Show Notes
Sea level rise doesn’t look like a single global flood—it looks like repeated, localized disasters: flooded streets, collapsing home values, and hard choices about where to live. This episode explores how coastal communities, housing markets, and homeowners are reckoning with a slow-moving crisis that is already reshaping where and how we live. When water comes to your doorstep, who gets to stay—and who decides? More on the Climate Impact Lab's flood risk work: https://impactlab.org/impacts/predicting-flood-risk-for-american-families More on Climate Impact Lab's sea level analysis on the UNDP's Human Climate Horizons: https://horizons.hdr.undp.org
Shocked is part of the University of Chicago Podcast Network and produced by Magnificent Noise for the Institute for Climate and Sustainable Growth, which combines a 360-degree approach to education with frontier research having an impact in front-line communities globally. The Institute’s efforts are driven by the need to balance climate risks with societal growth. To follow or support their work, see our show notes or visit climate.uchicago.edu Amy Harder is the host, along with co-host, Michael Greenstone, a professor at the University of Chicago and director of the Institute for Climate and Sustainable Growth. Our executive producers are Eric Nuzum, Michael Greenstone, and Sam Ori. Our production staff includes Christine Driscoll, Amy Pedulla, Sophie Bridges, Jamie York, and Samantha Henig. Our sound designer is Kristen Mueller.
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More from Shocked
In theory, the free market should help solve climate change. In reality, it’s rarely that simple. This episode explores how emissions markets work, where they’re taking off to reduce pollution, and why economists still believe markets are essential—if politics will let them be. More on the pollution market in India: https://emissionsmarkets.org/evidence-from-india/ More on the scale up efforts: https://emissionsmarkets.org/
Accurate weather forecasts save lives—but not everyone gets them. In this episode, Amy Harder looks at how AI is transforming weather prediction in places where the stakes are highest and the resources are few. Can better data close the climate survival gap? More on the underlying research: https://epic.uchicago.edu/research/long-range-forecasts-as-climate-adaptation-experimental-evidence-from-developing-country-agriculture/ More on the India monsoon forecasts: https://humancenteredforecasts.climate.uchicago.edu/news/artificial-intelligence-is-helping-indian-farmers-adapt-to-climate-change-forecast-accurately-predicting-an-unusual-monsoon-season-reached-38-million/ More on the scale-up efforts: https://humancenteredforecasts.climate.uchicago.edu/
To compete with China’s dominance in battery technology, the U.S. needs more than just ambition—it needs new chemistry. This episode traces the rise and fall of an American sodium battery startup and the quiet race to build a cheaper, safer, next-generation power source. Can innovation outpace geopolitics—or does the future already belong to lithium? More on Shirley Meng: https://climate.uchicago.edu/people/y-shirley-meng/ More on the Energy Technologies Initiative: https://energytech.pme.uchicago.edu/
In the 1990s, millions of vultures quietly vanished from India—and the consequences were deadly. This is the story of how a cheap painkiller set off a chain reaction involving rabid dogs, polluted water, and tens of thousands of human deaths. Economists now say it may be the most expensive extinction you’ve never heard of, and is just one example of how wildlife extinctions impact our human world. More on the study on vultures: https://climate.uchicago.edu/the-social-costs-of-keystone-species-collapse-evidence-from-the-decline-of-vultures-in-india/ More on the study on bats: https://climate.uchicago.edu/the-economic-impacts-of-ecosystem-disruptions-costs-from-substituting-biological-pest-control/ More from Eyal Frank: https://climate.uchicago.edu/people/eyal-frank/
What does pragmatic climate policy look like today? In this special episode, our Michael Greenstone sits down with Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) and former Senator Heidi Heitkamp (D-North Dakota) for a frank conversation about regulation, the energy transition, and the politics of bipartisan climate action. The two senators don’t always agree—but they share a belief that durable change starts with listening.