Sea Change

They are called PFAS or “forever chemicals.” They originated in New Jersey decades ago with a promise of a future made easier by science. They’ve spread into countless products and polluted countless places throughout the world. Now, they are even in our blood. Today we are bringing you the first episode of Hazard NJ's new season that dives into the history of forever chemicals and efforts to solv...

This is a time of celebrating food and giving thanks to the people who grow it, catch it, and prepare it. That’s why today we are bringing you an episode we first aired back in May of 2023.  Food connects us to our past, to our memories, to each other, and to the world around us. It’s powerful. But food systems–from how we grow or catch things to how we transport them –are also incredibly complex....

Sea level rise is this big, scary reality. We’re always hearing predictions from scientists that the oceans will swallow islands, flood major cities, and wipe out huge stretches of coastline. The longer we burn fossil fuels, the bigger the surge. It sounds apocalyptic on this huge, global scale.  But also totally abstract – it’s hard to picture. What will it mean for the sea to rise two feet… 4 fe...

Hollywood has been cold on climate change, mostly relegating the issue to documentaries. We talk to two people who are trying to change that. We first talk to David Sirota, who co-wrote the Blockbuster hit, "Don't Look Up" with Adam McKay, and then we talk to Anna Jane Joyner, the founder of Good Energy, a nonprofit that supports TV and film creators in telling authentic stories that reflect our r...

Want to know even more about sustainable seafood on the Gulf Coast? Listen to this bonus episode for an extended conversation with Chef Jim Smith of The Hummingbird Way Oyster Bar in Mobile, Alabama. We talk with Chef Smith about threats facing both fishers and fisheries on the Gulf Coast and how we, as consumers, can make a difference...and of course, we talk about some of the delicious seafood d...

Your expert guide to sustainable seafood is here! Get ready to feel the salt spray, and tuck into a wide-ranging conversation about what's on your plate and the future of our ocean.  Seafood has been called our "last wild food." Humans have been enjoying seafood for a long time—over 2 million years. But in recent decades, how we catch and eat fish and shellfish has changed dramatically.  Even thou...

What if we get it right? That's the question marine biologist, climate expert, and writer Dr. Ayana Elizabeth Johnson explores in her new book. Ayana joins us to talk about climate solutions we have right now and what's possible for the future of our planet.   Looking for a link to the book? "What If We Get It Right? Visions of a Climate Future" This episode was hosted by Eva Tesfaye and cohosted...

TV Weather Gets Heated. In a world where weather is getting more extreme, the role of meteorologists is becoming more important—and controversial—than ever. Meteorologists have been fired over reporting on climate change, and others have left stations because of death threats.  But that hasn’t stopped Jeff Berardelli, Chief Meteorologist for Tampa Bay’s WFLA News. He’s leaning in. In this episode,...

Our oceans are heating up—what does that mean for all the life that lives in the sea...and us? Today we’re going on a trip to Florida…we’re hanging out in the Keys, and we're going fishing, and scuba diving all to find out what’s going on beneath the surface. Just how bad is hotter water for sea life in South Florida, and for the people that depend on it? And how are scientists leading the charge...

The home insurance market is collapsing all across the country. Big, brand-name insurance companies are walking away from the riskiest states. And, the companies that are sticking around are often doubling and tripling rates over just a few years. Nothing like this has ever happened before. And nowhere is this crisis worse... than Florida. In fact, Florida is the origin story of this crisis: the h...

Even though New Orleans has water in every direction, it’s hard to access. And for a city with increasingly sweltering summers, this irony is painful. In this episode, we’re going to talk about the uncomfortable history of Lincoln Beach, how it led to New Orleans not having any public beaches today, and how a community has rallied together to get their beach back. We start in the era of segregatio...

It's summertime! Otherwise known as prime reading season. And in this episode, you're going to meet the people behind a couple of the summer's hottest books.  We talk with Boyce Upholt about his new bestseller, The Great River: The Making and Unmaking of the Mississippi. The book tells the epic story of the Mississippi River, and he writes about how centuries of human meddling have transformed bot...

Most of the world's biggest cities are on the coast. As sea levels rise and storms worsen, how can we reimagine our coastal cities so that they can survive and thrive in the face of climate change? Today we talk with leaders across 3 continents about how they are fighting for the future of their cities.  Thank you to our panelists: Dr. Fola Dania - the Chief Resilience Officer of Lagos, Nigeria Fe...

In Vietnamese culture, water and home are so linked that they share a word. The Vietnamese word for water is nước. But nước also means homeland. Today–how the Vietnamese community has to reimagine its relationship with water as Louisiana’s coastline changes. In this episode, we’ll travel to a shrimp dock, a tropical garden, and a neighborhood surrounded by canals to examine one question: What does...

It started in states like Florida and Louisiana. And, now it's spreading. The home insurance market is crumbling as climate-fueled disasters increase. Premiums are skyrocketing, and already, insurance is playing a role in determining where we can live, and who can afford to live there. So we decided to host our very first Sea Change Live event dedicated to understanding what is going wrong, and ho...

We have a special episode for you today. We're sharing an episode of the new podcast from APM Studios and Western Sound called “Ripple.”  The largest oil spill in American history captivated the public's attention for the entire summer of 2010. Authorities told a story of a herculean response effort that made shorelines safe and avoided a worst case scenario. Was that really the whole picture?  “R...

Today, we hear the story of one fish and its journey to fame: the red drum, or more commonly known as the classic redfish. And whether the decline of this fish is a warning of a bigger collapse. This episode was produced in collaboration with the Food & Environment Reporting Network , an independent, nonprofit news organization. This episode was reported and hosted by Boyce Upholt. Halle Parke...

The ocean is rising across the South faster than almost anywhere else in the world. Today, Eva Tesfaye, a reporter for Sea Change, talks to the two journalists behind the Washington Post’s new series “The Drowning South.” Chris Mooney and Brady Dennis discuss their data-driven reporting, which takes them from Texas to North Carolina. It’s a fascinating conversation about how journalists are findin...

Sea Change’s series, “All Gassed Up,” exposes the enormous scale of the global expansion of liquified natural gas. Our reporting revealed that this gas expansion not only has big impacts on local communities like Cameron Parish but also on the planetary scale for our future climate. The expansion threatens the effort to slow climate change. And, there's a lot of money at stake. Some countries and...

Japan was the world’s largest importer of LNG for half a century. In the final episode of “All Gassed Up,” we travel to Asia to learn how the global gas industry is expanding — how the need for LNG continues to be sold. Right now, LNG is in its golden age – times are good, profits are high. And Japan’s big bet is that these good times will keep rolling. That more and more of the world will get hoo...

Until the Ukraine War, Russia was Europe’s biggest supplier of natural gas. After the invasion, political leaders wanted off Russian gas, and fast. So, they turned to the U.S. In part two, we follow American gas all the way to Germany — Europe’s biggest energy consumer, where the energy crisis hit hardest. US LNG provided a lifeline for Germany. But what happens when a country gets hooked? “All Ga...

Right now in the US, there is a GAS BOOM. A liquified natural gas boom — or LNG. The US produces the most LNG in the world. And the epicenter of this massive expansion? It’s here on the Gulf Coast. For the last year, we’ve traversed Louisiana trying to uncover what this growing LNG industry means for the state. But, after talking with everyone – from shrimpers to energy insiders – we realized that...

Sea Change is back with a brand new season. And this time, the stakes are even higher. We launch new investigations, travel around the world, and look at how a  sea change  is underway to solve some of our biggest problems. Come with us to investigate and celebrate life on our changing coasts. Every two weeks, we bring you stories that illuminate, inspire, and sometimes enrage, as we dive deep int...

Sea Change is taking a short break before Season 2 launches in March, and we plan to start the season off with a bang. Last fall, we traveled all over the world to report a series about a massive expansion of fossil fuels on the Gulf Coast and what it could mean for the planet. We are very excited to share it with you soon, but in the meantime, we wanted to bring you some great podcasts that we lo...

Sometimes, it can be hard to find the bright spots amid feelings of uncertainty about the future of our planet. But they're there. Today on Sea Change , we're focusing entirely on solutions. Stories about the good. We hear about a landscape architect in China who's pushing his city to become spongier as part of the global push for cities to rip up their concrete. And whether recognizing a river or...