Planet Texas

In 2011, the largest wildfire in state history burned for 36 days in Bastrop, Texas – our host Aurora Berry’s hometown. Texas’ record-setting drought and high winds intensified the fire’s effects on the community. As the global average temperature rises, intensifying droughts will continue to put humans at risk of major disasters, but scientists remain hopeful.

In a two-year period, two separate hundred-year floods hit the Onion Creek and Dove Springs neighborhoods in Austin. The floods displaced hundreds of the mostly low-income residents of these neighborhoods, moving them away from the communities they called home. Climate change not only has environmental impacts – it has societal and financial impacts, too.

In January 2021, Texas was hit with a historic winter storm that overloaded the Texas power grid and left thousands without electricity, water and heat for days on end. It was a once-in-a-lifetime storm, but man-made climate change will make extreme weather events more common.

Hurricane Harvey devastated towns along the Gulf Coast in August 2017. And Texas’ biggest city, Houston, is especially vulnerable to flooding due to its bayou system and low elevation. It’s also a city whose entire way of life is intertwined with its main industry: oil and gas. Hear from families impacted by the hurricane and what citizens – and researchers – are doing to reduce carbon emissions in Texas.