Delegations from nearly 200 countries came together earlier this month in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt for the United Nations 27th Climate Change Conference, referred to as COP27. The goal was to bring countries together to try to take action towards achieving the world's collective climate goals as agreed to under the Paris Agreement in 2015. The consensus among many attendees was that COP27 was a disappointment. We get a first-hand take on what happened over those two weeks in Egypt with three local activists who are part of a team that produced daily video updates summarizing what was unfolding at the conference.

In the leadup to the midterm elections Governor Ron DeSantis announced that the state of Florida’s new Office of Election Crimes and Security had arrested 20 people who allegedly had knowingly registered to vote illegally during the previous election in 2020. He said this was the first step in addressing wide-scale voter fraud — despite there being no evidence of such fraud in Florida. The problem is, there is no straightforward way for former felons — or for election officials — to determine whether someone who has completed their sentence for a felony conviction has satisfied all requirements to be eligible to vote.

While it might seem obvious that a devastating hurricane would have an immediate negative impact on the mental well-being of those impacted, there is a growing understanding among mental health professionals that underlying concerns over possible future natural disasters is also weighing on many people’s minds. And there is growing evidence that the growing size and scope of natural disasters is being driven by climate change. We talk with Dr. Lise Van Susteren, she is a forensic psychiatrist who is an expert on the physical and psychological impacts of climate change.

Analysis of Florida’s 2022 general election results with a look toward what they’ll mean for the state going forward in a conversation with UCF political scientist Aubrey Jewett, Ph.D., and FGCU Political Scientist Peter Bergerson, Ph.D.

Robert N. Macomber is an award-winning author of maritime novels, best known for his Honor Series, including the 16th title “Code of Honor” which was released in April of 2022. We’ve had him on the show over the years to talk about his novels and his life’s adventures, and he was a guest on our show Three Song Stories back in 2018. But, today he joins us to talk about what he and his wife have experienced since Hurricane Ian made landfall, completely destroying their Pine Island home.

Dig into the history of the Cuban sandwich with the authors of the new book “The Cuban Sandwich: A History in Layers.”

Hurricane Ian impacted nearly 5-million acres of farm and grazing land, with about 700-thousand acres receiving Category 4 force winds. According to the University of Florida’s Institute of Food & Agricultural Sciences, or IFAS, early estimates put the economic impact just to agriculture in Florida at somewhere between 786 million and 1.56 billion dollars with citrus and vegetables most affected.

In his latest book, “Robert E. Lee and Me: A Southerner’s Reckoning with the Myth of the Lost Cause,” retired U.S. Army Brigadier General TySeidule writes about growing up in Virginia revering Confederate General Robert E. Lee. He says that from his southern childhood to the time he spent serving in the U.S. Army every part of his life reinforced the Lost Cause myth: that Lee was the greatest man who ever lived, and that the Confederates were underdogs who lost the Civil War with honor — a position he now deeply regrets and works to refute.

Jeremey Hobson has worked in public radio for more than 20 years and was a host for NPR's Here & Now for more than seven years. Now, he is launching a new live, nationwide call-in show called The Middle with the goal of elevating the voices of Americans who live in between the coasts and bringing a wider variety of voices to the public radio airwaves. He and his team are in town preparing to do the show from the WGCU studio so we talk with him about how The Middle came to be and why he believes it’s important to bring a show like this to the public radio airwaves now.

In the days and weeks after a disaster like Hurricane Ian, it’s often up to local nonprofits and mental health professionals who are volunteering their time to step in and provide support for people who have been impacted. Now, for the first time ever, Florida’s State Emergency Response Team — or SERT — is supporting a program to assemble a group of mental health professionals including therapists, counselors, and massage therapists to work directly with residents and first responders who are still in the midst of recovery work.