’t a highway, this is just the Phoenix grid.
2:38 · And the buildings are so flat and set back from the sidewalk, so they don’t create much shade at all.
2:44 · And then there’s the parking lots.
2:46 · I read one estimate that there are more than 4 parking spots for every car in Phoenix.
2:52 · The sun just beams into all that pavement.
2:54 · And it doesn’t just roast anyone who happens to walk across it, it’s also transferring heat to the air, day and night.
3:02 · Wow I really … did that poorly.
3:05 · Also, I promise this is not a Chevy ad, I just borrowed my dad’s car.
3:09 · So what do you do to try to mitigate heat in a city like this?
3:13 · Well, reflective roofs can help a bit.
3:15 · The thermal image shows the surface temperature of the dark roof is hotter than the white ones.
3:20 · And the city has also tried painting some roads with a more reflective coating.
3:25 · But if you compare the hottest and coolest neighborhoods, it’s pretty clear that the big difference between them isn’t the black or white surfaces.
3:33 · It’s the green ones.
3:36 · Plants are the variable that connects this map of heat to this map of poverty.
3:41 · And studies have confirmed that the cooling effect of cool roofs and cool pavements is smaller than the cooling effect of trees.
3:48 · “One of the best ways to beat the urban heat.”
3:50 · “The more trees you plant, the more benefits.”
3:53 · “It’s cleansing for the air.”
3:54 · “Reduce carbon footprint.”
3:55 · “Lower levels of stress.”
3:56 · “Decrease energy costs.”
3:58 · “Storm water management.”
3:59 · “It’s a very important engine of cooling.”
4:01 · If you take an area that’s just parking lots and buildings, and cover at least a quarter of the space with trees, you can lower air temperatures there by around 8 degrees Fahrenheit or 4.4 degrees Celsius.
4:12 · That’s according to a study from Arizona State University.
4:15 · For those who are used to humid summers, it can be hard to understand just how much relief shade provides in a dry heat.
4:22 · You can easily see the temperature difference on my arms and on the concrete there.
4:27 · So the city of Phoenix has committed funds to planting more trees.
4:30 · They want all neighborhoods to reach a minimal level of canopy cover by 2030.
4:36 · And I love the idea of recruiting an army of trees to protect the vulnerable from extreme heat.
4:42 · But there’s a problem.
4:44 · Outside of parks and along major streets, the urban forest currently depends not on public resources, but on private ones.
4:55 · What would it take for a street like this one to become one of those shady tree-lined streets that they have uptown.
5:02 · OLIVAS: Well, any tree that’s planted in this neighborhood in front of someone’s home, they would have to maintain.
5:09 · OLIVAS: The city does not maintain them in these residential areas.
5:13 · I see, okay.
5:14 · So there are some utility companies here that will give you a couple of free trees if you agree to plant them on the west side or south side of your home, because eventually that can end up saving something like 30% on your air conditioning bill.
5:26 · But it sounds like that doesn’t really solve the maintenance issue.
5:29 · OLIVAS: Correct.
5:30 · OLIVAS: Because there’s that tradeoff between shade or increased water bill.
5:35 · But it’s the cost of maintaining the trees that is challenging, obviously in a very low income neighborhood like ours.
5:41 · And it’s not a priority for them in their family, in their home.
5:45 · Are there no programs here that are actually going to take on the watering cost?
5:50 · OLIVAS: Zero.
5:51 · That is the responsibility of the homeowner and you have to remember, what did I say?
5:54 · These are mostly renters.
5:57 · I walked with Eva along Buckeye Road where there’s a big triangular lot, it’s owned by the city, and has been left unplanted.
6:04 · She said that would probably change with the city’s new tree equity plans.
6:07 · But she also hoped for some more basic things: like sidewalks, and shade shelters for all the bus stops.
6:15 · It was a reminder that wealth already affects access to infrastructure, even infrastructure that doesn’t have to be watered and pruned.
6:22 · And that’s what will have to change if cities like Phoenix want to make sure that the heaviest burdens of climate warming don’t fall on those who are least prepared to withstand them.
How Are Wildfires Making Us Sick
PBS Vitals, 09 05, 2023
Video (12:41)
Description
Check out our collaboration with PBS Weathered (Terra) about the new disease risks that climate change is bringing with it! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wofEVzObZdU
Right here, on the heels of the Lahaina disaster and a summer full of Canadian wildfire smoke, we’ve been wondering: when the air fills with smoke, what are you really breathing? How best to protect yourself? And how bad is it going to get?
Along with Alok, Maiya May from Weathered brings some long-term perspective on fires, climate change and the shifting patterns of where we live.
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Let’s Connect:
IG: https://www.instagram.com/pbsvitals/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/pbsvitals
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pbsvitals
More great Weathered episodes here:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLnNZYWyBGJ1GLPmb55WQAln2Q7rZn5AFX
Find our experts and hosts:
:: Alok Patel, MD ::
Website: http://alokpatelmd.com/
Twitter: @AlokPatelMD
IG: @alokpatelmd
:: Sheena William, RN ::
Twitter: @Keepingitkinky1
IG: @keepingitkinky
:: Maiya May ::
IG: @maiyamay_
Overall health effects of wildfire smoke:
https://www.epa.gov/wildfire-smoke-course/health-effects-attributed-wildfire-smoke
https://www.cdc.gov/nceh/features/wildfires/index.html
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/science/how-wildfire-smoke-can-threaten-human-health-even-when-the-fire-is-hundreds-of-miles-away#:~:text=Researchers%20have%20found%20that%20there,leads%20to%20greater%20health%20effects
Particulate Matter
https://www3.epa.gov/region1/airquality/pm-human-health.html#:~:text=The%20size%20of%20particles%20is,a%20person%27s%20lungs%20and%20heart
Possible Link to Dementia:
https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamainternalmedicine/article-abstract/2808088
Understanding the Air Quality Index:
https://www.airnow.gov/aqi/aqi-basics/#:~:text=How%20does%20the%20AQI%20work,300%20represents%20hazardous%20air%20quality.
Health Impacts of 2023 Canadian Wildfires:
https://apnews.com/article/wildfires-asthma-canada-er-visits-75739be25401f4fe023aa5a3cd3433d7
https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/72/wr/mm7234a6.htm?s_cid=mm7234a6_w
https://www.atsjournals.org/doi/abs/10.1164/rccm.202306-1073LE
Personal Protection:
https://www.epa.gov/indoor-air-quality-iaq/air-cleaners-and-air-filters-home#:~:text=In%20addition%2C%20research%20shows%20that,to%20improve%20indoor%20air%20quality.
00:00 Intro
01:20 lung and cardiac impact of smoke
02:19 Maiya May talks about long-term trends
04:23 What is in wildfire smoke?
06:04 Effects of repeated exposure
06:30 Studies on firefighters
07:38 Surprising but less-studied health impacts
08:12 impact on pregant women and babies
09:11 Breaking down the Air Quality Index (AQI)
10:24 Personal protection
Transcript
Intro
0:00 · out here in Northern California.
0:01 · We are way too familiar, painfully familiar with the terrifying effects of wildfires.
0:09 · The damage, the health concerns, it’s almost impossible to ignore.
0:13 · And not just here, but in many parts of the country and world.
0:17 · Just take a look at what recently happened in Maui.
0:19 · That was one of the worst, most devastating fire disasters ever.
0:24 · And while fires are not new to Maui and are sadly familiar here in California and much of the West, this summer put fire on the radar of people who never had to really think about it.
0:35 · Smoke from wildfires in Canada caused air quality alerts in cities more than a thousand miles away.
0:42 · This affected more than 70 million people at the time.
0:45 · And as fires get bigger and more damaging, we’re only starting to get a handle on the long term health issues Here in California, fires burn basically every year, but in 2020, they’ve got completely out of hand.
1:02 · That summer saw the largest fire in California’s history, the August complex fire, which burned more than a million acres.
1:09 · And it caused air quality issues in San Francisco, which is hundreds of miles away.
1:13 · The sky here looked like hell, literally.
1:17 · from a health perspective.
1:18 · That smoke is what really does the damage like burning eyes, a sore throat, a cough.
lung and cardiac impact of smoke
1:25 · But there are certain vulnerable populations that may have much more health impacts.
1:31 · For example, someone who does have asthma, you know, is more at risk to have an asthma exacerbation when they breathe a smoke or someone with COPD, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, is that increased for a flare up when they inhaled the smoke?
1:48 · there can be increases in heart attacks, arrhythmias.
1:52 · There can be increases in stroke.
1:54 · when the air quality gets bad, which can happen rapidly.
1:57 · In the case of a fire, we see and feel the effects almost immediately.
2:02 · there’s there was a study showing that when it was a community in Canada, when they were exposed to the smoke within 2 hours there was increased in ambulance calls for respiratory distress and cardiac distress.
2:17 · It seems that fire season is getting longer and the fires are getting worse.
Maiya May talks about long-term trends
2:22 · But I worry, will this trend continue forever?
2:25 · Is it inevitable?
2:26 · We asked Maiya May and our friends at Weathered to explain.
2:30 · Is this part of a runaway train that we might call climate change?
2:35 · Well, first off, climate change doesn’t directly cause fires, but it does make the underlying conditions more prone to fire.
2:41 · Extreme wildfires basically need three things low humidity, high wind and an ignition source.
2:48 · Climate change doesn’t affect wind or ignition much, but it does make dry periods drier.
2:53 · So it’s more likely for a wind event and an ignition like a downed power line or lightning to align with a very low humidity.
3:01 · Dry day In northern Canada, there were very hot days that dried out the tundra and forests.
3:06 · Then you add lightning, and when on a low humidity day over and over early in the season and you get record numbers of acres burned.
3:14 · Similarly, in Lahaina, we saw drought conditions combined with low humidity and extreme wind, which likely downed power lines that ignited the fire.
3:24 · Interestingly, we saw even larger areas burned in the early 1930s during the hot, dry era known as the Dust Bowl.
3:31 · But then we entered a cool wet period and firefighting became a lot more effective in acres burned, plummeted.
3:38 · And then that’s when we really expanded communities and infrastructure into wildlands that tended to see more fires.
3:46 · So as we moved away from the cool wet period coupled with growing population and risky areas and the effects of climate change, wildfires had become more devastating.
3:57 · So is anywhere safe from the risk of wildfires today?
4:01 · well, the Midwest and Northeast stand out as less vulnerable since both are getting wetter on average with climate change.
4:08 · So while they may face an increased flood risk, wildfire is lower on the list of extreme weather hazards there.
4:14 · but as we saw with the smoke from the Canadian wildfires this year, I’m not sure any of us can escape the impacts entirely.
4:22 · So what exactly is in smoke that makes it so harmful?
What is in wildfire smoke?
4:25 · Well, obviously, it depends on what’s burning, but combustion always produces pollutants.
4:31 · One particularly harmful product is called particle pollution or particulate matter or PPM.
4:38 · Scientists measure particle pollution by size.
4:41 · For example.
4:42 · PM10 particles are ten micrometers across PM 2.5 particles are 2.5 micrometers wide.
4:50 · That’s 40 times smaller than the smallest thing you can see with the naked eye.
4:55 · By comparison, a human hair is 50 to 70 micrometers wide.
4:59 · In the world of health and medicine.
5:01 · You hear a lot about PM 2.5.
5:05 · These very tiny particles are extra harmful because they’re small enough to be absorbed into lung tissue and then passed through into the bloodstream.
5:14 · the particles are so small they can be inhaled and go all the way down to the base of our lungs and then actually cross over into the bloodstream.
5:23 · And once it’s in our body, the particulate matter, which, you know, has other tagalong toxins on it, such as, you know, heavy metals and other things can circulate throughout our body, causing all kinds of problems.
5:36 · A wildfire can also produce other dangerous pollutants, especially if it’s burning up buildings, homes and everything in between.
5:43 · And this produces all kinds of chemicals which then go up into the air.
5:47 · On top of that wildfire, smoke, like any smoke, is full of carbon monoxide in high concentrations.
5:54 · Carbon monoxide blocks your body from absorbing oxygen.
5:57 · And this can lead to headaches, nausea, dizziness and even death.
6:01 · one big concern is the effect of repeated exposures year after year.
Effects of repeated exposure
6:06 · Or breathing in smoke for days and days on end.
6:09 · There’s a lot of increased research right now, but there’s a lot of things we don’t know.
6:13 · especially for the general population who’s healthy, you know, and is now maybe experiencing a big burst of smoke for a few days once a year.
6:24 · in fact, we don’t really know just how bad this is.
6:27 · The studies haven’t been done, but we can learn something by looking at the people who are exposed to smoke routinely as part of their job.
Studies on firefighters
6:35 · I’m talking about firefighters.
6:37 · One study found that Wilderness firefighters are at an increased risk of dying from lung cancer and cardiovascular disease.
6:45 · Another study with a broader sampling of firefighters found a reduction in lung function.
6:51 · There really aren’t other groups that have that type of exposure.
6:55 · We know that they’re more at risk from certain types of cancers.
7:00 · And so in studying them and especially looking at their immune system and seeing where it goes awry.
7:07 · So hopefully we can start to, you know, figure out mechanistically, why is it leading to cancer and then hopefully be able to do something to prevent it.
7:19 · Now, it’s hard to draw a direct comparison because firefighters have much more exposure to smoke than the general public does.
7:25 · But studies of firefighters do offer us a hint of what we might expect as big fires become more common.
7:32 · It’s easy to believe that breathing in smoke year after year might not be good for you.
7:37 · some of the connections are surprising.
Surprising but less-studied health impacts
7:39 · For example, some studies have found that smoke exposure increases risk of developing dementia.
7:45 · Other studies have found a link between wildfire smoke and depression and anxiety.
7:50 · But it’s also true that some people are at a higher risk.
7:54 · As with many things, this includes children and older adults.
7:58 · Children tend to have smaller airways that clog more easily.
8:01 · They also breathe in more air per body weight, which makes them more susceptible to pollution.
8:06 · A especially those little babies.
8:08 · wildfires can cause personal and environmental devastation.
impact on pregant women and babies
8:12 · And few places know this as well as Northern California.
8:16 · Dr. Christine Wu is public health director in Napa County.
8:19 · what we have seen based on our birth certificate data that shows a decline in average birth weight and a corresponding increase in preterm births in the quarter following wildfire smoke exposure for 2017 and 2018.
8:33 · The peak in 2017 was the first time we saw preterm births over 10% of all births in many years.
8:39 · And I thought that was really interesting and telling.
8:41 · pregnant women.
8:42 · That’s a big category.
8:44 · The mom and the baby are at risk because we know when a mom inhales wildfire smoke, depending on how much they inhale and for what duration and for where they’re at in their pregnancy.
8:55 · That baby could be born early or be born at a low birth weight from that smoke exposure.
9:01 · But here’s the good news.
9:03 · You can protect yourself to a point by being prepared.
9:07 · So what does that mean?
9:08 · Number one, get familiar.
9:10 · Very familiar with the air quality index.
Breaking down the Air Quality Index (AQI)
9:13 · This tool that was developed by the U.S.
9:15 · Environmental Protection Agency gives us an overall picture of air pollution at any given time in any given location.
9:22 · It factors in five kinds of pollutants, including particle pollution, like we talked about earlier.
9:28 · And it mashes hourly measurements into a numerical rating system.
9:31 · 1 to 500.
9:33 · Anything under 100 is considered pretty clean air.
9:36 · But the higher the number, the worse it is outside over 101.
9:41 · And so this will issue an air quality alert.
9:43 · And AQI of 101 250 may trigger symptoms in anyone, especially those who are sensitive and 151 or 200 is bad for just about all of us above 200 things get really dangerous.
9:55 · You may need to limit the time you spend outside when the Canadian fires and smoke down the East coast This summer, the AQI in New York City went all the way up to 400.
10:05 · Anyone can feel those effects immediately.
10:08 · And in fact, on the worst smoke day.
10:10 · Emergency room visits for asthma in the city were up more than 50%.
10:15 · So it’s a good idea to check the AQI, the air quality index every day.
10:20 · Like you would check the weather.
10:21 · You go online, you put in your zip code, and there you go.
Personal protection
10:24 · So, for example, the AQI is high.
10:26 · Consider moving activity indoors.
10:29 · If you go outdoors, consider decreasing your minute ventilation, such as going for a walk instead of a jog, and consider the total duration outdoors.
10:38 · You can also wear one of these things that we got so familiar with during COVID.
10:42 · An N95 mask or a K and 95, essentially the same thing, but it has to be a 95 or Kane 95 surgical masks, cloth masks, bandanas.
10:52 · None of those will block the tiny particles from wildfire smoke Also, let’s not forget about our four legged friends.
10:57 · Pets need to breathe too, so don’t make them suck up pollution on a long walk while you wear a mask.
11:02 · That’s not fair.
11:03 · Also, keep in mind that air pollution can get inside your house.
11:07 · Also, if you own your home or have a good landlord, consider upgrading the air filter in your central ventilation or HVAC system.
11:15 · ensure that the filter that we have in there is actually at the highest efficiency compatible with our system.
11:21 · And each of these filters have what’s called a MERV rating.
11:25 · That’s the minimum efficiency report reporting value.
11:29 · And if we can get that rating to be a true high filter rating of 13 to 16, it can remove as much as 95% of the particles that pass through it and can be especially important during smoky periods.
11:44 · You can also use a portable air cleaner that’s designed to treat just a single room.
11:48 · you might want to consider kind of creating a clean air room within the home, which it would be a place everybody could go where the air purifier could be working, and the room is kind of better sealed so that if you are exposed to the smoke, you can at least, you know, be out of it for a significant part of the time.
12:07 · and we’ve listed more info in the show description.
12:10 · So check that out That does it this week for vitals.
12:13 · But this topic of wildfires and smog, unfortunately, isn’t going anywhere.
12:16 · So big things to Maia and a team at Weathered.
12:19 · Make sure to check out their episode on how climate change is ushering in a new era of disease risk.
12:24 · It’s another collab between our two shows.
12:27 · In the meantime, hit us up on socials at PBS vitals.
12:30 · Tell us your thoughts.
12:31 · Don’t forget to hit that subscribe button.
12:33 · Also, please check your air quality index every day, please, and thank you.
12:36 · We’ll see you next time.
How China is designing flood-resistant cities
Vox, 10 26, 2023
Video (6:49)
Description
These “sponge city” designs resist floods and increase biodiversity to help us adapt to a changing climate.
This episode is presented by Delta. Delta doesn’t have a say in our editorial decisions, but they make videos like this possible. For more information, visit http://www.delta.com/sustainability.
Subscribe to our channel and turn on notifications (🔔) so you don’t miss any videos: http://goo.gl/0bsAjO
From rising sea levels in Mumbai to unbearable heat in Houston, cities around the world are feeling the effects of climate change. Unfortunately, they don’t always have the right infrastructure to handle its impacts — which is one reason why cities are beginning to reimagine urban design. One of these designs is a “sponge city.”
Although one city design certainly won’t save us from the effects of climate change, “sponge cities” can help with how we live with it.
Here are some studies and articles we used to inform our reporting:
Biodiversity — our strongest natural defense against climate change: https://www.un.org/en/climatechange/science/climate-issues/biodiversity
Sponge City, Shenzhen Explores the Benefits of Designing with Nature: https://www.lincolninst.edu/publications/articles/sponge-city-shenzhen-explores-benefits-designing-with-nature
Sponge City Practices in China: From Pilot Exploration to Systemic Demonstration: https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4441/14/10/1531
The ocean is rising — and so is Miami’s skyline: https://www.vox.com/climate/23872640/coastal-climate-ocean-rising-miami-florida-building
Sponge Cities: Integrating Green and Gray Infrastructure to Build Climate Change Resilience in the People’s Republic of China: https://www.adb.org/sites/default/files/publication/838386/adb-brief-222-sponge-cities-prc.pdf
How Is Climate Change Affecting Floods?: https://www.nytimes.com/article/flooding-climate-change.html
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Transcript
0:02 · This isn’t a forest.
0:04 · Not really.
0:05 · It’s actually an urban park in the densely populated city of Nanchang, China.
0:11 · Filled with birds, native trees…
0:14 · and volcanic rock on 137 acres of urban land.
0:19 · It’s called a sponge city.
0:21 · And it’s a type of natural infrastructure that architects around the world are designing to help us combat and withstand a changing climate.
0:29 · So what does it mean for a city to become spongy?
0:38 · This video is presented by Delta Airlines.
0:42 · Today, like everywhere else on the globe cities are feeling the effects of climate change.
0:46 · And they often don’t have the right infrastructure to help them survive its impacts.
0:52 · Some neighborhoods in Houston don’t have enough trees to provide shade and relief from rising temperatures.
0:58 · Meanwhile, rising sea levels threaten coastal cities, like Mumbai and Seoul that don’t often have the infrastructure to handle more frequent flooding.
1:06 · This is only made worse by the fact that cities are covered with pavement and other surfaces that can’t absorb water.
1:13 · Urbanization changes habitat.
1:15 · So, when you build on a place it removes vegetation and alters hydrology.
1:22 · That’s Dr. Charlie Nilon.
1:24 · He told me that cities play a complicated role in the climate crisis…
1:28 · especially when it comes to maintaining biodiversity.
1:31 · Biodiversity is, simply put the total number of plants and animals that occur someplace.
1:39 · Biodiversity is one of our main support systems for human life on earth.
1:44 · We rely on natural ecosystems full of diverse plants, animals, and organisms for essential things like clean water, food, and medicine.
1:54 · And biodiversity is critical to defending the Earth against climate change.
1:59 · We need healthy forests to absorb carbon dioxide from the air and enough native plants for pollinators to help crops flourish.
2:07 · But studies show that as urban expansion continues it can drive habitat losses that directly put some species in danger…
2:13 · profoundly impacting global biodiversity.
2:16 · Cities have a big impact on what happens locally.
2:19 · Cities capture a significant number of plant and animal species…
2:23 · which are native.
2:24 · So that, even in cities, there’s a significant amount of biodiversity.
2:28 · Which means they can play a role in saving these local plant and animal species.
2:33 · The really important thing to think about is not so much how urbanization…
2:38 · reduces biodiversity, but really how in cities you can conserve biodiversity.
2:43 · One way to do this is by creating environments where nature can flourish.
2:47 · Environments that can also help cities soak up excess water.
2:52 · And that’s where sponge cities come in.
2:55 · In 2015, China launched a sponge city pilot program in 30 cities across the country.
3:01 · The goal of the program was to coordinate and promote the construction of sponge cities…
3:06 · which would improve urban drainage and flood prevention and create a diverse biological environment.
3:13 · Architects did this by supplementing the existing grey infrastructure that relied on concrete pipes and dams with natural solutions like gardens that are designed to capture rain and native trees that suck up excess water through their roots.
3:27 · In China, these ideas were taken from ancient drainage systems.
3:31 · That’s because for centuries Chinese cities actually handled water pretty well in part because they were built with nature in mind.
3:39 · A study from the scientific journal Water recreated some of these old practices.
3:44 · Building roofs designed with sloped eaves allowed rainwater to fall onto the permeable pavement below…
3:50 · and exterior walls were lined with flowers and trees to absorb rain and stormwater.
3:55 · Today, natural solutions like these have been reimplemented in major cities across China.
4:04 · In Qian’an, a sewage pipe was replaced with this natural infiltration system…
4:09 · that uses vegetation beds to purify storm and rainwater.
4:13 · Shanghai replaced concrete roads and sidewalks with this permeable pavement which is lined with vegetation to absorb excess water into the soil underground.
4:23 · And across Wuhan, dozens of urban gardens like these were planted to absorb water before it overwhelms communities.
4:31 · Most of these projects rely on introducing vegetation in an urban area to soak up excess water.
4:37 · This is a really great way to handle flooding and it also supports urban biodiversity.
4:43 · Because you’re providing habitat for additional groups…
4:46 · Plant and animal species.
4:47 · Sometimes you can restore habitats that have been lost.
4:50 · Despite these benefits, sponge cities can’t fix everything.
4:54 · The connection between climate change and flooding is still being studied.
4:58 · But when floods do happen these spongy cities are only able to absorb excess water up to a certain point.
5:05 · In 2021, sponge city designs in Zhengzhou failed when historic rainfall drenched the city.
5:11 · More than 300 people died from the catastrophic flooding.
5:15 · There are other limitations, too.
5:17 · One review of sponge cities in Guian New District found that national standards and codes for spongy infrastructure are really difficult to enforce because climate, hydrology, and even socio-economics are vastly different from one city to the next.
5:33 · So what might work in some cities won’t necessarily solve climate-related problems in others.
5:39 · Plus, ambitious sponge city designs like the sprawling parks built in China are expensive and require a lot of space…
5:45 · which most cities don’t have.
5:47 · So some US cities experimenting with natural infrastructure like LA and Boston are using the green space they already have.
5:56 · By trying things like planting vegetation on curbs…
5:59 · and creating green spaces along median strips.
6:03 · One type of city design certainly won’t save us from climate change…
6:07 · but they can make a difference in how we live with it.
6:10 · We often talk about biodiversity like it’s far away, but it’s actually right there.
6:16 · And I think the more that people understand that the kinds of things they do around where they live that really matters.
6:21 · People can do things to change cities.
6:24 · They can do things to make cities different.
6:27 · They can do things to make cities better.
How melting glaciers contributed to Himalayas flooding
Episode of (Season ) - Released: - Duration: 00:08:45
Description
How melting glaciers contributed to the flooding disaster in the Himalayas
Transcript
AMNA NAWAZ: Welcome to the “News Hour.”
The scale of the disaster in the Himalayas is becoming clearer tonight after catastrophic flooding tore through parts of Nepal and neighboring Tibet.
Scientists now believe the disaster was likely triggered by the collapse of a glacier high in the mountains, unleashing a torrent of water, mud, and debris that swept away bridges, roads, and entire communities.
GEOFF BENNETT: President Trump today called the devastation in Nepal brutal.
The death toll stands at least 390, with more than 1,400 others still missing.
That’s as rescue crews race to reach survivors in some of the world’s most difficult terrain.
In the valleys that carve through the highest peaks in the world, villages are now buried in mud.
This is Nepal’s Nuwakot district.
Yesterday’s floods left behind a layer of sludge so high, it reached rooftops and trapped trucks as if in quicksand.
Survivors recounted the terror as it all unfolded without warning.
JANAK BAHADUR, Flood Survivor (through translator): It came in suddenly and exploded like a bomb.
The river looked small from a distance, but it suddenly started overflowing and swept through this place.
GEOFF BENNETT: Geological experts believe a glacier collapse some 30 miles north of Kathmandu was likely what caused the disaster.
These satellite images show the glacier along those snowy peaks there at the bottom before the collapse.
And this is what it looks like now, the surrounding rivers swollen by the floodwaters and debris rushing downstream.
Cell phone video showed the torrent starting to barrel toward this hydroelectric dam.
Within seconds, it bursts through the other side and engulfs the entire site, this border crossing between Nepal and Tibet, the autonomous region in China, now completely destroyed by the ensuing landslides.
Nepalese officials say the floods have swept away dozens of bridges and damaged some 25 miles of roads.
That, combined with the already treacherous terrain of the Himalayas, have made rescue efforts especially difficult.
Nepal’s army says it’s airlifted more than 100 people to safety using helicopters.
On the ground, crews trudge through knee-deep mud with the aid of search dogs to locate the missing, hoisting them onto their backs, many survivors transported to hospitals in Kathmandu.
But as the search grinds on, many families have no choice but to wait for news they fear may never come.
SUBINA TAMANG, Wife of Missing Man (through translator): All I want is that my husband comes back to me safely in one piece.
I do not want anything else.
CHAMINDI SHRESHTHA, Mother of Missing Man (through translator): My son is stuck in the floods.
He is a truck driver.
And he said he was driving.
There is no news of him.
We are not able to find out anything.
GEOFF BENNETT: The scale of this catastrophe is being felt across the region.
Officials in China say they’re searching for hundreds of people still missing in Tibet, where floodwaters stretched for miles across the vast plateau.
Authorities said a new lake was formed in the deluge.
A spokesperson for China’s Foreign Ministry vowed to send aid to Nepal, which has significantly fewer emergency resources than its neighbor.
LIN JIAN, Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson (through translator): The mudslide has caused massive casualties and left many missing in both China and Nepal.
The two sides are having close communication and coordinating efforts for search-and-rescue.
GEOFF BENNETT: Among the missing, some 500 foreign nationals.
The U.S.
State Department this morning confirmed three Americans had been rescued, but as many as 90 may have been affected by the floods.
SADHGURU JAGGI VASUDEV, Indian Spiritual Leader (through translator): I wish to bring to your notice that there has been a terrible… GEOFF BENNETT: In an emotional message today, the Indian spiritual leader known as Sadhguru said a group had been on a holy pilgrimage in the area and got caught in the floods.
He said 22 of them were U.S.
citizens.
And for more on what caused the devastating floods, we’re joined now by Dan Shugar, who heads the waterSHED Lab at the University of Calgary.
Thanks for being with us.
DAN SHUGAR, waterSHED Lab Director, University of Calgary: Thank you.
GEOFF BENNETT: So scientists believe the deadly flood in Nepal may have started when a massive chunk of ice snapped off a glacier high in the Himalayas, unleashing this devastating cascade into the valley below.
Walk us through how that might have happened.
DAN SHUGAR: That was certainly our initial thought as to what happened based on the information that we had yesterday from some preliminary satellite information.
It’s changed a little bit since then, but the general story is still the same.
At about just under 5,000 meters elevation is a glacier that in the satellite imagery that we saw yesterday essentially two days ago was there, yesterday was gone, and the flood resulted downstream.
Since then, we have found that glacier ice - - chunk of glacier ice that essentially disappeared downstream was part of a much larger mass of bedrock, so a gigantic chunk of the mountainside that collapsed, essentially exploding as it descended a vertical kilometer to the valley bottom, melting all that ice, and then flowing out and generating the floods that we saw in those horrific videos.
GEOFF BENNETT: What makes that part of the Himalayas so vulnerable?
DAN SHUGAR: That’s a good question.
I suppose it would be a couple of things, one, incredibly steep topography and then huge relief, so massive differences between the low points and the high points, lots of glaciers, lots of glacial lakes, which weren’t an issue in this particular disaster, but certainly in other ones.
A lot of seismic activity.
The Gorkha earthquake wasn’t that long ago, and we saw very similar sort of disasters unfold, in fact, just on the other side of this mountain.
And the human part of that equation, I think, is important.
Unlike in Western North America, in much of the Himalaya, you have settlements in these incredibly high, narrow valleys that essentially are putting people and infrastructure and livelihoods at risk when these landslides or these floods come down.
GEOFF BENNETT: The other human element at play, it strikes me, is climate change.
What role does climate change play here?
What can scientists say with confidence about the connection between rising temperatures, retreating glaciers, and disasters like this one?
DAN SHUGAR: We can speak in generalities, because it’s a little bit hard to speak about the specific event just yet because we haven’t done any sort of attribution study.
As temperatures rise, glaciers will melt, will thin vertically, destabilizing the valley walls that they formerly were sort of help – hoping – or helping to hold up.
Additionally, as air temperatures rise, the permafrost is changing, and so permafrost is just ground that remains frozen year-round year after year.
But in some areas, both at high altitudes, but also in the north, permafrost is destabilizing because of warming temperatures.
And that can cause large landslides like this as well.
And then a third factor, I think would be changes in precipitation patterns, not only in terms of intensity, but in terms of when during the year they occurred.
Water can get underneath the glaciers, allowing them to slide a little bit more rapidly, any number of ways that that extra water can sort of enhance or increase the likelihood of one of these kinds of events.
GEOFF BENNETT: Dan, what lessons can be learned from this disaster?
DAN SHUGAR: I think that these landscapes, these steep mountain landscapes, are continually evolving due to climate change.
And the global community, not just the government of Nepal or China or India, need – the global community, we need to be stepping up to help mitigate these risks and to enhance the resiliency of people living in these environments that are subject to these disasters that, when there’s a climate change link, we in the rich West are largely responsible for.
GEOFF BENNETT: Dan Shugar with the waterSHED Lab at the University of Calgary, thanks for joining us this evening.
DAN SHUGAR: Thank you.
How Singapore solved its looming water crisis
DW Planet A, 09 20, 2024
Video (12:46)
Description
In Singapore, water supply impacted wars, the economy and people’s health. Now, one of the most water-stressed countries is teaching the world how to handle water when there is hardly any.
We’re destroying our environment at an alarming rate. But it doesn’t need to be this way. Our new channel Planet A explores the shift towards an eco-friendly world — and challenges our ideas about what dealing with climate change means. We look at the big and the small: What we can do and how the system needs to change. Every Friday we’ll take a truly global look at how to get us out of this mess.
Follow Planet A on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@dw_planeta?lang=en
Credits:
Reporter: Tim Schauenberg
Supervising Editor: Michael Trobridge
Video Editor: David Jacobi
Fact-Check: Alexander Paquet
Thumbnail: Em Chabridon
Read more:
United Nations Water, report on Singapore’s strategy:
https://www.unwater.org/sites/default/files/2023-11/sdg6-case-study-singapore_eng.pdf
Isocarp Institute, Singapore’s Water History:
https://www.isocarp-institute.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Review10_Water-and-the-Cities-The-SIngapore-Story.pdf
International Water Association Fact sheet on Singapore:
https://iwa-network.org/city/singapore/
Chapters:
00:00 Intro
00:35 The challenge
01:56 History
03:32 Step 1: Imported Water
04:57 Step 2: Desalination
06:09 Step 3: Local Catchment
07:18 Step 4: NEWater
09:22 Policy and Education
10:14 Conclusion
Transcript
Intro
0:01 · No joke, but this place…
0:02 · has a serious issue with water.
0:06 · Water here has changed the course of war, started fights with neighboring countries, and dominates the city’s political agenda.
0:14 · And yet, this country is a role model.
0:18 · “Singapore got it right, as simple as that.”
0:20 · This is how Singapore is transforming itself from one of the most water-stressed countries in the world to self-sufficiency, from water rags – to riches.
The challenge
0:36 · Welcome to Singapore!
0:37 · A vibrant multicultural city-state, right on the equator.
0:41 · Densely populated, around 6 million people live on this tiny island.
0:45 · It’s an international hub for trade and finance.
0:48 · It’s clean, safe, modern, wealthy, green.
0:52 · Basically, it has a lot of everything you’d want.
0:55 · There’s just that one thing…
0:56 · Singapore has no natural freshwater resources.
1:00 · And the way its economy and population are growing, total water demand could almost double by 2060.
1:06 · But Singapore is on it.
1:10 · “None of what they’ve done is magic.”
1:13 · That’s Peter Gleick, he’s an award-winning water expert.
1:16 · He puts Singapore’s success down to what he calls the “soft path” approach to their problems.
1:21 · “So the soft path for water is in contrast to what we have done over the last century and more, more than a century, the hard path.
1:29 · To build hard infrastructure, to take more and more water out of nature, to ignore the consequences of our water policies for nature, to build narrow institutions.
1:39 · And the soft path tries to turn that around and say, let’s use water efficiently and carefully.
1:45 · Let’s stop wasting water.
1:47 · Let’s look at new sources of supply.”
1:50 · To understand how Singapore can pull this off, you first need to understand where they’re coming from.
History
1:58 · “The Singapore water story starts with World War 2.”
2:02 · That’s Jon Church, the guy for water at the United Nations.
2:06 · Singaporeans would argue that the story goes back a lot longer, but 1942 is certainly when the issue grabbed the world’s attention.
2:13 · That’s when allied troops, namely British, Australian and Indian forces, were battling fascist Japan on Singapore Island, which at the time was a British colony.
2:24 · The allies depended on imported water which was a bit of a problem when Japanese forces blew up the pipes transporting that water.
2:30 · “The bridge that connects Malaysia and Singapore was bombed.
2:35 · The result was lack of water in the city, a terrible episode of water scarcity.”
2:43 · The Allies lost the battle of Singapore, but after Japan’s overall surrender, the island remained in British hands.
2:50 · It took more than 20 years until it became fully independent.
2:53 · But political liberation didn’t free Singapore from its water crisis: water rationing, catastrophic sanitation, and regular floods continued.
3:01 · With its fate now in its own hands, Singapore began planning for the long-term.
3:06 · Cecilia Tortajada has spent almost three decades researching water policy and innovations around the world and is fascinated by Singapore’s path.
3:15 · “When Singapore became independent, they started planning to be water independent, as well as food independent, energy independent, but to have systems that can sustain stress.
3:28 · That was in 1965 for 2060.”
Step 1: Imported Water
3:32 · Their initial masterplan was fine-tuned over the years into a water strategy which they call their “4 national taps”.
3:40 · First: Water imports Second: Desalination Third: Local Catchment And fourth, something they call “NEWater”.
3:50 · Let’s dive into it!
3:53 · Firstly, Singapore knew there was plenty of water, right here: Two deals to import water from Malaysia in the 60’s, got the taps running again.
4:03 · It’s cheap and millions of liters are pumped over the border every day.
4:07 · But buying half your water from your neighbor isn’t sustainable long-term.
4:12 · On the contrary: From the start, Malaysia made threats to cut off the supply and argued over its price.
4:18 · The tensions have even led to warnings of a military conflict.
4:21 · Singapore’s leaders know their weak spot, so they want to stop importing water by 2061.
4:27 · So, it’s all the more important that the other three taps become more than a drop in the ocean.
4:31 · “Water planning is very important because they have so little water, Singapore must make sure, that this water is used wisely.
4:41 · And the objective of this master plan is to make the most out of every single drop of water.”
4:48 · This means keeping rivers and drains clean, investing billions, starting to collect more water, cleaning it and use what the island state Singapore already has.
Step 2: Desalination
4:57 · For example, this: The ocean!
5:02 · “Desalination, Desalination, Desalination.
5:05 · You take that undrinkable salt water, you remove the salt and you have an unlimited supply of fresh water.”
5:11 · Do you remember?
5:12 · We had an entire video about obtaining fresh water through desalination.
5:16 · It’s used in a number of extremely dry places around the world and is a real gamechanger for some.
5:23 · “Membrane desalination uses pressure.
5:25 · Salt water, here coloured in red for clarity, is pressed through a membrane that is only partially permeable.
5:30 · Fresh water can press through.
5:32 · Here coloured in blue.
5:33 · But the salt is trapped on the other side.”
5:35 · Singapore really pushed to advance this technology.
5:38 · This underground facility for example is state-of-the-art.
5:42 · Normally, it treats used water.
5:44 · In times of drought, it desalinates sea water.
5:47 · On top, people use it as a park.
5:49 · Today, five desalination plants provide up to 25 % of the entire island’s water supply.
5:55 · Singapore plans increase this capacity to meet 30% of its needs in 2060, by which time water use is expected to have doubled.
6:04 · But that’s no way near self-sufficiency.
6:07 · So, what’s next?
Step 3: Local Catchment
6:09 · Bingo! Rain!
6:11 · A lot of it, and Singapore is a master of maxing that out.
6:15 · Two third of the entire state’s surface is used for rainwater catchment.
6:20 · “Basically, the water falls on the roof and then goes through drains and then you make sure that as little water leaks from the drains and is captured by the drainage system and conveyed to reservoirs where it can be stored.
6:43 · And treated for further use.
6:46 · An extensive network of rivers, canals and drains channels the water into 17 reservoirs.
6:51 · The biggest is Marina Barrage, with an area of 10,000 hectares.
6:55 · It holds back fresh water from flowing into the ocean.
6:58 · And helps to control frequent floods.
7:02 · So does this underground tank that catches floodwater in extreme cases when the drains spill over.
7:08 · Even this water could potentially be treated and reused.
7:11 · By 2060, the government wants to use 90% of the land area for rain catchment.
Step 4: NEWater
7:18 · Catching rainwater is one thing, but what about the water already in circulation?
7:25 · “All drainage water is collected, and treated and reused as much as possible.
7:32 · Most countries, they do not invest, not even a fraction of what Singapore is investing.”
7:38 · The water authorities built a 206 kilometer sewage pipe-highway, costing 10 billion dollars that guides the city’s sewage into state-of-the-art reclamation and cleaning facilities.
7:50 · Ok, Singapore is by some measures the 5th richest country in the world so it can afford to splash out like that.
7:56 · It’s also a lot easier to push through such projects when you have the sort of “controlled democracy”, run by the same party, that Singapore has had since independence in 1965.
8:07 · Anyway, the entire city’s underground is basically one big sewer network.
8:12 · But the pride of Singapore’s water strategy is what happens after collecting the water – the treatment.
8:19 · The authorities call it NEWater.
8:21 · It’s produced by microfiltration, reverse osmosis and UV radiation.
8:29 · “Some of that water is so high quality, Singapore is using it in their chip manufacturing industry, which requires ultra-pure water, which is an indication of how good a quality of that water is.”
8:42 · Did you know, that around the world, half of our wastewater is released untreated?
8:46 · And only 11% is actually reused.
8:49 · In Singapore about 30% percent of the entire drinkable and non-drinkable demand can be met by recycling used water.
8:57 · And they want to increase that to 55% by 2060.
9:02 · Most of it is used by industry, only a fraction of it is mixed into the drinking water supply, because we’re all so squeamish.
9:09 · “It’s controversial because we’re taking wastewater which, you know, goes down our drains, we flush it down our toilets, industry dumps wastewater.
9:17 · And we typically think of that as a, a liability, as something to get rid of.”
Policy and Education
9:22 · So how do you get people on board?
9:25 · “Using the flush saver cistern bag and save with every flush!”
9:29 · “Make saving water pay!”
9:30 · “Reduce water consumption!”
9:32 · “Save up to 10 liters of water per hour!”
9:35 · Nationwide campaigns encourage people to install water-saving fittings.
9:38 · And nicely, if you install those fittings, you get discount vouchers for other sustainable products.
9:44 · Digital water meters track each household’s water consumption and detect leaks in pipes.
9:49 · That’s how Singapore comes down to an incredible 5% water loss from leaks.
9:53 · Which is first class.
9:55 · Globally, the average is estimated to be 30%.
9:58 · “What they’ve done incredibly well, in my opinion, is on the side of water education.
10:04 · They’ve educated their community about their water situation, about their water challenges, and about the solutions that they’ve chosen to push.”
Conclusion
10:14 · As good as Singapore is doing, it has big advantages over other countries.
10:18 · Besides being rich and a tightly-controlled society, the city only has a tiny agricultural sector and can focus almost entirely on urban and industrial wastewater.
10:29 · So, they have one problem less as food production pollutes and consumes enormous amounts of fresh water in many parts of the world.
10:36 · Despite that, they’ve shown: a lot is possible.
10:41 · “Everywhere in the world, when we start, again talking about water - when we see our management, how can it be improved?
10:50 · Who would be involved?
10:52 · How can we pay for it?
10:54 · There is always a “but”.
10:55 · “But” can we do it?
10:56 · And in Singapore it’s not.
10:58 · In Singapore it’s: how is it that we are going to do it?
11:01 · So, it’s a very different perspective, its proactive.
11:06 · They move very fast.
11:08 · So once a decision has been taken the things start happening.”
11:14 · So, to sum up: Incentivizing low-cost water-saving fittings could be easy for every government to implement.
11:20 · Desalination is only an option for coastal regions and it requires a lot of energy, often dirty fossil fuels.
11:27 · Singapore’s catchment, treatment and purification facilities are world class, as the result of a lot of investment in innovation and research.
11:34 · “But it turns out that a dollar invested in an efficiency improvement is much more productive than a dollar invested in new supply.”
11:45 · Reusing wastewater seems a no-brainer.
11:47 · It’s safe and tested to work and the tech is available.
11:52 · “This is really important to find the best solutions to every country’s problems, but also long-term planning.
12:01 · Singapore, from all the way from independence has been planning its way through water security.
12:09 · In Singapore it’s extremely high on the political agenda, all the way up to the Prime Minister.
12:16 · It’s something which is mainstreamed in each and every policy adopted and implemented by the country.”
12:25 · Singapore is blazing a trail in tackling some of the world’s biggest water challenges in the face of climate change.
12:30 · It’s not just about money, but also about decision-making, policy and long-term planning.
12:35 · Some of the ingredients with which any region could make it from water rags to riches.
How Singapore Uses Science to Stay Cool
Bloomberg Originals, 03 17, 2021
Video (9:49)
Description
Heat waves kill more people than any other extreme weather event: more than tornados, hurricanes, and even floods. That’s why scientists are coming up with novel, new designs to help keep temperatures down in Singapore.
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Transcript
Intro
0:01 · If you look at a thermal image of a city and then compare that to a map of vegetation, you’ll find that where there’s greenery, the temperature is lower.
0:11 · That’s because things like asphalt, concrete and shingled roofs absorb more heat from the sun than trees.
0:19 · This is the urban heat island effect, and it accounts for the higher temperatures in cities, often by several degrees compared with their surroundings.
0:28 · It’s becoming a huge risk to human health as growing urban populations exacerbate the heating effects of climate change.
0:36 · Heat waves kill more people than any other extreme weather event, more than tornadoes, hurricanes and even floods.
0:47 · That’s why urban heat island mitigation strategies are being studied in Singapore by a group of researchers.
0:54 · The government-backed project called Cooling Singapore is now in the process of combining everything they’ve learned to create a digital tool that can help cities all over the world, starting with Singapore.
Cooling Singapore
1:10 · In Singapore, close to the equator, temperatures regularly rise above 32 degrees Celsius or 90 degrees Fahrenheit.
1:19 · And the city structures only make it worse.
1:22 · And that is also the case for Singapore, which is basically a concrete jungle, more urbanized, more developed city.
1:29 · And even in Singapore, what you have is a situation whereby there’s a temperature difference of 7 degrees Celsius between the more urbanized and the more rural areas.
1:41 · The government has taken drastic steps to keep temperatures down.
1:46 · This is Gardens by the Bay, an award-winning park.
1:50 · And inside this greenhouse it’s a pleasant 24 degrees.
1:54 · That’s because the dome, along with two dozen nearby towers full of thousands of people, is chilled by what’s probably the world’s largest underground district cooling system.
2:04 · It uses a large central plant that cools water and then pipes it into banks, residential towers, an exhibition center, shopping malls and the city’s iconic Marina Bay Sands hotel and casino complex.
2:18 · So one of the biggest perks of using this system for the buildings is that they can save 40% in terms of electricity usage compared to your traditional air conditioners.
2:32 · And with Singapore relying on natural gas for most of its power, this new system means emissions savings equivalent to removing 10,000 cars from the city’s roads.
2:43 · That has big implications for the rest of the world.
2:45 · If things stay as they are, more than a third of the world’s electricity could end up being used to cool buildings and vehicles by 2050.
2:55 · As the world gets hotter, gets warmer, there is a greater need for air conditioning and as well as refrigerators, for instance.
3:03 · And the more people are buying these household appliances, the more energy usage they use and they release heat more, and that then exacerbates climate change.
3:18 · It’s a vicious circle.
Vegetation
3:20 · And so since 2017, researchers at Cooling Singapore have been identifying design solutions that reduce our need for so much cool air in the first place.
3:31 · One thing many cities have in common, and that’s the importance of vegetation.
3:36 · That’s a very important measure to mitigate the urban heat because of the shading effect, of course, and deep psychological effects of the vegetation.
3:46 · And also because of the possible evaporative cooling effect of the vegetation.
3:53 · Vegetation can be, of course, on the ground floor in form of trees and shrubs.
3:58 · And you can walk under them.
4:00 · This is the so-called canopy layer that the vegetation forms above us.
4:05 · But vegetation can also go up the facades of buildings and it can go to the roof of the buildings.
Garden City Feel
4:14 · Luckily, Singapore has been striving for the Garden City feel for quite some time.
4:20 · It was a vision initially introduced by then Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew in 1967 to make life more pleasant for people.
4:28 · And today, Singapore is one of the world’s greenest cities in terms of urban vegetation.
4:33 · Kampung Admiralty, a community center that contains health facilities and social spaces, now provides more green space than the plot of land it was originally built on.
4:44 · It’s topped by a roofscape of staggered terraces covered in local plants, which functions as a community park, and a village green in the center that contains farm plots for residents to tend to.
4:56 · Parkroyal on Pickering was designed as a hotel in a garden that doubled the green-growing potential of its site.
5:04 · There’s now 15,000 meters of sky gardens, reflecting pools, waterfalls, planter terraces and green walls.
5:12 · And the government has big plans as well.
5:17 · Singapore actually has a plan to plant 1 million trees and add more green spaces over the next 10 years.
5:24 · It is actually a mix of one thing to reduce the urban heat island effect.
5:30 · But on the other hand, it’s also to to get the people to be more connected to nature.
5:39 · But it’s not enough.
Heat Mitigation
5:41 · The city-state has still been warming twice as quickly as the world average over the past six decades.
5:47 · That’s why Cooling Singapore has developed a catalog of other potential heat-mitigation measures.
5:54 · When you try to mitigate the urban heat island effect in a city or in any building, in a village as well, the first place to start is by shading of the windows.
6:05 · You have to keep areas clear so that the wind can move through it.
6:11 · Water of a certain depth can act as a very good thermal buffer.
6:15 · If you have to construct heavy buildings, such as high rises, at least you can make the surface, the facade less heavy.
6:24 · And you can protect it from direct sun penetration.
6:27 · We have to make sure that no combustion engines will be in the city in the middle, in the medium- to long-term range.
6:35 · So ideally, the electricity production is outside of the city.
6:39 · And you bring just the clean electricity into the city.
6:43 · You can at least minimize the use of energy in the city.
6:48 · And you can start to slowly convert the roofs, the facades of the city, into production areas for renewable energy.
6:58 · In Singapore, unfortunately, this is a limited option.
7:01 · But in the long run, it could produce up to 20%, 25% of the energy, of the electricity needed in Singapore.
7:10 · If all the roofs and the areas in the buildings, on the buildings, on the facades would be used to do that.
Urban Climate Twin
7:20 · With so many different ideas, Cooling Singapore is also designing a virtual model of the city to test them out.
7:26 · It’s called a Digital Urban Climate Twin, or DUCT, that will calculate how each element of the city’s design will impact the urban heat island effect.
7:37 · That means we model not only the geometry of the buildings digitally, but also we model the transportation, the insulation, the temperature, the radiation coming from the sun, the weather, the local weather, the local climate, the even very, very microclimate of the city, the water, the movement of people in the city.
8:01 · We can invent scenarios.
8:04 · We can design scenarios, test them before we actually build them.
8:09 · And if they test very well and we are sure that they will function, then we can start to build them and put them into reality.
Conclusion
8:23 · Singapore will be using this new tool to figure out which actions it should take next.
8:28 · And the model can be applied to any city, whether it needs to keep heat out or keep heat in, which will ultimately save energy, slow climate change and improve our quality of life.
8:41 · So this is something that Singapore will be able to export, maybe even together with its city development systems that it already has.
8:51 · Singapore is one of the very few cities in the world that really combined this scientific approach with a very well-established urban redesign and urban design approach.
9:03 · Through its agencies and the combination of its agencies, it has achieved a lot in the past.
9:10 · If it keeps following the scientific path and the combination with the other knowledge in the city already, we think that it will be a very comfortable and very livable city in the future, even more than today.
How Urban Heat Impacts Communities of Color
Did You See This?, 07 21, 2021
Video (7:14)
Description
The urban heat island effect is a phenomenon affecting more than 100 cities across the U.S. — here’s how it works and why it disproportionately impacts communities of color.
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Transcript
How urban heat islands make the impacts of excessive heat worse
PBS NewsHour, 07 27, 2023
Video (6:11)
Description
Living in certain parts of a city can make the impacts of extreme heat worse. That’s because of a phenomenon called the urban heat island effect. A recent report by the research group Climate Central showed that more than 40 million Americans live in these hot spots. William Brangham discussed what this means for those residents with Michael Mendez of the University of California, Irvine.
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Transcript
What is an urban heat island
0:00 · WILLIAM BRANGHAM: So, in addition to the dangers faced by where someone works, sometimes, where you live can also make the impacts of extreme heat worse, like living in certain parts of a city.
0:10 · That’s because of a phenomenon called the urban heat island effect. A recent report by the research group Climate Central showed that more than 40 million Americans live in these hot spots.
0:22 · So, what does this mean for those residents? And is there any way that they can get relief?
0:26 · For that we turn to Michael Mendez. He’s assistant professor of environmental planning and policy at the University of California, Irvine, Professor Mendez, very good to have you on the “NewsHour.”
0:38 · Can you help us understand, what is the urban heat island effect?
0:43 · MICHAEL MENDEZ, University of California, Irvine: Thank you for having me here today.
0:45 · It’s a pleasure to be here to talk to you about this important issue that is affecting many people across the nation of – 40 percent of residents in the United States are under a heat advisory.
0:56 · And many of them are living in urban areas that don’t have adequate infrastructure, let alone environmental amenities like trees and other forms of greenery that provide shade. So, an urban heat island effect is where you have a lot of urbanized and suburban areas that are paved over with asphalt, concrete, other – other types of building materials that absorb the heat.
1:20 · And with little vegetation and trees for shade, and other types of cooling material, these areas and communities could be anywhere between five and even 20 degrees hotter than other neighborhoods that have more green space for shade.
1:36 · WILLIAM BRANGHAM: That is such a shocking difference in temperature, simply that can be driven by how a certain area is built and what the structures are made of?
1:45 · MICHAEL MENDEZ: Most definitely.
1:47 · I think many of us that are millennials, Gen Z or even older remember being on the hot turf, asphalt, in schools and see the steam actually permeate out of these hard heat-trapping surfaces. So imagine not just a schoolyard, which is just, unfortunately, an urban heat island, but an entire neighborhood, and how that can really change how you experience an extreme heat event, and let alone if you’re living in an older home that’s 100 years old.
2:19 · You may experience it even more inside of a home that isn’t climate-resilient, can have even hotter temperatures than the ambient air outside.
2:29 · WILLIAM BRANGHAM: I cited this study that says that millions of Americans are living in – under these types of conditions that you’re describing.
Can you explain why certain people are more vulnerable
2:36 · But I also understand that it is not equally spread across demographics, that certain people are more vulnerable than others. Can you explain?
2:46 · MICHAEL MENDEZ: Yes, this phenomenon of the heat waves, extreme climate events have disparate impact. It does not affect everyone equally.
2:55 · And this is because a heat wave is a natural phenomenon – phenomenon in some part, but there’s been political choices have been – have been made over the decades, if not centuries, that have withheld vital resources and infrastructure from communities, primarily low income-communities of color, African American and Latino communities.
3:16 · So it’s no surprise, when a heat wave or other type of extreme weather event strikes these communities, they’re the least prepared and often suffered the most impacts, because they don’t have – they have crumbling infrastructure, and they don’t have the amenities that will protect them and make them more resilient from our changing and extreme climate.
What are the possible solutions
3:36 · WILLIAM BRANGHAM: You have been describing or hinting at a few of what seem like the possible solutions here.
3:42 · Walk me through those things. If I were a city planner, what are the things that I can do to try to reduce the urban heat island effect?
3:50 · MICHAEL MENDEZ: First is, a lot of these campaigns, we hear about the million-dollar campaigns that a lot of urban mayors are trying to institute in their cities, planting trees.
4:02 · Climate-resilient trees that are resilient to drought as well can help cool down are cities, cool roofs, rooftops, making sure that we’re able to reflect some of the sun’s rays and ensure that our houses that are cooler, having more climate weatherization in our homes, and, of course, having more cool pavements, moving away from that black asphalt and concrete that is absorbing and retaining the heat.
4:32 · And other types of green spaces, watershed management practices are multibenefit.
4:38 · They can clean our water, recharge our groundwater, but also provide green space and recreational spaces. So, we need to look for multibenefit policies and projects that attack multiple problems that climate change is causing our urban areas and throughout our nation.
What communities are doing
4:56 · WILLIAM BRANGHAM: I mean, some of these things you’re talking about seem quite quick. I mean, you can paint a roof a different color quite quickly. Trees, we know, take longer to grow.
5:04 · Are there communities that you would point to in the country that are doing some of these things, that are taking this initiative head on and trying to do these things?
5:15 · MICHAEL MENDEZ: Well, in my in my hometown of Los Angeles, it’s often named – thought of as very suburban, very asphalt, concrete-driven area.
5:24 · But they’re really leading the way in terms of creating an Office of Climate Emergency and Resilience, where they have hired a full-time person and staff to understand these issues and try to target resources to the most immediate communities, those that are lacking these trees and green spaces.
5:44 · So, places like Los Angeles, Portland, of course, Seattle have been at the forefront of enacting climate action, but also having a strong equity and justice lens.
5:58 · WILLIAM BRANGHAM: All right, Professor Michael Mendez, U.C. Irvine, thank you so much for being here.
6:02 · MICHAEL MENDEZ: Thank you for having me.
Inside a Category 5 Hurricane Simulator
Be Smart, 06 02, 2022
Video (12:32)
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Hurricanes, typhoons, and tropical cyclones are Earth’s most powerful storms, capable of unleashing destruction and death on coastal areas worldwide. As climate change warms Earth’s oceans, we face more risk of storms rapidly intensifying into category 5, sometimes in less than a single day. Being able to predict these rapidly intensifying storms will save lives, but studying hurricanes in detail is difficult and dangerous. So in order to improve our understanding of hurricanes, scientists have built a machine that can create hurricane conditions indoors. weather hurricanes
Filmed at the Alfred C. Glassell, Jr. SUSTAIN Laboratory at the Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science at the University of Miami https://sustain.rsmas.miami.edu/
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The power of hurricanes
0:03 · This is what it’s like to be in a category five hurricane.
0:07 · Deadly, deadly winds and waves here.
0:10 · This is unbelievable.
0:12 · These are Earth’s most powerful storms up to a thousand miles across and capable of devastating coastal areas with massive rains, surging waves and sustained winds of more than 160 miles per hour.
0:26 · Hurricanes, also known as typhoons or tropical cyclones, form over warm tropical oceans, where they draw up huge amounts of heat, energy, and moisture.
0:36 · A hurricane’s intensity depends on how much energy it can pull from warm ocean water.
0:41 · And as humans have changed the climate, the oceans have heated up creating the potential for more intense hurricanes happening more often.
0:50 · So in order to better predict the destructive impact of these swirling superstorms and to save lives, scientists have built this, a machine that can create the worst imaginable hurricane conditions indoors.
1:09 · (gentle music) Hey, smart people, Joe here.
Hurricane vulnerability
1:15 · No one knows exactly when it’s gonna happen but at some point in the future, a hurricane is going to make landfall right near where I am standing right now.
1:25 · And that’s a potentially disastrous scenario because this Southern tip of Florida is home to more than 6 million people.
1:34 · On August 24th, 1992, hurricane Andrew made landfall 25 miles south of Miami bringing with it a 16 foot high storm surge and 165 mile an hour winds, and leaving in its wake $25 billion worth of damage and more than 40 deaths.
1:54 · Andrew was a category five storm, the highest rating of hurricane intensity.
1:59 · Damage from a category five storm hitting Miami today could easily exceed $100 billion.
2:06 · With more people and buildings near the coast than ever before and in other densely populated coastal areas around the world, the potential for devastation is similar.
2:16 · Scientists have gotten pretty good at predicting the paths that hurricanes will take, but predicting how powerful those hurricanes will be is a much less accurate process.
2:26 · The models simply aren’t refined enough.
2:29 · To create better tools to make these predictions, scientists have to get up close and study hurricanes in detail.
2:35 · Scientists have created many advanced tools to study hurricanes using remote instruments by flying into them and even following them from space.
The sustain laboratory
2:45 · But many of the mysteries they need to solve require looking at storms up close and collecting data at extremely small scales.
2:53 · Unfortunately, studying the world’s most powerful storms up close and personal is pretty dangerous work.
2:59 · Unless you can make the hurricane come to you by creating a hurricane.
3:05 · Brian.
3:06 · Hi Joe.
3:07 · This is the SUSTAIN wind wave laboratory. SUSTAIN stands for surge, structure, atmosphere, interaction.
3:13 · [Joe] This has gotta be one of the coolest science toys to play with in the world.
3:17 · Is this cool?
3:18 · Well you still get a chill sometimes watching it, even though I’ve seen it run hundreds of times by now.
3:25 · [Joe] The SUSTAIN lab at the University of Miami is a giant wind tunnel and wave machine combo that allows scientists to study where the atmosphere meets the ocean and how they interact all the way up to category five hurricane conditions.
3:39 · The category five storm is defined by wind speed. That’s about 155 miles an hour sustained winds. Obviously that’s a wind that none of us, unless we are jumping out of airplanes or sports cars– [Joe] Or F1 drivers.
3:55 · Have no experience with, but it is tremendously hazardous to life and property.
4:02 · [Joe] And you can make that in here?
4:03 · We can create the conditions right here that is equivalent to a category five hurricane. This is the largest structure in the world that like this that can blow this kind of wind speed over water. And look at the combined loads.
4:19 · [Joe] Is there like a big button that just says hurricane on?
Testing in the storm tank
4:22 · We have a, it’s a pretty much like a Frankenstein lever. We will turn it on.
4:27 · I really wanna turn this thing on.
4:29 · You think we can do that?
4:30 · Yeah, I think we can do that.
4:31 · Okay. I’m really looking forward to this.
4:36 · For the wind.
4:38 · You make it nice and simple.
4:39 · So you’re like, do this first.
4:42 · Do this second.
4:44 · Anybody can figure it out.
4:46 · When that lever is pushed, a 1500 horsepower fan draws in air from outside the facility, which is then squeezed down like a giant leaf blower increasing its velocity before it enters the tank, their giant paddles push on the water to create the waves that will flow across the surface.
5:05 · So this is a Wavemaker drive that controls the wave patterns like computer programming. These drives will send out the math algorithm and convert it to electrical signals so that Wavemaker will be able to know how we’re gonna make them move.
5:20 · [Joe] So you get custom waves.
5:21 · Yes, exactly.
5:22 · [Joe] You ever have like tiny surfer toys you want to put in there?
5:25 · We did.
5:26 · We actually put some little yellow ducks. (duck quacking) So we just put a camera inside the hurricane tank so that you could see what it would be like to be in a category five.
5:37 · Do not recommend.
5:41 · You’ve got a big red button here.
5:43 · That’s our emergency stop on the Wavemaker.
5:46 · Let’s make a hurricane.
5:47 · Starting to kick up.
5:48 · We’re starting out here with just wind and then as we get up to full wind we’re gonna turn on the waves too.
Rapid intensification
5:55 · I think it’s gonna get pretty hard to hear us here a a minute.
6:13 · Can you estimate how fast this is right now?
6:15 · It was at the full cat five right there.
6:17 · So more than 165?
6:20 · Yeah. More than that.
6:22 · Wow.
6:24 · I’m glad we’re out here and not in there. Seeing category five hurricane winds from literal feet away was pretty awesome. And also kind of terrifying because I remember those winds are powerful enough to do stuff like this.
6:42 · Yikes.
6:43 · One of the key gaps in hurricane prediction has been the intensity.
6:48 · And that can be a huge problem if something like this happens. In 2017, hurricane Maria intensified from a category one to a category five storm in just 18 hours, leaving those in its path little time to prepare or seek shelter and ultimately causing more than 3000 deaths on the islands of Dominica and Puerto Rico. Hurricanes can grow from dangerous to potentially historic levels of destruction in basically no time flat.
Atmosphere and ocean
7:19 · So being able to predict several days in advance whether a hurricane will be powerful could allow more time for evacuation and save lives. This storm machine is already helping scientists better understand how hurricanes grow. As a hurricane’s winds blow over the waves, the rough surface of the ocean exerts a drag on the storm, sucking energy out of it similar to how friction slows down a sliding object by removing its kinetic energy.
7:49 · What we’d expect is as a hurricane gets stronger, rougher seas, and bigger waves would suck out even more energy, preventing storms from growing too quickly. But what they’ve shown using the hurricane simulator is when wind reaches a certain high speed, that drag levels off and stops slowing the storm down.
8:09 · When you blow the wind, it makes these huge waves. The energy that was in the wind went into making those waves. As the winds get really intense, you might get the wind not really interacting as much.
8:20 · [Joe] It almost feels like if I was in a car and I started going really fast, that all of a sudden my tires would stop sticking to the road as well as they did when I was going slowly.
8:31 · Exactly.
8:32 · That’s a good way of looking at it. And all of a sudden the friction just disappears on your tires and– [Joe] As soon as you hit 60 miles an hour, it’s like, oh, the road turned to ice. Findings like these are already helping scientists create more accurate models that can predict earlier and more accurately when hurricanes will rapidly intensify. What makes this giant hurricane lab so special isn’t just the intense winds or crashing waves.
Weight of the storm
8:58 · It’s being able to observe both of them as one interacting system.
9:02 · If we didn’t have the waves coming in, then we wouldn’t really be able to look at very many problems. People tend to think of, oh, a storm surge. That’s you see a five foot storm surge or something like that is a forecast and think, well, my house is at eight feet, I should be fine. Well that doesn’t take into account that you have 150 mile an hour winds pushing that water towards you.
9:24 · You’d have waves coming in that are huge waves breaking just giant bore of water.
9:29 · Water’s heavy.
9:31 · Water is really heavy. Try to take a five gallon container of water and walk a long distance carrying it. It’s a lot of weight. So water’s a thousand times heavier than air. So when you get that wave hitting the structure, that’s tremendously more loading than the air alone.
Resilient engineering
9:54 · Despite some pretty far out ideas ranging from using bubbles to cool the ocean to dropping literal nukes into the eye of a storm, it’s probably impossible to stop a hurricane, but we can use engineering to make things more resilient and even turn to nature for inspiration.
10:13 · You see, before all this was here, coastlines like this were covered in mangrove forests and healthy coral reefs far offshore, both of which are nature’s two best ideas to minimize the impact of hurricanes. So in addition to restoring those natural defenses, engineers are using them as inspiration for things that we can build ourself.
10:35 · So these are sea hives.
10:36 · They’re called sea hives because they look like beehives with these little holes and they’re designed to be artificial breakwater so that the waves will break offshore on the sea hives like a few miles offshore. It will make energy dissipate so that the waves are weaker when they reach our shoreline so we are protected by these structures.
10:58 · It comes down to this.
11:00 · Our planet is getting warmer and warmer and so are our oceans and that’s creating the potential for stronger and stronger storms. So it’s essential that we learn everything we can about them to minimize the risks, save lives and learn to live with some of the effects of climate change.
11:17 · If you’re one of the hundreds of millions of people around the world who live in an area that could be hit by a hurricane, a typhoon or tropical cyclone, well be thankful that there are scientists getting up close and personal with hurricanes so that you don’t have to one day.
11:34 · Stay curious.
Looking to the future
11:37 · Hey guys, that was an amazing thing to see. I wanna say thank you to everyone who supports the show on Patreon for helping make videos like this possible.
11:47 · If you’d like to find out how you can support the show, help us make more videos like this, see more cool stuff, also find out about videos before anybody else, and I have a bunch of other cool stuff, there’s a link down a description where you can learn more and I will see you in the next video. Oh, and one more thing.
12:03 · I went this entire video without making a really bad dad joke about how this science blew me away.
12:09 · So can I get a high five?
12:15 · Oh, fantastic.
12:18 · It survived.
12:20 · Guess I made the joke after all. So it doesn’t really count. Okay. Well, I tried.
NASA Urban Heat Islands
NASA Goddard, 12 10, 2010
Video (2:23)
Description
At the 2010 American Geophysical Union (AGU) conference in San Francisco, Dr. Ping Zhang will present her findings on the Urban Heat Island effect. The data collected spans from 1995 to 2005 and will give scientists an idea of why cities are warmer than their surrounding areas, as well as what effect this will have on the planet.
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Transcript
Intro
0:08 · Urban heat islands affect human health and it affects energy consumption. Those two things alone are enough to drive worldwide interest. (Zhang) When we build an urban area, we’re replacing the vegetated surface and also the soil surface with this imperious surface like the paving material and the building material. By doing this, we’re basically warming the urban areas, and this will generate a temperature difference.
What is Urban Heat Island
0:36 · And that’s what we can the urban heat island. We find out that the urban heat island affected by several factors.
Factors affecting Urban Heat Island
0:44 · The first factor will be the surrounding ecological context.
0:48 · And then will be the size of the city. When talking about size, we can we mean both the area of the city and also the population size of the city. And then will be the shape of the city and also the development patterns of the city.
Urban Heat Island
1:04 · (Imhoff) We used a variety of satellite data, both land surface data from MODIS and also impervious surface data from the Landsat satellite. Inpervious surface data essentially tells us how much building material is on the land surface in order to study the urban heat island. The urban heat island is much larger if you convert a forested area into an urban. And this is because the urban heat island is a relative measure. So, urban areas in forests are much warmer than the surrounding landscape than they are in deserts for example, because the surrounding landscape is already warm.
1:40 · I think the general public should be interested in urban heat islands because of the fact that it’s where most of the people live and in the next 50 years, we’re going to see 80% of the global population living in cities. And the urban heat island matters for everything from health, like asthma and heart conditions, to how much heating and air conditioning you need to use to cool or heat your living space.
2:09 · (beeping)
The health risks of wildfire smoke across the Midwest and Mid-Atlantic
PBS NewsHour, 07 16, 2026
Video (5:15)
Description
More than 115 million people may be exposed to dangerous smoke and unhealthy air quality levels. That’s because wildfire smoke is spreading and triggering health advisories in at least 17 states from the Midwest to the Mid-Atlantic. It’s led to flight delays, the closure of pools and beaches, and the cancellation of many other outdoor activities. Stephanie Sy reports.
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Transcript
0:00 · Between now and Saturday, more than 115 million people may be exposed to dangerous smoke and unhealthy air quality levels. That’s because wildfire smoke is spreading and triggering health advisories in at least 17 states from the Midwest to the Mid-Atlantic. Thousands have evacuated northern Minnesota and other states, it’s led to flight delays, the closure of pools and beaches and the cancellation of many other outdoor activities. Stephanie Tsai has our report.
0:29 · People in Duluth, Minnesota woke up to some of the world’s worst air quality this morning. Same for the residents of Detroit and Chicago.
0:39 · I felt pretty sick in Minneapolis, Caitlin Smith was struggling just to breathe. This is just crazy. I’ve never experienced something like this in my life before. I was just exposed to the smoke last night for like 5 minutes on my bike ride home from work and I felt really sick. It’s becoming an all too fa mi li ar summer sight in North America. Orange tinted, smoke-filled skies like the one over Toronto’s famous CN Tower.
1:05 · As soon as I woke up in the morning and went outside on my terrace and you could definitely smell the smoke in the air and it’s very hazy out. It’s the result of hundreds of wildfires burning in Canada and the northern US A train crew near Armstrong, Ontario, capturing the intensity of the flames. Oh yeah, I look over there. Mike Flanagan is a professor of wildland fire at Thompson Rivers University in British Columbia.
1:34 · Most of the fires were started by lightning. There were some human caused fires, but the majority are lightning caused. In northern Minnesota, the fires and smoke have forced the evacuation of the Boundary Waters canoe area, adding to the fire danger is the oppressive heat enveloping a large section of the country has been hot, dry, and windy in Minnesota and Northwestern Ontario Temperatures exceed 100 °F in Ontario and Minnesota.
2:05 · It was windy. You get lightning strike, fire starts, it grows rapidly.
2:11 · Those temperatures are record breaking, if not record smashing for many parts of Ontario and Minnesota, and it’s part of that heat dome that affected much of western and Central United States in the last few days. A weather system in Canada is steering smoke into the US Across the Great Lakes and into the northeast and mid-Atlantic region.
2:33 · The cluster of darker dots show where fine smoke particles in the air were measured at dangerous levels today. What typically happening with a high pressure system, these heat domes are high pressure systems is the smoke gets injected high into the atmosphere. It kept the winds carry it, but this ridge air sinks, warms, and dry, and as it sinks, it takes the smoke with us. Pretty Armageddon-like out here.
3:00 · It’s that it is that I think I’m more affected by the way it looks than the way it smells. That smoke is more than unsightly. It’s unhealthy. From a health standpoint, there is no such thing as good smoke. Luke Montrose is an environmental toxicologist at Colorado State University. We know it gets into the systemic circulation and likely has impacts on other organs, and we’re starting to see some instances where researchers are seeing effects on brain health, mental health, and even the re p ro duct ive system.
3:33 · Anne Montrose says when the air is as bad as it is in the upper Midwest, there’s no sure way to escape it. This is catastrophic smoke. There are very few spaces that you can go to get away from that kind of smoke. It is going to infiltrate those spaces, even people who have great immune systems and are really healthy will start to have uh respiratory effects from these levels of smoke, particularly if it last s an entire day Experts say children, the elderly, and people with chronic illnesses are the most vulnerable.
4:10 · Symptoms may include sore throats, excessive phlegm, coughing, headaches, and brain fog. Staying indoors, turning on air conditioners and air filters, and wearing N95 masks can help mitigate the risks.
4:25 · Forecasters are predicting that the smoke conditions will likely ease by Saturday. But with fire weather getting more intense, this won’t be the last of such events. United States, we’re getting warmer because of human caused climate change and the increases in area burn, fire severity, are largely not solely due to human caused climate change. I can’t be any clearer than that.
4:51 · As for the fires currently burning, experts say they may continue through autumn and maybe even until the first snowfall for the PBS NewsHour. I’m Stephanie Tsi.
The Most Dangerous Wildfires All Have ONE THING in Common
PBS Terra, 10 30, 2024
Video (12:08)
Description
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Fires are getting bigger and more homes are burning each year. In January 2025, 14 out of control wildfires tore through parts of Los Angeles and burnt over 18,000 structures and left at least 29 people dead. Firefighters are having to change tactics when it comes to the most destructive fires, but why? Jennifer Blach, Ph.D., just released a new study in the journal, Science, and her findings point to a new type of fire that is the culprit for all this destruction.
In this episode, we dive into this groundbreaking new study to learn why fires are getting more dangerous to humans and what we can do about it. Plus we have never-before-seen animations from NASA that show us exactly how these new fires behave. So tune in to learn about the future of fires and how to protect yourself and your home as fires change.
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Transcript
The new wildfire reality
0:00 · 80% of wildfire destruction is caused by one type of fire that until recently was rare. Scientists just figured out what these destructive fires have in common, and it’s not what you might guess to understand what’s going on. We talked to Battalion Chief, Mike McClintock, who fought this type of fire during the summer of 2024.
0:21 · And our conventional methods with fire engines and personnel were really ineffective. We had to get ahead of the fire and worry about life safety To understand why wildfire destruction has increased. We focus on the most obvious change in fires: they’re getting bigger, but researcher Jennifer Balch says that might be a distraction. According to her new study, We’ve been focused on the wrong metric.
0:43 · The number of homes burned each year is going up. The Rim fire in California was massive at over 257,000 acres, but it only destroyed 11 homes and no one died. When you compare that to the Lahaina fire in Maui, which was a hundred times smaller, burned 2200 homes and buildings and was the deadliest fire in modern U.S. history, it’s obvious that we’re missing something.
Revisiting fire research
1:09 · In this episode, we’re going to look at new research that could fundamentally change how we think about wildfire risk, what to expect in the future and what we can do to prevent losses. With entire towns being wiped off the map like Paradise, California, Jennifer and her team wanted to understand why.
1:32 · To figure out solutions, he knew that the first step was properly defining the problem, so rather than thinking about size, she approached fire from a new angle.
1:42 · What do the most destructive fires have in common?
1:45 · And until recently she didn’t have the tools to answer this question.
1:49 · We’ve had really good data on how big they are, but we’re only getting to the point where the satellites are getting good enough to give us information on a much finer temporal scale on an hour by hour basis.
1:59 · We have new high resolution data because NASA is doing a lot more than putting astronauts in space these days.
2:06 · NASA’s done a lot over the years with studying the earth. We develop technology. We eventually launch into space on satellites, and we can see processes unfold across really large scales that we often can’t see from a ground-based or human perspective.
2:17 · Jennifer looked at the time-based images of 60,000 fire events in the U.S. to analyze the way they spread and suddenly it made sense.
2:26 · This is a new discovery that we have made by putting together all of these different data sources and looking at fire from space.
Speed dictates destruction
2:33 · Today, so many science discoveries don’t happen in the field, but in simulations powered by enormous supercomputers that perform quadrillions of calculations each second to model our climate. I got to visit one of these supercomputers in my new show, Weathered: Earth’s Extremes, where I traveled the world to find out where we are and where we’re going in this moment of climate change. You can watch right now on the PBS app, but back to fire.
2:58 · The results of Jennifer’s investigation were striking. What almost all destructive fires have in common between 2001 and 2020 is speed. And this finding fundamentally changes how we approach fire management.
3:12 · Fires that move that fast.
3:13 · More than 4,000 acres a day account for 88% of the fire related damages that we see across the U.S. They are only 3% of the fires on record during that time. A very small number of fire events have huge consequences.
3:28 · And fast fires themselves changed in a worrying way during the study window. We’ll get to that in a bit, but first, why are fast fires so destructive?
Firefighting in fast fires
3:37 · And why are they so destructive in a place like Southern California with some of the most experienced firefighters in the world, backed by impressive air support?
3:46 · The Bridge Fire was a great example, the fire activity was so significant, our conventional methods with fire engines and personnel were really ineffective.
3:54 · When fires are moving this fast, it’s virtually impossible to put them out. When Mike’s crew deployed to the Mountain High Ski Resort, wind was blowing embers miles ahead of the flaming front. Smoke reduced visibility and grounded aircrafts.
4:08 · Winds were significant at more than 50 miles an hour, we realized that the fire suppression, putting this fire out, on our side is not gonna happen and we’re gonna have to move and shift our priorities.
4:19 · The fire was spreading quickly towards the town of Wrightwood just three miles away.
4:24 · There’s a lot of similarities between the community of Paradise and the community of Wrightwood. We knew that going up there, we were gonna have a heck of a firefight.
4:33 · The comparison to Paradise, California is significant.
4:36 · In 2018, another fast fire burned over 18,000 structures and homes and killed almost 90 people. So the crew raced in an attempt to reach Wrightwood before the fire did.
4:48 · We had, you know, upwards of 50 engines on their way or there. We still had over 3000 structures immediately threatened.
4:56 · If you were to ask me at 30 minutes into this incident, where was our structure loss gonna be?
5:01 · I would say probably in upwards of one to 200.
5:04 · So they fought from house to house and help residents evacuate. By the end of September 10th, the Bridge Fire had exploded from 4,000 acres to over 34,000. This fire is part of a growing trend. During Jennifer’s 20 year study period, fires got 249% faster across the West and 400% faster in California.
Drivers of rapid spread
5:26 · But what’s making them faster?
5:29 · Forest management is often regarded as a primary driver of fire behavior. But according to Jennifer, it isn’t a significant factor in fast fires.
5:38 · The fastest fires are actually in grasslands.
5:40 · They’re very flammable fuels. They’re very thin, they’re easy to catch on fire. They host fires that move really fast.
5:46 · In fact, 80% of fast fires in Jennifer’s study occurred primarily in grass and shrublands, not forests. It turns out that there are three elements needed for fast fire. One: ignition, two: dry, receptive fuel, and three: wind. Wind and ignition are difficult to change and control, but there’s a piece of the fast fire puzzle that’s a key force in their rise: dry, receptive fuel.
6:14 · We’ve had fuels that have been drying out all summer long and then we just throw in a little weather and a fire. And those are mixtures and that recipe for extreme fire behavior.
6:23 · And firefighters even have a term for this fire weather. In Canada, they call it crossover because it occurs when the temperature in Celsius reaches and crosses over the relative humidity level and it’s explosive. At that point, fire can rip through dry fuels and spread extremely fast. In the U.S. we use the more general term red flag conditions.
6:46 · So what does that mean for the future of fast fires?
Climate change and risk
6:50 · With increasing temperatures, we know that we’re essentially pulling more moisture out of fuels, we’re making them drier. And that’s the big impact of climate change on fire is making fuels more available and more available throughout the year.
7:05 · We’re seeing extreme weather patterns change and and intensify across the globe. We’re getting all sorts of situations in which weather patterns are driving extreme fire behavior.
7:13 · Models predict that the number of extreme fire spread events will more than double with two degrees Celsius of global warming, plus a doubling of acres burned. And that’s not far from our current level of warming. We can’t have a fast fire without strong wind. But the type of wind that causes many destructive fires has a special characteristic that makes it particularly dangerous.
The danger of wind events
7:35 · We worked with NASA to create scientifically accurate animations of the wind and fire progressions during a handful of fast, destructive fires to illustrate what’s going on.
7:45 · I’m hard pressed to think of an event that destroyed more than a hundred homes that didn’t have wind involved.
7:51 · And the common denominator for us to make it hard to control wildfires is wind.
7:55 · When strong winds meet or start a wildfire, they throw embers miles ahead of the flaming front, starting new fires and spreading the wildfire outward. These conditions supercharged the East Troublesome Fire. The fire was so fast, moving at 18 miles in a single day, that it jumped The Continental Divide, an area with very little fuel for fire. In the Marshall Fire, we can see a type of wind that’s particularly dangerous: down slope winds.
8:23 · As wind drops in elevation, atmospheric pressure increases, which dries and warms the air. Temperatures can increase by as much as 5.5 degrees Fahrenheit for every 1000 feet of lost elevation, drying vegetation, and eliminating the need for high temperatures with wildfire. The fire started on December 30th, just outside of Boulder, Colorado.
8:46 · Wind gusts of up to 115 miles per hour flowed off the front range of the Rocky Mountains, sucking any remaining moisture out of the vegetation to create the most destructive fire in state history. Destroying over a thousand homes in six hours. In Lahaina, wind blew down the mountain, drying vegetation, warming the air, and knocking down power lines that ignited grasses, then houses, destroying much of the town.
9:13 · During the Labor Day fires, river canyons turned into wind tunnels with speeds reaching 100 miles per hour. Wind blew over power lines and ignited fires in and around small communities, fanning existing fires to create one of the most destructive fire seasons in state history. These aren’t just regular wildfires, they’re wind events with fire in them.
Preparing for future fires
9:36 · In those situations where you have an extreme wind event, basically the fire becomes uncontrollable. You know, fire suppression efforts are extremely ineffective in that situation. ’cause basically, for safety reasons, the firefighters just have to get out of the way. And so there’s, there’s really no stopping it.
9:50 · And that’s probably the most important lesson about fast fires. Once they’ve started, there’s no stopping them until the wind dies down. Firefighters can only evacuate people and wait. And as we face a hotter, drier, future fire prone places are going to become far more challenging places to live.
10:08 · So how do we reduce the destruction?
10:11 · We prepare ahead of time. Let’s go back to the Bridge Fire, where Mike expected hundreds of houses to be lost.
10:19 · I feel like the Bridge Fire in Wrightwood is a success story.
10:21 · The Wrightwood community did everything right to prepare their homes for fire. The result? Only about 10 homes burned rather than one to 200 that Mike expected.
10:31 · So how do we prepare our homes for fire?
10:34 · To answer this question, I ask the Chief of all fire chiefs.
10:37 · Understanding how to live with the fire that’s inevitable is absolutely key to our survival of the communities across the Nation.
10:45 · The research shows that we can significantly reduce the chance that homes will ignite in fast fires by taking simple steps focused on our home and its immediate surroundings.
10:56 · So it is incumbent on community planners, on individuals who purchase the properties on builders that they also build to code. Codes that are based on science: fire resistant materials, proper roofing materials, proper windows, not having wood fences. These are key pieces of the puzzle here.
11:16 · If we’re going to continue to build communities in the path of fire, then we must build them according to the science and the codes to make people saveable in their own homes, in their own communities.
11:28 · If you wanna learn more about the ways you can prepare your home for fire, tornadoes, or even hurricanes, check out our new series Weathered: Earth’s Extremes by downloading the PBS app today.
11:38 · And we’d love to hear from you in the comments: Do you live in fire country?
11:43 · Have you survived a fire yourself?
11:45 · What are you doing to prepare your home?
11:47 · Let us know and we’ll see you next time on Weathered.
Urbanization and the future of cities - Vance Kite
TED-Ed, 09 12, 2013
Video (4:08)
Description
View full lesson: http://ed.ted.com/lessons/urbanization-and-the-future-of-cities-vance-kite
About 10,000 years ago, hunter-gatherers, aided by rudimentary agriculture, moved to semi-permanent villages and never looked back. With further developments came food surpluses, leading to commerce, specialization and, many years later with the Industrial Revolution, the modern city. Vance Kite plots our urban past and how we can expect future cities to adapt to our growing populations.
Lesson by Vance Kite, animation by ATMG Studio.
Transcript
0:06 · Today ,more than half of all people in the world live in an urban area.
0:11 · By mid-century, this will increase to 70%.
0:14 · But as recently as 100 years ago, only two out of ten people lived in a city, and before that, it was even less.
0:21 · How have we reached such a high degree of urbanization, and what does it mean for our future?
0:27 · In the earliest days of human history, humans were hunter-gatherers, often moving from place to place in search of food.
0:35 · But about 10,000 years ago, our ancestors began to learn the secrets of selective breeding and early agricultural techniques.
0:42 · For the first time, people could raise food rather than search for it, and this led to the development of semi-permanent villages for the first time in history.
0:51 · “Why only semi-permanent?” you might ask.
0:54 · Well, at first, the villages still had to relocate every few years as the soil became depleted.
1:00 · It was only with the advent of techniques like irrigation and soil tilling about 5,000 years ago that people could rely on a steady and long-term supply of food, making permanent settlements possible.
1:11 · And with the food surpluses that these techniques produced, it was no longer necessary for everyone to farm.
1:17 · This allowed the development of other specialized trades, and, by extension, cities.
1:23 · With cities now producing surplus food, as well as tools, crafts, and other goods, there was now the possibility of commerce and interaction over longer distances.
1:33 · And as trade flourished, so did technologies that facilitated it, like carts, ships, roads, and ports.
1:43 · Of course, these things required even more labor to build and maintain, so more people were drawn from the countryside to the cities as more jobs and opportunities became available.
1:52 · If you think modern cities are overcrowded, you may be surprised to learn that some cities in 2000 B.C. had population densities nearly twice as high as that of Shanghai or Calcutta.
2:03 · One reason for this was that transportation was not widely available, so everything had to be within walking distance, including the few sources of clean water that existed then.
2:13 · And the land area of the city was further restricted by the need for walls to defend against attacks.
2:20 · The Roman Empire was able to develop infrastructure to overcome these limitations, but other than that, modern cities as we know them, didn’t really get their start until the Industrial Revolution, when new technology deployed on a mass scale allowed cities to expand and integrate further, establishing police, fire, and sanitation departments, as well as road networks, and later electricity distribution.
Industrial Revolution
What Is the Future of Cities
2:43 · So, what is the future of cities?
2:46 · Global population is currently more than 7 billion and is predicted to top out around 10 billion.
2:52 · Most of this growth will occur in the urban areas of the world’s poorest countries.
2:57 · So, how will cities need to change to accommodate this growth?
3:01 · First, the world will need to seek ways to provide adequate food, sanitation, and education for all people.
3:07 · Second, growth will need to happen in a way that does not damage the land that provides us with the goods and services that support the human population.
3:17 · Food production might move to vertical farms and skyscrapers, rooftop gardens, or vacant lots in city centers, while power will increasingly come from multiple sources of renewable energy.
3:28 · Instead of single-family homes, more residences will be built vertically.
3:33 · We may see buildings that contain everything that people need for their daily life, as well as a smaller, self-sufficient cities focused on local and sustainable production.
The Future of Cities
3:42 · The future of cities is diverse, malleable, and creative, no longer built around a single industry, but reflecting an increasingly connected and global world.
What Does Extreme Heat Do to the Body
PBS, 09 03, 2026
Video (9:59)
Description
Watch more of this series: https://to.pbs.org/4wkQIAG
The climate crisis isn’t a distant threat — it’s already here, and it’s deadly. But keeping people cool is surprisingly complicated.
In Sydney, Australia, physiologist Ollie Jay is tackling the problem by studying how the human body responds to extreme heat. The ultimate goal is to create low-cost cooling strategies for people without access to air conditioning — those most at risk from extreme heat. Science journalist Miles O’Brien puts himself in the hot seat — literally — to find out what it feels like when the body’s cooling system starts to fail.
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Resolve to Solve with Miles O’Brien
Miles O’Brien travels the globe searching for solutions to climate, water, and health crises. From building sea curtains in Antarctica to restoring wildlife in Argentina, the answers are closer than we think thanks to people with a “Resolve to Solve.”
Transcript
0:01 · MILES O’BRIEN: At the iconic Sydney Opera House, I met a scientist looking for an answer.
0:06 · Ollie Jay runs the Heat and Health Research Center at the University of Sydney.
0:13 · Lay the context for us a little bit on Australia, its climate, and the heat impacts you deal with here.
0:21 · We have an increased prevalence of heat waves.
0:23 · They’re greater intensity, the maximum temperature records are being beaten regularly.
0:28 · Among, uh, high income countries, we’re actually the most susceptible to the impacts of extreme heat on human health and well-being.
0:35 · For a researcher such as yourself, trying to find solutions, ways to adapt, this is the perfect laboratory, isn’t it?
0:41 · JAY: Absolutely.
0:42 · We take time to understand the nature of the problem before we start trying to develop solutions, because we don’t want to go down that route that a lot of academics do of finding solutions to problems that don’t exist.
0:52 · O’BRIEN: Ollie and his team are looking for smarter, more efficient ways to keep people safe and cool as the global thermostat rises.
1:01 · ♪ ♪ That was on his mind when I met him on a steamy Saturday at the University of Sydney Cricket Club Oval.
1:11 · (bat cracks) A match like this can last two long days, six to eight hours each.
1:19 · That was big!
1:20 · (cheers and applause) On the sidelines, Ollie Jay and his team were setting up a curious contraption they call the EMU.
1:30 · It’s a flightless Australian bird, but also something called the Environmental Measurement Unit.
1:35 · O’BRIEN: Mm-hmm.
1:36 · Like MaRTy in Phoenix, EMU measures four key parameters: air temperature, humidity, radiant temperature and wind speed.
1:47 · We measure temperature in this device right here.
1:50 · We can move air in a certain way across that temperature sensor to get a very accurate read on what the temperature of the air is in the shade.
1:57 · O’BRIEN: Humidity is measured in that same white chamber.
2:01 · Above it is a copper sphere that is painted matte black.
2:07 · It measures radiation that comes directly from the sun and bounces off the various surfaces surrounding an athlete.
2:15 · JAY: And then using all of this information, we can model how hot someone’s going to get, and therefore what their rate of dehydration might be.
2:21 · And, you know, potentially how much water they need to drink in order to maintain hydration.
2:29 · O’BRIEN: A short walk away from the cricket oval is Ollie’s lab.
2:33 · And that’s where he’s built another novel tool to better understand how heat affects the human body.
2:39 · It’s a climate chamber.
2:42 · Think of it as a science oven, and I’m on the menu.
2:47 · JAY: Just be careful of the step there.
2:49 · Here we go, Miles.
2:50 · O’BRIEN: You’re not messing around.
2:52 · JAY: No, we’re not messing around. O’BRIEN: All right.
2:54 · Reporting for scientific duty.
2:55 · I was finally going to find out what it’s like to be an order of French fries, waiting under the heat lamp on a short-order shelf.
3:05 · Before I got this far, I swallowed a horse pill.
3:08 · Right down the gullet there.
3:10 · A thermometer with a tiny transmitter inside that tracked my core temperature.
3:15 · I’m hot stuff.
3:16 · They took my blood pressure.
3:18 · Applied a strap to track my heart rate and a mask that measured the amount of oxygen I was consuming, to help estimate how much heat my body was generating on its own.
3:30 · JAMES SMALLCOMBE: If you can just blow out for me.
3:31 · (blows) Yep, that’s tight enough, that’s perfect.
3:34 · Your cardiovascular system seems to be in pretty good nick, uh, Miles, we’ve got, you know, great blood pressure and your resting heart rate’s nice and, uh, nice and low, so.
3:43 · Objective evidence demonstrating your very good health.
3:46 · O’BRIEN: He put it to the test by simulating one of the worst weather disasters in modern U.S. history: the heat wave in Chicago in 1995.
3:57 · More than 700 people died.
3:59 · Researchers concluded a working air conditioner would have prevented half the fatalities.
4:05 · And living alone doubled the risk of death.
4:07 · It became a stark lesson in how vulnerability and isolation can turn extreme heat into a mass-casualty disaster.
4:17 · Almost for the first time, it placed extreme heat on the radar of public health officials and actually seeing that it is responsible for excess death and morbidity.
4:27 · O’BRIEN: The tragedy exposed something deeper than weather.
4:31 · It was about inequality, and neglect.
4:35 · That summer, Chicago made it painfully clear heat doesn’t strike evenly, and it kills quietly.
4:44 · We’re doing this from the perspective of trying to understand the settings that the most vulnerable are going to be in, and then developing solutions that are fit for purpose in those settings.
4:54 · O’BRIEN: Here in the chamber, the temperature was 104 degrees Fahrenheit, with humidity between 50% and 60%.
5:03 · It was pretty miserable.
5:06 · I feel like a cheeseburger just off the grill.
5:08 · The human body cools itself by sweating, but that only works if the sweat can evaporate.
5:14 · At this temperature and humidity, it can’t.
5:19 · The air is nearly saturated.
5:21 · The sweat just sits there, and the body keeps heating up.
5:27 · It’s a huge challenge for human survival.
5:30 · What we know is that the people who are most vulnerable won’t have access to air conditioning.
5:34 · They most likely won’t have access to things like cooling shelters as well.
5:38 · They’ll be sheltering at home in place.
5:40 · So the question is, what type of activities, what type of risk reduction cooling strategies can these people use that is most effective at blunting that physiological heat strain that generates inside the body that we know is harmful to human health?
5:53 · O’BRIEN: He’s exploring cooling strategies for people who can’t afford to live in air-conditioned comfort.
6:00 · Practical, low-cost ways to survive the heat.
6:04 · Things like immersing your feet in water so they act like radiators.
6:09 · And using fans which, under the right conditions, can significantly reduce the effects of heat stress.
6:16 · These are the kinds of things that can help the most vulnerable among us, during a heat wave like Chicago in 1995.
6:26 · With the proper prior planning on that, could those deaths have been preventable?
6:31 · Most of them?
6:32 · There’s a, there’s a saying, um, in the heat health space that every heat-related death is preventable.
6:40 · O’BRIEN: Globally, heat kills about a half-a-million people every year.
6:45 · And in the U.S., the fatalities are growing at an alarming rate.
6:50 · In 2023, more than 2,300 died from heat in the U.S.
6:55 · About three times more than a decade ago.
6:58 · Far greater than the average toll for hurricanes and wildfires.
7:03 · They grab the headlines, but heat has always been the most lethal consequence of climate change, by far.
7:11 · Outside this window in Sydney, intense heat is everywhere– quiet, invisible and relentless.
7:20 · Ah.
7:22 · (sighs) Sheesh.
7:23 · After I’d mopped myself up, Ollie and I went from the frying pan to the fire.
7:31 · He took me on a walking tour of the University of Sydney campus.
7:35 · Born and raised in Wales, with a stop in Canada along the way, Ollie actually earned his PhD studying cold temperatures.
7:45 · But in 2014, Sydney beckoned.
7:48 · Suddenly, he was on the opposite end of the earth and the thermometer.
7:53 · Australia being a hot place, and it is a hot place, I figure that if, Australian-based researchers, if we can’t get a handle on these problems, and we can’t find a solution, then there’s very little chance that anyone else will.
8:06 · O’BRIEN: Plenty of scientists study the climate and the relentless rise of temperatures.
8:10 · But far fewer connect the dots to the impact on human health.
8:15 · How heat affects real bodies, in real time, in a warming world.
8:20 · It’s a mistake to overlook human physiology as you try to come up with some answers here, right?
8:25 · If you think about it from a health perspective, obviously, the hot weather is a problem.
8:29 · But the real problem is the hot person in the hot environment.
8:32 · ♪ ♪ O’BRIEN: It was time for us to solve that problem.
8:36 · We met up with his partner Allison and their adorable, precocious daughter Lottie.
8:41 · ALLISON: Ready to go to the beach?
8:43 · O’BRIEN: They took me to Coogee Beach, a short walk from their home in Sydney.
8:49 · Becoming a parent has changed the way he thinks about his work.
8:54 · It’s sharpened his focus and redoubled his resolve to solve.
9:00 · There are lots of solutions, but I think what we’ve got to do is focus on not just climate change mitigation, ensuring that the choices that we make don’t aggravate the problem in the future, but also got to face that we’ve got to adapt to a warmer world.
9:13 · We need to do both of them at the same time.
9:15 · It would be bad if all of that back and forth led to inertia and apathy. JAY: Well, it’s exactly right.
9:21 · People need to have hope in order to act.
9:22 · Otherwise, we just bury our head in the sand and try to pretend it’s not happening when it is.
9:26 · O’BRIEN: In the sand. JAY: Here we are.
9:28 · O’BRIEN: I see what you’re doing there, man.
9:30 · Nicely done, nicely done. (Ollie laughing) ♪ ♪
What is Climate Change
CrashCourse, 08 15, 2023
Video (13:57)
Description
Life on Earth has weathered boiling-hot oceans and volcanic-ash-darkened skies—but that’s nothing like the climate change we’re experiencing now. In this episode of Crash Course Biology, we’ll talk about the greenhouse effect, learn why our climate is like a tangled pair of headphones, and discover that we’ve understood the science behind climate change for much longer than you might think.
Chapters:
Introduction to Climate Change 00:00
The Greenhouse Effect 2:24
Measuring the Greenhouse Effect 4:46
Carbon Sinks 8:26
Environmental Justice 10:07
Review & Credits 12:09
This series was produced in collaboration with HHMI BioInteractive, committed to empowering educators and inspiring students with engaging, accessible, and quality classroom resources. Visit https://BioInteractive.org/CrashCourse for more information.
Are you an educator looking for what NGSS Standards are covered in this episode? Check out our Educator Standards Database for Biology here: https://www.thecrashcourse.com/biologystandards
Sources: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1GLDtAXE6ekg4Chk2qN3TYbNt0pJbyaHqTqRd6QY8pd4/edit?usp=sharing
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Transcript
Introduction to Climate Change
0:00 · Our planet has been draped in ice sheets, filled with boiling-hot oceans, and dimmed by volcanic ash – all before anything more complicated than a single-celled organism showed up.
0:10 · So climate change is nothing new around here… when it happens gradually, over millions of years.
0:17 · But something new has happened in the last few centuries.
0:20 · People like us…except, wearing hats like this… began burning fossil fuels like coal, oil, and natural gas to make energy.
0:29 · Most of us aren’t wearing hats like those anymore.
0:31 · But we’re still powering our daily lives and industries with those fuels, releasing billions of tons of carbon dioxide every year.
0:41 · And that’s caused Earth’s climate to change in the span of just a few human lifetimes, the geological blink of an eye.
0:48 · Hi! I’m Dr. Sammy, your friendly neighborhood entomologist, and this is Crash Course Biology!
0:56 · Hey, do you guys smell that?
0:58 · …smells like…
1:00 · theme music?
1:01 · [THEME MUSIC] Now, I know what you’re thinking.
1:12 · “Wait, isn’t this Crash Course Biology?”
1:15 · And yeah, this episode is heavy on the gases, low on the golgi bodies.
1:19 · And that might leave you wondering, what does climate change have to do with the science of life?
1:25 · Here’s the thing: life and climate are tied together, like that tangled pair of headphones at the bottom of your backpack.
1:30 · You know, like you tug one end and then a knot tightens, which is looped around a paperclip, somehow snagged on that tiny notebook where you drew hearts around your crush’s name, which after several tugs is now lying open on the floor and…I’m breaking into a cold sweat just thinking about it.
1:46 · But back to the point, we can’t talk about life without talking about climate —which doesn’t mean last week’s thunderstorm or a one-day temperature swing – that’s weather.
1:58 · Climate is long-term weather conditions averaged over many years.
2:03 · To understand the difference between them, just remember that knowing the weather will help you decide if you should grab an umbrella before you head out, but knowing the climate will help you decide if you should invest in a good air conditioner.
2:15 · While the weather might impact your choice of clothing for the day, the climate directly impacts where and when different kinds of life can survive.
The Greenhouse Effect
2:24 · We owe today’s climate to the fact that our little green-and-blue marble of a home isn’t just floating in space unprotected.
2:31 · It’s wrapped up in an atmosphere; a big, invisible, gassy jacket.
2:35 · Which, granted, sounds pretty weird when you put it that way.
2:38 · But without it, we wouldn’t exist.
2:40 · This jacket is made of different kinds of gases.
2:43 · And a small fraction of them, known as greenhouse gases, absorb solar energy like, super well.
2:49 · We’re talking about gases like methane, water vapor, and most importantly carbon dioxide – also known as CO2.
2:58 · They account for less than half of one percent of our atmospheric jacket.
3:03 · But they’re a part of what makes it so good at trapping heat, sort of like all the little white feathers in your puffy coat.
3:09 · When sunlight beams down from space, most of it travels through those gases with no problem.
3:14 · The energy from that sunlight gets absorbed as it strikes the Earth, warming the surface.
3:19 · That type of warming is normal and seasonal.
3:22 · The Earth naturally bounces some of that solar energy back toward space.
3:27 · Where some of it exits the atmosphere and heads right back out into the inky ether.
3:32 · But the rest of that energy gets trapped by the Earth’s gassy jacket.
3:36 · Specifically by those super absorbent greenhouse gases, which suck up heat and bounce it back down to us again.
3:44 · This warming process is called the greenhouse effect.
3:47 · Unsurprisingly, It works the same way as a greenhouse – using layers of glass to trap heat inside.
3:54 · And it keeps Earth at a nice, cozy, insulated average of 14 degrees Celsius.
4:00 · Without it, our Earth would be a chilly average of -18 degrees Celsius.
4:06 · Great for storing ice cream!
4:08 · Not so good for rainforests, swimsuits, or us for that matter.
4:13 · So, the greenhouse effect is a natural, helpful process that makes Earth habitable for all of life!
4:18 · But you can have too much of a good thing.
4:21 · When our atmospheric jacket contains more carbon dioxide, for example, it gets really good at trapping heat.
4:28 · Like, too good.
4:30 · And the hotter things get, the more water evaporates and joins the atmosphere— and remember, water vapor itself is a greenhouse gas, so that in turn absorbs even more heat, creating a looping system of cause-and-effect that just keeps reinforcing itself.
Measuring the Greenhouse Effect
4:46 · And while dressing in layers is great if you’re hiking in the Alps, it’s really hard for our planet to shed its extra coats.
4:52 · So all of that heat gets stuck going from the ground to the atmosphere like the worst game of hot potato ever played.
4:59 · When I learned about this, I was like, “Wow, what a revelation!
5:03 · I can’t believe we’ve only recently figured this out!”
5:05 · But it turns out that this isn’t new knowledge; we’ve known how, and why, this could happen for nearly 170 years.
5:16 · Let’s pay a visit to the Theater of Life… [Inquisitive music] Back in 1856, Eunice Foote, an American scientist and suffragette, was thinking about how the Sun’s warmth affected different gases.
5:27 · In those days, the scientific community was a bit like a fort with a handmade “no girls allowed” sign out front.
5:34 · But Foote wasn’t deterred, and ran her experiments anyway.
5:38 · She filled tubes with different combinations of gases, including carbon dioxide.
5:42 · After putting some tubes in the Sun and some in the shade, she compared their temperatures, trying to find the hottest gas.
5:50 · All the tubes in direct sunlight warmed up.
5:52 · But none as intensely as the tube that contained carbon dioxide.
5:57 · The temperature had soared to 51.7 degrees Celsius, hot enough to burn your fingers.
6:04 · From that insight, Foote theorized that if our atmosphere ever contained more carbon dioxide, the whole planet would warm up as a result, which would mean a lot more than a few scalded fingers.
6:16 · And sure enough, today, that’s exactly the situation we’re in.
6:20 · Foote was one of the first scientists to recognize carbon dioxide’s potential to affect Earth’s climate.
6:25 · But she wasn’t the only one to connect the dots.
6:28 · For example, just a few decades later, another scientist named Dr. Svante Arrhenius observed that burning coal releases carbon dioxide.
6:37 · As a fossil fuel, coal forms from the decomposed, carbon-based bodies of plants and animals that lived and died a long time ago.
6:46 · And I’m talking before the dinosaurs.
6:48 · So no, I’m afraid that means you aren’t gassing up your car with the remains of a T-Rex.
6:53 · When we burn those fossil fuels— whether it’s in the form of coal, oil, or natural gas— carbon dioxide gets released into the atmosphere.
7:00 · When Arrhenius ran the numbers, he predicted that carbon dioxide released by burning fossil fuels could warm our climate within a few thousand years if we kept burning them at their current rate.
7:14 · But we’ve far outpaced his estimates.
7:16 · Our emissions of carbon dioxide have grown and grown and grown — and so has the mountain of evidence that those emissions are warming our planet.
7:25 · Some oil and gas companies have worked to promote uncertainty around the existence of climate change and what’s causing it.
7:32 · While they have only very recently acknowledged its existence, as of 2023, they’re still trying to deflect from what’s causing it.
7:40 · But the scientific consensus on this is overwhelming.
7:44 · You can learn much more about that in our Climate & Energy series.
7:47 · We’ve only been reliably taking direct measurements of Earth’s global temperature since the 19th century.
7:52 · But that measly slice of time shows a steady rise in temperature of about 1.1 degree Celsius since 1880.
8:01 · And we know that that’s unusual because we’ve learned to read Earth’s much longer climate diary, in the form of ice cores.
8:07 · See, when snow hardens into ice, tiny bubbles of air remain trapped in the gaps between snowflakes.
8:13 · These gases and water molecules stay frozen, like entries in a frosty journal.
8:19 · So by drilling deep down into polar ice, we can snoop on what the atmosphere was like hundreds of thousands of years ago.
Carbon Sinks
8:27 · Ice cores show us that carbon dioxide levels have fluctuated over the past 800,000 years.
8:32 · And temperatures have fallen and risen alongside them, too.
8:36 · But when people started burning fossil fuels, carbon dioxide levels began to spike quickly, like really, really quickly.
8:44 · And they haven’t stopped rising.
8:45 · Before the Industrial Revolution, for every million molecules of air in our atmosphere, around 280 were carbon dioxide molecules.
8:54 · But by 2022, that number had increased to 422 —the highest concentration of CO2 our planet has seen in 4 million years.
9:06 · And that surge in carbon dioxide affects more than just the temperature.
9:10 · As the amount of carbon dioxide in our atmosphere rises, it impacts all of Earth’s systems.
9:15 · Just like yanking on the end of that tangled mess of headphones impacted all of the other items in my bag (and eventually, everybody around us when stuff started falling out).
9:24 · It’s all connected, is what I’m saying.
9:26 · For example, the ocean is our planet’s largest carbon sink.
9:31 · It’s sort of like a big storage container for carbon.
9:34 · In fact, the ocean holds 50 times more carbon than the air or soil do.
9:40 · But a chemical reaction happens when carbon dioxide meets water, it creates an acid.
9:45 · So that influx of carbon has already turned the ocean 30% more acidic since the 19th century.
9:53 · As carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases trap more heat, there’s more energy pouring into our planet than going out.
9:59 · That means more energy is pumped into the ocean, fueling hurricanes and typhoons to become more frequent and more intense.
Environmental Justice
10:07 · As the whole planet gets hotter, that triggers all kinds of changes.
10:11 · Spring arrives earlier, leading to shorter winters and longer summers.
10:15 · Rising temperatures lead to double-whammy droughts and heatwaves.
10:19 · And that leaves forest floors full of dried-up plants that serve as fuel for wildfires to ignite— spreading faster, farther, and more often.
10:28 · Plus, Earth’s polar ice caps are melting, transforming solid ice to slush and seawater.
10:34 · And that’s causing ocean levels to rise and encroach on land.
10:38 · So while some communities are already facing a problem of not enough water, others are facing a problem of too much.
10:45 · And because these adverse changes layer on top of existing social inequalities, they disproportionately affect lower-income communities and people of color, making climate change not only a scientific issue, but a matter of environmental justice that has spurred some researchers to political action.
11:02 · For example, climate scientist Nicole Hernandez Hammer witnessed first-hand, through her field research, the sea-level rise alongside Miami Beach’s Latino communities.
11:12 · But these communities were not included in conversations about climate change or the dangers of rising sea levels.
11:18 · So, Hammer took action, moving into environmental outreach and education.
11:23 · And, while the threat is still there, these communities are now in conversation about climate change, and able to plan and advocate for the future of their environment.
11:33 · And the good news more broadly is we know exactly why these tangled, complex effects are happening.
11:39 · The more we burn those fossil fuels, the more greenhouse gases we release —and that’s driving sweeping changes all over our planet.
11:47 · And these changes are impacting life at all levels from the tiniest bacterium, to the elephants of Botswana, to you and me.
11:55 · We can slow these impacts by breaking up with fossil fuels.
11:58 · But we also have to invest in nature’s carbon sinks —such as soils and forests— which pull carbon out of the atmosphere and back into the land, where it can’t keep heating things up.
Review & Credits
12:09 · It won’t be the easiest breakup.
12:12 · We’ve designed whole societies and global systems around fossil fuels.
12:16 · We should fully expect to be listening to Jazmine Sullivan on repeat with a gallon of Rocky Road.
12:21 · But this is one relationship we can’t afford to stay in.
12:24 · So, in order to halt emissions, we have to both invent new systems and work more efficiently within old ones, and to do that, we’ve got to get a whole planet’s worth of people on board.
12:35 · And if you’ve ever been part of a group project, you know that last part isn’t easy.
12:39 · Thankfully, when faced with global crises, humans have one great thing going for us: we are creative.
12:46 · I mean, we’ve been to space, we’ve got electric cars, we made furbies for some reason.
12:53 · So yes, It’s going to take all of our creativity and cooperation to tackle.
12:58 · But the only way out is through, and the only way through is together.
13:04 · In our next episode, we’ll tune back into the world of living things— and see how our rapidly changing climate involves much more than the atmosphere.
13:12 · It affects every living, breathing, organism on this planet— including you and me.
13:18 · This series was produced in collaboration with HHMI BioInteractive.
13:22 · If you’re an educator, visit BioInteractive.org/CrashCourse for classroom resources and professional development related to the topics covered in this course.
13:32 · Thanks for watching this episode of Crash Course Biology, which was filmed at our studio in Indianapolis, Indiana, and was made with the help of all these nice people.
13:41 · If you want to help keep Crash Course free for everyone, forever, you can join our community on Patreon.
When Will Extreme Heat Become Unlivable
PBS Terra, 06 18, 2025
Video (11:45)
Description
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Heat is the deadliest weather hazard in the U.S. and many places around the world, and it’s only getting worse.
The most deadly heat waves so far have been dry heat waves. But a new threat is rising: humid heat waves, aka wet-bulb events. Scientists have identified wet-bulb temperatures where sweat can’t evaporate fast enough to cool the human body. And once this threshold is crossed, it doesn’t matter how much shade or water you have: you won’t survive without environmental cooling like air conditioning.
In this episode of Weathered, we break down: What wet-bulb temperature actually means, why it’s so dangerous, what areas will be affected, and why air conditioning, while essential, isn’t enough.
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Transcript
The new era of extreme heat
0:00 · Most of the deadliest heat waves to date have been dry heat waves. But as our climate warms a possibly even deadlier heat is on the rise.
0:08 · It doesn’t matter how breezy it is, it doesn’t matter how much shade you’re under. It doesn’t matter how much water you’re drinking.
0:14 · These are extreme humid heat waves, often referred to as wet-bulb events. And these are, in my opinion, one of the scariest byproducts of climate change. They’ve been relatively rare historically, but a new study shows that by two degrees Celsius of global warming, many of the most populated places on Earth are likely to experience them. And the only way to protect ourselves from these dangerous wet-bulb temperatures is to cool our environment.
0:42 · But what happens if that’s not possible?
0:45 · The time of year that always has the highest stress on the grid is always just the hottest day of the year because so many people are using AC and so then the AC is liable to go out.
0:55 · What happens if there’s another extreme weather event?
0:57 · If you have a tropical cyclone that comes in, wipes out power?
1:00 · Stick around as we break down why these temperatures are so deadly and how we can prepare for a world that’s so warm, our bodies literally can’t handle it. Let’s start by talking about dry versus humid heat. Dry heat waves are usually driven by large high pressure systems that trap hot air near the surface. These systems push air downward, and as the air compresses, it heats up in a process called adiabatic heating.
Dry vs. humid heat waves
1:33 · If the high stays stuck in place, the heat builds day after day with no clouds or wind to carry it away. And that’s exactly what happened during the 2003 European heat wave and the 2021 Pacific Northwest heat dome. Now let’s take a look at humid heat.
1:49 · As temperatures rise, we can hold a lot more moisture in the atmosphere. And so this means that if a given location has air temperatures going up with ongoing climate change, it’s likely that if they have a moisture source, humidity’s also going to increase.
2:02 · We just saw how dangerous this can be in 2015 when one of the most extreme humid heat events on record struck Karachi, Pakistan. Temperatures up to 45 degrees Celsius combined with oppressive humidity, power outages and water shortages made conditions even worse. At least 1200 people died in just 10 days most from heat stroke and dehydration.
2:26 · Humans primarily cool down by sweating, but when the air is humid, sweat can’t evaporate as easily, so we don’t cool off as well. This is where wet-bulb comes into play. wet-bulb temperature combines heat and humidity into a single number, which helps us understand when conditions become dangerous or even lethal.
Understanding wet bulb
2:46 · You can imagine taking a normal thermometer. If you take that thermometer and you cover the bulb in a little sock that is then placed into a container of water, so it’s constantly wetted. Evaporation’s going to take place off of that little sock and it’s gonna have a net cooling effect.
3:03 · The wet sock at the end of the wet-bulb thermometer functions similarly to human skin. Water evaporates off the wet sock while sweat evaporates off our wet skin. In both cases, evaporation carries away heat into the surrounding environment.
3:18 · But the more humid the ambient air is, the more difficult and less efficient that evaporation is to take place. And so that makes any cooling through evaporative cooling, less efficient at high temperatures and high humidity.
3:31 · Which is why humid heat feels so muggy and uncomfortable for us and why it can be so dangerous. There have been a number of attempts to better understand how humid heat affects the human body, in particular where our physical limits are, but it’s not easy to identify dangerous wet-bulb thresholds because well, they’re dangerous.
Physiological limits of heat
3:53 · So obviously you can’t put someone in a heat chamber and truly cook them. That would be unethical. But what you can do is increase temperature and humidity and measure someone’s core temperature and see what’s the point at which their core temperature starts to increase. And that’s the limit of compensability.
4:11 · The human body generally does a good job of regulating its core body temperature through sweat. But once we cross the limit of livability or compensability, as scientists call it, our core body temperature starts to increase uncontrollably. And this wet-bulb temperature range is actually a lot lower than we previously believed.
4:33 · So this paper is really trying to summarize the most state-of-the-art estimations of these thresholds. And so what we see is that there is a range. So uncompensable wet-bulb temperatures range from about 19 to 32 degrees Celsius.
4:46 · And you might think the lower end of this range, 19 degrees Celsius sounds really low. But it’s important to understand that a 19 degree wet-bulb does not equal 19 degrees on a regular thermometer. So 19 degrees Celsius wet-bulb is actually more like 46 degrees Celsius with low humidity or 32 degrees Celsius with higher humidity.
5:09 · And the reason there’s a range is because this threshold depends on a number of variables including activity level, exact air temperature, and humidity levels and age.
5:22 · Older adults thermo regulatory responses are worse, they sweat less efficiently, they also have higher risks of comorbidities, so things like cardiovascular and respiratory diseases.
5:31 · So according to their study, where on earth are we likely to cross these thresholds?
Future global heat impact
5:37 · Well, at two degrees Celsius of global warming, which could come in as little as two decades for older adults. It’s about a third of Earth’s land area, but that only tells part of the story.
5:47 · It’s 35% of the land area, but it’s also many of our most populous places on earth. Most of India, most of the populated area of China. This is most of the eastern portion of the U.S.
6:01 · And if we let global warming get really out of hand or if climate sensitivity is just on the higher end of our projections at four degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, over 60% of Earth’s landmass could see these dangerous wet-bulb temperatures. Heat is the deadliest weather disaster in the U.S. in many parts of the world, and it’s projected to get a lot deadlier.
The necessity of cooling
6:26 · During the 2003 European heatwave, up to 3,400 people died in Paris alone. At two degrees Celsius, which is again only a couple decades away, scientists found that Paris will see deadly heat waves like this once every few years rather than once a century. And though this heat wave in 2003 was among the deadliest in recent history, it didn’t get close to the dangerous wet-bulb thresholds we’ve been discussing in this episode.
6:54 · But the 2015 heat wave in Karachi did it passed the uncompensable wet-bulb threshold for older adults for something like eight to 10% of the time. But at two degrees Celsius of warming, we can see that the uncompensable threshold is crossed for younger adults as well. And at four degrees, models show that the same event would cross the uncompensable threshold for older adults for about 90% of the heat waves duration.
7:22 · And the thing to remember about these critical wet-bulb threshold is that once you cross one, the only way to bring your internal temperature down is by cooling yourself or your environment.
7:33 · It doesn’t matter how breezy it is, it doesn’t matter how much shade you’re under, it doesn’t matter how much water you’re drinking. The only way you can protect yourself from these conditions is by cooling your environment. And so that is why air conditioning is really the major adaptation measure and protection measure that we have.
Risks of relying on AC
7:51 · And although AC is one of the most important tools for surviving extreme heat, it’s far from perfect. First of all, it’s expensive. AC is energy intensive, and as our climate gets warmer, many people won’t be able to afford to stay cool. And due to its financial inaccessibility, many people in places most vulnerable to deadly heat don’t have access to AC. Second, air conditioning doesn’t eliminate heat, it just moves it.
8:20 · Cooling the indoors means transferring the heat outside, which warms the surrounding air. And in cities, this added heat can worsen the urban heat island effect. Now, let’s imagine that everyone could afford air conditioning. It still wouldn’t automatically solve the problem. Our power grids in the U.S. and globally weren’t designed for everyone to crank up their units at once. During heat waves, widespread outages become more likely leaving the most vulnerable at even greater risk.
8:53 · If AC units were our only way of protecting people as soon as the power system fails, whether that’s from the grid being overloaded, or if we have another weather driven sort of infrastructure damage that’s going to put people immediately at risk.
9:07 · And these compounding hazards like a heat wave after a hurricane are a growing concern as we head towards unprecedented levels of warming for humans. And as weather across the board just gets more extreme, but there’s one more catch. The more we rely on ac, the more we could be fueling the base problem of global warming.
Sustainable cooling solutions
9:29 · If you tried to just build out air conditioning to deal with heat risk, how much would that contribute to carbon emissions across the world?
9:38 · And how much would that positively feed back on global temperature making the temperature even higher?
9:44 · Right
9:44 · now, air conditioning accounts for about 3% of global greenhouse gas emissions. And according to the International Energy Agency, the number of AC units worldwide is expected to nearly triple by 2050 leading to a massive rise in energy demand.
10:01 · So what do we do about this paradox?
10:04 · Well, I think it’s a powerful argument for transitioning as quickly as possible to clean energy. The only way to meet the growing need for AC without accelerating climate change is to power our grids with renewables. And of course, there’s a lot we can and should do beyond just air conditioning. We can rethink the design of our cities by installing white or green roofs and planting trees.
10:30 · We can also build more cooling centers, upgrade our electrical grids to be more resilient and prioritize protecting the most vulnerable during heat waves. The truth is that we are headed into uncharted territory, but it’s also true that we still have time to choose how bad it gets.
Conclusion and resources
10:48 · So do you live in an area that’s already experiencing dangerously hot and humid conditions?
10:54 · What strategies have worked for you to handle the heat?
10:58 · Let us know in the comments and we’ll see you next time on Weathered. Oh, and before you go, we also wanted to let you know about something special PBS and the BBC have teamed up to Bring You Walking with Dinosaurs Unearthed. An amazing show about the prehistoric beast that ruled the Earth before us and experienced some pretty extreme weather of their own.
11:19 · The premiere episode just published earlier this week on PBS Terra, and we think it’s something our viewers will really enjoy. Click the link on screen or below to check it out and tell ’em Weathered sent you.
Why cities should plant more trees
Vox, 12 22, 2016
Video (3:10)
Description
Over 3 million people die annually from air pollution. Planting trees can help lower that number.
Read more: http://www.vox.com/energy-and-environment/2016/11/4/13510352/planting-trees-pollution-heat-waves
Check out The Nature Conservancy report, “Planting Healthy Air”: https://global.nature.org/content/healthyair
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Trees help improve public health by cleaning and cooling the air around them. As the threat of climate change steadily increases, planting trees is a fairly simple way city leaders can help stem the negative consequences of rising temperatures and increasing population density.
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Transcript
Intro
0:00 · Search Google Earth for China and you’ll see this.
0:03 · But an unedited satellite photo might look more like this.
0:08 · That gray smudge is air pollution and it’s coming from Chinese cars, factories, and power plants.
0:13 · But it’s not only here.
0:14 · In cities around the world, air pollution is a big problem.
0:18 · A majority of humans now live in cities and that number is only going to rise, which means more cars, more factories, and more power plants.
0:25 · As officials explore options for fighting air pollution, there is one tool that is often overlooked: trees.
Air pollution
0:35 · Cities are centers of industry, but the resulting pollution is filling our lungs and making us sick.
0:41 · One major culprit is particulate matter: airborne particles of dust, soot and smoke that are released when we burn fossil fuels or kicked up during construction and farming.
0:49 · When we inhale them, they can cause asthma and they can also enter our bloodstream to cause strokes and even death.
0:54 · Experts estimate that outdoor air pollution kills over three million people a year and as cities grow, leaders are funding creative—and often expensive—solutions for the problem.
1:04 · In London, the mayor spent over a million pounds spraying city streets with an adhesive that was supposed to glue pollutants to the road.
1:10 · and in the Netherlands, designers have created a giant air purifier they call “The Smog Free Tower”, which is cool, but there is another, simpler solution… A new report from The Nature Conservancy shows that planting trees can be a cost-effective way to improve public health, which they do in two ways: First, a tree removes particulate matter when polluted air blows through its branches.
Planting trees
1:31 · The particulate matter settles on the leaves and when it rains the dust is washed down the gutter so we don’t inhale it.
1:37 · Second, trees cool temperatures by providing shade and releasing water through photosynthesis, which cools summer temperatures by about two to four degrees fahrenheit.
1:46 · But there is a catch!
1:47 · Trees can only clean and cool the air within a close radius: about one hundred feet, so city officials need to be careful where they plant.
1:54 · Officials can maximize pollution reduction by planting trees where population density and air pollution overlap.
1:59 · The Nature Conservancy report uses data from Washington D.C. to create a map showing where planting trees will have the highest return on investment.
2:06 · And some trees work better than others: trees with larger, stickier leaves, like maples and elms are more effective, but they also need to be considered within the larger ecosystem.
2:15 · Compared to DC, many cities around the world have even more to gain from planting trees: this map shows where return on investment is highest for reducing particulate matter.
2:23 · With proper targeting, planting trees can be just as cost-effective as other strategies like converting public transportation to use less diesel fuel.
2:30 · But there is one major limiting factor: water access.
2:34 · What might work in Boston, will be less feasible in a city like Doha, Qatar, where water is a scarce resource.
2:39 · And on top of that, many mayors don’t yet think of trees as a public health resource.
2:44 · Trees might not look like giant air filters, but that’s exactly what they are, and the sooner we start thinking of them that way, the sooner the air we breathe might be cooler and cleaner in cities around the world.
Why It’s Usually Hotter In A City Let’s Talk NPR
NPR, 08 14, 2018
Video (2:29)
Description
The way cities are designed and inhabited can make actually make them hotter. So what’s the solution? We explore a few ideas for beating the urban heat.
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Transcript
0:04 · There’s a reason that summers in the city are so hot, and it’s probably easiest to explain why with thermal vision.
0:11 · It shows the heat all around me and also the coldness of this ice cream cone.
0:16 · Cities are often hotter than their suburbs due to a phenomenon known as “the heat island effect.”
The Heat Island Effect
0:24 · All of that asphalt, concrete, dark rooftops and tall buildings— they absorb and store heat.
0:31 · And there are a lot of people using a lot of energy— driving cars, riding subways, running the AC.
0:38 · All of these materials and activities either create or retain heat.
0:44 · And all that stored heat causes steeper nighttime highs … when people would otherwise have a chance to cool down.
0:52 · The way all these heat-storing elements are laid out matters quite a bit.
0:57 · In cities laid out in grids, like Phoenix, Chicago, or Washington, D.C., the buildings are closer together, like closely packed coals in a fire, keeping heat in.
1:07 · More space between buildings creates more circulation.
1:11 · Another way to combat this heat island effect is through green space.
1:15 · Parks, trees, plants— they don’t absorb as much heat … they actually send water back in the atmosphere.
1:21 · Between all those hot buildings, that cools things off.
1:25 · Another solution is color.
Color Light
1:27 · Light colors reflect sunlight back into the atmosphere instead of storing it as heat.
1:31 · It’s easiest to see in crosswalks, and it’s true for the color of buildings and other urban surfaces, too.
1:39 · And one long-game way to combat the heat island effect is to avoid using air conditioning when you don’t need it.
Avoid Using Air Conditioning
1:45 · AC uses a ton of electricity and creates a feedback loop.
1:49 · When we get that electricity from coal or natural gas, that puts more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere … which warms the planet … making cities even hotter.
2:00 · But this isn’t just about comfort.
2:02 · Today, heat waves kill more people than any other extreme weather event.
2:07 · More than tornadoes, hurricanes and even floods.
2:11 · City populations keep growing, and those cities are only getting hotter.
2:17 · This is Let’s Talk, NPR’s news explainer show.
2:20 · Make sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel and check out other shows.
2:25 · I’m Christopher Joyce, and this is NPR.
Why the Nepal flash flood was almost impossible to predict
CBC News, 09 02, 2026
Video (11:52)
Description
A collapsed glacier in Nepal caused catastrophic flooding that killed more than a thousand people, while thousands more are still missing. Andrew Chang breaks down what accelerated the flood to such a violent degree and how factors like the scale of the Himalayan mountains and the region’s climate make prediction and monitoring so challenging.
Intro - 00:00
A cascading disaster - 1:34
A blind spot? - 5:13
CORRECTION (September 3, 2026): The correct unit of measurement for the debris described going down the mountain slope at 2:39 is metres.
(Photo credits: The Canadian Press, Reuters and Getty Images)
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Transcript
Intro
0:00 · If you ever needed convincing that minutes matter, this was it.
0:04 · Quick thinking on courage saved the lives of over 1,600 school children [music] as devastating flash floods hit Nepal on Wednesday.
0:11 · A wall of earth, ice, and water comes crashing down a mountain thousands of meters high. All that debris and flash flooding barreling through the valleys of Nepal, and this school is about to be wiped off the map.
0:25 · An entire river valley along the Nepal border wiped out in seconds.
0:29 · Because absolutely everything [music] is getting destroyed.
0:33 · A monster wave crashing down from the mountains sweeping away everything in its path.
0:38 · Entire towns washed away.
0:45 · But this school, which was also destroyed, best as I can tell, not one student died.
0:52 · I was inside my classroom.
0:53 · One of my colleagues went around and came here, and he said that the flood is coming, the flood is coming. All areas washed away.
1:01 · The principal you just heard figures he had about 13, 14 minutes to get nearly a thousand students out of school and to higher ground. [music] In the chaos of the evacuation, he even had the foresight to reroute buses full of [music] younger children that were on their way to school, telling them, “Don’t come. Get somewhere safe.” This is one incredible outcome in a disaster full of terrible ones, but it also raises a question.
1:28 · If someone knew this flood was coming, why didn’t everyone get that call?
A cascading disaster
1:39 · Even if you knew nothing about Nepal, I could situate this for you by saying this disaster happened about a hundred or so kilometers west of Mount Everest in the Himalayas. [music] And when we think about floods in this part of the world, especially during monsoon season, which [music] it is now, we’re often thinking torrential downpours of rain. That’s not what this was.
2:00 · What we really saw was that the the lower part of a tongue of a glacier completely sheared off across a width of 1,300 m and it’s really like someone took a knife and basically cut the lower part of a glacier and dropped it off the mountain cliff.
2:14 · Yes, this wasn’t initially water, but rather the earth and its ice that came crashing down. It’s here on the northern face of the Langtang Range where this massive glacier is believed to have collapsed, detaching from the mountainside more than 5,000 m above sea level, sending an enormous amount of ice, rock, force, and energy screaming thousands of kilometers down a steep slope.
2:40 · The avalanche would ultimately tear through the twists and turns of the valley, slamming into a river, sending an immense amount of water, mud, and debris into nearby Rasuwagadhi, a gateway between Nepal and China, destroying it in seconds. The flash flood continued south, gathering more water, scarring the riverbanks, swallowing entire settlements along the way. Timure and surrounding towns basically [music] disappeared.
3:09 · Further south, Sabrubesi, it was considered a hub of the region. Thousands lived on either side of the river and tourists came here, too. If you wanted to trek through Nepal’s mountainside, you might start here. But the whole area absolutely ravaged. Dams, buildings, highways, bridges washed away. And the destruction this flood carved through the country would eventually reach more than 100 km away from where it started.
3:41 · It all happened very quickly, too quickly. There are warning systems in place, but they’re not really designed to track this kind of disaster.
3:50 · So, one of the only monitoring systems that we have in place are river gauges that that can track when there’s a sudden increase in the water level. That can trigger a siren downstream that can hopefully get to the communities that need it in time for them to evacuate.
4:10 · Water [music] is a major threat in these mountain ranges, but flooding is usually driven by rain or by melt, things you can track in real time. So, river and lake levels, [music] for example, can rise during monsoon season, or you can have glacial meltwater pool and then burst its banks.
4:30 · Point is, it tends to happen gradually in a way that these river gauges can actually measure over time and then [music] relay that data downstream to where it’s useful. Except in this case, it would have been like measuring the direction of a hurricane by holding out a finger. The speed of the flood was so overwhelming, the sudden flow so catastrophic, in some cases it destroyed the monitoring systems before they could even send their alerts.
4:59 · So, we went from, you know, real-time data to all of a sudden there was no information.
5:06 · So, how do you warn people about a disaster that moves faster than the warning system itself?
A blind spot?
5:16 · [music] The thing is, there’s a lot we understand about how these disasters happen.
5:23 · This is absolutely an event of a type that occurs in the Himalaya. It has occurred many times in recent recorded history.
5:31 · And even in those cases where people are in danger, there are success stories, like in Switzerland. Now, don’t get me wrong, what happened in the small Swiss mountain town of Blattem last year was tragic.
5:45 · [music] An entire community was buried under an avalanche of ice and rock.
5:49 · Authorities saying 90% of the village of Blatten has been covered by thousands of tons of ice, [music] mud, and rock.
5:56 · But nearly every single person survived because the town had been evacuated [music] more than a week earlier. Hundreds of people fleeing the area well in advance because of what locals and scientists had been noticing for years.
6:13 · In the European Alps, uh the mountainside collapse in Blatten, Switzerland, uh a year or so ago, uh that was known to be an issue well before it happened.
6:24 · These are photos from a Swiss natural hazard monitoring company showing radar and camera setups pointed directly at the [music] mountain, which they had believed at the time might give way at any moment. This type of precise [music] measuring equipment can reveal even the tiniest details about a mountain, its cracks, its movement, the slightest [music] changes in position. And what that equipment detected was this.
6:48 · What you’re seeing here is a 26-hour time-lapse [music] from the same Swiss company, GeoPrevent, just before the glacier collapse. Maybe seemingly slow, but alarmingly fast [music] for a mountain. The Earth was moving 10 m a day.
7:09 · With this kind of information, you [music] can’t predict the exact timing of the collapse itself. But this kind of observation is what allowed scientists to recognize [music] the increasing chance that something bad might happen at some point. The danger [music] was progressive and predictable.
7:27 · It’s easier to access some of those cliff sides in Switzerland, get sensors and monitoring equipment in those locations so that we can keep get real-time data. Here in Nepal, um the extreme elevations we’re looking at, there’s just there’s no trail to the top, there’s not a cable car there.
7:43 · The capacity and the resources necessary are going to be very difficult to replicate in places like the Himalayas.
7:50 · It’s one thing when you’ve been noticing changes over a long period and you decide to point a whole bunch of measuring devices at a very specific spot. But the problem with the Himalayas is scale.
8:01 · The physical scale of the range, the difficulty in working with it, the fact that it’s often covered in clouds as it is due to the monsoon season now, it it presents tremendous challenge for prediction and monitoring.
8:14 · This part of the world isn’t just a mountain range. It is an entire wall of mountains stretching thousands of kilometers containing some of the highest peaks and deepest valleys on Earth.
8:28 · Glaciers and the lakes they melt into are a key concern because they can overflow. But there are thousands of them across Asia and [music] scientists do their best to track every single one with reports like this one from 2020 creating a meticulous inventory of the most dangerous sites like one giant catalog of risk. There’s promise there, maybe, you think. And looking in hindsight at what happened in Nepal, they are indeed finding clues that suggest maybe these types of events are predictable.
9:02 · A new report published after the collapse refers to how movement of the ice surface sped up just prior, how meltwater had turned visibly brown suggesting mountain sediment was shifting. Also, noticing a crack propagating in the days leading up to the disaster. Even learning to better track events as they occur, noticing that the mass movement caused a seismic signal at a magnitude larger than four. So, maybe there’s promise in deploying more seismic sensors.
9:33 · And imagine tying all that knowledge together, pushing it to the limit using AI, combining susceptibility maps [music] with real-time data to inch closer and closer to predicting the unpredictable. But then you remember, once again, the problem of scale. I think one Washington-based think tank put [music] it best. The Himalayan region offers more slopes capable of failing at this magnitude [music] across greater vertical relief than anywhere else on Earth.
10:04 · Then it goes on to this point of how hard it can be to gauge risk even when you think you’ve found it. Of roughly a dozen extreme flow events in the region in the [music] past 10 years, only one originated in a place already known to be a risk. Every other one of these events also came from somewhere no one was watching.
10:26 · It’s very challenging to predict exactly where and when these rock collapses are going to occur.
10:33 · It would be terrific if you could put sensors in in all the locations where events like this potentially were going to happen, but it’s just not practical to monitor so many different locations all at once. As remote sensing technologies improve, as computing improves, we’ll be more and more able to watch the landscape and detect small amounts of change, but that’s still a work in progress.
11:01 · And that’s really the key to all of this. Right now, there is no crystal ball, just small incremental ways scientists are learning how to buy precious seconds, maybe even minutes. But trying to prevent or even predict the inevitable, National Geographic referred to these glaciers as cryogenic time bombs, a reference to our changing climate and how frozen water that makes up this kind of glue that binds the Earth together, the cryosphere, it’s melting.
11:33 · Is that to blame in Nepal?
11:36 · We may never know directly, but it is why scientists [music] are so certain something like this will happen again. It’s just a question of when and where.
11:46 · [music]
Why the planet is drying out much faster than before, according to a new study
PBS NewsHour, 09-21-2025
Video (6:18)
Description
According to a new study, the planet is drying at an unprecedented pace, presenting a critical threat to humanity. Researchers found that “continental drying is having profound global impacts” that “threaten water availability” across the globe. To learn more, Ali Rogin speaks with ProPublica climate investigations editor Abrahm Lustgarten for our series, Tipping Point.
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Transcript
0:02 · Ali: The planet is drying at an unprecedented pace, presenting a critical threat to humanity.
0:07 · That’s according to a new study publish understand in the journal “Science advances.”
0:12 · Researchers found that continental drying is having profound global impact that threaten water availability across the globe.
0:19 · For part of our tipping point coverage, I spoke recently with a climate investigations editor at pro publica, and began by asking him why so much of the Earth is drying out.
0:30 · It’s a mixture of climate change and massive overuse of water resources by people that appears to be drying out a continent, according to a new study out of Arizona state university. And it basically found that rising temperatures are leading to less precipitation in certain places and faster evaporation from both the soil and rivers and surface waters. At the same time that overpumping of ground water aquifers is quickly depleting resources held in those underground reservoirs.
1:02 · Ali: Who’s driving this problem?
1:03 · It’s difficult to parse out the difference between climate change as an effect and the human overpumping of ground water, but those are the two factors. Of course, it’s the I missions from the burning of fossil fuels that is driving the rising temperatures on the planet, and so that is really contributing to a water loss or a water reportioning across the globe.
1:25 · And the ground water pumping is driven by individual use, by farmers, by corporations, by cities around the world. It is becoming the fallback kind of bank account, if you will, of water resources that people in groups are turning to as their surface waters are diminished or as droughts deplete the waters for a shorter period of time. People are looking to those underground reservoirs and pumping more, pumping faster, exploring deeper.
1:51 · Ali: And the study uses nasa satellite images over the course of 20 years to track the evolution of land that’s drying out.
1:59 · Can you walk us through mechanically how that works, how the satellite images were able to capture this change?
2:05 · It essentially measures changing mass in the spinning Earth, changes in the Earth’s rotational orbit. So it can measure how much volume is in the poles and how much water is underground, and changes in that mass. And over the last 20 years, it’s allowed researchers to be able to tell the difference between one type of changing mass and another.
2:28 · So now really for the first time these researchers are using that gray satellite data to get a sense of the Earth’s total water supply and then to distinguish between how much of the loss of that water supply is for melting glaciers from climate change, for example, and how much is from something like ground water depletion.
2:46 · Ali: What are we talking about here in terms of total water loss, and also, how has this accelerated over the past 20 years?
2:54 · Researchers caution they don’t know where the bottom is, so to speak. So we don’t have a measure of how much fresh water there is to work with. What we do know is that the accounts that we’re working with are quickly being withdrawn. So we can see the rate of drying that they measured has quickly accelerated, just over the last 10 years or so, since 2014. They’ve been measuring for 23 years.
3:19 · They’ve seen that rapid depletion from the very beginning. But it has intensified and accelerated just in the last 10 or 12 years. So that’s particularly alarming. It’s something that led them to write in the paper that this issue is a critical and emerging threat to humanity.
3:35 · Ali: What do we know about where this is effecting the globe?
3:40 · Is it happening more in certain parts of the globe, or is it pretty evenly distributed?
3:44 · The study found that drying places are getting dryer faster than wedding places are getting wetter, and it found those drying regions are much, much larger than the places that are getting increasingly welt. And those drying regions are spread across every continent. There’s substantial drying regions, which researchers now describe as mega regions that constitute much of the southern United States and into Mexico and Central America.
4:10 · There’s a mega drying region that they identified that covered pretty much the whole of Europe and into the Middle East and includes parts of north Africa and again a large swat of south Asia is also part of these mega drying regions. And what those mega regions constitute is the merging of places that already were known to be losing water or suffering from drought, but they used to be finite or distinct places.
4:34 · We used to think, for example, of the southwestern united States as being particularly dry, which it is, and suffering from climate change, which it is. But until recently, we didn’t understand that that drying region was spreading across the whole southern part of the country and is extending down into Mexico and into central America, and that it’s becoming one large drought plagued or drying out region.
4:58 · Ali: How much are we able to connect this phenomenon we’re seeing around the world with the impact on the inhabitants who live in these parts of the world?
5:06 · Are we seeing this play out in real-world implications right now?
5:11 · Yeah, absolutely.
5:13 · The water loss that this research identified is mainly occurring in mid latitude regions, which is where most of the population of the planet resides, and the researchers identified water net loss in 101 countries, and those 101 countries happen to be home to about 75% of the planet’s population. So about six billion people live in the regions that are on balance losing access to fresh water. Ali: The thank you so much.
5:45 · Thank you.
World Weather Attribution — understanding climate change and extreme weather
World Weather Attribution, 11 13, 2023
Video (5:59)
Description
When an extreme weather event occurs, people often ask: is climate change to blame?
For decades, climate scientists have answered that question in general terms – that as the planet warms, we can expect many of these weather events to become more frequent and extreme.
But in recent years, advances in attribution science have allowed researchers to answer the question in much greater detail.
Founded in 2015 by Dr. Friederike Otto and Dr. Geert Jan van Oldenborgh, World Weather Attribution scientists quantify how climate change influences the intensity and likelihood of an extreme weather event. They often do this using weather data and computer modelling, and often immediately in the aftermath of the extreme event.
To encourage actions that will make communities and countries more resilient to future extreme weather events, World Weather Attribution studies also evaluate how existing vulnerability worsened the impacts of the extreme weather event.
To learn more about World Weather Attribution or to view our studies, go to https://www.worldweatherattribution.org/
Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/WWAttribution
Film produced by Geoff Marsh.
Transcript
Introduction to attribution
0:03 · [Music] in the immediate aftermath of an extreme weather event occurring people always ask the question is climate change to blame we found it World weather attribution to answer that question based on scientific evidence this one does not include the EV weather attribution is a relatively
0:26 · new field of science that basically brings together weather obervation and meteorology and climate science and really answers the question what is the cause of an event happening I’m Dr Freddy Oto I’m a senior lecturer at the Grandam Institute at Imperial College London and I am co-founder of the world weather attribution initiative which I’m also leading our burning of fossil fuels for
Climate change impacts
0:56 · um the last decades and Century has led to the world over all getting warmer and that had a profound effect on weather around the world so every heat wave that is happening today has been made more likely more intense and longer because
1:12 · of climate change but we also see changes in other weather events heavy rainfall has become more intense in many parts of the world we see more intense droughts or at least the impacts of droughts on agriculture are worse as they would have been without climate change because of the increase in temperature and of course that doesn’t affect just the weather but our societies are only adapted to a very
1:39 · small range of possible weather and we are outside this range now and therefore the impacts that these changes have are that people lose their lives their livelihoods across the world not just in the global South but everywhere in the
1:58 · world so the kind of extreme weather events that we would want to St study with World weather attribution are very frequent so um we meet every Monday with our team and look at the events that have happened and there are many more events happening than we can study and we are aiming to look at about 20 uh per
Case studies and examples
2:22 · year so the kind of thing we are looking at are events like for example the Pacific Northwest Heatwave that hit the US in Canada in 2021 where we found this event would have basically been impossible without climate change another event that has not been talked about much in the global media was extreme flooding in Nigeria and around the Nija Delta more widely that happened in 2022 where we also found that climate
2:48 · change made this event 80 times more likely which is a huge change for a rainfall event so with our core team we decide whether we can do a study based Bas on whether we have enough manpower available whether we have data and
The research process
3:05 · climate models at least in principle that are able to simulate the type of event whether we have the ability to make contact with people in the region and also we try um to look at is it a kind of event in a region where we have already done many many studies if yes we might give that a lower priority but if it’s in a region where not many Studies have been done we will definitely try to do it so once we have made contact with the
3:34 · people in country we decide on how to define the event and then based on how complex the weather event is that led to the impacts we then decide on the timeline so if it’s a heat wve that is relatively straightforward or a heavy rainfall event we try and finish the study within a week if it’s something more complex like a drought um or
4:00 · maybe a a less straightforward rainfall event than it might take us a few weeks but we we really aim to be as fast as possible so that our evidence can still feed into the public discussion that is happening about the event so what we are aiming to do with each of these studies is to provide on
Reporting and implications
4:24 · the one hand an answer of what’s the role of climate change so something like this event has been made 80 times more likely because of climate change and on the other hand information on who has been most affected and why so who is hit
4:41 · by this weather event and why and how are they affected and also what can be done to prevent these people being affected next time so once we finish a study we obviously can’t send it to peer review and wait for 2 years until the review process is over before publicizing the events we publicize them straight away so we publish a scientific report that has all the information that a scientific paper has on our website we write a summary we write a press release
5:12 · and we do a press briefing and in many cases we then send the scientific report a few weeks after to peerreview um so that it will become a peer-reviewed paper down the line it’s important to have attribution studies because these studies show us how climate change manifests in our daily lives in our
5:35 · daily experiences not just climate scientists but everyone and also because we have an assessment on the vulnerability we can learn from these studies how to better prevent impacts to be not as dramatic for future [Music] events
Films
A New Inferno
Jonathan Pickett, 09-13-2026
Documentary Film (00:15:42)
Description
Filmed during the hottest days of Phoenix, Arizona’s summer heatwave, A NEW INFERNO follows paramedics as they race to save the lives of heatstroke victims using a radical new treatment: ice immersion therapy. As featured on the NY Times Op Docs — We Are Living in a New Inferno World Premiere SXSW Film Festival, 2026 Featuring Jason Smith, Jake West, Roy Lewis, & Colter Fosdick Directed & Produced by Nita Blum-Reddick & Jonathan Pickett Executive Producers Sam Osborn, Alejandra Vasquez, & Jesse Ray Sheps Cinematographer Ryan Dent Editor Jonathan Pickett Composer Jack Gillette Production Sound Mixer Daniel Reddick Grips Stephane Strande & Brian Osback Sound Design & Mix Hansdale Hsu Colorist Keyhan Bayegan Production Assistant Camden Smith Title & Poster Designer Jason Cryer Weather Consultant Jorge Torres Advisors Dr. Charles Finch, Medical Director, Phoenix Fire Department & Maki Lloyd, Deputy Chief, Phoenix Fire Department For The New York Times Op-Docs: Associate Producers Ingrid Homquist & Rebecca Shaid Producer Yvonne Ashley Kouadjo Senior Producer Andrew Blackwell Executive Producer Alexandra Garcia Please consider supporting the ongoing work of Circle the City: www.circlethecity.org Festivals: • Tribeca x NYT Op-Docs • Mountainfilm • Rooftop Films • Palm Springs International ShortFest • Indy Shorts Film Festival • HollyShorts Film Festival • Nashville Film Festival • Bend Film Festival • Mill Valley Film Festival • Sidewalk Film Festival • deadCenter Film Festival • Ouray International Film Festival • Cinema Columbus • AfterImage Film Festival • Coast Film Festival
Transcript
Fire in Paradise
Duration: 00:39:48 More details on netflix.com
Inside the LA Firestorm
PBS Terra, 03-19-2025
Documentary Film (52:17)
Description
Check out our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/cw/PBSWeathered?utm_medium=unknown&utm_source=join_link&utm_campaign=creatorshare_creator&utm_content=copyLink
It is WILD how often cities used to burn down. So when fires ripped through LA at the beginning of 2025, we wondered: are urban firestorms BACK?
In 1871, nearly a third of Chicago burned down. In 1889, 25 blocks of Seattle went up in flames. Modern buildings and firefighting solved the problem. So, how is this happening again? And why is it getting worse? To find out, we went to LA while the fires were still burning. Our crew was on the ground from day one. We interviewed top fire officials and leading scientists. And, we learned exactly what went wrong in LA - and the ONE THING that could stop these UNSTOPPABLE fires.
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Transcript
The new era of wildfires
0:11 · Beginning on January 7th, 2025, the world learned what far too many survivors already knew. Wildfires are changing, but the LA firestorm is just the latest in a string of fires causing unprecedented destruction in the modern era. These fires are suddenly unstoppable. And there’s one simple variable that explains the change - speed.
0:46 · I’m Maiya Mya, the host of Weathered, and I’m on a journey to understand where we are and where we’re going in this moment of extreme change and to learn how we can stop the next tragedy before it’s too late. Our film crew was on the ground from day one of the fires and we had inside access to top fire officials and cutting edge research.
1:08 · We learned what went wrong, why fires are moving so fast and the one thing that can stop this growing trend in fire destruction.
1:18 · Police Department.
1:19 · Firefighter down. Firefighter down. Alright dude. Yeah, let’s get outta here. We tried.
1:27 · We tried bro.
1:31 · Oh my God, man, this is, oh God.
1:37 · It’s all gone.
1:40 · The Palisades and the Eaton Fire have been a turning point. We’re experiencing things that we never experienced before and as a public official, I have to tell the truth even when the truth is difficult To unpack that truth, we’re going inside the LA firestorm. Here’s what we know about the lead up to the fires. After two unusually wet years, Los Angeles, California entered an extreme eight month dry spell with no rain accompanied by record breaking heat.
Fire triggers and triggers
2:33 · In these conditions, all you need is wind and an ignition to see extreme fire. And looking at urban fire disasters over the last century, we see a clear uptick in the last decade. With this surge in destructive fires, relying only on professional firefighters for protection is no longer enough.
2:54 · I grew up in Malibu. I knew several people over the years that lost houses. Fires happened at a pretty frequent pace every six, eight years, but it was never something that was really interesting at all. And then the Woolsey fire happened and a lot of my friends, including my family, lost their house and I just couldn’t let that go. And so I got oddly obsessed with what to do better for the next time.
3:20 · I remember at a community meeting where we had all the fire chiefs, I remember just saying, yelling at him.
3:26 · Everybody just wants to hear you say sorry.
3:28 · But Keegan, along with his friend Tyler, channeled that anger to help start the community brigade. A network of community members living in fire prone areas who wanted to play an active role in preventing destruction during the next fire.
3:41 · The brigade ultimately was born out of the Woolsey experience. We were just like, oh, we got this. We’re gonna, we’re gonna buy a truck and we’re gonna buy a bunch of hose and we’re gonna be, we’re gonna handle the business next time. Creating an ad hoc kind of cowboy group of firefighters. That’s what we thought then at least.
3:59 · Over the following years, the brigade grew and began collaborating with fire departments to prepare for the inevitable. In fall of 2024, 40 members received their fire certifications, but nothing could have prepared them for what was coming next.
4:16 · Tomorrow, Wednesday into a portion of Thursday, we are expecting some very strong potentially damaging Santa Ana winds.
4:21 · We’ll be looking at, you know, 50, 60 mile per hour winds, 80 mile per hour winds, Relative humidity values are going to drop to at least 10%.
4:28 · Any fire start could lead to rapid spread in these types of conditions.
4:32 · We just finished training in October.
4:35 · We’ve done a bunch of tabletops field drills, exercises, et cetera, but we’re tee ballers. This was the World Series of firefighting.
4:43 · In the past, I would’ve asked that they leave during the evacuation order. Now I’m asking that they stay because they’re gonna be able to help us.
The palisades fire strikes
5:10 · I noticed smoke in the background over the hills about 10:30.
5:15 · Oh fire on the other side of the hill looks pretty close and the wind started to get stronger By 10:50, air tankers are on site.
5:27 · It is pushing directly towards Palisades, got a wide path of travel already.
5:33 · This thing is gonna make a good run.
5:34 · This was still all blue sky right here and we were off off the flank of the fire. But that changed really fast.
5:39 · Then I started to see the firefighting planes dropping water.
5:47 · I could see flames starting to lick up over the ridge on the other side of the ridge. And then at that point I turned around, got back down to the guys, said, Hey, we’re gonna be impacted here. And then the wind shifted just a little bit and boom, this first street was impacted by fire almost immediately, just in a few short minutes afterwards. It was almost nighttime here from how thick the smoke was.
6:07 · Looks like the fire’s gonna hit the back of these houses in about five, 10 minutes.
6:10 · The first broad evacuation order comes at 12:07 PM.
6:15 · Emergency evacuation of this area is required.
6:19 · Dozens of homes ignite and firefighters are unable to contain the fire.
6:23 · Next thing you know, there’s sheriffs that are grabbing garden hoses and sheriffs grabbing fire hoses and helping put out spots. It was just pure mayhem honestly. And everybody’s getting their teeth kicked in By 1:08 PM streets are gridlocked and residents abandoned their cars to evacuate on foot.
6:46 · You’ve got gridlock on Palisades Drive, abandoned vehicles, Sunset, completely impassable. Affirmative. We need heavy equipment to move a lot of vehicles Abandoned, no keys. By 2:30 the fire is racing towards Pacific Coast Highway and firefighters are scrambling for resources.
7:04 · We’re gonna need emergency air.
7:06 · We’re running out of bottles as we’re trying to protect these houses and get people out.
7:12 · The plants in the front of the yard start catching on fire. The bush on the side of the house starts catching on fire.
7:18 · No I don’t.
7:21 · All the smoke alarms in the neighborhood are going off.
7:23 · Alright dude. Yeah, let’s get outta here. We tried.
7:28 · We tried bro.
7:29 · Sorry, we tried our best. Yeah, and when this tree falls, it’s over.
7:41 · Sorry bro. Get outta here.
7:48 · Incident from operation.
The eaten fire catastrophe
7:50 · Our mission right now is life safety, evac is our concern.
7:53 · And then, just after 6:00 PM, 30 miles away, the Eaton fire starts in the hills above Altadena.
8:04 · Holy — Response time from Fire Station 66 is probably two to three minutes. Upon arrival, they had large amount of fire pushing hard towards the, the nature center.
8:14 · By 6:36 PM helicopters arrive, but the nearly 100 mile per hour winds are so violent that aerial firefighting is quickly grounded.
8:24 · We’re gonna have to shut down water dropping operation At 7:00 PM Fire Chief Anthony Marrone begins his drive from Palisades to Altadena.
8:33 · When I saw it at, you know, 27, 30 miles away, my heart just sunk because I thought, how are we gonna respond to this Before evacuations have been ordered, residents near Eaton Canyon are already fleeing Up there that looked like a river of lava just flowing down the hill, like no stopping it.
9:05 · From 6:18 that night till 6:00 the next morning we had continuous 80 mile an hour gusts. There’s no stopping a fire that’s getting pushed by an 80 mile an hour gust.
9:16 · The first evacuation order goes out near 7:30 PM for Altadena east of Lake Avenue. Meanwhile, in Palisades, aerial efforts are grounded at 7:45 PM Based on the wind conditions. Right now we’re ineffective and we’re not gonna compromosise safety.
9:32 · Copy to traffic. We lost the aircraft.
9:34 · Both fires swell in size.
9:38 · Evacuation notices have been issued for East Altadena, but West Altadena is still waiting for word to leave.
9:45 · I thought, well I’ll sit here and listen to the radio in the car and see what’s happening. And I’m hearing that the fire is going east and I’m thinking that glow is not two or three miles away. It looks a lot closer. There’s still nothing telling me to evacuate. But the sheriff came up and he said, lady, get out, evacuate. The fire is coming.
10:16 · It was chaos in the streets.
10:17 · You had people trying to get out burning power poles, you had wires down, heavy smoke, which was limited visibility. So we went straight into rescue mode.
10:29 · Police department evacuate immediately.
10:32 · The smoke was so thick and it was, it was just raining embers everywhere.
10:38 · I don’t know how anybody got out of there at three, four o’clock in the morning because it, it was pitch black.
10:45 · Oh my god, oh my God.
10:48 · Look at these The smoke was so thick and black, it was horrible.
Assessing the devastation
10:53 · The fires burned through the next day and into the night, incinerating thousands of acres and entire neighborhoods.
11:04 · Pool house on fire.
11:08 · By late Wednesday, January 8th, the winds subside allowing firefighters to begin containing the fires. But the battle is far from over. The fires continue to burn for several more weeks as crews work to bring them under control.
11:45 · But I need to understand these fires. What happened?
11:48 · Why did it get so out of control?
11:50 · And maybe most importantly, how can we prevent this from happening in the future?
11:57 · So I met with Dr. Lori Moore-Merrill, who served as the top US fire administrator from 2021 to 2025. She was essentially the chief of all fire chiefs and the first person in her position to bring a national focus to the rise of large scale urban conflagrations, fires that wipe out entire communities. The Orange County Air Ops team flew Dr.
12:19 · Lori over the LA fire perimeters to survey the damage and witness the destruction in its full breath From the Eaton fire where you can see how it just came right down the mountain and swept through the community. The ember cast here was totally significant in this fire.
12:50 · Embers that had to have been massive to have ignited so quickly and just fed this fire on and on and on from structure to structure. When we have those kinds of variables with the drought, the wind, the close proximity structures, it was almost as if the variables have come together such that this was inevitable.
13:11 · I feel like you have such a unique perspective with your role. Does that make you angry?
13:16 · I know this could have been avoided.
13:17 · We’ve been saying for years in the fire service, warning that this is gonna happen. We watched the Marshall Fire in 2021 in Colorado. We watched Lahaina on Maui in 2023 and now this. These are all conflagrations that are not trees burning, not a wildfire. Not even an interface fire. These are urban suburban conflagrations. This is structure to structure fire spread, both radiant heat, ember cast that really show the power of what fire can do.
13:59 · But also it gives us true information about how we can stop this. How we can not waste this tragedy, use this information to prevent next.
14:13 · By the end of January, the Palisades fire and Eaton fire had together destroyed over 16,000 structures and killed 29 people and people are upset. Early analysis of what went wrong quickly uncovered fire department funding cuts, low water pressure in fire hydrants and lack of fire engines.
Limits of fire suppression
14:39 · There have been a a, a quite a bit of comments over social media about the local water supply.
14:44 · What is going on with the water situation.
14:46 · Why was there no water in the hydrants?
14:49 · They can’t fight a fire without water.
14:51 · Do you regret cutting the fire department budget by millions of dollars?
14:54 · Madam Mayor?
14:55 · Multimillion dollar cut.
14:57 · When you go through something traumatic, it’s a natural instinct to point and try to figure out who to blame.
15:02 · But could this much destruction be blamed on a lack of funding and aging infrastructure?
15:08 · Everyone I asked gave me the same answer.
15:11 · I mean, is that just a lack of resources?
15:13 · Because I mean, that’s something that I’ve been hearing just No, - You know, in the national media, Never there’s, you could not have had enough resources to prevent the destruction of this level.
15:24 · Is there any amount of resources to stop a fire of the scale?
15:29 · I could had every engine in LA County, I couldn’t have stopped this.
15:32 · I even asked LA County’s top fire chief, if he had enough resources, could he have put out the fires?
15:38 · Could we have used more engines and more firefighters?
15:42 · Certainly Would it have made a difference?
15:47 · I don’t believe so.
15:54 · So if more water, more trucks, more firefighters, couldn’t stop the LA fires, was this disaster preventable?
16:01 · And how is it possible that the biggest and best firefighting force in the world couldn’t put out the blaze?
16:07 · Well, let’s take a look at how firefighting works. First, we’ll look at how a wildfire is fought before it reaches a community. While it’s still in the wildlands.
How wildfires are fought
16:25 · Primary tactic is to corral fires by creating an unburnable line around them. You encircle the whole fire perimeter with a trail built to mineral soil, nothing burnable there. And then you start burning inside that line to kind of rob the, the, the wildfire of any fuel to burn. So you use hand tools, shovels and pulaski or rakes. You could use heavy equipment like bulldozers or plows.
16:50 · Then you add in the air show with helicopters and planes dropping water, retardant. And when you get those different crews and parts working together, that’s when it’s very effective. But you don’t really put out the fire. You put a fire line around the fire and over time the fire will just kind of burn out of any burnable fuel.
17:12 · The overwhelming majority of wildfires are extinguished quickly. And the LA County Fire Department is one of the most elite fire suppression organizations in the world. If anyone can put out a blaze before it reaches communities, it’s them.
17:27 · So the threat in Los Angeles County, you know I say that it’s probably one of the most dangerous places around because we get the kind of weather that very few places on the earth get coupled with the vegetation and the topography, the number of people that we have living here. And it makes for a a very threatening environment.
17:48 · Our air operation here is extremely demanding.
17:51 · We have a complex aircraft. We fly a single pilot, we fly it day night under night vision goggle, a very diverse and demanding environment that we operate on doing a very complex mission. So when you see a fire that is moving towards homes and it definitely puts an added sense of urgency with what you’re doing.
18:12 · There’s, you know, over a hundred cameras in the LA, Orange County areas and they’ve got a camera 365 days, 24 hours a day, they’ll be able to pick up a little bit of smoke in a location and and then get a response out really quick. The conditions we can fly in and how much water we can drop is unparalleled to any other era of firefighting.
18:32 · Since 1983, an average of nearly 70,000 fires burn each year in the us. Nearly 98% of them are controlled by firefighters before becoming large and destructive to human communities. But dry windy conditions change everything.
18:52 · If you haven’t been in a wind-driven fire day turns into night, there’s so much particle in the air that you have no idea that it’s daytime and you’ve got flame lengths 30, 40, 50 feet high and you’ve got so many embers being tossed at 50 miles an hour, spotting about a mile in front of you.
19:14 · And to think that you’re gonna stop it by putting a hand line or putting a dozer quickly around it, it’s not gonna happen.
19:23 · Strong winds blow embers over, even the largest fire line and air operations become far less effective.
19:31 · If it’s so windy that the water literally isn’t even really hitting the ground, then what are you doing other than accepting a large level of risk?
19:40 · During the Eaton fire pilots supported the initial attack, but were quickly grounded because of strong chaotic wind Due to wind conditions. You’re gonna be breaking off. All air resources are gonna be clearing the incident branch seven copies.
19:54 · Aircraft shut down.
19:56 · If firefighters can reach a fire before it begins growing exponentially, it can be put out even in windy conditions. But the window of opportunity is becoming smaller and smaller because fires across the US are moving faster. Over the last 20 years, fires in California have grown 400% faster. We’ll find out why later.
20:17 · But with traditional wildland firefighting tactics losing their effect, have we reached a tipping point for wildfire or is there still a way to change course?
The urban configration
20:32 · To answer that question, we have to understand another factor that makes these fires so destructive.
20:46 · Once the homes start to burn at scale, you’ve already lost fighting a structural fire, a first alarm, which is how firefighting resources are apportioned is at least 15 firefighters for one house, four engines, a truck and a BC is a general response. If one home is burning, any fire department anywhere can suppress that. At 10 homes, we now need 150 firefighters.
21:18 · If we’re going to effectively go in and no kidding, put that fire out, we need 150 firefighters and we need them right now because fire, the, the growth curve is exponential.
21:26 · Once the fire reaches homes, it changes into something else entirely.
21:31 · Once you have urban conflagration, structure to structure fire transmission, then all of the things we are talking about from a wild land setting are no longer effective. ’cause we are in a fundamentally different fire.
21:43 · The building itself, the structure can sustain a longer ignition compared to a tree. A tree can burn for, I dunno, a minute or two, a structure can burn for an hour.
21:53 · It’s the contents of those homes and businesses because that becomes fuel. And now we’re producing very large long burning embers that can fly with the wind to ignite.
22:05 · When we have dense neighborhoods, we have more cars, we have more fences, we have more sheds.
22:09 · Now we have two factors that combine to make fires unstoppable. Ember cast and structure to structure ignition. And under these conditions, the wildland firefighting playbook goes out the window. Air ops is grounded and embers jump the fire lines. So emergency response shifts from firefighting to an all-out race to save lives. And that’s exactly what happened in la.
22:37 · It was a wildland fire for probably about four to five minutes. So this fire burned straight, downhill into structures and then started burning structure to structure. The priority was rescue. So we’re gonna take care of life first and then save property as we can. The conditions were so bad that I couldn’t see the end of my hood. I had two hands come across my hood, put on my brakes.
23:01 · It was a a a, a middle aged lady and she says my dad is trapped in the, in the house. He can’t get out. So we immediately ran up to the house, grabbed him, got him out to my vehicle, and our fire personnel and our law enforcement personnel went on calls for service like that all through the night While assisting with evacuations. in Pacific Palisades was the first priority for Keegan and the community fire brigade.
23:35 · They also spent time doing last minute preparations on homes, clearing flammable items away from structures and extinguishing spot fires before they could ignite homes. But this was a decision that Keegan still grapples with.
23:50 · Somebody died on PCH, somebody died up Las Flores, somebody died in Big Rock.
23:54 · Did we help a couple structures survive?
23:56 · Maybe. How do you, how do you measure the importance of structures versus lives?
24:02 · I just keep going that over my mind is how much time am I willing to, to wager prepping and doing triage with time that I could be trying to convince another person to leave?
24:14 · In that moment where you’re trying to get people out, you’re seeing people’s homes get destroyed, I mean, what’s going through your mind?
24:20 · I live in the community. My kids go to school in the community and I’m the assistant chief here for the community. It’s heartbreaking. It’s heartbreaking.
24:32 · Why didn’t we get to that one person’s house where that person died?
24:37 · And that’s like the, that’s the really heavy part.
24:43 · As I talk to first responders after these fires, it’s become clear that they were up against an impossible task filled with impossible choices. And what we need to prevent. The next tragedy is time. There may be a way to slow urban fire disasters down. But first I wanna find out why these fires are getting so much faster and more destructive.
25:05 · I’m a fire chief and I’m not a scientist, but when I look back over my career, I cannot deny that fire season is now longer. I cannot deny that fires are harder to extinguish. I’m not gonna argue what’s causing the climate to change. I’m here to tell you that I have a front row seat to the results of this changing climate.
Climate change impact
25:52 · To understand the changes we’re seeing today, we need to understand the past. In the early 1900s, a new organization called the Forest Service was formed and its mandate was to put out all fires as quickly as possible. The early 1900s were hot and dry and that didn’t just cause the dust bowl. There was also a lot of fire. In fact, many researchers believe that there was more fire then than there is now.
26:27 · By the 1940s, firefighting had become professional and efficient, but wildfire was still a huge problem in the West. Then ocean currents shifted, bringing cooler, wetter conditions to much of the Western US. It also made fires far easier to fight.
26:44 · We had these incremental wet periods during the summer. Incremental rains every week or two is just enough to tamp down fire behavior and support the fire managers to get out there and suppress those fires.
26:58 · And under these conditions, firefighting worked.
27:01 · Acres burned per year plummeted.
27:06 · That’s where we started in the Western United States, really interacting with the landscape and developing our expectations on what the landscape could provide for us. And that’s the period of that great expansion. We see communities expanding. We see the land utilization expanding. We’ve expanded our recreation resources, we’ve expanded our water infrastructure, we expanded our power infrastructure and we’ve expanded our timber bases under the expectation that that’s sustainable into the future.
27:35 · And most importantly, we expanded where we lived. But then things changed again. By the 1980s, the western US had left that cool wet period, the number of acres burned per year began to rise. But now there are whole towns, cities, farms, and infrastructure filling in our fire prone areas. And now we layer on top of that expansion, the warmest year in human history. On our current trajectory.
28:07 · The warming we’ve seen could double by the end of the century. And this really matters when it comes to fire because as temperatures increase, the ability for the atmosphere to hold water vapor also increases and it’s exponential. You can basically think of the atmosphere as a giant sponge that can absorb and then release water. The warmer the atmosphere, the bigger the sponge. And this has two effects.
28:32 · First, when that moisture is released, it leads to more extreme precipitation. But when conditions are dry, a thirstier atmosphere does the opposite. It pulls moisture from the land, sucking water from plants and soil, creating the perfect conditions for fire to spread faster and burn hotter. This dramatic shift between extremes is what some scientists call weather whiplash. And that whiplash had a big role in the LA firestorm.
The perfect storm of variables
29:04 · All right, so we’ve been hearing a lot about climate change and how it may have influenced these fires. So we’re actually gonna meet up with someone who can explain it to us. So let’s go. Oh wow. I’m back in school. How you doing? I’m Maiya.
29:18 · Hey Maiya. I’m Park. - Nice to meet you.
29:20 · You can think of wildfire as being a light that is either on or off, but with fire you can only turn on the light if you have four switches on at the same time.
29:29 · These switches include fuels, aridity, fire weather, like strong dry winds and ignition 2023 and 2024 was extraordinarily wet. Lots of new plants grew. This is just a record of the greenness in coastal southern California for the last 40 years. And this past spring was near record high meaning that probably we haven’t seen fuel loads like this more than once or twice in the last four decades.
29:54 · Wow. And that was due to all of those atmospheric rivers that we saw.
30:00 · That’s right. - Rolling through California.
30:01 · That’s right. - And that leads us to the next ingredient, which is aridity.
30:05 · This year has been an extraordinarily unlucky year so far. Usually we get our first rain by sometime in October or November. And here we are in mid to late January. We still haven’t had our first rain. The vegetation and structures are probably drier than we’ve seen anytime in the last 150 years at least. Another contributor to that is temperature. Heat works to dry out fuels because heat causes the atmosphere to be thirstier.
30:30 · Another factor is wind, right?
30:33 · That’s right.
30:34 · Now this though is the middle of Santa Ana wind season. Santa Ana’s are strongest and most common in December and January. Usually they can’t dry fire because usually everything’s all wet by then. What made this year extraordinary was the huge amount of fuel, the very, very dry conditions because of lack of precipitation, high temperatures. And then to cap it off, a really strong Santa Ana wind event.
30:58 · And there is one more factor, which is ignition.
31:01 · Yeah, that’s right. So in coastal Southern California, when we have these fires going in Santa Ana wind events, essentially all of the fires were caused by people. Lightning does not occur during these events. Unfortunately, when conditions are this extreme and perfect for fire, it’s almost inevitable that there is going to be an accidental spark somewhere. And those accidental sparks have a really easy time lighting, very destructive fires under these crazy weather conditions.
31:25 · It just seems like a perfect storm.
31:27 · It has been a perfect storm, but this type of event is the type of event we expect to see more of in the future.
31:32 · At this point, Parks research shows that only one of these factors has definitively changed due to global warming. Temperature. Record breaking heat removes moisture faster, priming vegetation, fences, hedges, and homes. And that explains why fires are moving so much faster. So we’re in Altadena today and we are gonna meet up with survivors of the Eaton fire and just driving through the, the impact of this fire feels different.
Survivors and rebuilding
32:16 · The whole community is gone and it’s really been difficult for me to take everything in. But I’m very interested to hear from survivors and hear where their head space is.
32:27 · Hello Lynelle.
32:29 · Hi. How are you?
32:29 · How are you? I’m good, I’m good.
32:31 · I’m Maiya Maiya. Charles Bryant, glad to meet you.
32:34 · Nice to meet you. So tell me where we are right now.
32:38 · Altadena, post-Eaton fire.
32:42 · And you’re at our home.
32:44 · This is where your home used to be.
32:45 · Right.
32:49 · You guys are gonna rebuild on this property.
32:53 · I’ve got the rendering already.
32:54 · I got my drawings done. Yeah. - Oh my goodness.
32:56 · You are ready to go Yeah. We can submit tomorrow if we want to.
33:01 · The level of despair is something that fortunately we haven’t felt, but it’s, it’s so real. And I Think for this community, I think that despair goes beyond the, you know, I’ve lost everything. I didn’t realize 80% of black families own their homes here. And I think that’s amazing and, and I think just not knowing how the community is gonna look moving forward is also playing into that feeling of despair.
33:32 · It really is because you take the fact that the homeowners are multi-generational. So you’ve got somebody whose parents might have bought their home in the fifties and the sixties and then they’ve lived in the house, or they have, since there’s people at our church who might be seven family members all lost their homes. So it’s not just losing your house, it’s losing your sense of who you are. And it’s also losing your community.
34:01 · Even before the fire Altadena had been gentrifying rapidly, Altadena’s black population had dropped from 43% in 1980 to 17% in 2020. And the future is uncertain.
34:14 · And the fear is losing that sense of community.
34:17 · The silver lining of the fire is that it’s brought a spotlight back to the, the fact that this was and still is a black community and how important it is that we had owners, property owners, business owners and so forth. And I think it’s, it is adding, adding a light to the fact that there’s something here that’s worth investing in. So many innovations that have come out of disaster.
34:43 · You know? And why can’t the, the rebuilding of Altadena be one of those things? I mean, yeah, why not?
34:50 · Disasters like this threaten the very fabric of communities, dismantling decades of generational wealth in minutes. But many other residents I met said they wanted to rebuild an Altadena.
35:02 · My main concern is to preserve the community as it was before the fire has even happened.
35:08 · And right now I’m worried and my neighbors are worried that even if we rebuild, is it even insurable?
35:14 · And is that insurance gonna be affordable or are we gonna be priced out?
35:17 · The process of rebuilding is hard to get some perspective on just how long it takes. I ask Keegan about his community’s progress after the 2018 Woolsey fire.
35:28 · Can you tell me about the Woolsey rebuild?
35:32 · Like how many, ’cause that was six years ago.
35:35 · Yep. - Is that community completely rebuilt?
35:39 · No. So I mean, just in the city of Malibu, for example, about 450 homes burned down. And of those 450, I think less than 200 even even have their certificate of occupancy today.
35:50 · Wow.
35:52 · We can’t control where wildfires ignite or the weather that makes them so fast and so destructive. But we can control how we rebuild and how prepared we are for future fires. So you’ve been through quite the transformation since the Woolsey fire.
The science of home hardening
36:09 · Can you tell me a little bit more about that?
36:11 · Yeah, I mean, during the Woolsey fire and directly after I was that uninformed resident that was frustrated, angry, and I was the one that was out there yelling at the fire chief saying that he, they should have done something different or better. A lot of that anger I had and frustration was just based off of poor understanding. And then I stumbled on Jack Cohen. That was the like aha shift for me.
36:38 · There goes Jack. Get some good video?
36:43 · Got Jack running into the smoke.
36:47 · I became a research scientist, a fire scientist in 1976. I’ve been doing fire since as long as I can remember. From my standpoint, one of the major contributions to the research that I’ve done is to redefine this problem. The main point here is that it’s a home ignition problem, not a wildfire control problem.
37:24 · The, the big problem with us defining wildland urban fire disasters as a wildfire problem is that we focus on and put all of our energy into attempting to eliminate the wildfire to begin with. Instead of taking the opportunity to be more practically effective with regard to changing the ignitability of the thing that gets destroyed, which are the structures.
37:58 · What Jack discovered is that the way a wildfire enters a community isn’t through a wall of flames, but something much smaller.
38:08 · Well as it turns out, we’re talking about a burning ember landing on the structure and the debris that maybe is in the, in the rain gutters and igniting that debris that then puts flame on the eaves that then spreads into the attic of the house and and totally consumes the house.
38:27 · And with that, Jack created the modern understanding of how fire enters communities. He found the mechanism that burns houses and how wind creates so many ignitions.
38:38 · We have large ember production, Thousands of embers.
38:41 · Embers the size of golf balls, So many embers spotting, you know, in advance of the fire.
38:48 · So we had to do experiments where we could generate a blizzard of burning embers on a full scale house and then begin to experiment with where the ignitions occur and see if a specific design was vulnerable to ignition from burning embers.
Effective mitigation tactics
39:18 · And a few years ago I visited the Insurance Institute for Business and Home Safety to see one of these ember experiments in person.
39:26 · So we’re in the main chamber, right?
39:28 · Yeah. - What makes this place so cool?
39:30 · This is the only place on this planet that we can test full scale buildings and then add fire to it.
39:37 · And this is how you generate the wind.
39:40 · Correct. We have 105 fans here.
39:43 · Wow. - And we have the capability to generate a real hurricane.
39:48 · Just how fast can these winds blow?
39:51 · So we can go up to a hundred twenty, a hundred twenty five miles an hour wind. Yeah. You don’t wanna be in the chamber when the fans are on.
39:58 · What we have here is a mock test building. Half of it is wildfire resistant and the other half of it is more traditional building structure. And here in the wind chamber we’re gonna shoot embers at it. And when they come and impact the building, we’re gonna see the difference in wildfire resistant building and non wildfire resistant building and how they perform to that ember exposure.
40:21 · Fans are on. We’re about to start generator starter procedure Control room ready?
40:26 · Copy, test starts in 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 generators on.
40:34 · All right.
41:09 · These experiments identified the most important steps to hardening homes and stop wildfires from becoming urban conflagrations.
41:17 · Stats show that the majority of the loss maybe up to 90% in wildfire prone areas are because of embers. Basically when embers accumulate around the buildings, it ignites the recipient fuel and well the recipient fuels becomes flames and the flame near the structure is the recipe for disaster.
41:37 · Right. And the wind is like blowing these embers.
41:39 · Exactly.
41:39 · We are not talking about hundred or 200 embers. We are literally talking about thousands of embers hitting the wall, falling at the base of the wall. And then if there is any combustible in that area, that’s fair game.
41:51 · In order to protect your home from embers, there’s a lot that you can and should do. But there’s a few very simple, very effective steps that you can start with.
42:01 · You have to have a class A, non-combustible roof. That’s non-negotiable. That said, there are very few non-class A roofs left. Number two is you have to have ember resistant vents. If the vents are not ember resistant, either 1/8th or finer mesh, embers will find the void spaces and it won’t matter how many other mitigations are in placed. And the third thing is you have to have zone zero. Five foot of non-combustible inclusive of wooden fences.
42:23 · If you have those three, I think that’s the, that’s the baseline.
42:27 · Zone zero includes removing things like bark chips, vegetation, lawn, and furniture and fences. Decks are also vulnerable to embers, especially the area underneath the deck. The first six inches of vertical wall at the bottom of your home should also be non-combustible so that any embers that fall around your home can’t ignite the structure.
42:47 · Those three things done across a community could likely slow a fire from igniting the first houses long enough to give first responders a fighting chance. Roof, vents and zone zero. Embers cause most of the destruction we see in these urban conflagrations, but they aren’t the only thing we’re worried about.
43:07 · In addition to that, we, we need to harden the home against flames.
43:11 · This includes installing non-combustible siding and closing your eaves and installing multi pane tempered glass windows and fire rated doors. And then extending out from your home to a 30 foot perimeter sheds and outbuildings can act as a fire bridge to your home. So harden those as well.
43:31 · But do these home hardening measures still apply in extreme fire events like we saw in LA?
43:37 · So when the first building ignites, and when we add wind to this, the flame stretches and tilts down when the distance between the structures is shorter than the flame length. Basically we are holding a blowtorch on our homes.
43:53 · And the heat, the flux put off by a burning home far exceeds anything you see in a wildland setting, both in the peak temperatures and the time. A home burns for a long time.
44:04 · When a wildfire becomes an urban conflagration, our houses, our businesses, our belongings become the fuel and those fuels are supercharged. But even in these conditions, the experts we’ve talked to all say that home hardening is still our number one defense because it limits the number of homes that will catch on fire and buys us time to deal with the ones that do.
Long-term community strategy
44:29 · So it takes longer for the fire to make its way through the, the labyrinth of treatments we’ve imposed. Well then firefighters don’t have as much fire to fight and that fire that they do have to fight will be moving more slowly.
44:40 · We can’t stop wildfires. That’s correct.
44:42 · We cannot do that. But we can stop configuration. We can bend down the risk curves by using these mitigation strategies that we don’t see Altadena completely wipe out. That’s something that I am sure we can do To slow a fire down enough to prevent a conflagration will take a strategic community-wide approach to home hardening One or two homes being hardened is irrelevant.
45:07 · It, it needs to be a critical mass at the critical location in order to be effective.
45:12 · But what if your neighbors haven’t prepared their homes?
45:15 · Does preparing yours on its own make any difference at all?
45:21 · One of our big goals, Tyler, and I’s big goal after Woolsey very early on after meeting Jack and learning about his science and research was what if we could get out there, assess and mitigate a bunch of houses in an area that is going to burn at some point to document it and then for a fire to come through and for those houses to survive on their own accord.
45:50 · And we have several stories of places that we went to a year ago, two years ago, three years ago, did assessments with homeowners that were willing to do the work, that did the work. And sure enough, the houses survived on their own accord.
46:04 · Keegan took me to one of the houses that he helped prepare.
46:08 · Yeah. So the first house is right up here on this driveway. Oh, okay. Cool. And we’ll go walk up there, Right literally right next to it.
46:15 · Yeah. - I’m assuming this was a house that looks like it was a house that could completely burned down.
46:20 · There’s yeah.
46:21 · So there was actually three houses in this driveway.
46:23 · Oh wow. - That burned down.
46:24 · And then this is the fourth and it’s on slope. About 30 years of fuel coming off the back of this. And it saw extreme fire behavior. No doubt. This home is kind of the perfect quintessential example of somebody going and doing the work and the house surviving on its own accord.
46:45 · This is crazy. So this is a house that’s still standing. You said there were three other homes on this lot and in in this driveway that completely burned down. These homeowners didn’t implement all of the home hardening measures recommended by IBHS, but they did take the three most critical steps, roof, vents and zone zero.
47:14 · Doing home hardening is not sexy.
47:16 · It’s not like a cool thing that people are posting on their Instagram and talking about to their friends, oh, check this out. I put on this 16th inch mesh over my vent. Right. Big events like this, there is nothing you can do. There’s nothing I can do. There’s nothing the best resources in the world can do.
47:36 · Yeah, sure. They can save a few structures here and there, but the only way to scale is to do that long-term preparation through home mitigation full stock.
47:58 · If we fail to prepare our homes and communities, it will not only cost lives. Faced with increasing losses, insurance companies will leave risky regions and no insurance means no mortgage, which means a dramatic decrease in home values. One of the most significant sources of wealth for middle class families. Here’s what Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell said about it in a Senate hearing.
48:20 · How do you think we should be thinking about the challenges that these events are gonna pose to insurance markets and to the overall financial stability of the economy?
48:32 · Both banks and insurance companies are pulling out of areas, coastal areas or areas where there are a lot of fires?
48:38 · So what that is gonna mean is that, you know, if you fast forward 10 or 15 years are gonna be regions of the country where you can’t get a mortgage, there won’t be ATMs, there won’t, you know, the banks won’t have branches and things like that.
Lessons from history
48:57 · It feels like we’re facing an unprecedented crisis. But actually we faced and solved the problem of urban firestorms before. For centuries, massive fires devastated cities around the world. In 1666, the great fire of London destroyed over 13,000 homes and left almost 85% of the city homeless. And in some ways it wasn’t so different from today’s wildfire driven disasters. The fire started during a period of drought and spread rapidly through tightly packed wooden buildings and narrow streets.
49:29 · The city burned for four days and in the 1871 Great Chicago fire, we saw something similar.
49:38 · The reason that Chicago burnt down, I think it was twice, was because the buildings were catching each other on fire. Well, that’s what we have now. We have urban conflagration now. And the reason that that’s stopped happening other than wildfire was that insurers pulled out of Chicago and and said, we’re not going to insure this kind of city unless you start implementing building codes.
50:03 · But cities adapted, fire codes became stricter.
50:06 · Streets were widened to slow fire, spread wood gave way to non-combustible materials like brick, stone, and steel. And by 1920, the age of city destroying fires is over. And a similar transformation could happen in California.
50:23 · I am a engineer and scientist at heart, and so I take this as a challenge and opportunity to look for great materials that are more fire resistant and to build and design a house that is gonna be a lot more resilient if and when another fire threatens our area.
50:42 · What happened in LA is a tragedy, but it seems clear that fire doesn’t have to destroy communities in this way. The Palisades and Eaton Fire can happen anywhere, but we have the science to protect people and homes. The biggest takeaway for me is that large scale home hardening is the key to keeping our community safe from fire. It’s gonna take a lot of work, but I met incredible people in LA who are already making it happen.
51:09 · So I know progress is possible. We can build more resilient communities and reverse the trend of fire disasters. The solutions exist, the challenge now is acting on them before the next firestorm.
Nepal’s Deadly Floods
Episode 12 of The Whole Story With Anderson Cooper (Season 4) - Released: 2026-10-11 - Duration: 00:45:00
Description
Anderson Cooper reports from Nepal, where rescue efforts continue after a series of deadly flash floods.
Transcript
Waking Up to Wildfires
Waking Up to Wildfires (Emmy-Nominated documentary, KVIE, PBS)
Paige Bierma, 02-21-2021
Documentary Film (26:48)
Description
In Waking Up to Wildfires, Emmy-winning filmmaker Paige Bierma uses her camera to tell the stories of people most affected by the 2017 North Bay wildfires. We hear from survivors, firefighters, public health officials, community groups and scientists trying to make sense of it all while people struggle to recover and new fires erupt.
The UC Davis Environmental Health Sciences Center produced Waking Up to Wildfires with a grant from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences to help shed light on the plight communities face after these types of disasters.
You’re watching a condensed version (26 minutes long) that’s currently airing on PBS stations across the country. To find out more or get a copy, visit our website at environmentalhealth.ucdavis.edu.
Transcript
The Tubbs fire outbreak
0:00 · [Music] it was the most apocalyptic thing i’ve ever seen never before in sonoma county had we experienced a wind-driven fire that burned 11 miles in five hours one of our neighbors came banging on the door the field next to our house was on fire i’m going okay
0:28 · i’ll just get the water to get the water hose or fire extinguisher and we’ll take care of this but it was too it was already too late you could see the fire coming starting to come across across the trees and everything the speed of the tubbs fire was absolutely horrific i would try to outflank the fire to get ahead of it into neighborhoods to try to evacuate people but it seemed like within minutes embers were falling and time’s up and it’s time to go
1:16 · [Music] i’m irva hertz pichoto i’m the director of the uc davis environmental health sciences center and as i was watching the images of the wildfires in october of 2017
Climate change and wildfires
1:35 · it just stunned me and dawn on me that our center could actually conduct some research and learn about these wildfires and contribute to understanding what the consequences of climate change are [Music] so in california we have a perfect storm of conditions which is making fire more widespread and more intense those conditions are human suppression
1:58 · of fire for decades which means that the trees are more dense than before climate change which is making these ecosystems hotter and drier which kills the trees makes them more flammable and finally the nail in the coffin the pine beetle in california which can come in and kill
2:14 · the trees and this is why we have about 130 million dead trees in california now which makes him very vulnerable and susceptible to fire the climate change is induced through greenhouse gas emissions from human activities and that is causing ecosystems to become hotter and drier and more flammable so climate change is
2:35 · contributing to the spread in the incidence of wildfire in many ecosystems on the planet now this is concerning for a number of reasons it affects human health it’s hard to breathe the air when it’s very smoky and we’re seeing that happen in california and elsewhere and then finally it can give rise to what’s called a positive feedback cycle so this is a self-reinforcing effect in
2:57 · which climate drives out these ecosystems and kills the trees fire becomes more prevalent which releases the carbon back to the atmosphere as co2 and that co2 further contributes to additional climate warming
3:13 · the changing climate is absolutely having an impact on how fires are burning how they’re spreading california historically has experienced large devastating fires what’s really changing is the intensity of the fires the duration of the fires and certainly the frequency the tubs fire when it reached santa rosa literally crossed the six lane 101 freeway this tells us that we have to be looking at threats that we didn’t necessarily consider before
Survival and rescue stories
3:42 · i was the first battalion chief to arrive at the tubbs fire when i arrived the fire was already very well established we had no chance of putting it out i got a phone call from one of my friends it was probably around 10 o’clock at night and she said you know i think there’s a fire and it’s coming towards you and i’m worried so we started packing up once the power went out that’s when we left we ended up getting gridlock i thought maybe there was a roadblock or something we turned back and i was just
4:14 · driving like a bat out of hell and i was just thinking we got to jump in the pool it was almost like a blow torch everything was incinerated power poles were across the road wires were hanging oak trees were across the road cars were burned out on the way down i ran into two santa
4:32 · rosa police officers that were making their way up mark west and i remember stopping them concerned for their safety and asking them where they were going it was then that i met officer chance and officer nick with the santa rosa police department they told me that they were on the phone with two people that had survived the fire that needed to be rescued
4:55 · we got in the pool and we hugged each other a couple times and we said our goodbyes i can remember holding max and he was panicking trying to jump out and i just had to yank him underneath and i can remember a few times coming up for air you know barely barely able to get a breath of air you know you’re just in survival mode a report of people trapped at 1404
5:22 · i had taken my siren and would chirp it a little bit in the spirit of if someone had survived maybe they would hear the siren and emerge from whatever cover they were behind i heard the whale a little whale of a siren and i kind of hear i hear a siren
5:41 · and damn if that thing didn’t come around and come up here nick and chance jumped out of their patrol cars and were able to find the folks that they had been on the phone with um and make the rescue they put those folks into their car and it was only a few seconds later that chance uh thought he heard something and realized that we had two additional folks that had survived the fire and were huddled near a cement
6:10 · wall near their swimming pool given what they had been through i knew immediately that they had most certainly inhaled all sorts of toxic and hot gases they drove us and it was like a war zone i mean you you were driving it off the road a few times to get us down to the hospital and the last thing i remember was christina’s in a gurney i’m in a gurney and the nurse takes max and says okay we’re going to take max to a vet and we’re going to evacuate you and that
6:40 · was it that’s the last thing i remember that night [Music]
7:05 · [Music] we decided to launch an online survey to collect a lot of information about people’s experiences and also we collected some ash samples we collected air samples and we also initiated a study to look at women who were pregnant during the wildfires or shortly thereafter with the data that we collected we’re hoping to provide information that can be useful for non-profits and local and county
Researching urban fires
7:39 · health agencies other agencies to be better able to meet needs in the future and really to continue to provide services for people who are still going through recovery
7:59 · what was so striking about this particular fire was how much of that fuel for the fire now came from residential areas and all of the products that are in residential areas anything from homes to consumer products to cars to the infrastructure so that’s what really piqued the interest is what happens when you start to burn consumer products anything as simple as cleaners or leaded paints or gas pipelines now all of this becomes
8:29 · a very large part of what is also in the fire from the biomass that we know about the samples that we got from the bay area site have been brought back to the lab and we have started the chemical analysis looking at metals elemental carbon and organic carbon and we’ve also started some toxicity testing so i can confirm that the emissions are
9:00 · strikingly different than your typical wildfire in an isolated wilderness area they’re different chemically and there are things in the emissions that we don’t even know what they are yet we still have a lot to learn about what the risks are from suburban and urban wildfires but i think we can expect there to be some very toxic and reactive chemicals that we will be breathing um as a result of those fires
Health impacts on residents
9:31 · tammy scott is a patient i’ve known for about five to ten years she was outstanding roller derby player i remember and she had to stop roller derby because of her asthma which was getting worse in the sacramento area she had a lot of environmental triggers to her asthma we recommended that she look to move elsewhere and she made a decision to move to the bay area specifically because she knew that she was breathing better there and i know she moved on to a houseboat and was doing terrific
10:01 · uh up until the the wildfires in 2017 from the sonoma napa area and that causes significant worsening of her symptoms and that’s when she came back to see me before the fires i i had my life back i
10:17 · could be active i could do what i wanted to do i was starting to skate i was starting to work out a little bit i did a lot of walking with my dogs enjoying life you know and the air here is beautiful there’s usually a good breeze sometimes like today there’s a real strong breeze but it’s fresh
10:40 · last october when they had the wildfires sunday night i went to bed but in the middle of the night i woke up because i couldn’t breathe too well on monday morning i called in sick and the smoke was all around by thursday i’d called the doctor and i said i need different medicine i just i can’t breathe here
11:02 · we had to increase her medications uh to help her get through that and and while she’s improved she states that she you know has not recovered to the baseline um before that exposure i’ve had asthma all my life so i’ve learned how to cope with it but then when there’s something environmental and you can’t breathe it’s scary
11:28 · i moved here to breathe and this has been my sanctuary and suddenly my sanctuary was gone after the terrible wildfires in santa rosa we really wanted to figure out be able to measure the air pollution from these kind of terrible disasters but there was no power out there because you know when there’s a big wildfire going on in the city you don’t you turn you turn the electric grid off so we had no way of
Developing rapid response
12:00 · running our sampling equipment out there to measure the air pollution and we weren’t ready and we didn’t want to have that happen again that we weren’t ready we were uh thinking it would be really nice to get out there immediately and start sampling and get an idea of what these emissions look like chemically while the fire’s going on so keith and i
12:21 · made a proposal to environmental health sciences center here at uc davis to develop a system the a portable battery-powered system so that the next time something like this happens we’ll be ready to measure the air pollution from it
12:43 · so we have a red wire we have a black wire and the red wire is the hot positive current voltage if they were touching each other or metal and we hooked this up there’d be sparks we don’t want we don’t want sparks now there’s the sparks flying create our own wildfire we’ll create our own emergency we don’t have to go anywhere right here we’d be ready no trailer needed we just
13:06 · so we’re gonna get a trailer we’re gonna put both these two things on the trailer and then take a truck and take it to wherever this air pollution situation is happening and then use them as power sources you know i started off in air pollution because i was living in los angeles and it was terrible there and it was something that i could feel could really help society nice okay so let’s review the wiring to make sure we don’t blow anything up then this guy goes to the red
13:36 · and everything should work sweet now we plug in via this extension cord our sampler flip the power and we are collecting air pollution
13:58 · so we can actually run this we tested it you can actually run this for 18 hours on just one car this is all very good and i can go check out see what kind of currents drawing zero is it really something’s wrong power’s not there current’s not there but the voltage is there yep something is wrong
14:21 · and this is the fun stuff you actually get to come out and you do the real work and you do the hands-on you put it together you turn it on and it works that’s gratifying that’s works the second time not the first time after you make the mistake the first time it works on the second time that’s amazing okay let’s give it attempt number two inverter off car off sweet 600 700 watts all right
14:50 · [Music] when we got to the tubbs fire it was clear right away that this fire wasn’t going to be contained quickly it was like a raging monster
Firefighter trauma and rescue
15:10 · we pulled into this neighborhood a lot of chaos there were cars fleeing i see this woman standing outside her car with her phone to her ear in a panic i tell her you know ma’am it’s time to go you got to go and she says my mom and dad my mom and dad i said okay um you know what’s the address she told me the address and i said i’ll go up there and take a look and um i said but you you really gotta go
15:41 · [Music] we have fire on both sides of the road there’s trees that are basically just torching off right next to us we’re running over power poles trees that are down in the roadway we’re pushing at all costs here to get to these two people that are unaccounted for i look off to the side and the heat’s so intense that my mirror on the fire engine is starting to melt and i’m watching it
16:09 · start to warp and [Music] i had to call it that we couldn’t get back there and that was really tough [Music]
16:29 · and as we come around the corner we see this man on the side of the road it’s like armando where’s your where’s your wife and he just looked at me and he shook his head and this man has
16:46 · burned pretty well to the top of his head and his hands and um he’s now my my main concern so when he gets into the engine um the two guys in the back seat start caring for him and he said i just lost my best friend we loved each other since we were kids
17:15 · and everything all the emotions throughout that whole night are starting to really compound on our crew and he is telling us how he held his wife until her last breath in a swimming pool because that’s the place that he thought would be safe he said i have to live
17:42 · i remember when he said i have to live i thought i was thinking just yep you know you have to live your right but he had to live he had to live because he needed to see his daughter his granddaughter that’s why he had to live
Mental health and recovery
18:27 · there is a culture that needs to change in the fire service i grew up in a culture that uh said suck it up son you’ll be all right it’s very important with what we’re seeing and what we’re dealing with to reach out and to um
18:50 · to say hey so it’s okay it’s okay to talk about it ptsd is one of the most common types of mental illness following disasters it’s been estimated that among people who are direct victims of a disaster 30 to 40 percent of them will go on to experience ptsd about 10 to 20 percent of rescue workers and 5 to 10 percent of people among the general population
19:23 · to this day i keep going where there must have been something else i could have done all i could do was just sit there and watch it but all i could see was the house just going up and the winds just kept carrying it right on over
19:46 · and now when i hear a lot of howling winds i still i start having memories of the night the ptsd is it hits you or it hits me at just the oddest times when i had my collapse in i said january and february
20:17 · i couldn’t complete a sentence i would start a sentence and i’d kind of wander off halfway through and forget what i was saying i couldn’t concentrate i couldn’t sleep and it was really really a mess and even with counseling and stuff it took a while before it got better
20:43 · some of the experiences that people are reporting to us still today are physical things like headaches stomach aches people aren’t sleeping they’re exhausted physically emotionally people are feeling sad anxious and there’s growing anger as the process
21:02 · takes longer than expected more and more we’re seeing people are feeling isolation and that’s one that we really watch and really try to do a lot of outreach and help people connect because isolation can turn into depression and so a lot of the work that we’re doing in this program is helping people connect to those that they really feel truly support them because connection is the most protective factor around uh traumatic outcomes one of the largest
21:26 · challenges for the survivors is feeling like the world moves on and gets back to normal when your whole life is in upheaval and it’s going to be for such a long time and i go drive past the lot now where the house was now they’ve cleared everything away and you go and just look at it and you go everything’s gone i mean it’s and it’s not coming back
21:58 · and even if we build something else it’s not going to be the home that we had and our life is never going to be exactly the same as it was one of the most important determinants of mental health following disasters is what kind of response there is to the disaster so for example investing in shelter investing in food electricity helping a community
22:27 · stay together and work together those kinds of interventions will really be predictive of long-term mental health [Music] [Music]
Inequality in fire recovery
23:20 · a
23:48 · sacrificies [Music] in the 2017 fires the spanish-speaking population in sonoma county was disproportionately harmed
24:09 · by not only the fire but by the response to the fire we like to say the fire was an equal opportunity harm but the recuperation the recovery and the support was much worse for the spanish-speaking residents of this county before the fires there was a one percent vacancy rate we lost five percent of our housing stock in santa rosa so if you do the math it’s really clear that renters are out
25:26 · foreign park my
26:09 · generational justice you know it’s the same as like social justice environmental justice but you know we have responsibility to hand off but we inherited it at least as good as shape as we got it so yeah i look at our kids and i think about what they’re going to be faced with and all of the uh the fallout that’s going to come with climate change and rising sea and you know that’s my motivation
26:41 · [Music] you
We Gonna Ride It Out Like We Always Do
Episode 1 of Katrina: Come Hell and High Water Duration: 01:01:59 More details on netflix.com
Why is THIS the DEADLIEST river in the US
Weathered Why is THIS the DEADLIEST river in the US Season 7
Episode 10 of Weathered (Season 7) - Released: 2026-04-14 - Duration: 00:12:30
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Description
Why is the Guadalupe River America’s deadliest? Science, “Rain Bombs,” and Flash Flood Alley.
Transcript
- podcast A Storm is Brewing - Is it Climate Change?
- slide Climate Change Introduction
- video What is Climate Change
- video World Weather Attribution — understanding climate change and extreme weather