Presenting: L.A. Wildfires: Rebuilding for a Hotter, Drier Future
A Matter of Degrees
Dr. Leah Stokes, Dr. Katharine Wilkinson
4.8 • 533 Ratings
🗓️ 23 January 2025
⏱️ 39 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
This week we are sharing a special bonus episode from Boiling Point, a new podcast produced by the LA Times and hosted by climate columnist Sammy Roth. This new audio series explores how climate change is impacting California and the American West.
The first episode focuses on the recent wildfires in Los Angeles and what they mean for the future of the city. Sammy talks with Kelly Sanders, an engineering professor at USC and former White House advisor on energy policy, about how Los Angeles can look at resilience as it builds back.
Boiling Point is an LA Times Studios podcast and releases new episodes every Thursday.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | I'm Dr. Leah Stokes, and I'm Dr. Catherine Wilkinson, and this is a matter of degrees. |
| 0:15.9 | As we start this episode, I first just want to say that our hearts go out to everyone who's been impacted |
| 0:21.4 | by the fires in Los Angeles. Palisades, Eaton, Hearst, just three of the many fires currently |
| 0:28.2 | devastating the L.A. area. So many people have been affected, and I know many listeners have |
| 0:34.7 | friends or family that have evacuated, lost their home, lost their |
| 0:38.9 | business. Maybe they're still getting ready to flee the edges of the fires. My cousin and her |
| 0:46.1 | family, two little girls, they lost their home and they are just among the thousands who are now |
| 0:52.7 | finding themselves without a roof over their heads. |
| 0:56.0 | And at least 25 people have died. |
| 0:58.4 | We're talking about over 100,000 people who have evacuated. |
| 1:02.9 | The scale is really hard to fathom. |
| 1:06.2 | The amount of destruction facing communities across the region is very difficult to put into words. |
| 1:13.9 | And my heart absolutely breaks for those whose lives have been upended and for those who were |
| 1:20.3 | not able to make it out. There is just so much ache amidst all of this loss. |
| 1:27.7 | And the sad truth is that these types of climate disasters, |
| 1:31.0 | they're just getting worse and worse because we keep burning fossil fuels. |
| 1:36.3 | Climate change is making communities all around the world less safe. |
| 1:41.2 | You know, Western North Carolina is still reeling from the aftermath of Hurricane Helene |
| 1:46.0 | and trying to put those pieces back together. |
| 1:49.0 | It's just disaster upon disaster. |
| 1:52.0 | And this is different than it was in the decade when you and I were born Leah in the 80s. |
| 1:57.6 | According to NOAA's National Centers for Environmental Information, |
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