Lauren Sommer
Lauren Sommer covers climate change for NPR's Science Desk, from the scientists on the front lines of documenting the warming climate to the way those changes are reshaping communities and ecosystems around the world.
Prior to joining NPR, Sommer spent more than a decade covering climate and environment for KQED Public Radio in San Francisco. During her time there, she delved into the impacts of California's historic drought during dry years and reported on destructive floods during wet years, and covered how communities responded to record-breaking wildfires.
Sommer has also examined California's ambitious effort to cut carbon emissions across its economy and investigated the legacy of its oil industry. On the lighter side, she ran from charging elephant seals and searched for frogs in Sierra Nevada lakes.
She was also host of KQED's macrophotography nature series Deep Look, which searched for universal truths in tiny organisms like black-widow spiders and parasites. Sommer has received a national Edward R. Murrow for use of sound, as well as awards from the Society of Professional Journalists and the Society of Environmental Journalists.
Based at NPR's San Francisco bureau, Sommer grew up in the West, minus a stint on the East Coast to attend Cornell University.
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The U.S. is making the largest investment in history in the country's water system. In the rush to spend, some worry green projects will be overlooked. -
The good news is that the world has solutions and technology to slow climate change. The bad news is that time is running out. -
Australia's Great Barrier Reef is suffering another mass bleaching. That's when corals turn ghostly white due to heat, and it's becoming more common as the climate warms.
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As the climate warms, plants bloom earlier in the spring, overlap with other species and could even start growing in new locations. That's bad news for people with pollen allergies. -
A judge in Norway has banned the breeding of bulldogs. Their flat, smooshed faces can cause health problems. An animal rights group argued the breed is so unhealthy, it amounts to animal cruelty.
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"Within seconds we realized, oh my God, a pack of killer whales is attacking a blue whale," researcher John Totterdell from the Cetacean Research Centre in Australia, told NPR. -
Cities are experiencing heavier storms and flooding as the climate gets hotter. But due to outdated rainfall records, many are still building infrastructure for the climate of the past. -
Cities will soon spend billions upgrading their water systems with federal infrastructure funds. But many don't have information about how to prepare the systems for climate change.
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A new climate report finds that 2021 was the sixth hottest year on record. The past decade has also been the hottest since record-keeping began.
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Despite a year of increasing weather disasters, Biden's ambitious climate plans may be doomed in Congress.
