Advertise on podcast: Boiling Point

How do you get more people to care about climate change — and tell riveting stories along the way? Boiling Point explored that question at a live event during this year’s New York City Climate Week at Columbia University’s Climate School. Host Miranda Green was joined by climate activist and author Bill McKibben, New York Times climate reporter David Gelles, Woo Qiyun, a senior communications manager at the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, and Alexis Abramson, dean of the Columbia Climate School.  Join Boiling Point in its second season as independent investigative reporter Miranda Green walks listeners through the climate challenges and solutions facing our natural world. Produced by LA Times Studios, the weekly series will feature interviews with Los Angeles Times reporters, state officials, business leaders and scientific experts discussing the latest news and trends impacting Californians and the country.

Boiling Point’s Miranda Green and Heated’s Emily Atkin team up in a collaborative episode exploring the truth behind forest management. They speak with principal ecologist and co-founder of the John Muir Project, Chad Hanson, and Hugh Safford, a retired ecologist for the US Forest Service and director of the The Safford Lab at UC-Davis. Together, they dive into the fiery debate around logging, thinning, prescribed burns and how best to approach fire prevention in a warming world. Join Boiling Point in its second season as independent investigative reporter Miranda Green walks listeners through the climate challenges and solutions facing our natural world. Produced by LA Times Studios, the weekly series will feature interviews with Los Angeles Times reporters, state officials, business leaders and scientific experts discussing the latest news and trends impacting Californians and the country.

Wildfires in California are getting bigger and more destructive. Now, state regulators are turning to homeowners to take a new approach to fire prevention– starting with their gardens. Host Miranda Green talks with Los Angeles Times reporter Noah Haggerty about new “Zone Zero’ rules aimed at making homes and communities more resilient to flames and embers. She also speaks with Megafire Action founder and CEO Matt Weiner about California’s leadership on fire resiliency. Join Boiling Point in its second season as independent investigative reporter Miranda Green walks listeners through the climate challenges and solutions facing our natural world. Produced by LA Times Studios, the weekly series will feature interviews with Los Angeles Times reporters, state officials, business leaders and scientific experts discussing the latest news and trends impacting Californians and the country.

The Colorado River has sustained communities, farms and cities across the American West for generations. But the river is shrinking due to hotter temperatures and less rainfall. As reservoirs that depend on the Colorado reach all-time lows, the seven states that rely on the river are fighting over who should use less water. Host Miranda Green talks with Los Angeles Times water reporter Ian James about what happens when there simply isn’t enough water to go around and what innovations California agencies and companies are testing out in order to solve the problem. Join Boiling Point in its second season as independent investigative reporter Miranda Green walks listeners through the climate challenges and solutions facing our natural world. Produced by LA Times Studios, the weekly series will feature interviews with Los Angeles Times reporters, state officials, business leaders and scientific experts discussing the latest news and trends impacting Californians and the country.

California on Friday filed its 88th lawsuit against the Trump administration– this time suing them for an “illegal” settlement it entered into to stop an offshore lease sale in Morro Bay. In this bonus episode, host Miranda Green speaks with Attorney General Rob Bonta about the decision to sue Trump, why he believes Trump’s deals are politically motivated and illegal, and what to expect for the remaining offshore wind leases in California. They dig into California’s propensity to file lawsuits, and with Bonta catching flack for a recent lawsuit filed against Paramount, they talk about whether it’s fair to call California “the country’s regulator.” Join Boiling Point in its second season as independent investigative reporter Miranda Green walks listeners through the climate challenges and solutions facing our natural world. Produced by LA Times Studios, the weekly series will feature interviews with Los Angeles Times reporters, state officials, business leaders and scientific experts discussing the latest news and trends impacting Californians and the country.

California once bet big on offshore wind to help power its clean-energy future, but the Trump administration is now paying developers billions to walk away from their projects. As California’s remaining offshore-wind leases hang in the balance, the state is fighting back in court. Host Miranda Green speaks with Los Angeles Times reporter Hayley Smith and U.S. Congressman Jared Huffman about the politics, legal battles and economic stakes behind the administration’s push to replace clean-energy investments with fossil fuels.   Join Boiling Point in its second season as independent investigative reporter Miranda Green walks listeners through the climate challenges and solutions facing our natural world. Produced by LA Times Studios, the weekly series will feature interviews with Los Angeles Times reporters, state officials, business leaders and scientific experts discussing the latest news and trends impacting Californians and the country.

From an unnamed weather event to an SNL punchline, our awareness of El Niño has grown rapidly over the past several decades. And now, as climate change raises the stakes and a potentially historic El Niño approaches, how prepared are we for what comes next? Host Miranda Green talks with Los Angeles Times reporter Rong-Gong Lin II about how California communities are preparing, and climate scientist Daniel Swain about what this El Niño could mean—and what happens when the systems designed to warn us begin to break down. Join Boiling Point in its second season as independent investigative reporter Miranda Green walks listeners through the climate challenges and solutions facing our natural world. Produced by LA Times Studios, the weekly series will feature interviews with Los Angeles Times reporters, state officials, business leaders and scientific experts discussing the latest news and trends impacting Californians and the country.

This year, sea mammals and birds have been washing up along the western coastline in alarming numbers. Gray whales, which migrate from Baja California up to Canada are suffering from malnutrition, leading to more than 100 strandings so far this year. Experts are blaming warming waters due to climate change which impacts the mammals’ food supply.    Host Miranda Green sets sail with staff from Long Beach’s Aquarium of the Pacific to get a better sense of what’s going on with this marine population and what we can do to help. She also speaks with oceanographer Rafael Gonzalez-Quiros about what warming ocean temperatures are doing to the earth. Join Boiling Point in its second season as independent investigative reporter Miranda Green walks listeners through the climate challenges and solutions facing our natural world. Produced by LA Times Studios, the weekly series will feature interviews with Los Angeles Times reporters, state officials, business leaders and scientific experts discussing the latest news and trends impacting Californians and the country.

California implemented two landmark plastics laws this year that aimed to answer an existential question: who is responsible for plastics waste? Both bills are intended to put more responsibility on plastics manufacturers so that fewer products end up in landfills.    But the rollout of the bills has been anything but easy– in fact, no one is happy.  Host Miranda Green speaks with LA Times reporter Susanne Rust about the troubled history of the two laws, and with entrepreneur Will Lorenzi about what the new policies mean for companies developing alternatives to conventional plastics. Join Boiling Point in its second season as independent investigative reporter Miranda Green walks listeners through the climate challenges and solutions facing our natural world. Produced by LA Times Studios, the weekly series will feature interviews with Los Angeles Times reporters, state officials, business leaders and scientific experts discussing the latest news and trends impacting Californians and the country.

When a pipeline off Gaviota Coast cracked in 2015 and spewed 123,000 gallons of oil into the ocean, local officials shut it down for 11 years. But this past spring, A federal emergency declaration helped Sable Offshore Corp. get a fast-track to pump again and it has led to a flurry of lawsuits.   Host Miranda Green speaks with LA Times reporter Grace Toohey, economist Severin Borenstein, and surfing legend Shaun Tomson about how this seemingly local fight has become a national litmus test over the future of oil extraction. Join Boiling Point in its second season as independent investigative reporter Miranda Green walks listeners through the climate challenges and solutions facing our natural world. Produced by LA Times Studios, the weekly series will feature interviews with Los Angeles Times reporters, state officials, business leaders and scientific experts discussing the latest news and trends impacting Californians and the country.

Join “Boiling Point” in its second season as independent investigative journalist Miranda Green walks listeners through the climate challenges and solutions facing our natural world. Produced by LA Times Studios, the weekly series will feature interviews with Los Angeles Times reporters, state officials, business leaders and scientific experts discussing the latest news and trends impacting Californians and the country. Join Boiling Point in its second season as independent investigative reporter Miranda Green walks listeners through the climate challenges and solutions facing our natural world. Produced by LA Times Studios, the weekly series will feature interviews with Los Angeles Times reporters, state officials, business leaders and scientific experts discussing the latest news and trends impacting Californians and the country.

Decades ago, some unhappy Angeleno wondered why cars couldn’t just run on nice, clean … water? Not for want of trying – cleaner power has created lots of engine experiments, most dramatically Caltech versus MIT in the great electric car race of 1968, a story you’ll hear from the winner. Not all is fresh air and plug-ins: smog has been especially devastating on communities of color, and the Trump administration may pull the plug on that have let California clear its own air. Join Boiling Point in its second season as independent investigative reporter Miranda Green walks listeners through the climate challenges and solutions facing our natural world. Produced by LA Times Studios, the weekly series will feature interviews with Los Angeles Times reporters, state officials, business leaders and scientific experts discussing the latest news and trends impacting Californians and the country.

Whaddya know – the federal government sees the wisdom of working with California and its “queen of green” for cleaner air – up to a point. The Golden State gets its own “secret recipe” gas, but new partners mean new frictions over the smog check program familiar to every behind-the-wheel Californian.  Join Boiling Point in its second season as independent investigative reporter Miranda Green walks listeners through the climate challenges and solutions facing our natural world. Produced by LA Times Studios, the weekly series will feature interviews with Los Angeles Times reporters, state officials, business leaders and scientific experts discussing the latest news and trends impacting Californians and the country.

Well, it took long enough. We finally realized that smog didn’t stop at some city limits line … that burning the family trash in the backyard incinerator wasn’t a good idea … and California started putting muscle into getting the air clean. Governor Ronald Reagan made the Caltech “father of smog” the head of the new state air resources board, TV stations began reporting smog alerts along with weather forecasts, and one stubborn LA county supervisor started his ten-year letter-writing crusade scolding the Big Four automakers about cleaner-burning engines. And a Louisiana gal named Seraphine was tooling around smoggy LA in her Triumph convertible and gas mask. Spoiler: she still lives here. Join Boiling Point in its second season as independent investigative reporter Miranda Green walks listeners through the climate challenges and solutions facing our natural world. Produced by LA Times Studios, the weekly series will feature interviews with Los Angeles Times reporters, state officials, business leaders and scientific experts discussing the latest news and trends impacting Californians and the country.

Living with smog was like living with an obnoxious neighbor. Angelenos tried protesting at city hall. They kept their coughing kids inside. A couple of actors manufactured joke cans of “genuine smog” and sold them to tourists. A few came up with earnest but crackpot solutions, like drilling a smog tunnel in the mountains. But serious pollution cost us serious money. Hollywood shoots had to shut down or move farther out of town to avoid it. And Southern California’s billion-dollar agriculture industry was being literally killed off by smog. One story we tell – of the Kaiser Steel plant in Fontana – made it look like LA had to choose between good jobs and good air, between pink slips and pink lungs. Join Boiling Point in its second season as independent investigative reporter Miranda Green walks listeners through the climate challenges and solutions facing our natural world. Produced by LA Times Studios, the weekly series will feature interviews with Los Angeles Times reporters, state officials, business leaders and scientific experts discussing the latest news and trends impacting Californians and the country.