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. Smoglandia OUT NOW: Hosted by Times Columnist Patt Morrison, this six-part series examines air pollution in Los Angeles, taking a closer look at the city’s complex history of smog.
Episodes
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 ...
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.
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 ...
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 a...
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 ...
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 ...
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 narrativ...
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.
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.
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.
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:
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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:
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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