The House Is Quite Literally on Fire: Peter Kalmus on the Climate Emergency Hitting Home

Peter Kalmus, climate scientist and returning friend of Crazy Town, used to live in Altadena, California, where one of the disastrous Los Angeles wildfires struck on January 7th. Having learned that his former house had burned, Peter penned an emotional article for the New York Times about his family's decision to leave LA two years prior, out of safety concerns about frequent heat waves, drought, and just the sort of tragic conflagration that has reduced parts of LA to ashes. Get Peter's take on this historic wildfire, what nature is trying to teach us, and how to think about unnatural disasters now and in the future. Note: this interview was recorded on January 24, 2025.

Warning: This podcast occasionally uses spicy language.

Sources/Links/Notes:

• Peter Kalmus’s article in the New York Times from January 10, 2025: “As a Climate Scientist, I Knew It Was Time to Leave Los Angeles”
• Peter’s book, Being the Change: Live Well and Spark a Climate Revolution
• News story about the huge Bobcat Fire that struck Los Angeles County in 2020
• Article in Science about the damage from Hurricanes Helene and Milton
• Peter mentioned the Clausius-Clapeyron equation, which relates vapor pressure to temperature.

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