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Climate disasters like the Los Angeles wildfires in January and Hurricane Helene last fall aren’t just laying bare the realities of global warming; they’re exposing the hidden dynamics of another kind of ecosystem: Media and information.
From journalists compiling mutual aid spreadsheets to country music radio shows that became community message boards when the internet went out, these calamities are shining a spotlight on the evolving role of journalism and how we access information. They’re also raising new questions about what that information should be, whose responsibility it is to vet and disseminate it, and what the media of the future might look like — you know, as climate disaster becomes a more regular feature of life.
There’s a lot to unpack here. So we’ve tagged in two media experts who, like Andrea, are based in LA and have had to confront climate disasters firsthand. Matt Pearce is a former Los Angeles Times reporter (and co-founder of its first union) with experience covering everything from hurricanes to internet culture; these days, he writes a Substack newsletter on the state of local news and media policy and is a senior policy advisor for the nonpartisan think tank Rebuild Local News.
Longtime listeners might remember Emma Kemp from one of our earliest episodes on ghost kitchens. She’s a researcher and writer and assistant professor at the Otis College of Art and Design who specializes in environmental media studies, and co-founder of the non-profit land conservation coalition No Canyon Hills.
Matt and Emma join us to talk about their experiences on the ground as both media consumers and producers during the wildfires; the sources of information that became essential, and the sources of information that just sort of fell away; the limitations (and opportunities) of AI in a crisis; and how climate disasters will transform what both traditional and non-traditional media look like.
Follow Matt on Substack and X. Check out his pieces on Watch Duty and on AI use during the wildfires.
Check out more from Emma on her website and at No Canyon Hills. She also sells chickens, eggs, and coop supplies over at Party Fowl.
The cover of “California Dreaming” by Jarvis Cocker featured in this episode was purchased from the LA fire benefit compilation Los Angeles Rising. Check it out, along with a collection of other compilations released to fundraise for wildfire relief, here.
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