Boiling Point
Boiling Point is a weekly series produced by LA Times Studios, hosted by independent investigative reporter Miranda Green. The show explores climate challenges and solutions affecting the natural world. Episodes feature interviews with Los Angeles Times reporters, state officials, business leaders, and scientific experts. The podcast focuses on the latest news and trends impacting Californians and the United States.
Episodes
A Super El Niño Is Coming. Are We Ready?
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 scientis
Why Whales Are Getting Hit by Rising Ocean Temps
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 Lo
Two New Plastics Laws are Bringing a Whole Lot of Baggage
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 reporte
California’s Offshore Drilling Nightmare
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 sur
Presenting: Season 2 of Boiling Point
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 Califo
Smoglandia Pt 6: FUTURE ELECTRIC, FUTURE TROUBLE
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 a
Smoglandia Pt 5: SMOG CHECK AND DOUBLE CHECK
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
Smoglandia Pt 4: SCIENCE AND GOVERNMENT, BESTIES?
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 weat
Smoglandia Pt 3: COUGH COUGH
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 do
Smoglandia Pt 2: SCIENCE TO THE RESCUE
By the late 1940's, Los Angeles had experienced several extreme smog days -- or "gas attacks" as they were called back then. Everyone had their eyes on wartime factories that had sprung up and were shooting black plumes into the air, but someone had a feeling that the cause might be something else. Arie Haagen-Smit, a Dutch professor at Caltech who would later be deemed the "father of air pollutio
Smoglandia Pt 1: L.A. SMOG – VERY OLD-SCHOOL
Don’t blame us – blame our geography! Modern LA earned its first smoggy nickname 450 years ago, as the “bay of smokes.” At the La Brea tar pits, we take a short walk through a long history with curator Regan Dunn, who explains how and why the first Angelenos, 130 centuries ago, would have set fires that filled the broad bowl of LA and foretold the curse of smog. Fast forward thousands of years to
Boiling Point Presents: Smoglandia
For decades, the city’s air was so thick and gross with smog that it hid the mountains from view, shut down Hollywood film shoots and sent children home from school with burning lungs and stinging eyes. What was in the air and where was it coming from? No one knew for sure.L.A. Times Studios presents a special season of Boiling Point: Smoglandia. Hosted by longtime Los Angeles Times columnist Patt
ICYMI: “Breaking Down Plastic”
Los Angeles Times journalist Susanne Rust shares her eye-opening experience documenting her daily interactions with plastic. Despite being an expert on the topic, she was stunned by the sheer volume of plastic in her life, from single-use items to everyday essentials. Susanne and Sammy also discuss the current state of plastic regulation in California, including a much-criticized decision by Gov.
ICYMI: “Baseball, Brought to you by Oil and Gas”
Bill McKibben is an acclaimed environmental activist and journalist, and the co-founder of 350.org. As spring training gets underway, Sammy and Bill discuss fossil fuel advertising at Dodger Stadium, and how oil and gas industry “sportswashing” is taking advantage of America’s national pastime.
Join Boiling Point in its second season as independent investigative reporter Miranda Green walks listen
L.A. Is Finally Ditching Coal
Sammy Roth talks with Jason Rondou, an assistant general manager at the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, about the city’s shift from coal to clean energy. Believe it or not, L.A. still operates a giant coal-fired power plant, more than 500 miles away in rural Utah. In November, DWP is finally closing it — and replacing it with a combination of gas and green hydrogen.
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Trump’s Environmental Rollbacks Explained
Sammy Roth talks with Los Angeles Times environment reporter Hayley Smith about the Trump administration’s regulatory rollbacks, the misinformation driving them, and what they mean for the future of climate action.Project 2025 Tracker:https://www.project2025.observer/en Read Sammy’s latest column:https://www.latimes.com/environment/newsletter/2025-09-18/california-legislative-session-climate-issue
Electric Bills Are Too High. Here's What California Is Doing About It
Sammy Roth talks with Matt Freedman, staff attorney at the Utility Reform Network, about what California lawmakers are doing to rein in soaring electricity costs, and why it’s crucial for the state’s climate goals.Read Sammy’s latest column:https://www.latimes.com/environment/newsletter/2025-09-18/california-legislative-session-climate-issues
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Putting the Chutzpah Into Climate Action
Rabbi Jennie Rosenn started Dayenu to provide a much-needed space for the Jewish community to discuss and address climate change. Now, amid the Trump administration’s hostility to environmental regulations and climate solutions, Dayenu is bringing a new kind of urgency to the work ahead. Sammy sits down with Rabbi Rosenn to discuss the state of faith-based climate action and why we need groups lik
A New Look at L.A.’s War on Smog
Los Angeles has long been famous for its smog — and while things are better today, the fight isn’t finished. Sammy Roth talks with L.A. Times columnist Patt Morrison about her new podcast on the city’s smog history, and what it will take to build a future with truly clean air.
Join Boiling Point in its second season as independent investigative reporter Miranda Green walks listeners through the cl
Taking a Hack at Climate Change
Sammy Roth welcomes award-winning actor Hannah Einbinder to the show. You may know her for her role as Ava Daniels on HBO Max’s “Hacks.” Or maybe you’re familiar with her climate advocacy — including a new campaign for fossil fuel divestment in Hollywood. She and Sammy discuss the intersection between climate and creativity, and why she thinks mushrooms (the legal kind!) will save us all.
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The Colorado Plateau at a Crossroads
Environmental journalist Jonathan P. Thompson joins Sammy Roth to discuss the future of the Colorado River, the state of America’s public lands, and the myths surrounding the West’s natural resources.Read Sammy’s latest column about the Colorado River:https://www.latimes.com/environment/newsletter/2025-08-14/river-rafting-in-colorado-offers-climate-lessons-for-southern-california
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The Future of the Colorado River
The Colorado River is shrinking, and the stakes couldn’t be higher for California. Sammy Roth talks with JB Hamby, the state’s lead Colorado River negotiator, about his vision for one of the West’s most important — and most threatened — water sources. Join Boiling Point in its second season as independent investigative
reporter Miranda Green walks listeners through the climate challenges
and solut
Abundance, Part 2: What’s Slowing Down Solar?
Sammy Roth talks with a California solar industry leader and a conservation advocate about where big solar farms should go — and where they shouldn’t. They discuss wildlife habitat, the urgency of the climate crisis and how to build renewables without destroying nature.
Join Boiling Point in its second season as independent investigative reporter Miranda Green walks listeners through the climate c
Abundance, Part 1: Are Environmental Protections Blocking Housing?
In the first of a two-part series on “abundance,” Sammy Roth talks with L.A. Times housing reporter Liam Dillon about California’s controversial move to roll back environmental protections in hopes of building more homes, and what that means for climate change.
Join Boiling Point in its second season as independent investigative reporter Miranda Green walks listeners through the climate challenges
Cows, Carbon and Fixing Our Food
Sammy Roth talks with journalist Michael Grunwald about his new book, “We Are Eating the Earth,” which began as a story about food and became a story about land. They explore how agriculture — especially the way we raise livestock and grow crops — has become one of the biggest drivers of climate change. They also unpack realistic solutions, and think about what it means to love hamburgers and also
Just How Bad Is the Beautiful Bill for Clean Energy?
President Trump’s new budget law guts federal support for solar and wind power, while boosting fossil fuels. Sammy Roth talks with Princeton researcher Jesse Jenkins about how the “One Big Beautiful Bill” could increase climate pollution and make energy more expensive.Read Sammy’s recent column:https://www.latimes.com/environment/newsletter/2025-07-03/republican-budget-bill-would-slaughter-america
Boiling Point Introduces: A Matter of Degrees
This week, we're sharing an episode of A Matter of Degrees. Hosted by Dr. Leah Stokes and Dr. Katharine Wilkinson, this award-winning series tells stories about the powerful forces behind climate change. This episode discusses how insurance companies are failing to accommodate for the impacts of climate change.
Join Boiling Point in its second season as independent investigative reporter Miranda
The Lithium Dilemma at Rhyolite Ridge, Part 2
Sammy Roth returns to Esmeralda County, Nevada, to tour the proposed Rhyolite Ridge mine with Bernard Rowe, managing director of Ioneer. Rowe explains why he believes the mine can operate without harming an endangered wildflower, and lays out his company’s vision for responsible extraction of lithium and boron.
Join Boiling Point in its second season as independent investigative reporter Miranda G
The Lithium Dilemma at Rhyolite Ridge, Part 1
Sammy Roth travels to Esmeralda County, Nevada, to meet Naomi Fraga, a botany professor at Claremont Graduate University, and see the endangered Tiehm’s buckwheat up close. The wildflower stands in the way of one of the country’s biggest proposed lithium mines — a project supporters say is crucial to the clean energy transition. This is Part 1 of a special two-part episode.
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Fighting Climate Change in an Authoritarian Age
What’s a greater threat to humanity: climate change, or the potential collapse of democracy? In this episode, Sammy Roth speaks with Clark University geography professor James McCarthy, who’s studied how authoritarianism and environmental destruction can be deeply intertwined.
Join Boiling Point in its second season as independent investigative reporter Miranda Green walks listeners through the cl
As Trump Slashes Renewable Energy, Is Nuclear the Future?
Sammy Roth visits America’s second-largest nuclear plant, Arizona’s Palo Verde Generating Station, and sits down with three experts to explore the pros and cons of atomic energy. It’s one of the few climate solutions with bipartisan support — but it’s also plagued by high costs and pollution concerns from uranium mining.Read Sammy’s recent column on Palo Verde:https://www.latimes.com/environment/n
Hot Takes About Climate Journalism
NPR climate editor Sadie Babits talks about why the media has long overlooked the climate crisis, and how that’s starting to change. Her new book, “Hot Takes: Every Journalist's Guide to Covering Climate Change,” is essential reading — not just for journalists, but for anyone who cares about how the climate story gets told.Pre-order the book here:https://islandpress.org/books/hot-takes#desc
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Boiling Point Introduces: Living Planet
This week, we're sharing an episode of Living Planet, a podcast by the German broadcaster DW. It explores the idea of 15-minute cities — and why the climate-friendly concept is drawing backlash.Read more about Living Planet:https://www.dw.com/en/living-planet/program-19028671
Join Boiling Point in its second season as independent investigative reporter Miranda Green walks listeners through the cli
Post-Fires, the L.A. Times Is Digging Up Dirt
After the Eaton and Palisades fires, federal agencies skipped standard testing for toxic metals in the soil of burned homes. A team of L.A. Times reporters, led by Tony Briscoe, stepped in to collect samples and investigate what was left behind. What they found was alarming.Read their investigation: https://www.latimes.com/environment/story/2025-05-04/the-government-wont-test-soil-on-properties-bu
Taking Stock at 101 Days
In this panel discussion, some of the American West’s leading climate activists, scientists and policymakers share their thoughts on the first few months of the Trump administration – and why they’re still hopeful about holding the fossil fuel industry accountable. Our guests are climate scientist Emily Fischer, California State Sen. Lena Gonzalez, environmental activist Anne Hedges and former Bid
Inside L.A.’s Solar Megaproject
Sammy Roth tours the largest solar and battery storage facility ever built for Los Angeles. He also sits down with the L.A. Department of Water and Power’s CEO to learn what it’ll take to get to 100% clean electricity by 2035.https://www.latimes.com/environment/newsletter/2024-12-05/column-l-a-s-massive-new-solar-farm-is-cheap-and-impressive-more-please-boiling-point
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Traffic, Trains and Trade-Offs
California’s climate goals demand a radical rethink of how we build — and how we move. Carter Rubin of NRDC breaks down the promise and peril of permitting reform, why it’s so hard to build climate-friendly cities, and what it’ll take to get Angelenos out of their cars.
Join Boiling Point in its second season as independent investigative reporter Miranda Green walks listeners through the climate c
The Fake News Pipeline
A North Dakota jury hit Greenpeace with a staggering $666 million judgment for its role in the Dakota Access Pipeline protests. Investigative reporter Miranda Green tells Sammy Roth how fossil fuel interests may have tried to influence the jury, one fake newspaper at a time — and why this isn’t an isolated incident.Read Miranda’s recent story here:https://www.niemanlab.org/2025/03/a-pipeline-compa
Edison Under Fire
Southern California Edison is facing intense scrutiny after the Eaton fire, including dozens of lawsuits over the utility company’s possible role in igniting the blaze. Sammy Roth sits down with Edison International CEO Pedro Pizarro to discuss wildfire prevention, climate change, the future of energy in California and who really pays when disaster strikes.
Join Boiling Point in its second season
The Great Rooftop Solar Debate
California’s fight over rooftop solar has divided climate advocates, pitting solar companies against economists and regulators. In this episode, two leading voices—Brad Heavner and Severin Borenstein—debate whether the state’s decision to slash rooftop solar incentives was a mistake or a necessary reform.Read Sammy Roth’s recent Boiling Point column, “California’s rooftop solar infighting is a col
Breaking Down Plastic
Los Angeles Times journalist Susanne Rust shares her eye-opening experience documenting her daily interactions with plastic. Despite being an expert on the topic, she was stunned by the sheer volume of plastic in her life, from single-use items to everyday essentials. Susanne and Sammy also discuss the current state of plastic regulation in California, including a much-criticized decision by Gov.
Can a Perfect Bagel Be Made Without Fossil Fuels?
Berkeley’s Boichik Bagels helped defeat a climate-friendly gas tax, arguing that great bagels need gas ovens. We talk with owner Emily Winston about tradition, business, and whether the future of cooking can be electric.https://www.latimes.com/environment/newsletter/2024-11-21/column-why-californias-favorite-bagel-shop-is-defending-fossil-fuels-boiling-point
Join Boiling Point in its second season
Reporting the Truth About Water in California
Ian James is a veteran climate and water reporter at the Los Angeles Times. His recent stories have exposed misinformation surrounding California’s water supplies and wildfire response — including a political stunt by President Trump. Together, he and Sammy break down the facts that will shape our climate future, and our ability to survive it.
Join Boiling Point in its second season as independen
How John Francis Became a Planetwalker
Sammy Roth sits down with environmental activist John Francis, also known as the "Planetwalker." John shares his extraordinary journey, from a 17-year vow of silence to walking and bicycling across continents, all in the name of environmental justice. He explains how hope, empathy, and kindness aren’t just virtues—they’re a form of protest.Link to the “Planetwalker” short doc: https://www.latimes.
Climate Change Is No Joke. Or Is It?
Comedian Esteban Gast talks with Sammy about using humor to alleviate climate anxiety, while making clean energy and other environmental solutions more interesting — and even fun. From punchlines to policy, they explore laughter as a powerful tool for change.
Join Boiling Point in its second season as independent investigative reporter Miranda Green walks listeners through the climate challenges a
Baseball, Brought to you by Oil and Gas
Bill McKibben is an acclaimed environmental activist and journalist, and the co-founder of 350.org. As spring training gets underway, Sammy and Bill discuss fossil fuel advertising at Dodger Stadium, and how oil and gas industry “sportswashing” is taking advantage of America’s national pastime.
Join Boiling Point in its second season as independent investigative reporter Miranda Green walks listen
The Future of Solar on Public Lands
This week, Sammy goes for a hike in one of America’s newest national monuments, designated last month by President Biden. He’s joined by retired federal wildlife biologist Russell Scofield, who spent years working to balance renewable energy development and conservation on public lands. Link to the Boiling Point newsletter: https://www.latimes.com/environment/newsletter/2025-02-06/column-forget-tr
California’s Shapeshifting Coastline
Los Angeles Times environmental reporter and Pulitzer Prize finalist Rosanna Xia joins Sammy to discuss her book, “California Against the Sea. They talk about the need to adapt to climate change as rising temperatures and a shifting coastline create a different California than the one we know and love.Link to Rosanna’s book, “California Against the Sea”: https://www.heydaybooks.com/catalog/califor
Drill, Baby, Drill…Again
What will the second Trump administration mean for climate and clean energy – and is there still hope for a better future? Sammy interviews Ann Carlson, an environmental law professor at UCLA and former Biden administration official. They talk about President Trump’s inaugural address, his Day 1 executive orders and his planned exit from the Paris climate agreement. They also discuss what Californ
L.A. Wildfires: Rebuilding for a Hotter, Drier Future
Sammy is joined by Kelly Sanders, an engineering professor at USC and former White House advisor on energy policy. They talk about what the fires mean for the future of Los Angeles, and how the city might adapt as the planet heats up and the climate crisis worsens. Join Boiling Point in its second season as independent investigative
reporter Miranda Green walks listeners through the climate challe
Introducing: Boiling Point
Climate change is battering California. Can the state find a way forward? Listen every Thursday as award-winning L.A. Times columnist Sammy Roth breaks down the many complexities of today's climate challenges and solutions with top experts in the field. Join Boiling Point in its second season as independent investigative
reporter Miranda Green walks listeners through the climate challenges
and sol
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