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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Climate scientists warn that emissions need to fall quickly. Those cuts will be even tougher with the Build Back Better legislation shelved for the foreseeable future. -
Intense climate negotiations in Glasgow, Scotland, brought about major breakthroughs and compromises, as world leaders sought to avert extreme climate change. -
Last month, the Muisyo family turned on the lights for the first time thanks to climate financing from rich countries. But the fund is falling short of its $100 billion goal to help poor countries. -
At international climate talks, world leaders are trying to keep the world to 1.5 degrees Celsius of warming. Why is that number important, and what happens if the world gets hotter than that?
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On Tuesday, countries at the global climate summit COP26 pledged to cut back on heat-trapping methane emissions and do more to fight deforestation.
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When Hilda Flavia Nakabuye was a girl, a severe storm flooded her family's farm. Now she realizes that climate change was a factor — and she's become an advocate for change. -
President Biden has pledged urgent action on the "existential threat" of climate change. But his struggles to get his plan through Congress may undercut U.S. influence at a global climate summit.
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How hot will the planet get? What nations negotiate at the international climate summit will help determine that. Here are 4 things to know about what's being decided.
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Nations are gathering the first week of November to negotiate new climate change pledges. But a new report card from the United Nations says those pledges aren't enough to stop extreme climate change.
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Heat waves are getting longer and more intense with climate change, which increases the risk of preterm birth. Pregnant women often don't hear about the dangers.
