PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — So, here we are in late-summer 2021. Over the last year, the Portland area, and most of the Pacific Northwest, has seen a 100-year wildfire season, a generational ice storm, and a heat wave that shattered records.
For a lot of us, those events hit home. Every few months, stark reminders that something is changing about our weather. You or someone you know lost power, at least once. An entire region got buried in a blanket of bad air that was dangerous to breathe. Hundreds of people died.
The climate is changing. Climate change is not up for debate. It is a fact.
That’s why, starting this week, the KOIN Podcast Network is going on a journey to examine the weather events of the recent past and the groundbreaking research of the present to try to understand how everything is going to change in the near and distant future.
You’ll hear from experts in fields from forestry to climatology, urban design to social psychology as we provide you a look at how we got here and the historical context of what is actually going on. We’ll take a look at what is happening and what will, inevitably, continue if we don’t chose to act, soon.Â
Listen to the podcasts here or join the growing KOIN Podcast Network audience on Apple Podcasts, GooglePlay, Spotify, iHeartRadio, Stitcher, or Podbean.
Episode I: Weather Extremism
Fire, ice, heat. Three distinct and deadly weather events in the Pacific Northwest that made headlines around the world. But, can we blame climate change, alone, for what happened? And, despite the differences between the three events, the same thing made each of them significantly worse.
Episode 2: Industries at Risk
As climate change driven by global temperature increases continues, we taking an in-depth look at two industries home in the Pacific Northwest, timber and agriculture. We’ll look at the threats to their overall existence courtesy of climate change and how our panel of experts envisions each of them surviving.
Episode 3: The Urban Landscape
From the way we commute to the way we cool off in extreme heat, everything we know about city life will likely change in the face of continued global temperature increases. What does that mean for you? What does it mean for the future of the urban landscape? And, how will climate change exacerbate one of the biggest problems cities, and society, are already facing?
Episode 4: Making the Change
We’ve spent three weeks explaining the problem, and the dangers, of continued climate change. So, what now? From personal responsibility to community efforts, from recycling to government mandates and incentives, how are we supposed to adapt? And who will lead the effort?