Boiling Point

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.

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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...

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...

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.

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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 oce...

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.

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.

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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...

From the Los Angeles Times and Sonoro comes the De Los Podcast — a weekly conversation where music, pop culture and Latinidad collide. Hosted by De Los editors Fidel Martínez and Suzy Exposito, the show pulls back the curtain on the stories, people and cultural moments shaping the Latino experience in the U.S. and beyond. Every episode is a front-row seat to conversations with the artists, actors, filmmakers and thinkers who are moving the culture forward — not just talking about it. Guests include Leslie Grace, Sen Dog of Cypress Hill, Xolo Maridueña, Fabrizio Guido, producer and singer Empres...

Here is a sneak peak at the new season of another Los Angeles Times Studios podcast called "Crimes of the Times." In the show, L.A. Times staff writer Christopher Goffard revisits old crimes in Los Angeles and beyond, from the famous to the forgotten, the consequential to the obscure, diving into archives and the memories of those who were there. This new season kicks off with a four part series about how an amateur codebreaker may have cracked the Zodiac killer's infamously complex Z13 code, and how the name it reveals potentially connects the Zodiac killer to another...

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...

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 discu...

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...

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 Fonta...

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 pollution," was technically supposed to be studying the taste and smell of pineapples when he first began to conduct research into smog. Through letters and interviews with Caltech faculty and...

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 the early 1940s, and the renowned artist Helen Pashgian, who grew up in Altadena back when the light around LA – once so radiant and cool – was slowly smothe...

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 Morrison, Smoglandia is a narrative audio series tracing the rise, impact and eventual retreat of L.A.’s most insidious form of pollution: smog.

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. Gavin Newsom.

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...

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 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 tr...

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.

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 Stud...

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-issues

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 featu...

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

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 offici...

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 like Dayenu now more than ever.

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...

This week we’re sharing an episode of another L.A. Times Studios podcast, Rebuilding Los Angeles. Hosted by Kate Cagle, this episode discusses post-fires Los Angeles and what our city can do to live smarter in the face of climate-fueled fires. 

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 imp...

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 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, busine...

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.

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...

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

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 offici...

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 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 countr

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 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 tren...

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 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...

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 want a livable planet.

Order “We Are Eating the Earth” here:

https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/We-Are-Eating-the-Earth/Michael-Grunwald/9781982160074

Join Boiling Point in its second season as in...

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-americas-cleanest-cheapest-energy

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...

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 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 d...

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 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 ex...

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.

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 featur...

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 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...

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/newsletter/2025-05-15/nuclear-reactors-power-los-angeles-should-we-panic-or-celebrate

Join Boiling Point in its second season as independent investigative reporter Miranda Green walks listeners through the climate challenges and solutions facing our n...

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

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 St...

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 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 th...

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-burned-in-the-la-fires-so-we-did-it-ourselves 

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 i...