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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Global leaders are negotiating about how to cut greenhouse gas emissions as quickly as possible. Scientists say every passing day, and every tenth of a degree, makes a big difference.
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World leaders are meeting in Egypt for the next two weeks to talk about reining in climate change and paying for its deadly effects. Here's what you need to know.
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Scientists are finding that Western wildfires can have far-reaching impacts. If they're burning while Central U.S. thunderstorms are forming, the rain and hail can be dramatically more destructive.
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Extreme weather which is fueled by climate change is posing a bigger and bigger threat to the nation's water infrastructure.
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President Biden has signed the Inflation Reduction Act into law. We take a look at the viability of the law's provision concerning capturing carbon emissions.
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Many people move without realizing the danger that wildfires pose to their new home. A new risk rating system could help buyers learn more on real estate sites.
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California broke its record for renewable energy when solar and wind provided enough to meet all consumer demand. At the time, natural gas power plants were still on, a necessity for the grid.
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It was once thought that nothing could take down the world's largest animal, the blue whale. But scientists have witnessed something unusual that shows these giants do have a predator to worry about.
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As the climate gets hotter, plants may need to grow in new locations to survive. But the animals that help spread the seeds are disappearing.
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Some of the world's most vulnerable countries at the U.N. climate conference in Scotland are demanding compensation, and it's becoming a major sticking point in the negotiations.