(Some) Climate Stories Of 2018

Wherever you live, whoever you are, climate change is already in your life. This has been so for a few years already, but in 2018 — with all its disasters, records, warnings, and headlines — there's a higher chance than ever that you're aware of it. Nonetheless, this year has been called by The Guardian, as "the year that we woke up to climate change". Paradoxically, there have been plenty of "Stories of the Year" in our beat.

Climate One is one of those podcasts that everyone talks about, one of those "must listen" in every list on the Internet. Despite that, for one reason or another, I hadn't found the time to sit down with it yet. The fact that it's really America-focused (even California-focused, I'd say) had been enough to put me off. Until now. A conversation with David Roberts (Vox climate reporter and Twitterati extraordinaire) was enough to convince me, and I'm happy I did. The topics are no less relevant, and after all, what happens in the US happens to all of us.

Now, to the episode. This particular podcast is divided into two parts, which take around one-third and two-thirds of the show respectively. The first one is the mentioned conversation with David Roberts. The second one is a chat with three wildfire experts who dissect one of the climate disasters of the year: The Camp fire.

To be real quick, Roberts mentions three stories that marked 2018:

• Trump and his regulation rollback.
• The New Green Deal impulse from Democrat leaders such as Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
• The ongoing price decline of clean energy tech.

I must say I disagree with his choice (I would have gone with Bolsonaro, the IPCC SR15 report and the COP24), but it's a real pleasure to hear Roberts expose his arguments. He also makes an analysis of the need to transform the grid and why climate has taken the center stage in US politics.

The second half is as interesting, with a fireperson, an academic and an economist taking a look at the change in wildfires in California.