The climate crisis and the truth about plastic recycling
What's the link between record wildfires and hurricanes and climate change? Then, we learn the truth about plastic recycling.
Listen 49:43![Western Wildfires-Exhausted Resources FILE - In this Sept. 7, 2020, file photo, a firefighter battles the Creek Fire as it threatens homes in the Cascadel Woods neighborhood of Madera County, Calif. (AP Photo/Noah Berger,File)](https://whyy.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/AP20258846237169-768x511.jpg)
FILE - In this Sept. 7, 2020, file photo, a firefighter battles the Creek Fire as it threatens homes in the Cascadel Woods neighborhood of Madera County, Calif. (AP Photo/Noah Berger,File)
Raging wildfires and heatwaves in the West, another hurricane baring dumping rain on states along with Gulf, the United States is facing an unprecedented number of extreme weather this year. In fact, it’s been such an active season in the Atlantic that NOAA is running out of hurricane names. This hour, we discuss the connection between climate change and the record fires and storms. We’ll also discuss how these devastating events could impact domestic migration patterns in the U.S. Our guest are climate reporters KENDRA PIERRE-LOUIS with Gimlet podcast “How to Save a Planet” and ABRAHM LUSTGARTEN with ProPublica. Then we look at recycling, something that makes many of us feel like we’re doing our part for the environment. But NPR reporter LAUREN SULLIVAN explains most of those plastic containers and packaging end up as trash. She discusses her investigation into how the oil and gas industry deliberately misled American consumers to believe the plastic recycling story.
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