HEATED

This July 4 weekend has the potential to be soul-crushing. On the East Coast, a brutal heat wave is reminding everyone that the climate crisis is not some future abstraction, but an extremely scary present-tense physical condition. In Europe, extreme heat has resulted in more than 1,300 deaths . Across the U.S., dozens of large wildfires are burning , drought is still gripping much of the Lower 48...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit heated.world I tested my pee for plastic chemicals! In today's episode, I go over the results with Dr. Shanna Swan and Jenna Hua, CEO of Million Marker, the company that administered my test, and talk about how my plastic detox has been going so far.

Last year, the Eaton Fire devastated Altadena, California, killing 19 people, destroying more than 9,000 structures, and leaving an entire community trying to rebuild. Now, as Altadena is still recovering, another wildfire season is already underway. In this episode of HEATED, we speak with Savannah Bradley, co-founder of A Resilient Tomorrow, a community-led disaster recovery organization launche...

For years, Senator Sheldon has been one of Congress’s most relentless climate voices, delivering more than 300 “Time to Wake Up” speeches on the Senate floor about climate change and the fossil fuel industry’s political power. Lately, that persistence has taken a more targeted form: pressing the Trump administration over its extraordinary new favors to the oil and gas industry; investigating its d...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit heated.world Kate Marvel spent more than a decade at NASA studying the future of life on Earth. Then the Trump administration made that job feel impossible. Marvel, a prominent climate scientist, resigned from NASA last month amid the Trump administration’s sweeping attacks on federal science. Since Trump’s second term started, more tha...

Tracy and I go deep about Shein’s purchase of Everlane , fashion industry greenwashing, and what true sustainable fashion looks like. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit heated.world/subscribe

What is coming when it comes to hantaviruses and climate change? How are they connected? And how could the rapidly approaching Super El Nino —a phenomenon worsened by climate change—affect the spread of hantavirus and other infectious diseases? That’s what we’re going to explore today. Special thanks to Drs. Kirk Osmond Douglas , James Shepherd , and Angel Desai for sharing their expertise that in...

Our good friends at the Popular Information newsletter have calculated the real cost of the Iran War so far: $72 billion for the first 60 days , or about $1.2 billion in taxpayer dollars per day. The numbers are revealing, in that they show the Trump administration is perfectly capable of finding money when the goal is destruction. But when it comes to protecting Americans from fossil-fueled extre...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit heated.world In our full, subscribers-only interview with Mike Meno, the communications director for the Center for Climate Integrity, we discuss the ins and outs of Big Oil's push for legal immunity, both in and outside the court.

I’ve been trying to “ detox my life ” from plastic for a few weeks now. In today's episode, we talk about all the ups and downs. I’ll update you all again when I get the results of my pee test back. Make sure you’re subscribed to get it. In related recent news… * Now may actually be a good time to start shifting away from plastic. The American Prospect reports : Petrochemical prices are spiking to...

Last week, Big Oil’s top-funded Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) and Representative Harriet Hageman (R-WY) introduced a bill called the Stop Climate Shakedowns Act of 2026. They framed it as a way to “protect American energy from leftist legal crusades punishing lawful activity.” What it actually does is give the fossil fuel industry a permanent shield against lawsuits and state laws that seek to hold the...

What are plastics actually doing to our bodies—and why is so much of the conversation focused on individual choices? In this episode of HEATED, Emily Atkin interviews Dr. Shanna Swan, a reproductive epidemiologist whose research on chemicals in plastics—like phthalates—has linked them to fertility problems and changes in reproductive development. The conversation is anchored in the new Netflix doc...

Texas-based journalist Saul Elbein believes solid waste is the most important—and most overlooked—environmental story of our lifetimes. Yes, he argues, climate change, air pollution, and liquid waste from fracking are crucially important issues. But across Texas and Oklahoma, he says fracking companies have been spreading their potentially radioactive, PFAS-filled solid waste on farmland and near...

Before the U.S. and Israel launched their war in Iran, the national average for a gallon of gas was $2.94. One month later, gas is now averaging $3.98 a gallon —the largest one-month jump in U.S. gas prices in the last 30 years. Setting aside the horrors of the war itself—more than 1,000 Iranians have been killed, along with more than a dozen U.S. servicemembers—the spike in gas prices is doing so...

On this week’s podcast, Tracy and I watch and analyze fossil fuel ads—and we do it with Nayantara Dutta, head of research at Clean Creatives and the lead author of their new report analyzing nearly 2,000 fossil fuel ads from 2020 to 2024. (ICYMI: We covered that report for Tuesday’s newsletter . Check it out!) You can watch/listen at the top of this newsletter, on Youtube , or on any of your podca...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit heated.world After our interview with Tom Steyer, Tracy and I decided to take a few minutes to record our immediate reactions. Here’s that tape!

Can a billionaire be trusted to dismantle the system that made them wealthy? California gubernatorial candidate Tom Steyer understand why you might say no—but he argues he's the guy to break the mold. In our interview, we discuss whether billionaires should exist at all, Steyer’s past investments in fossil fuels , the carbon footprint of billionaire investment portfolios , his proposal to break up...

For nearly eight years, Chase Cain covered the most existential threat to humanity for one of the country’s biggest broadcast networks. But last week, the veteran journalist resigned, citing burnout from near-constant internal fighting to get important climate stories on air. In an exclusive interview, Cain talks about the subtle ways climate coverage is suppressed at NBC—not through explicit dire...

In this new series, we’re going to investigate and explain the powerful, systemic forces driving inaction on climate change. We’re going to debunk polluter-funded propaganda; call out media complicity; and press people seeking power on what they’ll actually do about the crisis. And that’s just what we have planned for our first few episodes! Meet our powerhouse new producer in episode one. This is...

Sometimes, being a climate reporter feels like being in a twisted version of Groundhog Day. Every time you think the world has finally moved beyond debating whether climate change is real or fake, you wake up to find that the day has reset—and a white guy with oil money seeking power pushed the button. Last night, JD Vance pushed the button while thousands of Americans were suffering from one of t...

Over the last year, Republicans have begun championing a new and novel environmental cause. It’s not the air; it’s not the water; it’s not the climate crisis. It’s refrigerators. Apparently they’re getting way too efficient. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit heated.world/subscribe

The blueprint for Trump’s second term envisions deregulating ubiquitous and carcinogenic “forever” chemicals. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit heated.world/subscribe

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit heated.world In our full interview with Stacey Abrams, we dive deeper into her personal and professional experience with climate change; details of the electrification incentives in the IRA; the potential challenges with ensuring equity in electrification; and her views on the role of fossil fuels in a net zero future. We also discuss h...

It is very difficult to get television news networks to tell climate change stories —especially ones that place the blame on fossil fuels. The House Oversight Committee’s ongoing investigation into Big Oil, and its role in misleading the American public about climate change, is an example. According to Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA), who is leading the investigation with committee Chairwoman Rep. Carolyn B...

Today’s newsletter is a collaboration with Emily Holden at Floodlight , a new non-profit news organization dedicated to investigating the corporate and ideological interests holding back climate action. ICYMI, we ran an interview with Holden about Floodlight’s launch last month . Our article today investigates how decision-makers at major banks have conflicts of interest on climate, and what that...