Air Date: July 24, 2026

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Climate Change Speeding Up

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Current climate change has been well underway for decades, but the rate of that change is now going up so fast that people are noticing things like tornados and extreme heat waves are occurring in places where they have rarely been seen before. Dr. Jennifer Francis, a senior atmospheric scientist at the Woodwell Climate Research Center, joins Host Steve Curwood to explain how greenhouse gases from burning fossil fuels, the loss of reflective ice and snow, and other changes are increasingly causing the Earth to retain extra heat energy from the Sun. (19:20)

BirdNote®: Here Come the Merlins

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They are tiny birds, but fierce predators. And as the planet warms, merlins are flying against the trend of wildlife moving toward the poles, as Mary McCann tells us in this BirdNote®. (01:49)

Smog and Sunshine--CA's Cleaner Air

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Decades ago, the Los Angeles basin was often cloaked in a thick blanket of choking smog, but today the skies are comparatively clear. This striking improvement was no accident and is a testament to how scientists, government, and engaged citizens can work together to solve difficult environmental problems. UCLA Environmental Law Professor Ann Carlson reflects on that success as described in her 2026 book, Smog and Sunshine: The Surprising Story of How Los Angeles Cleaned Up Its Air. (21:20)

"Vanilla Frosting" -- Elk at Great Sand Dunes

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One of the national parks you might visit this summer, or any time of year is Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve in Colorado, with the tallest dunes in North America. That’s where Living on Earth Explorer in Residence Mark Seth Lender watched the landscape and a local herd of elk as weather came in. (02:29)

Show Credits and Funders

Show Transcript

260724 Transcript

HOSTS: Steve Curwood

GUESTS: Ann Carlson, Jennifer Francis

REPORTERS: Mark Seth Lender, Mary McCann

[THEME]

CURWOOD: From PRX – this is Living On Earth.

[THEME]

CURWOOD: I’m Steve Curwood.

Climate change is picking up speed as the Earth loses reflective snow and ice.

FRANCIS: We've lost almost half of the sea ice floating on the Arctic Ocean in the last 40 years, and especially during spring, summer, and fall, and so much more of the sun's energy is going into the ocean in high latitudes because of that loss of sea ice.

CURWOOD: Also, the long and winding road that the Golden State took to cut pollution from cars and trucks.

CARLSON: California has been an extraordinary leader on air pollution. The catalytic converter was first really required by standards that the state of California set, but there's no question that federal law has played a really important role in pushing California to act.

CURWOOD: We’ll have those stories and more this week on Living on Earth. Stick around!

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[NEWSBREAK MUSIC: Boards Of Canada “Zoetrope” from “In A Beautiful Place Out In The Country” (Warp Records 2000)]

[THEME]

Climate Change Speeding Up

CURWOOD: From PRX and the Jennifer and Ted Stanley Studios at the University of Massachusetts Boston, this is Living on Earth. I’m Steve Curwood.

It is indeed getting worse and worse. That's what science is telling us as concerns rise about the growing spate of extreme weather events and their likely links to global warming and climate disruption. Current climate change has been well underway for decades, but the rate of that change is now going up so fast that people are noticing things like tornados and extreme heat waves are occurring in places where they have rarely been seen before. To help us understand what is going on, we turn now to Dr. Jennifer Francis, a senior atmospheric scientist at the Woodwell Climate Research Center in Falmouth, Massachusetts. Jennifer, welcome back to Living on Earth!

FRANCIS: Great to be back. Thank you.

CURWOOD: As a scientist, what's your perception of any change in the rate of warming that's going on now? Some feel that gee, things seem to be accelerating. What's your perception?

FRANCIS: Yeah, I think it is definitely showing signs of accelerating, and there's a pretty good explanation for that. We're seeing more energy being retained by the Earth than we used to. So there's energy coming in from the Sun, and there's energy being emitted in a different format, a different form of energy, and the balance of those two things is what determines the Earth's temperature. So what we're seeing is now a growing imbalance between those two things. There's more energy being absorbed from the sun, and that is leading to a buildup of heat in the climate system, which we detect as the increasing temperature of the Earth. So there's very good reason to believe the observations that show this increasing temperature.

CURWOOD: Now, to what extent is this increase in temperature related to all the intense weather we seem to be seeing now? There's storms. There seem to be wildfires. There are heat waves. There are tornadoes. How related is this to this pickup in the speed of climatic warming, do you think?

FRANCIS: 100% — we have more energy in the system now. The ocean is much warmer. 90% of the heat trapped by all these greenhouse gasses, carbon pollution that we've been putting into the atmosphere for decades now, mostly by burning fossil fuels. Those heat-trapping gasses are mostly putting heat into the ocean, about 90% of it, and that is energy. It's energy to fuel storms. It's energy to increase evaporation from land, which dries out the soils, leads to drought. It's changing the distribution or the pattern of ocean temperatures, which affects the winds. It affects the jet stream. It affects how weather patterns move, and that extra moisture that's being evaporated from land and ocean goes into the air, and it is a very important feedback in the climate system because that moisture does three things. First of all, water vapor is also a greenhouse gas that traps even more heat. So it adds to the heat being trapped by carbon dioxide and methane and the other greenhouse gasses that we hear about all the time. That moisture is also the source of energy for all types of storms: hurricanes, tornadoes, thunderstorms, nor'easters, you name it. That water vapor in the atmosphere, when it condenses back into a liquid form, releases a lot of heat into the air, and that is literally what drives storms. And that extra water vapor also supplies more moisture for storms when they do develop, and that is a very clear, bold line connected back to the warming atmosphere, the warming oceans, the increasing evaporation, and this extra water vapor we now have in the atmosphere.

CURWOOD: So the Earth has a wide range of systems and functions that help keep it in balance. We're getting out of balance apparently with this energy budget, one of those mechanisms is albedo — that is, the Earth's reflectivity in various places. Where does that term fit in in terms of discussion of the climate and climate change and this accelerating warming that we're experiencing now?

FRANCIS: Yeah, I think we need to really simplify the story because it's a very complicated one, but I think it can be told relatively simply. So let's start with the incoming energy. This is the energy that we get from the sun. So, as this sunshine is coming into the Earth, first it is reflected, and that's this term albedo is just a fancier word for reflection. A lot of things can happen to that solar energy as it comes in. First, it might hit some high clouds, and those clouds are very white. They're very good at reflecting solar energy, so some of it gets reflected by the clouds. Some of it gets reflected by dust in the air, and that dust can, or aerosols, as it sometimes is called, it can be dust from blowing off of agricultural land or deserts. It can be chemical particles that come from our burning of fossil fuels, create sulfur dioxide, which then turns into sulfate particles, which are very reflective too, and it can even be particles of salt that get evaporated and blown up from the ocean surface. So there's a lot of different kinds of particles in the air. Some of them are more reflective than others, but they also might send some of that energy right back to outer space. And then finally, some of it gets to the ground. Then, depending on what the surface is made out of, more or less of that sunshine is going to also get reflected. So, if it hits the ocean, almost all of it gets absorbed into the ocean. If it hits snow or ice, most of it is going to get reflected back to outer space. And if it's something in between, like agricultural land or forest, those have different amounts of reflectivity. So all of these factors come into play in determining how much of the sun's energy is going to actually enter the climate system and heat it, or get reflected right back to outer space and do nothing at all.

CURWOOD: Okay, so that's all about the incoming energy. What's going on about the outgoing energy, Dr. Francis?

FRANCIS: Right. So because the Earth is a lot cooler than the Sun, cooler objects emit what we call long wave or infrared energy, and the amount of energy that an object emits is completely related to its temperature. So hotter things emit more, cold things emit less. So when we think about the Earth, there's a lot of things on the surface in the air that emit this long wave energy. So starting at the bottom, we can look at different surfaces on Earth and their temperature. So, if we look at a an area of the ocean that's warmer than, say, another area, it's going to emit more of this long wave energy upward. As it goes up through the atmosphere, greenhouse gases, these gasses that we talk about trapping heat, also are emitters of this long wave energy, but they do trap some of it. So it's hard for that energy being emitted from the surface to get out because of greenhouse gasses. And because we've been adding to this layer of greenhouse gasses, it's making it even harder for that energy to escape to outer space, so that is the main reason why the Earth is heating up. So we're lucky now because we have a satellite sensor called CERES, and CERES was designed to measure both the Earth's albedo and also measure how much of this longwave energy is being emitted, and so we've got a very good measurement now without having to worry about, you know, what kind of clouds they are or what the surface is. It does a bulk measurement of these two components, and those two components are what we know as the Earth's energy balance, and this is what we see: that imbalance increasing, mostly because the Earth is getting darker, the albedo is going down, and so more of that sun's energy is getting absorbed into the system.

CURWOOD: So, what we're noticing over these recent months, even recent years, this increasing warming is related to a change, obviously, in the energy. What is speeding it up? Seems to be moving faster. What seems to be speeding things up?

FRANCIS: It's speeding up because the Earth is getting darker faster, and there are a number of things that are contributing to that. Some of the biggest ones and easiest ones to measure are we've lost almost half of the sea ice floating on the Arctic Ocean in the last 40 years, and that is a huge amount of really bright white real estate that is now gone. And especially during the time when the sun is shining up there, spring, summer, and fall, and so much more of the sun's energy is going into the ocean in high latitudes because of that loss of sea ice. We're also seeing about the same amount of spring snow cover disappearing during the spring. So this is on land, and that snow cover is also very very bright. And so by losing so much of that spring snow cover, right when the sun is coming up to be its strongest of the season, a lot more of that sun's energy is going into the land. So this is warming up the soils earlier in the spring. It's drying those soils out faster, and leading to kind of a jump start on the summer warming season, and leading to a big warming happening during that part of the year, and also setting the stage for drought and wildfires and some of those changes that we're observing. So, those are two of the main things that are going on. But we're also noticing that we've been cleaning up the atmosphere, which is a good thing. We've been reducing pollution coming from smokestacks, those sulfate particles that I talked about that start as sulfur dioxide, which is one of the gasses that comes out when we burn fossil fuels to make electricity, for example, and we're also cleaning up the smokestacks on ships. So the ships are out in the ocean, spewing out these particles where they have been over time. And by cleaning up their emissions, we're actually making the atmosphere less reflective. We're reducing the albedo because there are fewer of these bright particles in the air, and that's also contributing to the dimming of the Earth or the darkening of the Earth, we just have less pollution in the air, which is a good thing for the most part. But it is making us warm faster.

[MUSIC: Dead Horizon]

CURWOOD: Just ahead, we continue our chat with Jennifer Francis, senior scientist at the Woodwell Climate Research Center. Stay tuned to Living on Earth!

ANNOUNCER: Support for Living on Earth comes from the Waverley Street Foundation, working to cultivate a healing planet with community-led programs for better food, healthy farmlands, and smarter building, energy and businesses.

[CUTAWAY MUSIC: Bela Fleck, “The Over Grown Waltz” on The Bluegrass Sessions: Tales From The Acoustic Planet, Vol.2]

CURWOOD: It’s Living on Earth, I’m Steve Curwood.

Still with us is Jennifer Francis, senior scientist at the Woodwell Climate Research Center, talking about the increasing pace of climate disruption.

CURWOOD: By the way, some of your own research points to the effect of this loss of Arctic ice and some regional weather things. I believe that you talk about how that has changed the jet stream, which can make things feel even more extreme in this time of warming. Talk to me more about that, if you could.

FRANCIS: Yeah, the basic idea is that the Arctic we know is quite cold, certainly much colder than the areas farther south, and that temperature difference between the Arctic and the areas south of it is what drives the winds of the jet stream. So the bigger that temperature difference is, the stronger the winds of the jet stream are. And when the jet stream is strong, the north-south undulations that it takes as it travels around the northern hemisphere tend to be smaller. And that's important because those undulations are what create the high pressure areas and low pressure areas that we experience down here on the surface. So high pressure tends to be nice weather, low pressure tends to be our storms. So when the jet stream is strong, those high pressure and low pressure areas tend to move relatively quickly, say across the United States. And the way we sense that is you know the weather changes every couple of days. However, because the Arctic is now warming three to four times faster than the globe as a whole, a big part of that is the loss of sea ice and snow. That means that temperature difference between the Arctic and areas farther south is getting smaller too, and as that temperature difference gets smaller, there's less force driving the west to east winds of the jet stream. When the jet stream gets weak, we tend to see it take these bigger north south swings as it travels around the northern hemisphere. Those meanders that we were just talking about that create the high pressure and low pressure areas. When those waves are big, they tend to move much more slowly from west to east. So that means the weather that those waves in the jet stream are creating is also moving more slowly from west to east. And the way we experience that is then we have much more persistent conditions that are dry, say, or more stormy conditions that last longer, heat domes that last longer. I mean, that's been happening in spades this year, both in the United States and also in Europe. So basically, the idea is, as we're warming the Arctic so fast, because of all these extra heat-trapping gasses in the atmosphere, melting all that sea ice, we're reducing that temperature difference, which is slowing down those west winds of the jet stream, leading to larger north-south swings that move more slowly, that make our weather more persistent.

CURWOOD: All the things you've been talking about make me feel that this is not good news for life on this planet, us humans, and of course all the other creatures as well, and that even if greenhouse gas emissions were to level off or even decline in the near term, the surface temperature here on Earth could continue to rise at an accelerating rate? Why would that be?

FRANCIS: So, if we can reduce our emissions of these heat-trapping gasses enough to level off the concentration of them in the atmosphere, so they're not increasing anymore, we can slow down the warming of the Earth by quite a lot, we can't stop it, but we can certainly slow it down. Part of the problem is the ocean has already absorbed so much that it's going to take quite a long time, decades, for that heat to eventually get into the air and then be emitted to outer space as that long wave energy. So it will take time, but I think if we can manage to either keep the amounts of these heat-trapping gasses constant — I mean, we're still increasing them quite fast, so we've got a ways to go — and if we can turn them around, we can actually slow down the warming. I don't think we can stop the warming, and we certainly can't stop sea level rise. We can't stop the glaciers from melting or the Greenland ice sheet from melting at this point. But we can slow things down. So I think the acceleration that we're observing now could be stopped.

CURWOOD: By the way, some people say, "Well, there's a technological solution possible here." What about geoengineering? What about figuring out some way to use modern technology to get rid of this extra heat? Maybe injecting particles in the atmosphere, that sort of thing. What do you think about that?

FRANCIS: So we have already at our disposal a lot of different ways to treating this disease of global warming. They include stop burning fossil fuels or cut back drastically, stop cutting down forests, stop removing wetlands and mangroves. Those things are going to treat the underlying disease, which is the production of these heat-trapping gasses that we've been putting into the air, and then there are band-aids that you can put on this cancer, if you will. I see geoengineering as an expensive band-aid that does not treat the underlying disease. If everything went really well, it might buy us a little time, but it's super expensive and very untested in terms of the inadvertent consequences that could and almost certainly will happen if we were to go ahead with a global scale geoengineering project. We don't know how it's gonna work in terms of changing weather patterns in ways that we don't understand yet, and there are a whole host of other issues associated with geoengineering in addition to the very high cost. And then there's the whole governance concept. You know, who says where you're going to do it? When you're going to do it? Who's responsible for extreme events that happen that seem to be connected to that? Who's to blame? Who's going to pay for the reparations? I mean, there's so many big question marks associated with just another way that we are messing with Mother Nature, if you will.

CURWOOD: Before you go, anything more you'd like to say?

FRANCIS: So, you know, we've talked about a lot of pretty grim stuff. I mean, there's a lot of reason to worry about where this future is going in terms of the climate system, but I also see a lot of reason to be hopeful. I look around at my own community and all of the effort that's going into both preparing our community for the extreme weather to come and sea level rise and storms and so forth, but also we've done a lot to shift our community to renewable energy, and I see that happening in many areas. I see states putting in incredible incentive programs to help communities shift away from a fossil fuel economy, but I also talk to young people a lot, and I feel incredible energy coming out of them for dealing with some of these big problems that they're stepping into as they become adults. Of course, one of them is the climate crisis, and they are all fired up about going into all sorts of careers that will help address this crisis. And it's not just becoming a scientist. It's engineers. It's lawyers. It's artists. It's musicians. Everybody has a talent that can be put to work to helping make this situation better as we go forward. So that gives me a lot of hope. It gets me out of bed every morning.

CURWOOD: Jennifer Francis is a senior atmospheric scientist at the Woodwell Climate Research Center. Thanks so much for taking the time with us today.

FRANCIS: Thank you too.

Related links:
- More on Jennifer Francis
- Woodwell Climate Research Center | “Extreme Weather and Climate Change”
- The Economist | “The Rate at Which Earth Is Absorbing Energy Is Alarming Scientists

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BirdNote®: Here Come the Merlins

[BIRDNOTE THEME]

CURWOOD: They are tiny birds, but tough ones, and as the planet warms, they are flying against the trend of wildlife moving toward the poles, as Mary McCann tells us in today’s BirdNote.

[BirdNote®]

Here Come the Merlins.

[Merlin calling, https://macaulaylibrary.org/audio/197047, 0.19-.22]

MCCANN: Want to see one of the blazing thunderbolts of the bird world? Smaller than a pigeon — but fierce enough to knock one from the air — are the powerful, compact falcons known as Merlins. While global climate change is pushing ranges of many birds farther north, Merlins are actually expanding southward.

Merlins nest in northern forests around the world. But in recent years, more and more Merlins have been nesting farther south, in towns and cities across the northern United States. These small falcons will take over old crow nests, especially in conifer trees — in parks, cemeteries, and neighborhoods.

[Merlin calling, https://macaulaylibrary.org/audio/197047, 0.19-.22]

No one knows precisely why, but part of the answer may lie in a rebound of Merlin populations since the banning of pesticides like DDT. And it’s a reminder that bird behavior may be more flexible than we sometimes imagine.

[Merlin call, https://macaulaylibrary.org/audio/105837, 0.15-.17]

Merlins reach their peak southward migration in October. Although some, like those in the Pacific Northwest, remain year-round, most scatter to the south for winter. Some travel as far as Ecuador. With any luck, you might see these adaptable, pint-sized thunderbolts in your neighborhood. I’m Mary McCann.

[Merlin call, https://macaulaylibrary.org/audio/105837, 0.15-.17]

###
Written by Bob Sundstrom
Bird sounds provided by The Macaulay Library of Natural Sounds at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, New York. Recorded by Bob McGuire and Geoffrey A Keller.
BirdNote’s theme music was composed and played by Nancy Rumbel and John Kessler.
Producer: John Kessler
Managing Producer: Jason Saul
Associate Producer: Ellen Blackstone
© 2017 Tune In to Nature.org October 2017 Narrator: Mary McCann

CURWOOD: For pictures, soar on over to the Living on Earth website, loe dot org.

Related links:
- The “Here Come the Merlins” story on the BirdNote® website
- About the Merlin from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology

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[MUSIC: Sparrow's Geometry]

Smog and Sunshine--CA's Cleaner Air

CURWOOD: The Midwest and Northeast US have been plagued by wildfire smoke, from fires in Canada and Minnesota that bring apocalyptic skies, and unhealthy and hazardous air quality. And while for many this dirty air can feel like a new normal, worsened by the climate crisis, it’s déjà vu for those who remember what Southern California used to be like. Decades ago, the Los Angeles basin was often cloaked in a thick blanket of choking smog, but today the skies are comparatively clear. This striking improvement was no accident and is a testament to how scientists, government, and engaged citizens can work together to solve difficult environmental problems. One of these key players was Ann Carlson, a Professor of Environmental Law at UCLA. She also served as the Acting Administrator and Chief Counsel of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration under President Biden. Her 2026 book is Smog and Sunshine: The Surprising Story of How Los Angeles Cleaned Up Its Air, and she joins us now from the city of angels. Hi, Professor Carlson and welcome back to Living on Earth!

CARLSON: Thanks. It's great to be here.

CURWOOD: Great to see you. Let's talk about Los Angeles for a moment. Explain to us how Southern California's gift of sunshine, which is what Los Angeles was known for, promote photochemical smog.

CARLSON: Sunshine is one of our great assets, but it also turns out to be one of the big culprits in our problems with air pollution, and I should be clear that our problems with air pollution are not done. It's just that our air is vastly cleaner than it used to be. But here's what happens. When hydrocarbons and other chemicals are emitted from things like cars and trucks and the smokestacks of factories, they interact with sunshine, and when they interact with sunshine, that actually creates ozone, and ozone pollution is the most persistent problem that Southern California has faced. And it was one of the big problems, though by no means the only big problem that was causing the terrible air quality that we experienced, really starting in the 1940s and all the way into the 2000s.

CURWOOD: So when the sun is stronger, it can make the pollution stronger, huh?

CARLSON: Yeah, it's a combination both of the sun and heat. So that's actually a problem with climate change: as temperatures increase, ozone pollution increases. And so, one challenge that Southern California is going to face as we continue to work on making our air as clean as possible is higher temperatures as a result of climate change.

CURWOOD: Now, for those of us who haven't been able to visit Los Angeles over the years, just how much has LA cleaned up its air? I mean, give me some numbers, please.

CARLSON: I will give you some numbers. I will start with visibility because that is what people used to see when they came into Southern California. You could just associate Los Angeles with the word smog and with visions of terrible air quality. So we used to measure visibility days. In the 1960s, 1970s, well into the 1980s, we had days where you could not see more than three miles for more than half the year. Three miles may sound pretty far, but that is not very far when you're talking about visibility. Today, it is commonplace to be able to see islands off the coast of Southern California that are 25 miles away to see the San Gabriel Mountains. Many people didn't know there were mountains in Southern California, so visibility is one really good measure. Another, and the one I think that is really the most dramatic, is what has happened with lead in our air. We used to drive vehicles that were reliant on having lead in gasoline. It also was a terrible, poisonous pollutant, and it came out of the tailpipes of vehicles and dispersed into the air, but then also landed on the surface of the ground. And kids would touch playground equipment. They'd breathe in terrible air. They'd put their hands into their mouths as kids are wont to do, and they had lead levels in their blood in the 1970 that are 1,000% higher than what kids in Flint, Michigan experienced during the worst water crisis. We had air pollution concentrations of lead that were 50 times higher than they are today. We were all breathing poison, and that poison was doing terrible things to us, to our brains, to our lungs, to our overall health.

CURWOOD: And by the way, lead has been linked to delinquency and crime and antisocial behavior. To what extent do you think getting rid of lead out of the air of Los Angeles improved the social situation there: less crime, less tension, less violence.

CARLSON: There's a lot of evidence to suggest that the removal of lead has reduced delinquent behavior, violent behavior in youth, and one of the things that we've seen is youth crime rates have dramatically plummeted. It's hard to know exactly what causes those declines, but it can't have been good for brain health and for behavior to be exposed to lead at levels that today we consider toxic.

CURWOOD: Now, an interesting part of your book — actually, the whole thing is interesting — but my attention was drawn to the various roles of different levels of government that were brought to bear on the question of cleaner air. So, take a moment, please, to talk me through how Los Angeles local government, the state of California, and the federal government collaborated — I guess sometimes they butted heads — to clean up the LA air.

CARLSON: We start with the lowest level of government, that is Los Angeles County, which was really the first jurisdiction in the world to systematically try to tackle air pollution, and that included having a monitoring system that began to measure what people were breathing. But Los Angeles had some jurisdictional limitations. It couldn't, for complicated reasons, regulate what came out of cars. So it went after a bunch of sources first. It went after what we call stationary sources, so that's power plants and coal-fired power plants and chemical facilities and oil refineries, but it didn't really have the legal authority to force technological change so that automobiles would be cleaner. That's where the state of California stepped in. Starting in 1960, the state began to regulate what comes out of the tailpipes of cars and actually what evaporates more generally from vehicles. It's not all out of the tailpipe.

But, the state started to run up against opposition from the auto industry, in part because other states wanted to do what California was doing. New York was actually about to adopt even stronger standards than California because urban areas around the country were beginning to experience the same kind of smog. So the federal government stepped in. This was actually before it stepped in to regulate really dramatically, but the first thing it did was prevent all states from regulating air pollution except California from mobile sources, from vehicles, cars, trucks, etc. California has its own special authority to regulate. That's an authority that continues to today. Although I will say it's also under attack. And then finally, in 1970, Congress passed the Clean Air Act, arguably, maybe not even arguably, the most powerful environmental statute ever adopted, has done more to protect public health from environmental harms than probably any other statute, but it didn't do so on its own. It actually regulated but also tasked the states with continuing to regulate, and again, California had this very special authority. So California would set standards that were stronger than the federal standards in order to tackle the smog in Southern California.

CURWOOD: It's interesting that California has this carve out, this special position, when it comes to regulating air pollution. Except sometimes, seems to me in your book you point out that the federal government is pushing California to act. So when it comes to air pollution, what is the relationship between California and the federal government?

CARLSON: Let me start by saying that California has been an extraordinary leader on air pollution. So, for example, the catalytic converter was first really required by standards that the state of California set, even as the federal government was backing off, but there's no question that federal law has played a really important role in pushing California to act, not just by giving it special authority, but by setting standards that the state has to meet. And when the Clean Air Act first passed in 1970, the standards were so stringent that Southern California and the California agency that actually had responsibility for Southern California air refused to issue a plan that was required under federal law to show how Southern California would come into compliance with federal law.

That's because probably the only way to do so would be to ban driving, and no one wanted to take on that political risk. And so it was the federal government actually pushed by environmental lawyers that led the federal Environmental Protection Agency to propose a plan for Southern California that would, in fact, have banned driving. It didn't go anywhere, but it kept the pressure on Southern California to continue to take steps to clean up its air. There are other examples of that. California was very reluctant to impose a really effective smog check program. That's the program where you have to go in and get your car tested to make sure that your smog equipment is working, and it was a big political battle that involved a lot of small service stations that were providing that service, but maybe not doing so in the most effective way. And the federal government came in and really pressured the state to get much more effective in making sure that existing vehicles on the road were actually not polluting the air more than the equipment would allow.

[MUSIC: Cali Surf]

CURWOOD: We’re speaking with Ann Carlson, UCLA environmental law professor and author of Smog and Sunshine: The Surprising Story of How Los Angeles Cleaned Up Its Air. We’ll be back with more right after this break. Keep listening to Living on Earth!

ANNOUNCER: Support for Living on Earth comes from the estate of Rosamund Stone Zander: celebrated painter, environmentalist, and author of The Art of Possibility , who inspired others to see the profound interconnectedness of all living things, and to act with courage and creativity on behalf of our planet. Support also comes from Sailors for the Sea and Oceana. Helping boaters race clean, sail green and protect the seas they love. More information at sailorsforthesea.org.

[CUTAWAY MUSIC: Jack Johnson, Hermanos Gutiérrez “Green Board” on SURFILMUSIC (Soundtrack & 4-Tracks), Jack Johnson]

CURWOOD: It’s Living on Earth, I’m Steve Curwood.

Let’s get back to our conversation with Ann Carlson, Shirley Shapiro Professor of Environmental Law at UCLA and author of Smog and Sunshine: The Surprising Story of How Los Angeles Cleaned Up Its Air.

CURWOOD: So your book covers literally decades of history, but I want to turn to something that's going on right now about this dynamic between California and the federal government. As we're speaking, California is now suing the federal government as the Trump administration attempts to repeal California's waiver ability. What arguments are each side making, and where does that case stand right now?

CARLSON: The Trump administration has actually taken several steps to try to curtail California's power. One of those steps was to have Congress use this obscure statute called the Congressional Review Act to repeal three separate waivers that California has to get permission from the federal government to regulate emissions from cars and trucks, and it basically did away with three of those waivers that are aimed both at greenhouse gasses that cause climate change, but also at conventional pollutants. Even though the Trump administration typically couches it in terms of climate change, this is also really important for California to continue to improve the quality of the air, both in Southern California and in Central California. That case is currently being litigated, so we don't know exactly what's going to happen. We just learned that EPA is going after more waivers. These are older waivers that California has again for cleaning up its cars and also for going after lawn equipment, which turns out to be a big polluter. So, the arguments on the side of the Trump administration are, I guess, I would say twofold. One is anti-regulatory; it's too expensive. We don't want to impose these costs. And I suppose there's an argument about wanting uniform standards across the country. Although, of course, Congress gave California the special power, so that defies the congressional mandate that California actually have this authority. The arguments on the side of California is that it does have the special authority and it needs this authority because both the Central Valley and Southern California are still out of compliance with two federal standards. And, frankly, if you cannot eliminate emissions from the transportation sector, Southern California simply cannot meet the federal standards. So California has got a strong argument that it both has the legal authority and also the need to come into compliance with federal standards.

CURWOOD: Let's talk about the history of California's impact on the EV industry. Back in the '90s, the California Air Resources Board, you call it CARB, tried to mandate that car manufacturers create zero-emission vehicles. General Motors responded by manufacturing some of the earliest electric vehicles called EV1, but you know, by some time in the 2000s they had crushed the program as well as the cars. What do you think led to the collapse of that effort?

CARLSON: Well, sometimes regulations are too stringent. And it's not frequently the case, but in the case of the very early electric vehicles, the technology wasn't quite there yet. Battery life wasn't long enough. The ranges wasn't long enough, and it was expensive. And the state, actually to its credit, worked with the auto industry to modify the regulations in a way that would make them achievable. They didn't work in the immediate term, so auto manufacturers were not capable, or at least claimed, and were spending a lot of money trying to meet the standards, but weren't capable of meeting the standards. So the state relaxed them, but what it did do is push technology. And one of the really important parts of the story of Southern California cleaning up its air is how much California regulations have led to technology that would not have been invented but for those regulations. So we started to see things like the invention of the hybrid engine, and those technological advances were often the result of California pushing the envelope on regulation. Let me just say one more thing about it, which is that I think one of the brilliant moves that Congress made in designating California as what I've sometimes called a super regulator, where it has its special authority, is California can experiment. And we often talk about states as the laboratory of democracy. California has been our laboratory of democracy for automotive technology that improves our air quality. Sometimes that hasn't worked, but when it does work, it allows the rest of the country to follow suit and follow California's technology. And when it doesn't work, the rest of the country hasn't actually engaged in the same regulatory efforts, and they can really learn from the California experience.

CURWOOD: The fossil fuel industry and others in business have gone after scientists and environmental advocates and regulators like yourself. You had the top job on an acting basis at the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. You were their top lawyer at one point under the Biden administration, and I understand that they didn't make life particularly easy for you there. What happened?

CARLSON: They did not. I should say that I'm just one of many people over many many years, and that's part of the story in the book: is scientists and others being attacked by industries that stood to be regulated, so I was one of many. And I was nominated by the President to serve as the administrator of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, and my nomination drew the ire of the oil and gas industry. They called me a radical environmentalist, said I was, you know, a climate crazy, said I didn't care about safety, which is one of the central missions of NHTSA, and that I only cared about imposing heavy burdens on consumers and on industry. The oil industry was very supportive of Senator Ted Cruz, who was the ranking member of the committee who had jurisdiction over my nomination. He led the opposition to my nomination. I ultimately ended up withdrawing my name because it was pretty clear that even though I might get through committee, he could hold me on the Senate floor and not let my nomination through. Once I withdrew my name, I was then reappointed as the Acting Administrator by the President, and that led to Senator Cruz introducing an amendment in the Senate to dock my pay to zero. That amendment was argued on the Senate floor. Thankfully, it failed. I don't think President Biden would have let it go through anyway. But it was quite a personal and intense attack. As you said, you know, it wasn't a fun experience. I think it's designed to try to deter people from going into federal service who care about the environment, who are committed to environmental protection. I would not wish that process on anybody, I have to say, after going through it, but I'm also very very happy and proud to have served in that role.

CURWOOD: Professor, you argue in the book that we can learn a lot about how to tackle climate disruption, climate change, by looking at the L.A. air pollution story and the success that you've had. You haven't ended the problem, but it's certainly on a much different scale. So, what are the key lessons there?

CARLSON: One key lesson I think is that individuals really matter in the fight. And I think the book shows how important certain individuals have been across a host of different professions in maintaining pressure on government, in serving in government, in telling the story as journalists did. The LA Times was extraordinarily important in early days in keeping pressure on the government to do something about air pollution. Scientists make big contributions. All of that is true with respect to climate change. A second lesson is that fossil fuels, when we burn them, cause air pollution, and they also cause greenhouse gasses to accumulate in the atmosphere, and those greenhouse gasses create climate change. And so we know how to regulate those sources. We've done it in the past. We can continue to do so. There are some differences, and I think it's important to acknowledge those differences. One difference is that climate change is a global problem. That both makes the challenge more difficult and also, in some respects, gives us more options. So we know right now that the federal government is retreating from doing anything on climate change. At the same time, China is going gangbusters in developing clean technology, and that technology can spread around the globe. And then the final thing I'll say is that air pollution is much more visible than climate pollution. The effects of climate change come in strange ways, where we get a heat wave, so that in Boston today, it's over 90 degrees. Europe is experiencing heat waves like they've never experienced, increased hurricanes, etc. And people don't always associate those events with what's coming out of the tailpipes of cars or what's being emitted by industry. That's not true with air pollution. You could see it. If there's black smoke coming out of a car, you know it's not good to breathe. That makes the political question harder, but there are a lot of important lessons we can draw from how successful we've been in cleaning up our air.

CURWOOD: So I'm looking for the silver lining or the hope that you have around this. You know, as things warm up, it's actually making ground level ozone levels worse. In Los Angeles, you've had these historic wildfires associated with a hotter planet, and the United States today is certainly not a leader in the climate space, is it? So, the situation does not seem super wonderful. In fact, it seems pretty dire. Professor Carlson, what keeps you in this fight?

CARLSON: So, a few things keep me in this fight. One is we have to keep fighting. We can't... you can't just give up. And the less we do, the worse climate change is. The more we do, the more we can mitigate the worst effects of it, even though it's already occurring and we cannot avoid climate change at this point. Second, is we've made some extraordinary accomplishments on the climate side. So, green energy is cheap and abundant, and it's spreading around the world. So most new energy installations are solar and wind. We're now able to store energy from those sources in batteries. Electric vehicles in China are both high quality and affordable. Battery life has been extended. Battery range has been extended dramatically. So the same forces that led to the technological changes that led to cleaner air have been at work over the past several decades, and the United States can't stop that, and the rest of the globe is behaving differently than we are. So the technological changes that have come as a result of government incentives, government regulation, are moving us in the right direction. It's just that we have already put so much in the atmosphere that we're going to need to figure out how do we actually sequester emissions. What can we do to really slow the horrible kinds of consequences that we're seeing? There's a lot to be worried about, but that worry should get us to continue to fight to make our environment better.

CURWOOD: Ann Carlson is the author of Smog and Sunshine: The Surprising Story of How Los Angeles Cleaned Up Its Air. Thank you so much for taking the time with us, Professor Carlson.

CARLSON: Yeah, it was great to be here. It was great conversation. I really appreciated your questions.

CURWOOD: We reached out to the office of Texas Republican Senator Ted Cruz for comment but did not hear back before this broadcast went to air.

Related links:
- Learn more about Ann Carlson
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[MUSIC: Cali Surf]

"Vanilla Frosting" -- Elk at Great Sand Dunes

CURWOOD: One of the national parks you might visit this summer or any time of year is Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve in Colorado, with the tallest dunes in North America. That’s where Living on Earth Explorer in Residence Mark Seth Lender watched the landscape change as weather came in.

Vanilla Frosting
Tule Elk
Monte Vista National Wildlife Refuge
&
Great Sand Dunes National Park
© 2026 Mark Seth Lender
All Rights Reserved

Elk have gathered at the far side of San Louis Lake. The elk, first time I saw them, were in stampede, bounding through the creosote bush, clods of earth flying. Now they are just standing, in the lee of the hill. Waiting.

The lake is sour. Salt, more likely selenium whitens the shoreline like a parched mouth. The elk neither drink nor come near. Breeding season is over. Many of the females are pregnant. The bucks have lost their antlers. There are two of them. Tall, heavy, easy to pick out. One by one, the elk lie down. The bucks remain on guard. They will be the last to give in. Beyond and above them the Great Sand Dunes also appear to be in repose, on the edge of slumber. Except the dunes are enormous, the sweeping patterns in the sand hard to describe. They stand out from the blue mountains beyond. As if they are alive. Breathing. They make the elk look small and out of place.

In the morning the elk are gone. It snowed in the night, that’s what they had been waiting for. Not so much waiting, as they knew. And that was why they chose the lee of the hill for a place of repose. I had no idea. The sky had been blue. Hardly a cloud. Now, I understand. With the snow the contours of the Great Sand Dunes are also made clear. Vanilla frosting. That’s what it looks like. Thick, white, spread by a giant spatula. Too perfect to be anything else. At dusk there were so many colors, mauve and raw umber and sandstone yellow. But those were only the ingredients. Here, is the finished cake.

CURWOOD: That’s Living on Earth Explorer in Residence Mark Seth Lender.

Related links:
- Visit Mark Seth Lender’s website here
- Explore Great Sand Dunes National Park

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[MUSIC: Vanilla Horizon]

CURWOOD: Next time on Living on Earth, the enduring kinship of the Yurok people with the Klamath River in present day California.

CORDALIS: Our whole way of life to this day revolves around the salmon runs. When the salmon are running, many people come down to the river, they go to their traditional fish holes, they bring their family, and they fish, you know, and that's a great moment of like unity and commonality, and it's just a very healthy thing to go and do, right? Like you're outside, you're working together as a family, you're catching food for your family in this place where, you know, your family's been fishing since the beginning of time. So it's so deep and powerful just on that level. And then you add the element of fun. When the fish are running, it is just fun. Like You know, it's just a good, good time, and I tried to write about that experience in a chapter in the book, you know, I talked about how my generation, you know, my sisters and brother and mom, dad, We used to call ourselves Team Fish Hog. And, you know, we were sort of a well-oiled machine where everybody knew their role and, you know, just felt good doing it. And it's really fun just being out there.

CURWOOD: That’s next time on Living on Earth.

[MUSIC: Ojo Ijo]

CURWOOD: Living on Earth is produced by the World Media Foundation. Our crew includes Naomi Arenberg, Paloma Beltran, Mia DiLorenzo, Jenni Doering, Abby Edgecumbe, Swayam Gagneja, Mark Kausch, Mark Seth Lender, Don Lyman, Ashanti Mclean, Nhung Nguyen, Aynsley O'Neill, Sophia Pandelidis, Jake Rego, Andrew Skerritt, Bella Smith, and El Wilson. Tom Tiger engineered our show. Allison Lirish Dean composed our themes. Special thanks this week to Monte Vista National Wildlife Refuge and Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve. You can hear us anytime at L-O-E dot org, Apple Podcasts and YouTube Music, and like us please, on our Facebook page, Living on Earth. Find us on Instagram, Threads and BlueSky at living on earth radio. And we always welcome your feedback at comments at loe.org. I’m Steve Curwood. Thanks for listening!

ANNOUNCER: Funding for Living on Earth comes from you, our listeners, and from the University of Massachusetts, Boston, in association with its School for the Environment, developing the next generation of environmental leaders. And from the Grantham Foundation for the protection of the environment, supporting strategic communications and collaboration in solving the world’s most pressing environmental problems.

ANNOUNCER 2: PRX.