A much publicized warning released in the winter of 2023 said that the Great Salt Lake was at grave risk of disappearing in only five years. Two very wet winters later, it’s now very clear that the worst case scenario is not going to happen. So…what changed?

In hindsight, it’s clear that a century of suppressing wildfires probably hasn’t made us safer in the U.S. West. But knowing what doesn’t work isn’t the same as knowing what does. So what do we do?

There are two pretty simple questions that Allison Agsten wanted to have answered as she assumed the directorship of the Center for Climate Journalism and Communication at the University of Southern California: First, how do climate communicators get their information about climate? And then, what do they think the biggest challenges are when it comes to communicating about climate change?

The most obvious health risk in a warming world is heat — heat stress which can cause heat stroke, which can cause dehydration, which can cause kidney failure, and so on. But that’s not where the intersections between climate change and public health begin or end. And Heidi Honegger Rogers believes that we all need to better understand what’s happening and what is to come.

For nearly five years, water attorney Emily Lewis has been hosting a podcast on water issues with a special focus on solutions for the water-stressed US West. That podcast, called The Ripple Effect, has given her a view of something lawyers don't usually see — people working together to solve big problems.

Almost every model of future climate suggests that Western North America will grow substantially drier as global surface temperatures continue to get hotter. And that likely means less water, at least through traditional means. But Anjali Mulchandani thinks we might have some other options.

Political analysts were concerned about the Bradley Effect in 2008 in regards to Obama—and Anu Gupta says now’s the time to think about how this may impact Kamala Harris.

For a very long time it was assumed that competition and predation drove evolution and ecologies. And it’s true that antagonism plays a role. But so does mutualism — species benefiting one another without cost or consequence. And biologist Jenn Rudgers says that we should keep that in mind as we face a world that is being stressed by climate change.

Marcy Litvak says it’s vital that we try to sort out how carbon behaves in different areas of the world, and research efforts like the New Mexico Elevation Gradient Project are helping do just that.

When strong beliefs, sometimes century-long beliefs, are disputed, people tend to double down. And this is true for many people–from cult members, to respected researchers. And Dr. Marty Makary suggests that it’s notably present in medicine, and in the way we tend to groupthink.