Show Notes
As rising seas and stronger storms threaten homes and infrastructure, some coastal residents are wrestling with a fundamental question: when is it time to move away from flood-prone homes? We examine what it means to relocate thoughtfully—ensuring safety, preserving community ties, and planning for a sustainable future. By shifting with the coastline rather than resisting the changes, relocation is a forward-looking strategy that can open pathways to long-term resilience for people and nature alike.
Host: Emma Gildesgame, Climate Adaptation Director
Also featuring: Leigh Meunier, CREW; Carrie Hulet, CH Consulting; and community members, town counselors, and others from Winthrop, MA.
Note: In the months since we recorded this episode, the town of Winthrop has made news for another reason—it’s being sued by the Massachusetts Attorney General for being out of compliance with the Commonwealth’s MBTA Communities zoning laws. This means that the town is no longer eligible for the state funding it desperately needs to act on climate resilience. The Winthrop Citizen’s Advisory Commission on Climate, which you’ll hear from in this episode, voted to suspend its operations until the town council takes action to change this. As of this episode’s release in February 2026, we’re not sure what’s going to happen next. There are still many people who are advocating and working towards action to keep people in Winthrop safer from climate impacts. Regardless of what happens in this one place, conversations like the one you’re about to hear are happening up and down the Massachusetts coast as people wrestle with hard but essential conversations about our shared future.
Learn more about the proactive relocation initaitive and find resources. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
More from Nature is the Solution
Exciting news! Nature is the Solution is a finalist in the 2026 Signal Awards' Science category for Brand Storytelling.
In this final episode of the season, we speak with Senator Bill Frist, Global Board Chair, and Catherine Machalaba, TNC’s first planetary health scientist, to explore how environmental change is becoming a defining public health challenge—and how nature can help protect people. We then travel to Lynn, Massachusetts, to see how the environment is affecting community health. Together, the episode connects local lived experience with global science to show why a healthy planet is essential to healthy people.
This episode explores natural climate solutions—the powerful, often overlooked ways nature can help address climate change. From forests to farms to coastal ecosystems, we share how working with nature creates real climate impact on the ground. Hear from a landowner, a forester and science leaders as we connect local action to a bigger picture of climate solutions hiding in plain sight.
Meeting our climate goals means building more renewable energy. But expanding that capacity requires land and careful navigation of competing needs across energy, housing, conservation and communities. With so much of our landscape already supporting critically important forests, farms and wildlife habitat—and many communities already doing their share—figuring out where everything fits becomes a real puzzle. In this episode, we’re joined by solar operators, an agrivoltaics farmer, and a local planning and energy official to explore how we can expand clean energy while protecting the nature we rely on and communities we live in, and what makes a good solar site for people, nature and the climate.
Take a deep look at Native-led land conservation and the connections between Indigenous communities and their homelands. Host Karen Lombard visits with partners from Native Land Conservancy and members of the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe to learn how they honor, protect and restore the landscapes of Cape Cod and the life that depends on it.