Climate change is bad news for almost everyone. Emphasis on almost , because believe it or not, one marine species is absolutely thriving as the Gulf warms: Bull sharks! Get ready for some shark science as we learn why bull sharks are increasing in numbers across the Gulf and getting hungrier. This episode was hosted by Carlyle Calhoun and Katelyn Harrop. Katelyn conducted the interview. Our theme music is by John Batiste, and our sound designer is Emily Jankowski. Carlyle Calhoun is the executi...
Jul 02, 2025•29 min
Climate change is altering the land we live on, and Indigenous communities are on the frontline. In this episode, we bring you to Alaska, where rapid permafrost thaw is threatening the Native village of Nunapitchuk. Then, we head to Louisiana, where the Pointe-Au-Chien Indian Tribe is watching their land disappear underwater due to sea level rise. These threats are forcing these tribes to make the difficult decision: to stay and adapt, or to leave their ancestral home. This episode was produced ...
Jun 18, 2025•36 min
If you’ve ever dreamed of what it would be like to be a marine biologist or marine ecologist, days spent scuba diving and swimming alongside sea turtles, all to better understand and protect our ocean, well then, you’re about to meet one of your heroes. Today, we are bringing you an episode of the podcast Going Wild with Dr. Rae Wynn-Grant . It’s an award-winning show from our friends at Nature on PBS featuring some of the coolest champions of nature, including someone you are about to meet: mar...
Jun 10, 2025•39 min
The chemical industry is big business in Louisiana. Companies here manufacture plastics, fuels, pesticides, and cleaning products. But one part of the chemical industry that’s often overlooked is the fertilizer business. Today, you’re going to hear the story of modern fertilizer, and how this powerful concoction of chemicals has radically reshaped how we farm and what we eat. In this episode, we follow the journey of fertilizer from Louisiana to the Midwest, then back down along the Mississippi ...
May 22, 2025•35 min
Last week, we hosted a Sea Change live event at the New Orleans Jazz Museum. We wanted to talk about the science behind the massive land loss crisis we are experiencing, what it means to live in a vanishing landscape, and importantly, what we can do about it. But this is New Orleans, so we also wanted to celebrate! Celebrate the culture and joy of living in this special place. And while we can’t share food through the airwaves, we can share music. Join us for an incredible concert and conversati...
May 11, 2025•50 min
We are all affected by ocean conditions, and we're talking about huge things like global food security and human health, to fisheries we depend on, to the transport of a whopping 90% of the world's goods. So it's vitally important to understand ocean conditions. What can the fascinating field of ocean forecasting tell us about the future for us on land and for life under the sea? Want to learn even more? Click here to read the report "Forecasting the Ocean." This episode was hosted by Carlyle Ca...
Apr 25, 2025•23 min
Like much of coastal Louisiana, Isle de Jean Charles is rapidly disappearing into the Gulf because of coastal erosion and sea level rise. Scientists predict the island will be completely underwater by 2050. Almost a decade ago, the federal government awarded the state of Louisiana $48 million dollar to resettle members of the Jean Charles Choctaw Nation from Isle de Jean Charles. This was the first project of its kind and initially, it was held up as a model for how to move communities at risk o...
Apr 09, 2025•42 min
Last time, we learned about the nearly century-old bond between the oil and gas industry and one university — LSU. In the second and final episode of our series, "Fueling Knowledge," we look at how much money is flowing into universities and what the industry may hope to get in return. This relationship comes with big benefits: student mentors, scholarships, research funding, and new buildings, among others. But is all that money truly free? No strings? Or could it be part of a corporate playboo...
Mar 21, 2025•34 min
Universities have grown increasingly close with the fossil fuel industry. Oil and gas money is flowing into universities around the world, shaping everything from students’ careers to climate research that can influence global energy policy. Some professors and students are sounding the alarm. They worry this influx of fossil fuel money could compromise the credibility of research institutions, tainting the information produced. That they are even being used as pawns in a fossil fuel propaganda ...
Mar 12, 2025•34 min
There’s this conversation from one of our early Sea Change episodes, and it's about our relationship with the ocean--with water. How being in or near water changes us for the better. The marine biologist Wallace J Nichols has said: “It is true that oceans give us life, but our planet’s wild places also make life worth living and help heal us when we are broken.” He said it's not going to be fear and guilt that motivates us to protect the ocean; it happens when people are connected to the value o...
Feb 26, 2025•26 min
In February 2021, power went out for 4.5 million households across Texas. The blackout killed hundreds. And people wondered: “How could this happen in the energy capital of the U.S.?” Today, we bring you part of that fascinating backstory, and it starts with an East Texas con artist who inadvertently kicked off the biggest oil boom in US history. Reporters Mose Buchele and Audrey McGlinchy of KUT's podcast The Disconnect: Power, Politics, and the Texas Blackout take us on a Wild West story to un...
Feb 15, 2025•33 min
More and more Americans face the threat of flooding. And as a country, we are woefully unprepared. Cities like Charleston and Miami already see routine coastal flooding. Hurricane Helene recently hammered many inland communities with flooding. And the risk is only rising. FEMA's National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) sells about 90% of the nation's flood insurance policies, but only a small percentage of Americans are covered. In an effort to account for climate change, expand coverage, and mak...
Jan 30, 2025•35 min
Flooding is the most common natural disaster — by far. As more and more towns are devastated by floods, people are facing the tough question of how to rebuild — or even if they can. In this episode, we travel to two towns to discover how one obscure federal policy designed to stop the cycle of flood damage is leading to opposite destinies. Thanks for listening to Sea Change. This episode was reported and hosted by me, Carlyle Calhoun. This episode was edited by Jack Rodolico with editing help fr...
Jan 17, 2025•26 min
As 2024 comes to a close, we are taking this time to focus on hope. While this year has been rough for the climate and the environment in many ways, there is also so much good happening out there. There are wins to celebrate and reasons for optimism. Today, Sea Change sits down with an expert on hope, and learn why evidence-based hope is essential in our fight against climate change. To learn more about evidence-based hope and hope expert extraordinaire Elin Kelsey, click here ! Thank you so muc...
Dec 31, 2024•31 min
There’s a lot going on in the world of liquified natural gas, or LNG. And we are here to tell you about it! The Department of Energy just released its big report on whether exporting more LNG is in the public interest…spoiler alert: it’s not. One of the largest LNG facilities in the world, located just south of New Orleans, recently began production. And there are a slew of other export terminals waiting in the wings for approval. Almost all of them are located on the Gulf Coast. There are two c...
Dec 20, 2024•52 min
We kicked off this season of Sea Change with a globetrotting journey. A quest to understand a booming new industry on the Gulf Coast: liquified natural gas, or LNG. In a historic move, the Biden Administration froze any decisions on new gas export projects…until it could study how shipping so much American gas overseas could affect the economy, health, and the climate. Well, that long-awaited study was just released. The findings? Increasing LNG exports is bad news for American consumers, commun...
Dec 20, 2024•26 min
The Lemon Tree Mound is a sacred place for the Atakapa/Ishak-Chawasha tribe. And it's disappearing under the rising waters of the Gulf of Mexico. In this episode, we travel out into the bayous of South Louisiana to understand what this one small sacred place means for the Land Back Movement and climate justice, and why efforts to save our coast matter, even if they really mean only buying time. Click here to read more about the return of the sacred land to the tribe, and here to learn more about...
Dec 04, 2024•24 min
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 solve the PFAS pollution crisis. This episode is hosted by journalist Jordan Gass-Pooré, and produced by...
Dec 01, 2024•30 min
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. As climate change increasingly impacts the world, we are seeing some of the first effects of that th...
Nov 27, 2024•39 min
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 feet…even 7 feet by the end of the century? Turns out, it depends where you look. In this episode, we’r...
Nov 14, 2024•36 min
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 reality: a world in a climate crisis. For more about journalist and screenwriter David Sirota, check ...
Oct 31, 2024•35 min
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 dishes he's cooking up!
Oct 19, 2024•15 min
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 though it might not always seem like it when we are digging into a Po'Boy with so much fried shrimp that t...
Oct 18, 2024•27 min
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 by Halle Parker. Our managing producer is Carlyle Calhoun Despeaux. Our sound designer is Emily Jankow...
Oct 02, 2024•29 min
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, Jeff Berardelli tells Carlyle what it’s like to be a weatherman in the time of climate change. And a...
Sep 18, 2024•35 min
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 to save this ocean ecosystem? This episode was reported and hosted by Jenny Staletovich and co-hoste...
Sep 05, 2024•31 min
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 home insurance market in every other state seems to be headed down the road that Florida has paved. T...
Aug 21, 2024•21 min
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 segregation, where if you were Black, the only place to soak up sun and sand was Lincoln Beach. This episode w...
Aug 07, 2024•34 min
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 both the river and America. And we also meet Mary Annaise Heglar , who tells us about her new novel, Tro...
Jul 24, 2024•35 min
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 Felipe Araujo - the Vice Mayor of Porto, Portugal, and City Counselor for Environment, Climate, Innovat...
Jun 26, 2024•36 min
