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 dives deep with scientists, energy leaders, legislators, activists and journalists who are experts on today's climate challenges and solutions. They’ll discuss everything from electric cars to renewable energy to the difficulties of phasing out fossil fuels. Sammy has been reporting on climate and energy in California and the American West for over a decade, touring sprawling solar farms, coal-fired power plants and hilltops blanketed with wind turbines. He’s focused on telling stories that challenge public officials and energy companies to do better.
Episodes
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:
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.
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.
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 Ar...
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:
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.
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.
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.
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.
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-reacto...
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
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
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-o...
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 Biden administration official Nada Wol...
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.
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.
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-company-is-suing-greenpeace-for-300-mill...
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.
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 colossal waste of time”:
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