Year: 2021

Children being born now will experience extreme climate events at a rate that is two to seven times higher than people born in 1960, according to a new study in the journal Science.

The researchers compared a person born in 1960 with a child who was six years old in 2020. That six-year-old will experience twice as many cyclones and wildfires, three times as many river floods, four times as many crop failures and five times as many droughts. Read more about the study here.

These extreme changes not only endanger the environment, they take a toll on our mental health. KNAU reporter Melissa Sevigny spoke with residents in Flagstaff, Arizona who are reeling from a summer rife with fires and floods.

And NPR’s Michel Martin spoke with two climate activists of different generations — Jasmine Butler and Denis Hayes — about their outlook on the planet’s future amid new climate change reports.

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Cases, hospitalizations, and deaths are all on the decline in the U.S. — with September marking a turning point in the delta surge.

People are likely to be confused by climate change terms like “mitigation” and “carbon neutral,” according to a recent study. Yet, these terms are ubiquitous in climate research and reports that are meant to be accessible to a general audience.

Michelle Zauner is best known as the frontwoman of indie rock band Japanese Breakfast and like most musicians, she’s trying to tell a personal story through her music. But she’s spent the last couple of years composing music that has nothing to do with her — for a video game soundtrack.

Like lawmakers across the country, the Republican majority in Texas is getting ready to redraw the lines that define state and congressional voting districts. Those lines cement the shape of political power in the state for the next decade — and it’s perfectly legal for the party in power to draw them to its own advantage.

Texas Tribune reporter James Barragán and Michael Li of the Brennan Center discuss redistricting in Texas, and around the country.

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Thousands of Haitian migrants who had gathered on the southern border were deported back to their home country last week, even though some of them haven’t lived there for a decade. They’d been living in Chile. But increasingly, Haitians in that country are fleeing, in response to a pandemic-battered economy, rising anti-immigrant sentiment, and new government policies.

All those factors are not disappearing any time soon — and neither is the flow of migrants out of the country, says Chilean journalist Ignacio Gallegos. NPR’s John Otis reports on one part of their perilous journey north.

Additional reporting in this episode from Stephania Corpi. Special thanks to Texas Public Radio news director Dan Katz.

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Retail experts are already warning of delays, shortages, and price hikes this holiday shopping season as the pandemic continues to disrupt global supply chains.

NPR’s Scott Horsley reports on the interconnected nature of those chains — and what happens when a single part delays manufacturing by months at a time.

University of Michigan economist Betsey Stevenson explains why labor-related delays and shortages are not going away any time soon.

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Some city and state workers around the country have already begun to resist workplace vaccination rules on religious grounds. Soon those rules will be the norm in the private sector too, with the Biden administration’s announcement this month that businesses with 100 or more employees must require those employees to be vaccinated or undergo weekly testing.

NPR correspondents Andrea Hsu and Shannon Bond explain what the law says about religious exemptions to vaccine rules in the workplace.

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It’s one of the most common and perplexing friend mysteries out there – when friends ghost friends. In this episode of NPR’s Invisibilia, they examine a contemporary real-life ghost story to see why we’re so haunted. Also, a listener attempts to find the friend who got away. And finally, we offer a new way to think about friendship endings.

Every generation has its musical “boogeyman.” The Rolling Stones, N.W.A., Madonna. And the latest musician to be inducted into this notorious list is Lil Nas X. Not only has he broken Billboard records, he’s breaking barriers.